Battle of Laubressel
Part of theCampaign of France of theSixth Coalition
The battle of Laubressel, near Troyes
Date 3 March 1814 Location Laubressel,French Empire 48°17′59″N4°12′46″E / 48.29972°N 4.21278°E /48.29972; 4.21278 Result Coalition victory[1]
Belligerents
France	Austria Bavaria Russia Württemberg
Commanders and leaders
Jacques MacDonald Nicolas Oudinot	Karl von Schwarzenberg Karl Philipp von Wrede Peter Wittgenstein Prince of Württemberg
Strength
20,000[1][2]	32,000[a]
Casualties and losses
3,000[1] killed, wounded, or captured 7–11 guns lost	1,000[1]–1,500 killed, wounded, or captured
class=notpageimage| Location within France

War of the Sixth Coalition:
Campaign in north-east France

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118miles

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Bar-sur-Aube

   

  current battle

  Napoleon in command

  Napoleon not in command

TheBattle of Laubressel (3 March 1814) saw the main Allied army ofField MarshalKarl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg mount a three-pronged converging attack on the weaker army ofMarshalJacques MacDonald. The French forces under MarshalNicolas Oudinot bore the brunt of the fighting, in which the Allies tried to turn their left flank. The French abandonedTroyes and retreated west as a result of the action. The village ofLaubressel is located 10 kilometres (6 mi) east of Troyes.

After the French victory at theBattle of Montereau on 18 February, Schwarzenberg's army withdrew behind the riverAube. WhenNapoleon moved north againstGebhard Leberecht von Blücher's Army of Silesia, he left MacDonald and Oudinot to watch Schwarzenberg's army. After beating Oudinot at theBattle of Bar-sur-Aube, the Allies pressed the French back toward Troyes. At Laubressel, the Allies overpowered Oudinot's left wing. The Allies slowly pursued MacDonald's army, pressing it back toProvins before news of a victory by Napoleon brought Schwarzenberg's advance to a halt.

On 18 February 1814,Napoleon defeatedCrown Prince Fredrick William of Württemberg in theBattle of Montereau. After this setback the Austrian generalKarl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg ordered theArmy of Bohemia to retreat toTroyes. Schwarzenberg also asked his allyGebhard Leberecht von Blücher to support his northern flank atMéry-sur-Seine and the Prussian general immediately complied. The Austrian intended to fight a battle on 21–22 February near Troyes. However, bad news from his commander in the south,Prince Frederick VI of Hesse-Homburg soon changed his mind. MarshalPierre Augereau threatened to recaptureChalon-sur-Saône whileJean Gabriel Marchand menacedGeneva. Schwarzenberg orderedVincenzo Federico Bianchi to take the Austrian I Corps and a reserve division and march toDijon where they would join Hesse-Homburg's command.^[3]

At Troyes, Schwarzenberg's 90,000 troops and Blücher's 50,000 faced about 75,000 soldiers under Napoleon. Though he outnumbered the French emperor by nearly two-to-one, Schwarzenberg's intelligence services consistently overestimated enemy strength. His troops had worn-out uniforms and were short of food in an area that had been stripped of supplies by both armies. On 22 February the French probed the Allied positions from Méry to Troyes. MarshalNicolas Oudinot's infantry cleared Méry of Allied troops and gained a foothold on the far bank, but they could not hold it against Allied counterattacks.^[4] In this clash, 3,600 men from Pierre François Joseph Boyer's division fought against 5,000 Russians fromAlexei Grigorievich Scherbatov's VI Infantry Corps ofFabian Wilhelm von Osten-Sacken's command and 1,200 Prussians fromLudwig Yorck von Wartenburg's I Corps.^[5] That night Schwarzenberg directed his army to withdraw behind the riverSeine, except forIgnaz Gyulai's III Corps, which would move southeast toBar-sur-Seine.^[4]

Disappointed that his Austrian colleague refused to give battle, Blücher asked for and received permission to operate independently. He hoped to rendezvous with two corps underFerdinand von Wintzingerode andFriedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow, and thus reinforced, advance on Paris by a more northerly route. Meanwhile, on 23 February Schwarzenberg's army fell back eastward covered by a rearguard under the Bavarian generalKarl Philipp von Wrede. The Allies sent an emissary to Napoleon to propose a truce, but nothing came of this effort when the emperor's conditions proved unacceptable.^[6] Near Troyes, the 1,290 horsemen ofAuguste Jean Ameil's 12th Light Cavalry Brigade and the 21st and 26th Dragoons clashed with Moritz von Liechtenstein's Austrian 2nd Light Division. The Austrian cavalry lost 311 men and three of theirjäger companies were captured.^[5]

In its withdrawal, Schwarzenberg's main body passed throughVendœuvres while other columns went viaPiney on the north and Bar-sur-Seine on the south. In pursuit, Napoleon sentÉtienne Maurice Gérard and theII Corps toward Vendœuvres and MarshalJacques MacDonald and theXI Corps to Bar-sur-Seine. The French emperor held his reserves near Troyes so that he might react to Blücher's moves.^[7] On 26 February, Oudinot's troops occupiedBar-sur-Aube while MacDonald moved southeast to seizeMussy-sur-Seine. The next morning, Napoleon finally received reports that Blücher's army was advancing on Paris and had gained a 3-day head start.^[8]

