La Bataille de Berlin 1813

staff to coordinate his efforts. As pointed out in the monogram by USN Commander John Kuehn about the 1813 campaign, Oudinot would need to do his staff coordination with just his corps staff and not the scores or even hundreds that Napoleon might use as an army commander. The plan had its complications. Marshal Davout was designated to take a corps out of Hamburg and move towards Berlin. General Girard, commander of the Magdeberg garrison would take a division there and move towards Berlin. However, Oudinot would only have direct control of the three corps noted above as well as a reserve cavalry corps (III Reserve Cavalry under Arrighi) for his direct move on Berlin. Also, Oudinot quickly

Graf von Tauentzien, Commander of the Prussians at Blankenfelde

discovered that the way to Berlin from the southwest was congested by forests and many rivers and swamps, making the direct route to Berlin difficult for his army to traverse. He would need to split the army up into three separate groups once he started forward.

He began his advance on August 18 and scored some minor successes. However, heavy rains started on August 19 and made it difficult to move the guns. As Oudinot’s army split up, the Coalition leaders made a command decision. Initially, the overall commander, Swedish Crown Prince Charles John (Bernadotte) wanted to abandon Berlin and defend the Spee River. However, one of the senior Prussian commanders , von Bulow thought Berlin should be defended and convinced Charles John to hold fast just south of Berlin in Brandenburg.

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