La Bataille de Friedland et Danzig 1809

The 1806-1807 Campaigns: The Long, Hard Road From Auerstadt to Friedland

Lieutenant Jean Marin, assigned to Prince Berthier’s staff as an aide-de- camp, was on horseback and on the road to a small East Prussian town called Friedland with other members of the Marshal’s General Staff early in the morning on June 14, 1807. Marin had been at war since late September of 1806---nearly nine months—and it seemed like a lifetime to him. While slowly moving towards Friedland in the quiet of the early day through the forested East Prussian terrain, Marin reflected upon the campaign and his own busy role in how it had played out. The steady rhythm of horses moving down the road; the soldiers quietly marching; and the creaking of wagons slowly rolling towards this east ern end

of Prussia just short of Russia had both excited the young officer and filled him with fear. He was anxious to achieve victory and glory for his Emperor and country; but he also knew he had been in too many battles, and his luck, especially against the savage Russians, might run out. The steady trot of his own mount almost put Marin into a meditative trance; and for this young and up and coming officer, he knew this road to Friedland, could be the last path he might follow. His participation in what is called today as the Jena to Friedland campaign had started off well enough. Marin had first been assigned to Marshal Louis-Nicholas Davout’s III Corps as an aide-de-camp posted to Davout’s headquarters as the campaign in Saxony against Prussia began. He had fought at the great and frantic battle of Auerstadt on October 14, 1806. This battle was accompanied by many French casualties, and was by no means as easy and Napoleon’s victory had been in the same day at Jena. Assigned by Davout to seek out Marshal Bernadotte, as Auerstadt was winding down with the momentous French victory, Marin had dutifully made his way to Marshal Bernadotte and his I Corps just a few miles away. Marin reached him just in time for Marin to take part in another French victory at Halle. After Bernadotte’s victory, Marin participated in Bernadotte’s great pursuit of the General Gebhardt von Blucher’s Prussian remnants across the plains of Brandenburg to the neutral Hanseatic City of Lübeck near the Baltic Coast. There was one more great battle fought with the French again defeating the Prussians at Lübeck . The stubborn Blucher finally surrendered with the phrase, “I capitulate as I have no more food and no more ammunition.” Marin also witnessed the great Sack of Lübeck, in which the French destroyed that city, which had been one of the jewels of the Hanseatic League. Marin also noted Bernadotte’s befriending of troops from the small Swedish contingent captured during the last stages of that battle. He had been involved in three great battles and several smaller ones and had witnessed momentous events that would change history. From that point, Marin’s life only became more difficult. Still assigned to Bernadotte, Marin fought at the battles of Soldau and Mohrungen in East Prussia. He was witness to the Russian General Bennigsen’s general winter offensive which shook the French out of their winter quarters and forced them to fight an intense snow-bound campaign. He participated in Bernadotte’s flurry of action throughout Poland and eastern Prussia in the early part of 1807. It seemed as if every passing day would be filled with encounters with criminal Cossaques or another Russian frenzied attack.

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