The Action of Halle
17th October 1806
by Patrick E. Wilson, UK
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Precisely three days after the French victory of Jena-Auerstädt, Marechal Jean-Baptiste-Jules Bernadotte engaged and defeated the Prussian Reserve Corps of the Duke of Wurttemberg at Halle. Bernadotte's audacious attack brought the comment from Napoleon that: 'Bernadotte hesitates at nothing... One day the Gascon will get caught!' The attack however silenced Bernadotte's scoffers and went some way to redeem his reputation following his apparent lackadaisical performance on 14th October, when he had failed to contribute to the French victory, and had spent the day marching from one field to another and not firing a single shot all day much to the annoyance of his troops. It has been pointed out that the topography of the Saale may have effected the sound of fire on the 14th so that Bernadotte only heard that at Jena, consequently he may well have been marching to the sound of the guns. Unfortunately he only reached that battlefield at 4.30pm, far too late to take part in that battle. The action of Halle is an ideal subject for wargaming on the tabletop, the forces involved are reasonably small, about 13,000 men each. The action itself involved a fight over a bridge, or series of bridges, a fight for the town and then a showdown with the main enemy force on the other side of the town. Thus any re-fight on the tabletop offers the wargamer a real challenge, especially for the French player and for the Prussian player it offers the opportunity to inflict a defeat on the all conquering French of the 1805-07 period. Marechal Bernadotte's 1st Corps d'Armee provided the French forces for this action. This corps consisted of three infantry divisions of three infantry regiments each, a cavalry division of three regiments of light cavalry and a liberal supply of artillery. However, on the 17th Bernadotte's 3rd division under General Drouet, later the Comte d'Erlon, was detached at Eisleben and involved in his own little battle against the Prussian Treskow infantry regiment No 17. French Infantry The majority of Bernadotte's infantry regiments were of two battalions, each battalion having nine companies; one grenadier, one voltigeur and seven fusileur, or in the case of a light infantry battalion, one carabinier, one voltigeur and seven chasseur. The cavalry regiments had three squadrons each and the artillery had a right mixture of different ordnance from 121b to 31b cannons for a total of 50 guns. Bernadotte's divisional commanders included two who have found themselves a place within the Napoleonic legend, although perhaps nut the way they would have liked. General Pierre Dupont de I'Etang led the 1st division, he would earn great renown for his performance at Friedland in 1807 but this would turn to infamy in 1808 when he surrendered a French army at Baylen. General Drouet, the future Comte d'Erlon, led the 3rd division. Today he is largely known for his performance in the Waterloo campaign, which to say the least was a bit poor. But what is largely forgotten, is that he did well in the Tyrol in 1809 and later in the Peninsula War he actually defeated the British under General Stewart at Maya in July 1813. All this though is in the future. The Duke of Wurttemberg's Reserve Corps provided the Prussian forces for this action. The corps was meant to be the reserve for the main Prussian army under the Duke of Brunswick, which had actually been marching to join the Duke of Wurttemberg when it collided with Marechal Davoust's corps at Auerstädt. The Reserve Corps had formed at the fortress city of Magdeburg and had about 18 battalions of infantry, 20 squadrons of cavalry and 4 batteries of artillery. Not all these troops were to see action at Halle, Treskow's regiment was at Eisleben and there was another detachment at Leipzig. According to the Historian F. Lorraine Petre, the Duke of Wurttemberg had about 13,000 men and fifty guns at Halle (it ought to be noted here that each Prussian battalion usually had a couple of battalion guns, which were entirely separate from Prussian field batteries). The Reserve Corps was about the size of a 1806 Prussian mixed division, which usually consisted of two line brigades of five battalions each, light brigade of Hussars and Fusilier battalions and a brigade of heavy cavalry. The Reserve Corps was fresh and had seen no action. and furthermore, at Halle it occupied a very good defensive position that presented the Prussians with an opportunity to inflict serious casualties upon any attacker. However, the Duke of Wurttemberg's initial dispositions were to be found wanting and his opponent, unfortunately for him, was a very experienced and enterprising individual, as were the men he led.
