A few days later, Marshal MacDonald, whom Napoleon had left on the Katzbach at the head of several corps thought that he would take advantage of the freedom which the Emperor's absence gave him to try to win a battle, and wipe out the memory of his defeat on the Trebbia in the Italian campaign of 1799; but he got beaten again. Personally brave though he was, he was always unlucky in war; not that he lacked ability, but because he was, like an Austrian general, too limited and too exclusive in his strategy. Before a battle he could chalk out a plan which was nearly always good, but he should have modified it according to circumstances, and this he was too slow-witted to do. He acted like some chess players, who can play very well as long as they are directing both sides, but are at a loss in a real game when the adversary moves his pieces otherwise than they had expected. Thus on August 26, the very day when the Emperor was winning a brilliant victory before Dresden, Macdonald lost the battle which the French call the Katzbach, and the Germans Jauer or Janowitz.
The French army, consisting of 75,000 men, including my regiment, was posted between Liegnitz and Goldberg on the left bank of the little stream of the Katzbach, separated by it from several Prussian corps commanded by Field-Marshal Blucher. The ground which we occupied was cut up with wooded hillocks which, though practical for cavalry, rendered its movements difficult and for that reason offered great advantages to infantry. Now as Macdonald's force consisted chiefly of that arm, and he had only the 6,000 force of Sébastiani's corps, while the enemy had 15,000 to 20,000 at his disposal posted on the vast level plateau of Jauer, it was obviously his duty to await the Prussians in his position. It may be added that the left bank of the Katzbach is low, while on the opposite side, in order to reach the plateau of Jailer, a lofty and rocky hill has to be climbed by means of a steep and stony road. The only bridges over the Katzbach are in front of the villages, which are few, and the fords are very narrow and become impracticable if the water rises in the least. The stream covered the front of the French army, than which nothing could have been more favourable to us, but Marshal Macdonald, wishing to attack the Prussians, abandoned the great advantages of his position and put the Katzbach behind him, ordering his troops to cross at several points. The cavalry corps, including Exelmans' division, of which my regiment formed part, had to cross the river at the ford of Chemochowitz. The weather had been threatening in the morning, and this should have led the marshal to put off his attack till another day, or at least induced him to act promptly. Instead of this he lost precious moments in giving detailed orders, so that his columns were not in motion till two in the afternoon. Scarcely had the army started when a fearful storm came on, swelling the Katzbach and rendering the ford so difficult that General Saint-Germain's cuirassiers could not cross.
On reaching the opposite bank we had to climb a steep hill through a narrow defile, where the rain had made the ground so slippery that our horses were falling at every step. We were therefore obliged to get down, only re-mounting when we reached the plateau. There we found several divisions of infantry which the generals had prudently posted near the clumps of wood with which the plain is covered, for, as I have already said, we knew that the enemy was far superior to us in cavalry; and this was all the greater disadvantage to us because, as has been explained, the rain prevented the soldiers from firing. We were much surprised to see no sign of the enemy. The complete silence made me suspect some trap, since we knew for certain that on the previous night Blucher had occupied the position with more than 100,000 men. We ought, therefore, in my opinion, to have reconnoitred the country well before committing ourselves to it. General Sébastiani thought otherwise. As soon as Roussel d'Urbal's division was formed he sent it forward into the plain, not only with its own artillery, but with that of Exelmans' division which we had had so much trouble in getting on to the plateau. As soon as Exelmans perceived that Sébastiani had carried off his guns he hastened after that general to reclaim them, leaving his division without any orders. The two brigades composing it were about five hundred paces apart on the same front and drawn up in columns of regiments. Mine formed the head of Wathiez' brigade, having the 24th behind it and the 11th Hussars in the rear.
The plateau of Jauer is so extensive that we could barely see Roussel d'Urbal's division of seven regiments. A thousand paces from the right flank of my column was one of the numerous coppices with which the plain is studded. If my regiment had been alone at that point, I should certainly have searched the wood; but as Exelmans, who was very jealous of his own authority, had made it a rule that no man of his division was to leave the ranks without orders, I had not ventured to take that usual precaution, and for the same reason the brigadier had also abstained from doing so. This passive obedience went near to be fatal to us.
