CHAP. XI. 1813. a retreat; and, leaving his position on the Thonberg, returned to Leipsic, where he spent the remainder of the night in dictating orders to his different marshals, and the commanders of the fortresses, which were to be now abandoned to their own resources. Soon after daybreak he sent a message to the King of Saxony, who was inconso-Thiers, xvi. lable at these disasters, to the effect that he relinquished Odel. ii. 34, his treaties, and left him at full liberty to consult his own ii. 430, 431. advantage in the course which he should pursue.1 * 608, 609; 35; Fain, embarrass sioned by treat to the But then appeared in the clearest manner the ruinous 56. effects of the extraordinary omission of Napoleon in re- Immense gard to his line of retreat. "There was not a moment to ment occalose," says Marshal Marmont, "in commencing our retreat, the single rendered difficult by the peculiar position of Leipsic, the line of re embarrassment occasioned by the agglomeration of so French. many corps d'armée, and the defiles which they had to pass. Numerous bridges should have been thrown over the Elster to give the infantry the means of crossing at once in several columns abreast, while the chaussée was left free to the artillery, the cavalry, and the equipages; but not one had been made. The état-major had not received any orders on the subject, and had not even thought of it. One would have thought that officers would have been appointed to superintend, during the night, the passage of the artillery, and the regular march of that In this memorable and decisive battle, although the preponderance of force, upon the whole, was greatly in favour of the Allies, yet in the contest to the south of Leipsic, from Connewitz to Stötteritz, where Napoleon commanded in person, the opposing hosts were very nearly equal. Deducting Bertrand's corps and the two divisions of the Guard which were sent across the Elster, on the one side, and Giulay's corps which was opposed to them, on the other, there remained about 240,000 of the Allies to 150,000 of the French-a great superiority doubtless, but not so much so as would at first appear, as the Swedes, 20,000 strong, were never brought up by the Crown Prince at all, and Bulow's corps did not come into action till three in the afternoon. "As regards the army of Murat and Napoleon's Guard, they will be found to amount to somewhere about 96,800 men; while, if we deduct the 25,000 men of Benningsen and Bubna, who were held in check and neutralised by Ney in consequence of the non-arrival of the Army of the North, the army of Schwartzenberg immediately opposed to Murat's command amounted to no more than 104,000-a superiority of only 8000 men."-CATHCART, 333. XI. 1813. immense materiel. Nothing of the kind had been ordered. The carriages, placed in three or four parallel columns on the boulevards of Leipsic, finding it impossible to advance from want of order, the soldiers with them lay down and slept all night beside their vehicles, and everything was in confusion on the morning of the 19th. Possession should have been taken of the suburbs of the town to retard as long as possible the entrance of the enemy's columns, and leave time for the passage of the artillery and caissons; but no previous reconnaissance having been made, none of us knew the localities, the points to occupy, the issues to guard. The gardens, too, which surrounded Leipsic rendered the defence difficult. The troops being unable to circulate freely and move from one point to another, the enemy in that labyrinth easily found places wherein to penetrate. Once any of the enemy's troops 296, 297. got in, terror and disorder took possession of our troops, and all defence became impossible."1 1 Marm. v. 57. Napoleon had a melancholy interview with the King Last inter- of Saxony early on the morning of the 19th. He left poleon and him free to do as he pleased; and on his expressing a the King of wish to remain, he desired him to make what terms he view of Na Saxony. Oct. 19. could, but in an especial manner recommended the wounded to his care. He then caused a Saxon battalion, which had formed part of the Imperial Guard, to be placed in front of the King's abode, to afford some sort of protection during the first moments of the assault, and after taking leave of the Queen and Princesses, he mounted his horse and rode off on the rode to Lindenau. He soon found the street impassable from the crowds of soldiers and confusion of guns and carriages which blocked up the gates of the town, and he at length only 3d made his way through by turning to the left and traCath. 344, versing a garden almost alone. As he crossed the Elster ii. 432, 43; on reaching Lindenau, he ordered the bridge to be 411. mined, ready to be blown up when the last of the defenders of Leipsic had crossed over.2 36, 37; 345; Fain, Bignon, xii. XI. 1813. assault of Oct. 19. No sooner were the Allies aware, from what they CHAP. learned was going on inside the town, that the French were preparing for a retreat on the morning of the 19th, 58. than the most active preparations were made to press Preparaon and capture all such, at least, as still remained in tions for an Leipsic. During the night a considerable number had Leipsic. filed through; the entire Guards and reserve cavalry, with the corps of Victor, Augereau, Bertrand, and part of that of Souham, were already over the marshes, and they brought with them 6000 Austrian prisoners, made in the battle of Dresden-a deplorable remnant of pride, for they took the place of as many French soldiers who might have been preserved to defend their country. About 80,000 men of all arms had in this manner got off; but in such confusion, and the regiments so intermingled, as amounted to entire disorganisation. But the entire corps of Marmont, Macdonald, Lauriston, Reynier, and