General Hinrichs, a light infantry commander, commanded these advance units. The Duke of Wurttemberg deployed the main body of his infantry, possibly two infantry brigades, astride the road to Merseburq, that is to the south of Halle opposite the gate of Galgenthor. The cavalry were placed opposite the Steinthor gate, near the Funkens garden to the north-east of Halle. Marechal Berndotte's approach began at 2.00am from the town of Querfurt, about 15 miles to the south-west of Halle. A few miles into his advance he heard of Treskow's presence at Eisleben and detached his 3rd division and the 5th Chasseurs a cheval to observe this column. He continued his march with the 1st and 2nd divisions and the remainder of his cavalry. At 8.00am his cavalry clashed with the Duke of Wurttemberg's at Passendorf and began to push the Prussian dragoons back upon the Hohe Brucke. It was at this moment that two significant decisions were taken, the Duke of Wurttemberg decided to prepare fur retreat and sent his baggage off to Dessau but still remained doubtful whether Bernadotte's attack was serious. Bernadotte decided to go fur it before the Prussians realised what he was attempting to do. Consequently as soon as General Olivier Rivaud de la Raffiniere and his 2nd division had arrived, at about 10.00am, Bernadotte ordered General Dupont and his 1st division forward against the Huhe Brucke bridges. General Dupont placed himself at the head of the 32nd Ligne infantry, and supported by a battalion of the 9th Legere infantry and three light guns, advanced against the Hohe Brucke. By this time Bernadotte's hussars had already driven the Prussian dragoons back onto the Huhe Brucke and only General Hinrichs by now somewhat discouraged infantry and artillery stood in Dupont's way. The 32nd Ligne, perhaps 2,000 strong, easily overcame the first Prussian troops they encountered and pursuing them, entered the first of the Huhe Brucke bridges, Hinrich's detachment defending the Island, despite their energetic fire, were unable to halt Dupont's infantry. The 32nd Ligne successfully stormed across all the bridges of the Hohe Brucke and entered Halle itself. With the rest of Dupont's division now rapidly advancing to their comrades support, Hinrich and his men, now effectively cut off, had no option but to surrender. In Halle itself, Dupont had found little opposition and had pushed his battalions forward the Galgenthor and Steinthor gates. At the Galgenthor the 32nd Ligne collided with a battalion sent in by the Duke of Wurttemberg, this was driven back through that gate and Dupont's men began to fan out to take up positions at the gates, in the gardens and behind the walls on the outskirts of the town. Dupont however felt he was too weak at the moment to take on the main Prussian force to the south of Halle. Instead, and whilst he waited the arrival of the rest of his division and General Rivaud's supporting division, his men, like those of Marechal Jean Lannes at Vierzehnheiligen during the Battle of Jena, began a steady fire upon the Prussians to their front. The Prussians were at this time actually on the move, the Duke of Wurttemberg seeing his line of retreat threatened had decided to retreat upon Dessau but to do this his infantry had to march north-eastward across the eastward side of Halle. This area was now occupied by swarms of French voltigeurs, who inflicted much loss on the Prussians as they marched fur the Dessau road. The Duke of Wurttemberg may have faired better if he had assaulted Halle and thrown Dupont's initial assault columns back across the Hohe Brucke.