I was in front of my regiment—which, as I said, was leading the columns—when suddenly I heard loud shouts behind me. A large body of Prussian lancers had issued unexpectedly from the wood, and hurled themselves on the 24th Chasseurs and the lancers, taking them in flank, and throwing them into great disorder. Being directed obliquely, their charge reached the rear of our column first, then the centre, and now was threatening the head. My regiment was therefore about to be attacked on the right flank. The enemy was advancing quickly, and the position was critical; but fully confident in the courage and intelligence of all my men, I gave the order to charge first to the right at full gallop. The manśuvre was a risky one in presence of the enemy, but it was executed so quickly and in such good order that in an instant the regiment was fronting towards the Prussians. These from their oblique movement now presented their flank to us, and our squadron took advantage of this to penetrate the enemy's ranks, doing great execution.
On seeing the success of my regiment, the 24th, recovering from its surprise, rallied and repulsed the part of the enemy's line opposed to it. As for the 11th, however—the Dutchmen whom the Emperor had thought to make Frenchmen by a stroke of the pen—their colonel could not bring them to charge. However, we could do without them, for the 23rd and 24th were enough to rout three Prussian regiments.
While our chasseurs were in hot pursuit, an old colonel on the other side, who had been unhorsed, came near to me for safety, since, even in the heat of the fight, no one dared to strike him while he was under my protection. On foot, and over a soil washed to mud, he followed the rapid movements of my horse for a quarter of an hour, with one hand on my knee, saying: 'You are my guardian angel.' I was really sorry for the old man, for he was dropping from fatigue and yet would not leave me, till presently, seeing one of my men leading a captured horse, I made him lend it to the Prussian colonel, whom I sent to the rear with a sergeant. You will see that he lost no time in showing his gratitude.
Meanwhile, the plateau of Jauer and the banks of the Katzbach had suddenly become the scene of a bloody battle, for Prussian troops were emerging from every coppice and the plain was soon covered with them. I could not check my regiment, and we presently found ourselves in front of a brigade of the enemy's infantry, who, owing to the effects of the rain on their muskets, were unable to fire a shot at us. I tried to break the square, but our horses could only advance at a walk, and every one knows that without a dash it is impossible for cavalry to break a well-commanded and well-closed-up battalion which boldly presents a hedge of bayonets. In vain did we approach so close to the enemy that we could talk to them and strike their muskets with our sword-blades; we could not break their lines, as we could easily have done if General Sébastiani had not sent the artillery to another point. The position on both sides was truly ridiculous; we looked each other in the eyes, unable to do any damage, our swords being too short to reach the enemy, and their muskets refusing to go off. Things went on like this for some time till General Maurin sent the 6th Lancers to our aid. Their long weapons, outreaching the enemy's bayonets, soon slew many of the Prussians, enabling the chasseurs to penetrate into the square, where they did terrible execution. In this fight the sonorous voice of Colonel Perquit could be heard, shouting, in a rich Alsatian accent, 'Bointez, lanciers, bointez.'
In this part of the field, then, the fight was going in our favour; but things were altered by the arrival of 20,000 Prussian cavalry, who, having crushed Roussel d'Urbal's division, sent unsupported more than a league ahead, attacked us with overpowering forces. Their approach was notified to by the return of General Exelmans, who, as I said, had left his division and gone off almost alone to get back from Sébastiani his guns, which that general had unwisely attached to Roussel d'Urbal's division. He had not found Sébastiani, but had reached the first division in time to see his guns captured, together with d'Urbal's own, and to find himself caught in the rout of his colleague's squadrons. We felt a presentiment of disaster on seeing our general hurry up with changed countenance, and having lost his hat and even his belt. In haste we halted our soldiers, who were engaged in sabring the enemy's infantry; but before we could re-form them we were enveloped by the Prussian squadron, who pursued the remains of d'Urbal's division right into our ranks.
In an instant the 5,000 or 6,000 combatants of Sébastiani's corps were overwhelmed by 20,000 troopers, nearly all uhlans, and therefore armed with the lance, a weapon which only a few squadrons of ours carried. The groups which we formed were thus, in spite of all our efforts, constantly broken up, and the enemy pushed us steadily back to the end of the plain, where the steep descent to the Katzbach begins.
