The Allied Attacks, 16-25 August, 1813 After the Battle of Bautzen an armistice was declared, and hostilities were not resumed until late ain August. By that time teh Allies were greatly reinforced and were located as shown in the sketch. Napoleon was favorably disposed on interior lines from which he could attack any one of the Allied groups while holding off the others. The Allies planned to attack forces commanded by Napoleon's marshals and to retire before forces commanded by Napoleon in person. Result - The Allied strategy was successful. Napoleon's marshals, not trained in the conduct of independent operations were successively defeated at Gross Beeren, on the Katzbach, at Kulm, and at Dennewitz, with great losses. The failure of the marshals to hold on their freonts permitted the Allies to close in continuously until they had practically surrounded Napoleon's depleted forces at Leipzig. Battle of Dresden, 26-27 August, 1813 One of Napoleon's first operations after the termination of the armistice was to advance in force against Blucher. The latter retired before Napoleon, and Schwarzenburg advanced against Napoleon's subordinate at Dresden, in accordance with the Allied strategic plan. Leaving MacDonald to contain Blucher, Napoleon moved rapidly to prevent the capture of Dresden, a key point on his line of communication. Result - On 26 August, Napoleon reached Dresden with reinforcements and repulsed by frontal assaults the delayed Allied attack. On 27 August, Napoleon again attacked, destroying the Allied left wing. Schwarzenburg withdrew. Napoleon's failure to press the pursuit with his main forces permitted the escape of the Allies and contributed in great part to the annihilation of a French force of 20,000, which was isolated and destroyed at Kulm by the retreating Allies. Back to The Gauntlet No. 14 Table of Contents Back to The Gauntlet List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Craig Martelle Publications This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com