La Bataille de Bautzen 1813

Finally to compound the problems with the French cavalry was the death of one of Napoleon’s fine cavalry commanders at a most inopportune time. Marshal Jean- Baptist’s Bessieres, Duc d’Istria, was felled by a cannonball on May 1, 1813, the day before the Battle of Lutzen as the Guard Cavalry was reconnoitering the Coalition positions. Bessieres was a fine battle commander, and his loss was taken very severely by Napoleon. This only compounded the delicate French situation. Napoleon Loses Bessieres and Duroc Despite these obstacles, Napoleon pressed forward. He continued to push the Coalition eastwards past Leipzig and Dresden. The French mobilization continued to send more troops to Napoleon. At Lützow, he had roughly 150,000 troops in the general vicinity. At Bautzen, despite having lost 20,000 troops at Lutzen, the French Armies were at 200,000 less than three weeks later. But Bautzen would turn out to be very similar to Lutzen—little cavalry, inexperienced infantry and shaky allies. Similar to Lutzen, Napoleon would lose a very close friend. On May 22, Napoleon would lose General Géraud Duroc, Grand Master of the Palace and Duc de Frioul to another cannonball injury. Duroc had been with Napoleon since the first Italian campaign, and was responsible for the Emperor’s personal security and the management of the Emperor’s Household. Duroc had been attempting to pursue the defeated Coalition after their defeat at Bautzen, but it all turned into a disaster. Napoleon’s losses would affect every aspect of his command. Despite the two French victories, Napoleon felt compelled to strike an armistice with the Coalition since he couldn’t reach their army with a pursuit. The next two months would do nothing to bring Napoleon closer to victory. When the armistice ended, Austria was in Coalition; Sweden would send their army to join the Coalition forces and the Coalition’s Trachenberg Plan was put into place. The theory behind the Trachenberg plan was that the Coalition would avoid fighting Napoleon—successfully —and focus on defeating his Marshals, who were not up to the task. The plan worked and by the time the Battle of Leipzig occurs in October, the Coalition outnumbered the French 3-2 and had surrounded Napoleon. Napoleon would beat the Coalition at Dresden, but his Marshals and Generals had lost Gross Beeren; Kulm; Katzenbach; and Dennewitz, and set the stage for the defeat at Leipzig in October 1813.

La Bataille de Bautzen 1813

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