Battle

Leipzig

16 — 19 October 1813

Three fronts to hold, one road out

Military history

Why could the French army leave Leipzig but not evacuate its entire rearguard?

On 16 October, Napoleon failed to break through south of Leipzig. Blücher pinned Marmont in the north, while Bertrand had to defend the road to Lindenau in the west. Allied reinforcements then made the French position increasingly difficult to hold. The retreat began during the night of 18–19 October. Much of the army crossed the western waterways, then the Elster bridge was destroyed too early: those still in the city lost their way out.

Concentrating around Leipzig

Napoleon gathered his corps around Leipzig to try to defeat the Army of Bohemia before all his opponents arrived. Roads radiated from the city, but the wooded valley to the west forced traffic through narrow crossings.

The south was not enough

The assaults and counterattacks on the 16th produced no lasting breakthrough at Wachau. Meanwhile, Marmont fought in the north and Bertrand at Lindenau; these corps could not freely reinforce the main attack.

Time brought reinforcements

The relative pause on the 17th allowed Allied armies to close in. On the 18th, attacks multiplied in the north, east and south. Probstheida and Connewitz still held, but Napoleon no longer had the means to secure the decision he sought.

Evacuate before cutting the road

The retreat began during the night. On the 19th, fighting in Leipzig covered the army’s movement toward Lindenau. The bridge was destroyed before the evacuation ended, trapping part of the rearguard, wounded and baggage train.

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Chronological dossier

Battle · 14 June 1800MarengoHow was an almost-lost battle reversed by the arrival of reserves and a concentrated counterattack?Battle · 21 October 1805TrafalgarHow did two British columns accept fire on the approach to break the opposing line and impose local engagements?Battle · 2 December 1805AusterlitzNapoleon lets the right wing appear vulnerable, then strikes the Pratzen Heights once the Allies have committed there.Battle · 14 October 1806Jena–AuerstedtNapoleon defeats a Prussian force at Jena while Davout, badly outnumbered, repels the main army at Auerstedt.Battle · 7 — 8 February 1807EylauHow did snow, visibility and staggered arrivals turn a search for decision into an inconclusive and exceptionally costly battle?Battle · 5 — 6 July 1809WagramThe crossing from Lobau deploys the army along an immense arc; on the 6th, the unsynchronised Austrian offensive threatens Aspern, but the battery covers Masséna, Davout turns Markgrafneusiedl and the general assault compels an orderly withdrawal.Battle · 7 September 1812BorodinoWhy did the successive capture of Russian positions destroy neither the opposing army nor its ability to retreat?Battle · 18 June 1815WaterlooA battle of coordination, attrition and time before the Prussians arrive.

Military history

Sources

Contemporary primary source · municipal archiveBrief von Karl Friedrich Friccius an Friederike Friccius, 23. Oktober 1813

Notice Z0075405, A/2815/2009 : transcription partielle dans Beschreibung des Textes, lettre datée du 23 octobre 1813.

Contemporary testimony by a Prussian officer on the battle of the 18th, Napoleon's confinement in Leipzig, and the assault on the 19th; used cautiously because it mainly describes his battalion and viewpoint.