At this point we were received by two divisions of French infantry, in rear of which we hoped to rally; but our men's muskets were also too wet to be fired. Their only means of defence was a battery of six pieces, with which and their bayonets they checked the enemy for a moment; but the Prussian generals brought up twenty pieces, the French guns were dismounted in an instant, and their battalions broken. Then, with one general hurrah, the enemy's troopers hurled us down in disorder to the Katzbach. The stream, which we had crossed in the morning with difficulty, had been transformed by the deluge of rain which had fallen all day long into a raging torrent. The water had overflowed, covering almost entirely the parapet of the Chemochowitz bridge, and preventing us from ascertaining if the ford were still passable. People made, however, for the points where they had crossed in the morning; the ford was impracticable for men on foot, and many were drowned, but the greater number escaped by the bridge.
I got my regiment as much as possible together, making them march in close column of half-sections, so as to give mutual support. They entered the water, and reached the other side with the loss of two men only. All the other cavalry regiments took the same line, comprehending, even in the confusion of the retreat, that the bridges must be left for the infantry. I must admit that the descent of the hill was one of the most critical moments of my life. The steep ground slipped under our horses' feet, and at every step they stumbled over fragments of rock. The enemy's artillery, belching grape upon us, completed the horror of our situation. Still I got off with no accident, thanks to the pluck and cleverness of my Turkish horse. He went along the precipice like a cat on a roof, and saved my life, not for the only time. I shall have more to say about this excellent beast.
After crossing the Katzbach our troops expected to be safe from the enemy; but the Prussians had sent a strong column across the river by a bridge above that of Chemochowitz, so that when we reached the bank which we had left in the morning we were astonished to find ourselves attacked by numerous squadrons of uhlans. Yet several regiments— mine was mentioned by Marshal Macdonald in his despatch— went at the enemy without hesitation. I do not know, however, what would have happened if General Saint-Germain's division, which had been left behind in the morning and consequently was quite fresh, had not been on the spot to come to our succour. This division, consisting of two regiments of carabiniers, a brigade of cuirassiers, and six guns, attacked the enemy furiously, and drove the troops who had come to cut off our retreat into the river. Then, as nothing is so terrible as beaten troops who resume the offensive, the troopers of Exelmans' and Roussel d'Urbal's divisions annihilated all whom they could get at.
This counter-attack was of great service to us, for it checked the enemy, who, on that day, did not venture to pursue us beyond the Katzbach. But the disaster to the French army was immense, for, having crossed the stream by all the fords and bridges between Liegnitz and Goldberg—that is to say, over a distance of more than five leagues—now that those passages were all rendered useless by the flood the French army found itself extended on a long front, with the Prussians in its rear and an almost impassable stream in its front. The scenes which I had witnessed on the plateau of Jauer and at the bridge of Chemochowitz were reproduced at all points of the battle-field. Everywhere the rain paralyzed our infantry fire and favoured the Prussian cavalry, outnumbering us fourfold. Everywhere was our retreat rendered very dangerous by the difficulty of crossing the swollen Katzbach. Most of those who tried to swim the river were drowned, General Sibuet among the number, and we saved only a few guns.
After this disastrous affair, Marshal Macdonald tried to rally his troops on the towns of Bunzlau, Lauban, and Görlitz. A pitch-dark night, roads cut up, rain always falling in torrents, rendered our march slow and toilsome; many men fell out or went astray.
At the battle of the Katzbach, Napoleon's army lost 13,000 men killed or drowned, 20,000 prisoners, and 50 guns. Marshal Macdonald, whose miscalculation from a strategic point of view had brought about this irreparable disaster, though he had lost the confidence of the army, was able to preserve its esteem by the honest and straightforward way in which he admitted his mistake. On the following day he called a meeting of all the generals and colonels, and after inviting us all to help to maintain order, said that every man and officer had done his duty, that the loss of the battle was due to one man only, and that was himself, because when it came on to rain he ought not to have left broken ground to go and attack in an open plain an enemy out-numbering him immensely in cavalry, nor should he have placed a river behind him in stormy weather. This noble confession disarmed criticism, and each man did his utmost to contribute to the safety of the army during its retreat to the Elbe.
