Battle of Montmirail

Part III
Prussian Accounts of the
Battle of Montmirail

The Six Days Campaign
of the 1814 Campaign in France

by George Nafziger

(Note from Editor: The following account begins around 2 p.m. Sacken's initial deployment and movements can be found in the main Montmirail article.)

Sacken began the battle, which Napoleon sought to delay, with a cannonade, while General Michel marched his 2nd Old Guard Division forward from Montmirail. At 2:00 p.m., Napoleon ordered his forces to attack. The main French attack would drive down the road to la Haute-Epine dairy farm, which, if successful, would separate Sacken's Russian infantry from Yorck's advancing Prussian I Corps. However, Sacken had deployed so much of his corps to defend this point that a French attack was unlikely to succeed. [1]

General Nansouty was given the order to move to the right and turn Sacken's left wing while General Ricard stood before Marchais defending against Sacken's attacks. At the same time General Friant came forward with four battalions of the Old Guard down the main road to support the effort toward la Haute-Epine dairy farm.

The Russian attack on the French left rolled forward and was initially successful. Both the villages of le-BoisJean and Courmont, plus the Courmont Wood were overrun.(see map #3)

Sacken sent a third column to attack the village of Marchais. This column was Prince Scherbatov's 7th Division. Seeing Scherbatov advance, Marshal Ney sent forward Friant's four Old Guard battalions to push the Russians out of la Haute-Epine. The Old Guard scattered the Russian skirmishers before them and threw the Russians back.

At the same time Napoleon sent General Guyot forward against la HauteEpine with four service squadrons from a position by the main road. They passed behind this farm, turning the Russian flank to strike the Russian wing in the direction of l'Epine-aux-Bois. [2]

This attack broke the Russians and sent them back to the woods occupied by part of Lieven's XI Corps.

Sacken sent his second line forward and extended his left in order to establish contact with Yorck's advancing Prussians. The leading Prussian formations were in Fontenelle at that point (north off map, on the road to ChateauThierry). The Russian cavalry maneuvered to establish contact with the advancing Prussians.

Napoleon then ordered General Nansouty forward with the Guard cavalry divisions of Laferriere, Colbert, and Lefebvre-Desnouettes, plus General Guyot's detachment of four Guard service squadrons, down the main road to strike the Russian center. The French attack was very successful and the Russian left wing was crushed. The brigades of Colonel Dieterich and Lt. Colonel Blagovenzenko broke and fled to reach the safety of the Viels-Maisons Wood (off map to west).

The Allied position was somewhat restored by the arrival of the Prussian brigades of General Pirch (1st Brigade) and General Horn (7th Brigade) near Fontenelle. The Prussian reserve artillery was not present, as the muddy roads prevented its advance and the guns were sent back to join the Prussian 8th Brigade. [3] Only the two light 6-pdr. batteries assigned to the Prussian brigades were able to reach the battlefield. [4]

Pirch's 1st Brigade passed through Fontenelle at 3:00 p.m., and from there marched on les Tourneaux farm (north of Bailly). Pirch halted and deployed his brigade into two lines, waiting for the 7th Brigade to close up behind him and support his attack. The Prussian reserve cavalry, which had also left its guns behind because of the muddy roads, watched the French cavalry on the far Allied left wing from a position near ChateauThierry (off map). [5]

General Pirch began preparing for a strike against the French right flank. The French occupied the Plenoy Wood and they were attacked by the freiwilliger jagers of the 1st East Prussian and Leib Grenadier Battalions. The Prussians sought to capture a bridge over a small stream near the Plenoy Wood, which fell quickly as it was lightly defended. The twelve guns of 6-pdr Batteries #2 and #3 were pulled forward with considerable effort, joir~ing two Russian guns that were engaging the French flank. [6]

About this time a French officer was captured by the Russians who reported to them that Napoleon was present on the field, and informed them of the French victory over General Olssufiev's small Russian corps at Champaubert the day before.

In the meantime, the Russian right wing continued fighting around the villages of Pomesson and Marchais. The latter was overrun and lost twice when General Bernodessov's 18th Division pushed forward yet again, driving Generalli Meunier's 1st Voltigeur (Young Guard) Division out of the village.