Napoleon ordered MacDonald to take command of 42,000 troops opposing Schwarzenberg by defending behind theAube. MacDonald would have the II, XI andVII Corps and theII Cavalry,V Cavalry andVI Cavalry Corps. MarshalsAuguste de Marmont andÉdouard Mortier had 10,000 men facing Blücher nearMeaux. Napoleon took 35,000 troops and began marching northeast against Blücher's rear. Measures were taken to hide the fact that Napoleon was no longer facing Schwarzenberg's army.^[9]

The Austrian commander quickly guessed that Napoleon was not in front of him. On 27 February, Schwarzenberg defeated Oudinot in theBattle of Bar-sur-Aube when the French marshal deployed his troops in an exposed position on the east bank of the Aube. Though Oudinot was slightly superior in numbers, he was caught with most of his artillery and half his cavalry on the west bank of the river and brought only 18,000 troops into action, suffering 3,500 casualties.^[10] Another authority stated that the French lost 2,600 killed and wounded and 500 men and two guns captured. The Allies sustained 1,250 Russian, 400 Bavarian and 250 Austrian casualties.^[5]

The day after his defeat, Oudinot withdrew his troops to Vendœuvres, weakly pursued by the Allies. Unaware of Oudinot's setback, MacDonald advanced toLaferté-sur-Aube where the Allies had destroyed the bridge. On 28 February soldiers from Gyulai's corps attacked Michel Sylvestre Brayer's division atSilvarouvres, seizing the bridge there. MacDonald abandoned Laferté-sur-Aube and began pulling back to Bar-sur-Seine. Casualties were about 600 men on each side.^[11] On 1 March the Allies sent out two reconnaissance forces underJohann Maria Philipp Frimont andPeter Petrovich Pahlen. Frimont occupied Vendœuvres after some skirmishing with Gérard, while Pahlen operated on Frimont's right.^[12]

Feeling less anxious about his enemies, Schwarzenberg ordered an advance on Troyes for 2 March. That day, finding Gérard's troops holding the Guillotière Bridge, Pahlen moved north through the villages ofMesnil-Saint-Père andGéraudot to reachDosches. His probes in the direction of Laubressel were chased off by French forces.Peter von Wittgenstein's Russian corps occupied Piney while Wrede's Bavarian-Austrian corps spent the night near Vendœuvres. On the southern flank the corps of Crown Prince of Württemberg and Gyulai pursued MacDonald's forces. They drove Brayer's division from Bar-sur-Seine at a cost of 500 Allied and 100 French casualties. Brayer fell back to join XI Corps.^[12]

On 3 March at 1:00 pm, Schwarzenberg planned to launch a major attack on his adversaries from three sides. He ordered Wrede's corps to attack west down the highway from Vendœuvres to Troyes and to occupy theCourteranges Woods. Wittgenstein was directed to move southwest from Piney and to meet Wrede's forces near Laubressel. The Crown Prince and Gyulai were instructed to press to the northwest from Bar-sur-Seine. To oppose the Allies, Oudinot orderedGuillaume Philibert Duhesme's division to defend the Guillotière Bridge.Henri Rottembourg's division was posted on the Laubressel plateau. The 2nd Division of II Corps linked the positions of Duhesme and Rottembourg, with Antoine Anatole Jarry's brigade on Duhesme's left. Oudinot's VII Corps andFrançois Etienne de Kellermann's VI Cavalry Corps were to the northwest guarding the Saint-Hubert Bridge on the Seine. Closer at hand,Antoine-Louis Decrest de Saint-Germain's II Cavalry Corps was positioned atSaint-Parres-aux-Tertres. The XI Corps underGabriel Jean Joseph Molitor was nearSaint-Parres-lès-Vaudes on the west bank of the Seine southeast of Troyes. Also to the south wasÉdouard Jean Baptiste Milhaud's V Cavalry Corps with outposts inRumilly-lès-Vaudes andFouchères^[13]

In the morning, Wrede's corps was led by Anton von Rechberg's Bavarian division and Anton Leonhard von Hardegg's Austrian division. The rest of his troops were at Vendœuvres with orders to move throughMontiéramey. Wittgenstein's infantry began marching from Piney toward Laubressel, via the villages ofRouilly-Sacey andMesnil-Sellières. They were preceded by Pahlen's advanced guard which quickly bumped into Rottembourg's French troops.^[14] Pahlen's infantry, supported by one cuirassier, one uhlan and one hussar regiment plus four field guns, began skirmishing with Rottembourg's troops. The rest of his cavalry circled to the north throughBouranton in an attempt to envelop the French left flank. Pahlen's cavalry reached the unguarded village ofThennelières in the French rear where it attacked a weakly escorted artillery park. Saint-Germain's cavalry appeared and recaptured most of the park but not before the Russian horsemen carried off 200 prisoners. Saint-Germain pushed Pahlen's cavalry back beyond Bouranton. Kellermann's corps moved up to Saint-Parres-aux-Tertres to replace the II Cavalry Corps.^[15]