Fate seemed determined to overwhelm us, for a few days after Oudinot had lost the battle of Gross-Beeren, Macdonald that of Katzbach, and Vandamme that of Kulm; the French experienced a serious reverse. Marshal Ney, who had succeeded Oudinot in command of the army which was to march on Berlin, was beaten at Jutterbach by the deserter Bernadotte, and compelled to abandon the right bank of the Elbe. The Emperor returned to Dresden, and the various corps under Macdonald took up a position not far from that town while Marshal Ney, after driving back the Swedes to the right bank, assembled his troops on the left, at Dessau and Wittenberg. The French army remained almost motionless for about a fortnight in September and the beginning of October. My regiment bivouacked near Weissig on the heights of Pilnitz, these being occupied by one of our divisions of infantry. There was no official armistice, but both sides were tired and hostilities were de facto suspended, each side benefiting by this to prepare for new and more terrible combats.
At Pilnitz I received a letter from the colonel of Prussian cavalry to whom I had lent a horse when taken prisoner by my troopers at the beginning of the battle of Katzbach. He had been set free by his own side when the tide of fortune turned, but was none the less grateful for what I had done for him. In order to prove it he sent me ten troopers and a lieutenant of my regiment, who had been wounded and taken prisoners. Herr von Blankensee, for that was his name, had had their wounds dressed, and, after taking every care of them for a fortnight, had obtained leave to have them escorted to the French outposts, and forwarded them to me with many thanks, assuring me that he owed me his life. I believe he was right, but I felt none the less this expression of gratitude from one of the enemy's commanding officers.
While we were encamped at Pilnitz, a curious thing took place in the sight of the whole division. A corporal of the 4th Chasseurs had in a drunken moment insulted his lieutenant, and a lancer of the 6th, being savagely bitten by his horse and unable to make it let go, had struck it in the belly with a pair of shears, thereby killing it. Both men certainly deserved punishment, but only as a disciplinarian measure. General Exelmans by his own authority condemned them to death, and having made the division mount to be present at the execution, he drew them up on three sides of a large hollow square, two pits being dug on the fourth side, and the criminals placed in front of them. I had been riding about all night, and returned to camp at that moment. On seeing the melancholy preparations I had made sure that the offenders had been duly tried. I soon found out that it was not so: and on going up to a group formed by General Exelmans, the two brigadiers, and all the colonels, I heard M. Devance, of the 4th Chasseurs, and M. Perquit, of the 6th Lancers, entreating the general to pardon the two offenders. Exelmans refused; walking up and down in front of the troops while they were begging for clemency. I have never been able to refrain from expressing my indignation at the sight of an act which seems to me unjust. I may have been wrong, but addressing Colonels Devance and Perquit, I told them that they were lowering their dignity by permitting men of their regiments to be marched through the camp as criminals without having been tried. I added, ‘The Emperor has granted power of life and death to no one, and has reserved that of pardoning to himself.' On seeing the effect produced by my outbreak, General Exelmans was moved, and called out that he forgave the chasseur, but that the lancer would be shot. That is to say, he pardoned the soldier who had insulted his lieutenant and meant to execute the man who had killed a horse.
To put the poor fellow to death, two sergeants were called for from each regiment; but as sergeants have no carbines, they had to take those belonging to some of the men. When the order reached me I made no answer to my adjutant, so no man of the 23rd presented himself to take part in the execution. General Exelmans perceived it and said nothing. A report rang out, and all the spectators groaned with indignation. Exelmans ordered that, according to custom, the troops should file past the corpse; the march began. My regiment was second in the column, and I was just debating whether I ought to make it pass the body of the unhappy victim of Exelmans' severity when shouts of laughter were heard proceeding from the 24th Chasseurs, who had already reached the place of execution. I sent a staff-sergeant to find out the cause of this indecent mirth in presence of a corpse, and I soon learnt that the dead man was doing very well. In fact all that had taken place was merely a farce invented to frighten any soldiers who might be tempted to fail in their discipline—a farce which consisted in shooting a man with blank cartridges. In order that the secret of this sham execution should be better kept, our chief had entrusted the duty to sergeants and had had cartridges containing only powder served out to them; but as in order to complete the illusion it was necessary that the troops should see the corpse, Exelmans had told the lancer to fall face forwards as soon as they fired, to sham dead, and to leave the army the next night in peasant's clothes, and with a little money given to him on purpose. But the soldier, a crafty Gascon, knew quite well that Exelmans was exceeding his powers, and had no more right to shoot him without trial than to send him away without leave. So he remained standing after the discharge, and refused to go away unless he was given a passport, and guaranteed against arrest by the gendarmes. On learning that it was this discussion between the general and the supposed dead man which had excited the merriment of the 24th, I did not choose that my regiment should take part in this comedy, which in my view was far more contrary to discipline than were the faults which it was intended to check. So I made my squadrons wheel, and trotting off, I brought them away from this unpleasant scene back to their camp, where I made them dismount. All the generals and colonels having followed this example, Exelmans remained alone with the dead man, who calmly took his way back to his bivouac, where he at once set to work to eat his soup with his comrades amid renewed peals of laughter.
