With Blucher's escape from Vauchamps what is known as "The Six Days Campaign of 1814" ended. In these six days Napoleon had reestablished his reputation as a brilliant field commander.

The Emperor's desperate situation at the end of the 1813 campaign in Germany overshadowed his victories in that campaign. At the beginning of the Allied invasion of France in early 1814 Napoleon had suffered a defeat at La Rothiere and it appeared that Paris would soon fall. But to the surprise of both the overconfident Allies, and the demoralized French, he nearly reversed the military situation in six days of February using a force that never numbered more than 30,000 effectives.

In these six days the French army had marched about 80 miles over "impassable" muddy roads, won four victories, and inflicted a total of at least 30,000 casualties at minimal cost. The question of casualties is, however, an interesting one.

As is typical of the victor, subsequent German historians have attempted to hide the failures of the Allies during 1814 by adjusting the numbers of troops present, reducing casualties, and rationalizing their defeats.

A tabulation of Allied strengths reported before and after the battle follows (these strength figures are estimates based on returns from 1 February obtained from the French Army Archives at Chateau Vincennes):

Date	Yorck's Prussian 1st Corps	Kleist's Prussian 2nd Corps	Olssufiev's Russian 9th Corps	Kapzevich's Russian 10th Corps	Sacken's Russian Corps	Korff's Russian Corps
1/1	21,447	-	5,595	*7,282	21,550	6,947
2/6	-	16,000	-	6,300	-	-
2/16	13,857	9,800	1,500	6,300	-	-
2/22	-	-	-	-	-	3,754
Losses	7,590	6,200	4,095	?	7,425	3,193

Apparent total losses: 28,503 men
* Does not include officers

Date	Yorck's Prussian 1st Corps	Kleist's Prussian 2nd Corps	Olssufiev's Russian 9th Corps	Kapzevich's Russian 10th Corps	Sacken's Russian Corps	Korff's Russian Corps
1/1
Infantry Battalions	37	31	12	16	26	0
Cavalry Squadrons*	42	24	0	0	28	32
Cannon	82	96	36?	36?	94	24?
2/16
Infantry Battalions	16	13	3**	?	?	?
Cavalry Squadrons*	33	40	0	?	?	?
Cannon	86	72	12	?	?	?

*Does not include Cossacks.
**1,500 men, or approximately three battalions.

Between them, the two Prussian corps lost 39 battalions. The near annihiliation of Olssufiev at Champaubert cost the Russians approximately nine battalions. The average Prussian 1st Corps battalionhad 571.92 men. If that corps indeed lost 21 battalions, that would equate to 12,010 casualties. The average strength of a Prussian 2nd Corps battalion was 516.13 men. If the corps did lose 18 battalions, that would suggest a loss of 9,290 men. Olssufiev, according to all accounts, lost 4,095 men. This analysis of data suggests that these three corps by themselves lost as many as 25,395 men.

Russian losses cannot be calculated on an average battalion strength before and after, but the review of strength figures shows that Sacken and Korff lost 7,425 and 3,193 men, respectively, and Kapzevitch is reputed to have lost 2,000 at Vauchamps. These numbers would suggest a total Allied loss of between 28,503 and 38,013 men for the Six Days Campaign.

However, the Allied losses at Brienne and La Rothiere before the start of the Six Days should be subtracted. Only Yorck, Kapzevitch, and Olssufiev were engaged there. Yorck's losses appear to have been insignificant and the Russian losses were only 3,000-4,000. Therefore, the probable Allied losses for the four battles of the Six Days Campaign are around 34,000 men.

Blucher's apologists attempt to explain the defeats because Napoleon had the elite of his army at these battles. However, the Emperor had only about 24,000 men facing the 57,000 men of Blucher's Army of Silesia.

Except for the French infantry counterattack at Vauchamps with Ricard's 8th Divi- sion, the battle would be primarily a fight between the pursuing French cavalry and Blucher's disorganized and desperately fleeing force of Prussians and Russians. It is difficult to evaluate the impact of the superiority of the French forces over those of the Allies in this action. Ricard's Division was made up of conscripts. The Imperial Guard cavalry were far superior to their Allied counterparts, but there were 3,600 French line cavalry and only 3,300 Imperial Guard cavalry at Vauchamps.

The line cavalry under General Grouchy did as much of the fighting as did the Guard. This was not the French line cavalry of the pre-1812 French army. Rather, it was the remnants of 48 cavalry regiments, whose full organizational strength should have been about 48,000 men, not the 3,600 men present. These were ad hoc formations. Regiments had been reduced to the strength of half squadrons and mounted on the last horses available in France. After the disaster in Russia, Napoleon had an almost impossible time finding enough horses to reequip his army in 1813. There were even fewer suitable horses available in 1814.

General Grouchy did a spectacular job with the greatly reduced French line cavalry at Vauchamps. Indeed, his performance during the 1814 Campaign in France so impressed Napoleon that there was talk at the time of making Grouchy a Marshal. He would not receive his due, however, until Napoleon's return to power when he was made the twenty-sixth and last Marshal of France in 1815.

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