Napoleon ordered Ricard's and Meunier's fatigued Divisions forward to recapture Marchais, and then ordered the seven cavalry squadrons of General Defrance's Gardes d'Honneur, standing on the road from La Ferte, to advance against the l'Epine-aux-Bois heights. Napoleon also directed Marshal Lefebvre to bring forward two Old Guard battalions, one from General Michel's Division and another from General Bertrand's, and move down the road from la Chaise and les Greneaux farm to strike Marchais. Ricard sent four battalions up the Pomesson valley to bring the Russians in Marchais under a cross fire. It was at this time that Napoleon dispatched Michel's 2nd Old Guard Division north, against the arriving Prussians. [7]

The Russian position in Marchais was hopeless and they were forced to withdraw. It was 5:00 p.m.

Standing on the crossroads to La Ferte, Colonel Dieterich's and Lt. Colonel Blagovenzenko's brigades were struck by General Defrance's cavalry, and suffered huge casualties. Sacken, seeing that he could not take Marchais, which he perceived as the key to the battlefield, ordered a withdrawal. He directed the guns on his right wing to withdraw and move under the protection of Lieven's guns. He directed his cavalry, under General Vassiltchkov, tojoin with Yorck's Corps. As Marchais was falling to the French, Yorck sent his Prussians forward, seeking to reach the road to Montmirail and stop the French advance. [8]

The French now overran Bailly and advanced. The Prussian 1st Brigade was ordered forward to engage the French and retake the village. The attack was led personally by General von Pirch. The 1st East Prussian and West Prussian Grenadier Battalions, supported by the 15th Silesian Landwehr Regiment advanced in the first line with the remainder of the brigade (Silesian and Leib Grenadier Battalions and 13th Landwehr Regiment) advanced behind them in support. Pirch stood at the head of the two grenadier battalions, screened by a swarm of Prussian skirmishers. [9]

Unfortunately for Pirch, the Prussian attack did not come soon enough and the French began reinforcing their right flank. Marshal Mortier moved right of the road from Chateau-Thierry, behind the Bailly Wood and established a line. Four Old Guard battalions occupied the Bailly Wood and supported the French 2/2nd and 7/4th Leger Regiments that faced the advancing Prussians. The Prussian attack was greeted by the French with a heavy cannisterfire, supported by intense musketry as they arrived a few hundred paces from the village of Bailly.

As the Prussians continued advancing against Bailly, they were taken in the flank by French skirmishers. To their right a Russian battery fired in support of their advance. However, the French defensive fire was too much and the Prussians began to withdraw. Captain von Wnuck, commander of the 2/lSth Silesian Landwehr Regiment, ordered his battalion forward in a bayonet attack against the French skirmishers on his flank to support his brigade's withdrawal. [10]

Many Prussian off~cers and men were left lying in the field before Bailly. Pirch himself was wounded in this attack and Oberst von Losthin took over command of the brigade. [11]

As the Prussians fell back General Michel led his four battalions forward. They were quickly supported by six others from the Bailly Wood, which drove into the Prussian right flank. The Leib Grenadier Battalion and the l/l 5th Silesian Landwehr Regiment advanced to meet the French attack. The Leib Grenadier Battalion under the command of Captain von Holleben, which had just passed through the defile by Tourneaux, and two battalions of the Leib Infantry Regiment, arrived on the field and moved to the right of the Wood. The 13th Silesian Landwehr Regiment moved behind them. The remainder of the 1st Brigade formed on the left wing of the Leib Regiment. The battle stabilized for the Prussians and they once again began withdrawing.

As they withdrew the 13th Silesian Landwehr Regiment and the Silesian Grenadier Battalion found themselves attacked by the French as they withdrew through a wood. Though they suffered a number of casualties, they succeeded in throwing the French back and resuming their withdrawal.

The casualties of this battle are, of course, subject to many interpretations. German sources give varying numbers for the Allied and French losses in the battle. Sporschill states the French lost 2,000 dead and wounded. He states that the Russians lost l0 guns and 1,500 dead and wounded, while the Prussian 1st Brigade lost 33 officers and 844 men. He gives no return for the Prussian 7th Brigade. [12]

Plotho states that the Russians lost 9 guns and 1,000 prisoners, plus 1,500 dead and wounded. He lists the 1st Prussian Brigade as losing 33 officers and 844 men. He too provides no returns for any losses by the Prussian 7th Brigade. [13]

Von Damitz gives the Russian losses at 2,000 dead and wounded, 700-800 prisoners and 13 guns taken. He states that the Prussian losses were 33 officers and 844 men. He also gives the French losses at about 2,000 men. [14]

Notes on Sources

Plotho is a Prussian chauvinist writing near the end of the Napoleonic wars when not many details were available and national emotions still ran high. On the other hand, Sporschill, although a German, is less biased and made heavy use of a multitude of sources, including both Plotho and Koch, a French author. In preparing the Prussian accounts of the battle of Montmirail, mostly German sources were used, but, where it seemed appropriate or useful, Koch and other non- German sources were consulted.

