salvaged the Emperor's reputation. The battle revealed him at the top of
his form, brilliant in foresight and anticipation of enemy movements. In
contrast to the Russian campaign, his orders were lucid, succinct and
economical.
Napoleon, however, soon showed that he was not really the force of
yore. He was depressed, justifiably, by the gap evident between his own
talents and those of his mediocre corps commanders whose deficiencies,
as he saw it, had prevented total victory. Once again he defended himself
against critics who said that he should have sent in the Guard in the early
evening to deal the coup de grace.
Unexpectedly, it was the quality of the Prussians, rather than the
Russians, which had most impressed him: 'These animals have learned
something,' he remarked. It was also observable, particularly as the
warfare of 1813 in Germany became protracted, that Napoleon was often
fatigued and frequently ill, especially after battles, and even fell asleep at
crucial moments.
The Allies withdrew to Bautzen, there to receive 13,000 Russian
reinforcements under Barclay de Tolly. On 4 May Napoleon split his
Army in two, sending half north under Ney to incorporate the Army of
Saxony as VII Corps, advance on Berlin and perhaps force the Russians
into suing for a separate peace; the rest of Ney's forces were to pursue
Wittgenstein while to General Lauriston and V Corps fell the task of
maintaining communication between the divided Army of the Elbe.
Learning of Metternich's intrigues to suborn the Confederation of the
Rhine and fearing that Austria would soon join a League of three
Emperors against him, Napoleon sent Eugene back to Italy to distract the
Austrians there. The overall plan now was that a divided French Army,
with a northern wing of 8s,ooo under Ney, Victor, Reynier and
Sebastiani threatening Berlin, and a southern wing under Napoleon
himself aiming at Dresden, would force the Prussians to detach
themselves from their Russian allies, so that Napoleon could defeat them
piecemeal.
Unfortunately for best-laid Bonapartist plans, the allies did not split
their forces but simply withdrew over the Elbe to Bautzen where they
intended to stand and fight again. They quit Dresden on 7-8 May but
neglected to blow up the bridges behind them. By 8 May Napoleon was
in possession of Dresden and two days later had secured two bridgeheads
on the east bank. Welcome news arrived that Eugene, before his
departure, had badly mauled the Prussian rearguard at Colditz on 5 May.
Most encouraging of all developments was that the King of Saxony had
been forced off his perch and had committed fresh troops to the French
marcin
(Marcin)
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