During our stay at Pilnitz, the enemy was receiving strong reinforcements, notably 60,000 Russians under Benningsen. These came from beyond Moscow, and included many Tartars and Bashkirs, armed only with bows and arrows. I have never understood with what object the Russian Government brought up from so great a distance these masses of irregular cavalry, who could be of no use against troops armed in the modern fashion, and only made food more scarce for the regular troops. Our soldiers were in no way impressed by the sight of these half-savage Asiatics, whom, from their bows and arrows, they nicknamed ' the Cupids.' The newcomers, however, who had never seen Frenchmen, encouraged by officers nearly as ignorant as themselves, expected to see us fly at their approach. The very day after their arrival they assailed our troops in countless bands, but were received with musketry-fire, and left many of their number dead on the ground. Their losses seemed only to excite them further; and as any ground suited them they began wheeling round us like swarms of wasps, and it was hard to catch them. When our troopers did get at them, the execution was considerable. Still, as the Russians took advantage of the disorder into which they threw our line to support them by detachments of hussars, the Emperor ordered the generals to keep a redoubled watch and to visit the outposts frequently.
Meanwhile, both sides were preparing to resume the hostilities which, as I have said, had been unofficially suspended. One morning, when our camp was perfectly quiet, just as I was in my shirtsleeves, preparing to shave myself before a little mirror hung to a tree, I felt a tap on the shoulder. Looking round sharply to see who in my regiment had taken this liberty with his colonel, I beheld the Emperor. He had wished to examine the neighbouring position without alarming the enemy, and had gone the rounds with a single aide-de-camp, followed by some squadrons selected from all the regiments in the division. By his order, I took command of this escort, and went about all day with him; nor had I any fault to find with him in the matter of kindness to me. As we were about to return to Pilnitz, we perceived some thousand Bashkirs galloping towards us at the full speed of their little Tartar horses. The Emperor had not seen them till now, and reined up on a rising ground, asking me to try and capture some. To this end, I placed two of my squadrons in ambush behind a clump of trees, bidding the rest march on. This trick would not have taken in Cossacks, but with the less experienced Bashkirs it answered perfectly. They passed close to the wood, and were pursuing the column when our squadrons dashed out, killing a good many, and capturing some thirty of them. I had them brought to the Emperor, who exhibited much surprise at seeing these wretched horsemen sent with only bows and arrows to fight European troops. These Tartars had Chinese faces, and wore strange dresses. When we got back to camp my men amused themselves by giving the Bashkirs wine. Charmed with this unwonted reception, they all got drunk, and expressed their satisfaction by such wonderful grimaces and capers that Homeric laughter, in which Napoleon shared, overcame all beholders.
On September 28 the Emperor reviewed our corps, and gave me proofs of exceptional favour; for, contrary to his usual practice of giving only one reward at a time, he made me officer of the Legion of Honour and Baron, and granted me a gratuity. Further, he heaped honours on my regiment, saying that it was the only one in Sébastiani's corps which had maintained good order at the Katzbach, had captured guns, and beaten the Prussians wherever it met them. The regiment owed this distinction to Marshal Macdonald's eulogy of it; at the time of the rout at the Katzbach he had taken refuge in its ranks, and shared in the firm charge by which it had driven the enemy back across the river. After the review, as the troops were on their way back to camp, General Exelmans passed along the front of my regiment, loudly complimenting it on the justice which the Emperor had done to its valour, and eulogising the merits of its colonel in a way which I can only call exaggerated.
Meanwhile, the French army was concentrating in the neighbourhood of Leipzig. The enemy was also marching on that town in a vast circle which contracted day by day; with the evident object of shutting up the French troops, and wholly cutting off their retreat.
A.Army
of Bohemia, under Schwarzenburg.
The map is 10 miles N-S and 12 miles E-W.
Left-click on the map to see it in far greater detail.