Bibliography

Army Archives, Chateau de Vincennes, C2-555. Bogdanovich, M.I., Istorich Voin 1814 Goda Vo Frantsiii Nizlozhenich Napoleona I, 1865, St. Petersburg.
von Damitz, K., Geschichte des Feldzuges von 1814 in dem ostlichen und nordlichen Frankreich bis zurEinnahme von Paris, 1842, Berlin, Ernst Siegfried Mittler.
Plotho, C., Der Krieg in Deutschland und Frankreich in den Jahren 1813 und 1814, 1817, Berlin, Carl Friederich Amelang.
Sporschill, J, Die Grosse Chronik, Geschichte des Krieges des Verbundeten Europa's gegen Napoleon Bonaparte, in den Jahren 1813, 1814, und 1815, 1841, Braunschweig, George Westerrnan.

Additional Notes

On February 11, Napoleon ordered Marshal Marmont to move on Etoges and to observe the roads from Chalons and Vertus. He was to command a force consisting La Grange's 3rd Division (VI Corps), and the Grande Armee's line cavalry, under General Grouchy. Napoleon's main army did not begin its movement on

Montmirail undl 5:00 a.m. The 1st Guard Cavalry Division (General Colbert), which had remained behind because of the bad roads, joined the rest of the Guard cavalry under Nansouty. The 1 st Guard Division and the 2nd Brigade of Ricard's 8th Division (VI Corps), began their march with the 1st Guard Chasseur Brigade of the 1st Old Guard Division leading the way, starting one hour before dawn. This column arrived on the battlefield at 10:00 a.m. Nansouty was already maneuvenng around Sacken's forces when the head of the Guard column arrived at La Renaudiere. [15]

Prussian sources indicate that the French army present was as follows [16] :

    Young Guard (Ney) 7,000
    8th Division, VI Corps (Ricard) 3,000
    Cavalry Divisions of Laferriere, Colbert, Lefebvre-Desnouettes3,400
    Gardes d'Honneur500
    1st Old Guard Division (Friant) 6,000
    2nd Old Guard Division (Michel) 5,000

    Total 24,900

The archives at Chateau Vincennes do not hold a return for February 11, but on February 1, 1814 they indicate the following strengths for these formations [17] :

    Young Guard (Ney)
    1st Voltigeur Division (Meunier) 4,133
    2nd Voltigeur Division (Decouz) 2,840
    8th Division, VI Corps (Ricard) 2,917
    3rd Guard Cavalry Division (Laferriere) 2,164
    1st Guard Cavalry Division (Colbert) 2,582
    2nd Guard Cavalry Division (Lefebvre- Desnouettes) 3,535
    Gardes d'Honneur (Defrance)896
    1st Old Guard Division (Friant) 4,796
    2nd Old Guard Division (Michel) 3,878

    Total (not including artillery) 27,741

More Montmirail Part III

Footnotes

[1] Sporschill, Vol. II, p. 397.
[2] Von Damitz, Vol.II, p. 122.
[1] Plotho, Vol. III p. 180.
[1] Sporschill, Vol. II, p. 398.
[5]Von Damitz, Vol. III, p. 124.
[6] Plotho, Vol. III, p. 180; von Damitz, Vol.II, p. 125
[7] Von Damitz, Vol.II, p. 127.
[8]Sporschill, Vol.II, p. 399.
[9] Von Damitz, Vol.II, p. 128.
[10] Von Damitz, Vol.II, p. 129.
[11] Plotho, Vol.III, p. 181.
[12] Sporschill, Vol.II, p. 400
[13] Plotho, Vol.III, p. 182.
[14] Von Damitz, Vol.II, p. 132.
[15] Sporschill, Vol.II, pp.395-6.
[16] Von Darnitz, Vol.II, p.121.
[17] French Archives, Chateau de Vincennes, C2555.

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