The attack was not long in coming as the French emerged from the whole of the eastern side of Halle and despite the vaunted volley fire of the Prussians and the fire of their artillery which had established across fire between the Galgenthor and Steinthor gates, the French were able to make progress and eventually brake the Prussian centre. This was a calamity of the first order, for the Prussians found themselves in two halves, one pushed by Dupont's now jubilant soldiery along the road to Dessau until stopped by the Prussian cavalry at Oppin, about 6 miles Northeast of Halle. The other halve, pursued by Rivaud's division, fell back along the road to Bitterfelde and were only able to rejoin their comrades at Dessau on the 18th, having been remorselessly pursued by Rivaud's men for must of the night. This action had cost the Duke of Wurttemberg 5,000 men killed, wounded and captured. Bernadotte give his loss at 800 but this is probably an under estimate. Meanwhile, General Drouet and the 3rd division had encountered Treskow's regiment of nine companies, a few hussars and a few guns. With the 27th Legere and the 9th Ligne infantry regiments and a few guns Drouet drove Treskow from his position at Eisleben and despite the bravery of this Prussian regiment, forced it to surrender near a mill at Crollwitz. The action of Halle more or less signalled the end of the Duke of Wurttemberg's Reserve Corps, the remnants of which straggled into Magdeburg on 20th October and from there the majority passed into captivity when Prince Hohenlohe, to whom they had rallied, surrendered to Prince Murat at Prenzlau. Although elements of the Reserve Corps did take part in General von Blucher's famous retreat to Lubeck and fought there before surrendering to Marechal Bernadotte on 7th November. Marechal Bernadotte had rested his men directly after the fighting at Halle and then on Napoleon's orders took part in the general pursuit of the defeated Prussian Army, his Corps d'Armee taking a notable part in the storming and sack of Lubeck on 6th November. Wargaming the action of Halle may be approached in two ways, firstly from an entirely historical prospective in which we attempt to re-enact the action as it was. By placing the troops in their historical positions and attempting to run the game from there. Most wargamers, with the benefit of hindsight, would probably have the Duke of Wurttemberg's main force retreat before it actually did. However what would have happened if the Prussians had launched a full-scale counter-attack ? Could they have pushed Bernadotte's leading division into the Saale and inflicted a severe check upon that impetuous Marechal ? The Prussian player/players should at least attempt this in my opinion. Another option, if one wishes to be truly historic, is to march across the French front as the Duke of Wurttemberg actually attempted and see if you can survive. Personally I prefer the former, the full scale counter-attack, one can always use the Prussian cavalry (20 squadrons strong) to cover a withdrawal after any repulse. The second way of wargaming the action of Halle is to leave it to the players involved to deploy their troops according to their own preferences. Although the referee, I would argue, should at least insist that Prussian commander should make some show of holding the bridges of Hohe Brucke. The Prussian commander may want to surprise the French when they enter Halle and this is perfectly acceptable, as the main point of the wargame should be the French storming of the bridges and the fight for Halle itself. This is intrinsic to the game and fur me the must challenging aspect of the scenario. Orders of Battle1St Corps d'Armee: Marechal Jean-Baptiste-Jules Bernadotte1St Division: General Pierre Dupont
Brigade Legendre 32nd and 96th Ligne Infantry Regiments 2 battalions each. Artillery 12 guns. 2nd Division: General Olivier Rivaud
Brigade Maison 45th and 54th Ligne Infantry Regiments 2 battalions each. Artillery 10 guns. 3rd Division: General Jean-Baptiste Drouet
Brigade Werle 94th and 95th Ligne Infantry Regiments 2 and 3 battalions. Artillery 16 guns. Cavalry Division: General of Brigade Jacques Tilly.
Reserve Artillery: General Jean-Baptiste Eble (of Berezina fame).
The Duke of Wurttemberg's Reserve CorpsLight brigade General Hinrichs
3 x Line Infantry Brigades of 4 Musketeer and 1 Grenadier battalions each. 3 x Brigade batteries (either 61b or 121b cannon). Heavy Cavalry Brigade
BibliographyChandler, David G.,(Editor) Napoleon's Marshals (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1987).
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In 1806 Halle stood on the right bank of the river Saale, which divides into a number of branches at this point and as a result the left bank is rather marshy. The left bank is connected to the right by a series of bridges called the Hohe Brucke. The left bank is also fairly open and offers no protection to any attacker, it was from this direction that Bernadotte launched his audacious attack. Halle itself was surrounded by an old wall of little practical value, roads from it radiated northward to Bergburg and Magdeburg, north-eastward to Dessau and Wittenberg and south-eastward to Merseburg and Leipzig.
The Duke of Wurttemberg deployed his troops as follows: A dragoon regiment was positioned in a forward position at the village of Passendorf, a thousand metres or so behind were four companies of light infantry and their battalion guns, who protected the first of the Hohe Brucke bridges. A further five companies with four battalion guns defended the Island directly behind the first Hohe Brucke bridge.
But now it was too late, the rest of Dupont's division had arrived and he now had his whole command at, his disposal. The 8th Ligne infantry, the head of Rivaud's division was also arriving too, and as it took up a position holding the Galgenthor. Dupont collected his whole division, the 9th Legere, the 32nd Ligne and 96th Ligne infantry regiments plus a hussar regiment at the Steinthur gate, near the Dessau road, and prepared to go over to the offensive.