La Bataille de Bautzen 1813

The French were able to give them the aggressive training to defend “la patrie.” These “cohortes” would end up becoming Line regiments 135eme through 156eme. These 20 regiments and the 134eme (the Paris Guard) were raised to establish the backbone of the new army for the next two campaigns as they marched off to Central Germany. The “Cohortes” regiments fought better than expected, and gave a stout stability to the entire French army. French Develop Numerical Superiority in Spring Campaign The National Guard and other sources of troops gave Napoleon the backbone of his army. When Napoleon marched his new army to Erfurt in April of 1813, he would have a numerical superiority over the Coalition forces during the Spring campaign. But still, counting the Cohortes; the Marines; and the Spanish forces which became the Guard, that only provided 120,000 relatively good quality troops. Given the heavy casualty rates the French had throughout the Spring campaign, the long-term prospects for French survival in Germany were not good. Complicating Napoleon’s implementation of his plan was that he continued to think that all of these troops would do what he wanted them to do. But there were two problems with his thinking. First, his commanders were not what they once were. For example, Ney in 1813 is not the same as Ney in 1812. On more than one occasion, Ney made either staff errors or command errors in judgement which inhibited his command’s actions. Second, his troops were not at the same level tactically as they might have been in 1809 or even 1812. They were not as strong; did not have the endurance; and did not have the training. The troops would literally melt away during their marches to battlefield; and then once they were in battle; would not perform, for the most part, at the same levels they did in previous campaigns. After the Spring campaign concluded it was determined the French lost more than 100,000 troops to desertion or illness. In addition, the French army suffered 50,000 casualties in the Spring 1813 campaign. The perfect example is the performance of Ney and his command in the Bautzen battle. Napoleon had a solid plan for Ney to get behind the Coalition army; and if the Emperor’s plan was just a little closer to implementation, the French victory might have been far greater. but Ney’s execution seemed too be always just a little short. Ney was always a little slow to move his troops to where they needed to be. In the end, the French reconstruction of the army allowed them to be ascendant in Germany for at least a few months. However, the French could never get to where they wanted to be. Napoleon’s decision to allow for an armistice was the killer for the French aspirations.

La Bataille de Bautzen 1813

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