16 October 1813
The first day: Wachau and Möckern
On the morning of 16 October the Army of Bohemia attacks the villages south of Leipzig. Kleist's Prussians and a Russian division fight Poniatowski and Augereau for Markkleeberg until Austrian grenadiers drive the Poles out. The Russian II Corps under Eugen of Württemberg and the Prussian 9th Brigade enter Wachau and are driven out by French artillery. Klenau's Austrian IV Corps, 24,500 men, takes Liebertwolkwitz from Macdonald and Lauriston and loses it again, while west of the Pleisse Merveldt's attack at Connewitz and Dölitz fails and Merveldt is wounded and captured.
Grenadier Leonty Korennoy of the Finland Guard Regiment at Leipzig, painting by P. I. Babaev, 1846Wikimedia Commons, P. I. Babaev, Public domain (Leontiy korennoj.jpg)
Napoleon has Drouot form a battery of 150 guns on the Galgenberg, which shatters the Russian II Corps. Murat charges into the gap with 10,000 French, Italian and Saxon cavalry in massive columns, but smaller squadrons of Russian, Prussian and Austrian cavalry drive them back onto their own guns. The Young Guard retakes Wachau and Liebertwolkwitz, and the Russian Guard and Austrian grenadiers, with Russian cuirassiers, stop its advance there.
Napoleon and Józef Poniatowski at Leipzig, painting by January SuchodolskiWikimedia Commons, January Suchodolski, Public domain (Napoleon i Poniatowski Lipsk.jpg)
North of the town Blücher sends Yorck's Prussians and Langeron's Russians against Marmont's VI Corps at Möckern, where the French have loopholed the walls of the manor and gardens. The fighting goes on into the night and costs the allies 9,000 men and the French 7,000, with 2,000 more taken prisoner. In the west Gyulay's Austrian III Corps attacks Lindenau and ties down Bertrand's IV Corps, which Napoleon needs in the south. By nightfall the allies have lost about 30,000 men and the French about 25,000.
Sources
- David G. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon (1966).
- Digby Smith, 1813 Leipzig: Napoleon and the Battle of the Nations (2001).
- Peter Hofschröer, Leipzig 1813: The Battle of the Nations (2012).
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