| Battle of Ostrołęka (1807) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theWar of the Fourth Coalition | |||||||
 Memorable combat of Ostrolenka, contemporary print in theBibliothèque nationale de France | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 French Empire |  Russian Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Anne Jean Marie René Savary | Maj. Gen. Suvorov[1] † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 20,000[1] | 18,000[1] to 25,000[2] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 60 dead (including 1 general) 400–500 wounded total: 460[2]–1,200[1] | 1,300 dead (including 2 generals) 1,200 wounded (including 3 generals) total: 2,500[1] 7 cannons captured[3][1] | ||||||
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TheBattle of Ostrołęka was ameeting engagement[1] fought on 16 February 1807 between aFrench force underGeneral of DivisionAnne Jean Marie René Savary and a Russian force underLieutenant GeneralIvan Essen.[2] After theBattle of Eylau, both armies settled down for the winter. The Russian commander-in-chief,General of the CavalryLeonty Bennigsen, carried out an operation against the French with the aim of disorganizing them, and it was for this purpose that the Russian corps under Essen attacked. The French defeated the Russiansin detail, inflicting disproportionately heavy losses (as per abulletin of theGrande Armée), and forced them to retreat to the east toWyoki Mazowiecki.[4][5] Weather conditions caused both sides to go into winter quarters immediately after the battle, which occurred during theWar of the Fourth Coalition, part of theNapoleonic Wars.Ostrołęka is located in the northeast part of modern Poland, but in 1807 it belonged to theKingdom of Prussia.
Savary was in command of theV Corps on the extreme French right so as to guard the approaches to Warsaw by theNarew andBug, and to cover the right rear of the movement northwards.[6] After the French were driven out of Ostrów on 3 February, Savary received orders to abandon Brok and retire upon Ostrolenka, so as to strengthen his communication with the Emperor's army.[7] Essen was ordered by Bennigsen to drive back Savary, who, at the same time, had made up his mind to assume the offensive.[7]
Essen, with 25,000 men, advanced to Ostrolenka on the 15th, along the two banks of the Narew.[2] Savary decided to hold Ostrolenka on the defensive, on 15 February, leaving 3 brigades on the low hills outside Ostrolenka flanked by batteries on the opposite bank, whilst he assumed the offensive on the morning of the 16th against the Russian force coming down the right bank.[4]
Early on 16 February, General of DivisionHonoré Théodore Maxime Gazan arrived at the vanguard with part of his division. Savary learned of the planned sabotage in advance by intercepting an officer with a report from Essen. At 9 a.m. Gazan met the enemy on the road toNowogród and attacked. Essen's Russian subordinate, General Dmitry Volkonsky[ru], initially pressed the inferior French, but then they received reinforcements and overthrew him by superior forces, outflanking him in the process. Because of Volkonsky's rout, at the very same moment the Russians under Essen attacked Ostrołęka by the left bank, to support him.General of BrigadeFrançois Frédéric Campana, with a brigade from Gazan's division, and General of BrigadeFrançois Amable Ruffin, with a brigade from General of DivisionNicolas Charles Oudinot's division, defended the town. Savary sent General of DivisionHonoré Charles Reille, his chief of staff. The Russian infantry, in many columns, wished to take the city but the French let them advance halfway up the streets before charging them, leaving the streets covered with the dead. The Russians abandoned the town; Essen was overturned, but he saved Volkonsky from destruction—for Essen it was enough. He took up positions behind the sand hills that covered it.[2][5]
Oudinot and General of DivisionLouis Gabriel Suchet and their divisions advanced and by midday, the heads of their columns arrived at Ostrołęka. Oudinot commanded the left in two lines, whilst Suchet commanded the centre and Reille, commanding a brigade of Gazan's division, formed the right. He "covered himself with all his artillery and marched against the enemy." Oudinot put himself at the head of a successful cavalry charge, cutting theCossacks in the enemy's rearguard to pieces. The exchange of fire was brisk. The Russian army gave way on all sides, and was followed fighting for threeleagues. They held the French until the evening.[2][5]
The next day the Russians were "pursued several leagues." Two Russian generals and several other Russian officers were killed and three generals wounded. According to the 63rd bulletin of theGrande Armée (28 February 1807),[8] the Russians left 1,200 wounded and 1,300 dead on the battlefield, with 7 cannon and two flags captured by the French. Only 60 French troops were killed, including Campana whose death was much grieved byNapoleon, with 400 to 500 wounded including Colonel Duhamel of the 21st Light Infantry Regiment and artillery ColonelHenri Marie Lenoury.[2]
On Napoleon's orders, the V Corps went into winter quarters[9] along the right banks of the Omulew and theNarew down toSerock,[10] holding Ostrolenka with a detachment and repairing the bridge there.[4] The thaw was "dreadful" and the season allowed for no more campaigning – the enemy had left their winter quarters first, and "repented it."[9]
Savary's action at Ostrolenka had revealed "that the Russians were in no great strength on this side, and that Napoleon had little to fear from any attempt to strike his communications withWarsaw."[10] Oudinot was made aCount of the Empire and given a donation of a million francs. Savary received theLégion d'honneur.[9]
The Battle of Ostrołęka is mentioned at theGalerie des Batailles at Versailles and on theArc de Triomphe in Paris, and is a battle honour of several French regiments.
Media related toBattle of Ostrołęka (1807) at Wikimedia Commons| Preceded by Battle of Eylau | Napoleonic Wars Battle of Ostrołęka (1807) | Succeeded by Siege of Kolberg (1807) |