half Souham's, with the artillery of the Young Guard, and the remains of Poniatowski's Poles, now reduced to 2700, in all 36,000 men, with 100 guns, remained in the town, which they had orders to defend to the last extremity, making use of it as a great bridge-head, to gain time for the remainder of the army with the artillery and carriages to pass over. Marmont charged the remains of Reynier's corps and Dombrowski's division with the defence of the northern suburb, called that of Halle, which was threatened by Blucher, while he took post with his own corps and part of Souham's to guard the eastern suburb and Hinter-Thor, assailed by six Swedish battalions, which Bernadotte had now for the first time brought into action; and Macdonald, whose corps had suffered comparatively little, with the weak remnants of those of Lauriston and Poniatowski, defended the southern front of the town, and the barriers of Grimma, Sand, Windmühlen, and Pegau, against which the main body of Schwartzenberg's army was advancing. About nine o'clock, at the very time when Napoleon was taking leave VOL. II. L CHAP. of the King of Saxony, the Emperor Alexander and King of Prussia, with their whole suites, mounted their 1813. horses and rode forward towards the town. They soon came to Probstheyda, the scene of so tremendous a conflict on the preceding day. "It would be difficult," says an eyewitness, "to describe the state in which we found that village as we rode through it. The heaps of dead and dying in the streets and lanes were evidence of a gallant defence, and the burnt carcasses of men and horses occasioned by the general conflagration, from which their wounds had probably prevented their escape, formed, Catheart, indeed, a lamentable picture of the horrors of war. Odel. ii. 33- sovereigns did not remain long to contemplate so painful ii. 439, 440; a scene, but, riding onward, the Emperor arrived at the Die Grosse windmill hill that had been Napoleon's station on the 917,918; preceding day, and he halted there some time, as it was 609-614; not above a mile from the suburb about to be attacked, and afforded a panoramic view of the whole combined operation." 1 346, 347; 37; Fain, Chron. i. Thiers, xvi. Marm. v. 297, 298. 59. Leipsic. The Imagination could conceive no more magnificent and Storming of heart-stirring scene than here presented itself. On all sides the armies of the Allies, preceded or covered by a tremendous artillery, were pressing forward to the assault of the devoted city. A thousand guns, arranged in a vast semicircle about a mile from the walls, kept up an incessant fire on the buildings, which were soon in flames in several places. Under cover of this tremendous discharge, the troops on all sides rushed forward to the assault. Sacken was twice repulsed by Reynier from the Halle suburb on the Partha; but at length, by the aid of Langeron, he forced his way in, and, crossing the bridge in the face of two guns discharging grape, his columns rushed down the main street, spreading terror and dismay into the centre of the city. About the same. time Bulow, supported by six Swedish battalions, after two repulses, forced from Marmont the gate of HinterThor, and commenced a guerilla warfare with the French, XI. 1813. who still occupied the windows of the houses on the side CHAP. of the Grand Army. Benningsen penetrated the barrier of Grimma; Kleist and Wittgenstein stormed those of Sand and Windmühlen; and Hesse Homburg won that of Pegau looking to the south. On all sides the Allied troops, amidst a ceaseless roar of cannon and musketry, drowned at times by the cheers of the men, came rushing, with the irresistible force of a torrent which had burst its banks, into the town. At this moment a series of explosions were heard near the Lindenau gate, which spread alarm through the city. They arose from the blowing up of a number of powder-waggons which the drivers, despairing of effecting a passage through the throng, themselves sacrificed to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. The panic now became universal. On all sides the troops in the town rushed towards the Lindenau gate, the sole exit left. Marshal Marmont found it impossible to get through the crowd, and he would have been trampled under foot, or left behind and made Marm. v. prisoner, but for some officers of his corps who, recog-Thiers, xvi. nising him in the tumult, placed him in their midst, 616, 617; hewed a way through the throng with their sabres, and 146; Fain, succeeded in forcing his horse into the living stream, Cath. 345, by which he was swept over to the other side of the iv. 480, 481. bridge.1* What rendered the pressure at this point so extreme, was that the north and south boulevards, and the great * "Le désordre était partout. L'encombrement causé par les voitures sur les boulevards, l'affluence de ceux qui se retiraient, empêcherent aucune formation ni aucune disposition. Enfin la terreur emporta tout le monde. L'on jugera de ses effets quand on saura qu'il y a un boulevard circulaire entre la ville et les faubourgs, et que les troupes se retiraient à la fois par le boulevard du nord, par celui du midi, et par le milieu de la ville; les trois colonnes se reunissaient sur la chaussée de Lindenau, debouché commune. La foule était si pressée sur ce point de reunion qu'ayant pour mon compte fait ma retraite par les bas côtés du boulevard jamais je ne pus entrer sans secours dans le courant. Deux officiers du 88 s'en chargerent. L'un frappa tellement avec son sabre qu'il parvint à faire un léger vide, et l'autre ayant saisi et tiré fortement la bride du petit cheval Arabe que je montais, le jeta dans cette masse confuse où dans les premiers moments il fut porté, tant la foule était compacte."-MARMONT, v. 299, 300. 297, 298; Bout. 143 ii. 441; 346; Jom. |