Schwabhausen•2 3 4 5km- French Army Corps
� French line of march - Prussian Army Corps
�-� Prussian line of march
matched, for the French put 96,ooo men on to the field against Hohenlohe
and Ri.ichel's 53,000. Napoleon was content, fo r he was sure that Davout
and Bernadotte would have reached Apolda and cut off the retreat.
But when he reached headquarters at dusk, he received the astonishing
news that he had not after all been fighting the main enemy army. It fell
to Davout to encounter that host, ten miles away at Auerstiidt. Incredibly,
with just 27,000 men and forty guns he routed the 63,ooo-strong army
with 230 guns under Frederick William and the Duke of Brunswick. As
Davout passed the Saale and the Kosen pass beyond, he collided with
Brunswick's flankers. The divisions of Vandamme and Gudin under
Davout performed wonders as more and more Prussian infantry and
cavalry rushed to the spot, but things might have gone hard with them if
Brunswick had not been wounded, throwing the chain of command into
confusion. Davout faced odds of two to one but he remained calm and
defiant as the Prussians grew ever more hesitant. Finally, Frederick
William panicked at the thought that he was opposed by Napoleon in
person. At 4 p.m. he ordered a retreat which also became a rout, fo r
Davout counterattacked at the first sign of enemy withdrawal.
Davout's astonishing victory at Auerstiidt was harder won than the
Emperor's at Jena. He killed Io,ooo Prussians and took 7,ooo prisoners
(21,ooo casualties in all) while sustaining losses of 7,700 in dead and