At 3:00 pm Wittgenstein launched a two-pronged attack after he heard Wrede's guns begin bombarding the French positions. On the right,Duke Eugen of Württemberg led the Russian II Infantry Corps against Bouranton while on the leftAndrei Ivanovich Gorchakov led the I Infantry Corps against Laubressel. The attack consisted of battalion columns led by skirmishers and well-supported by artillery. Eugen's 3rd Division easily took Bouranton and moved toward Thennelière, only to be counterattacked by Kellermann's cavalry, which had joined the fighting. Eugen's 4th Division had difficulty fighting its way up the vineyard-covered Laubressel slopes. After reaching the crest, the 4th Division had to withstand attacks by Saint-Germain's cavalry. Rottembourg's infantry were only supported by six artillery pieces and suffered losses from the 32 Russian field guns deployed against them.^[15]

Wrede sent four or five Bavarian battalions across the Barce near Courteranges. They moved through the woods to link up with Wittgenstein's Russians. With the Russians pushing Rottembourg off the Laubressel plateau, Oudinot issued orders to retreat. Gorchakov's advance had been slowed by the presence of 20 French cavalry squadrons, but now the Russian Kaluga Regiment launched an assault without orders. With KingFrederick William III of Prussia watching, they took the heights in a rush. At the same time Antoine Alexandre de Bélair's brigade of the II Corps 2nd Division was hit by two Russian regiments in front and two more from the flank. Bélair's brigade dissolved and fled to the rear.^[16]

Seeing his flank turned, Gérard gave instructions for a retreat. Apparently Jarry was acting commander of the II Corps 2nd Division, because he and Rottembourg joined their divisions and made an orderly withdrawal after abandoning Laubressel. Their movement was supported by cavalry and artillery. Wrede chose this moment to directly assault the Guillotière Bridge with four Bavarian battalions while shifting other troops to his left. In the confusion, Duhesme missed the first orders to pull back and was nearly surrounded by enemies when Gérard sent them a second time. Hounded by the Austrian Knesevich Dragoons Nr. 3 and the Szekler Hussars Nr. 11, Duhesme's troops nevertheless fought their way back to Saint-Parres-aux-Tertres after suffering 400 casualties and losing two guns. The Crown Prince remained inactive on the left, allowing Molitor's XI Corps and Milhaud's cavalry to fall back without interference.^[16]

One source gave French losses as 2,600 killed and wounded and 460 captured while the Russians lost 1,200 and the Bavarians 300. Another source stated the Allies captured 1,500 French soldiers and seven guns, while sustaining about 1,000 casualties.^[16] A third source estimated that the French lost 1,000 killed and wounded plus 2,000 soldiers and 11 guns captured out of 20,000 troops engaged. The Allies lost 1,000 killed and wounded out of 32,000 troops engaged.^[2] MacDonald, who was sick, had only 21,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry to face the much larger Allied army. He determined to retreat in a deliberate manner so that his wagon trains could keep up.^[17]

Anxious that Napoleon might suddenly show up, Schwarzenberg ordered Wittgenstein and Wrede to attack the city at once. Gérard held out on the east bank of the Seine until 11:00 am when he withdrew into Troyes. The Allies fought their way into the suburbs but were stopped at the city walls.^[17] They brought uphowitzers and began shelling Troyes. During a lull in the bombardment the French garrison slipped out and joined MacDonald's retreating army. Oudinot did not think a strong rearguard was needed inLa Chapelle-Saint-Luc. Consequently, the Bavarian cavalry suddenly appeared behind Kellermann's cavalry, throwing it into panic. Luckily for the French, when VI Cavalry Corps stampeded their infantry held steady, but 400 prisoners were swept up by the Allies.^[18]

In Troyes, the Allies went on a 2-day orgy of pillage and violence. After they recovered from this, Wittgenstein and Wrede headed out after the French while the Crown Prince and Gyulai advanced towardSens.^[18] Schwarzenberg himself stayed in Troyes until 12 March. By 16 March the Allies had pushed MacDonald's army back toProvins. That day Schwarzenberg found out about Napoleon's victory at theBattle of Reims and the French capture ofChâlons-sur-Marne and his advance stopped.^[19]

Footnotes

Citations

• Bodart, Gaston (1908).Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905). Retrieved7 June 2021.
• Nafziger, George (2015).The End of Empire: Napoleon's 1814 Campaign. Solihull, UK: Helion & Company.ISBN 978-1-909982-96-3.
• Petre, F. Loraine (1994) [1914].Napoleon at Bay: 1814. London:Lionel Leventhal Ltd.ISBN 1-85367-163-0.
• Smith, Digby (1998).The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill.ISBN 1-85367-276-9.

• Media related toBattle of Laubressel at Wikimedia Commons

• Battles of the War of the Sixth Coalition involving Austria
• Battles of the Napoleonic Wars involving Bavaria
• Battles of the War of the Sixth Coalition involving Russia
• Battles of the Napoleonic Wars involving Württemberg
• Military history of Aisne
• Conflicts in 1814
• March 1814
• 1814 in France

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