respectively. With six centripetal attacks planned for the 18th, it seemed
that the Allies were preparing to crack him like a nut.
At the eleventh hour the Emperor finally bestirred himself and ordered
more bridges to be built over the river Lindeman in case he needed to
retreat. In torrential rain he pulled his men back, conscious that they
were now outnumbered two to one.
On the morning of 18 October the Allies advanced confidently. Once
again dreadful fighting took place, particularly in the afternoon, as more
and more divisions on both sides were sucked into the conflict. Bennigsen
and Bernadotte made significant inroads in the east against MacDonald
and Sebastiani, and Napoleon had to order in both Young and Old
Guards to prevent this sector collapsing altogether. Just when French
fortunes were being restored, two brigades of Saxons and some
Wi.irttembergers from Reynier's VII Corps - supposedly Napoleon's
precious reinforcements- deserted to the enemy, leaving a gaping hole in
the French line. By dusk Bennigsen and Bernadotte had dislodged
Marmont and Reynier's corps from their positions, and both in the north
and the east the French were being inexorably forced back into the
suburbs of Leipzig.
With rising casualties and dwindling ammunition, Napoleon now had
to accept that Leipzig was untenable. He ordered a phased evacuation,
which began at 2 a.m. on the 19th. First out were the cavalry, then
followed the infantry units. The Allies did not detect the withdrawal until
7 that morning but were held up by Oudinot's fe rocious rearguard action,
in which his men fought street by street and house by house until the
army crossed the Elster river causeway to Lindenau. By 1 1 a.m. when
Napoleon himself crossed over, all seemed to be working out well. All
that now remained, once Oudinot's men had retired across the bridge,
was to blow up the causeway, preventing Allied pursuit to Lindenau.
Now came utter disaster. In a classic of buck-passing, the general
assigned to the actual demolition delegated the setting of charges to a
Colonel Montfort. This worthy in turn decamped when the streetfighting
came uncomfortably close and left the final job of demolition to a
corporal. Unaware of the carefully scheduled timetable, the corporal
ignited the fu ses at 1 p.m. when the bridge was still crowded with French
troops and Oudinot's rearguard was still in the city. The explosion and
subsequent panic and rout led to the deaths of thousands of French
troops and the capture of thousands more. Oudinot's heroes held out
until late afternoon before surrendering, and Oudinot himself escaped by
swimming the swollen Elster. Others were not so lucky, and among the
celebrity prisoners were Reynier and Lauriston. The saddest fate befell
marcin
(Marcin)
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