1813 and the lead up to the Battle of Leipzig - napoleon.org

On October 16, 1813 at the Battle of Leipzig, the largest battle in Europe prior to WWI, Napoleon's forces were defeated by Prussia, Austria and Russia. From the article:

"16 October: Blücher robbed Napoleon of an expected victory on a stormy autumn day…
In the battle to the south of Leipzig, Napoleon on the knoll at Liebertwolkwitz directed a ferocious cannonade at the Russia forces facing them. Eugen of Würtemberg wrote in his memoirs that the deluge of cannon balls at Leipzig was similar to that at Borodino but that ordeal had lasted for much longer. Napoleon wanted to immobilize the enemy along a defensive line of villages and small hills between Dösen, on the right of the French army, and Liebertwolkwitz, before launching a counter-attack on the left and in the centre, thereby rolling up the allied forces against the river Plaisse, to the west of the battlefield. In the north, Ney had to contain 55,000 Russians and Prussians led by Blücher, whom Napoleon thought was still far away.

The battle started well for Napoleon, as the allies attacking in three columns the French left (Liebertwolkwitz), in the centre (Wachau) and to the right (Dölitz), the latter being their principal attack. As they tired themselves all morning failing to cross the river Elster to the West (as Russian generals had predicted), and despite a 200-gun cannonade, they did not menace the French right or indeed bolster Russian troops to the south, thus giving French forces a greater numerical advantage in that theatre. However, fortunately for the allies, Napoleon was not able to mount his general attack early enough. Firstly, Marmont's troops could not bring his troops south to support the attempt to break through the allies, as Napoleon had planned, because he was detained north of Leipzig by Blücher. Rather like at Waterloo, the Blücher arrived on the battlefield earlier than expected (in fact at 10am), significantly altering the course of the battle. Gyulai's Austrian attack at Lindenau (due west of the city) furthermore caused a yet another hemorrhage of troops since it threatened Napoleon's communication line back to France – Bertrand's fourth corps had to be sent to hold the village. Furthermore, Macdonald to the east who was to pin down the Austrians at Seifertshain was unable to get into position early enough. So, it was not until 2pm that Napoleon was able to make his move, what he later called “the decisive moment”. Eugen's decimated Russian divisions at Wachau were finally supported by Austrians (notably heavy cavalry under Count Nostitz and infantry under Bianchi and Weissenwolf) against 16,000 of the French Young Guard. And Murat's famous cavalry charge of 12,000 horsemen (which nearly put the allied rulers to flight) similarly came to nothing. The other major French attack on Gossa was also finally repulsed though at huge human cost – the Russian artillery had however performed well, forcing Drouot's guns to pull back. At the end of the day (apart from a few villages which Blücher had capture to the north) the positions were largely the same. However, this effective draw was worse for Napoleon than for the allies since they had more than 100,000 fresh troops still to come.

17 October: Day of pause for most of the combatants, though a Russian hussar charge to the north drove French forces right back into the north-western suburbs of the city. The allies were happy to wait for reinforcements and Napoleon himself had few reinforcements to expect (Gouvion Saint-Cyr's men crucially could not come from Dresden) and his Saxon allies were being to doubt their position. Napoleon should have begun organizing his retreat, sending the baggage on and building additional crossings to the Elster river. In the end, he decided that he attempt the decisive coup, a tactic that had been successful for him so many times in the past.

18 October: The French Army overcome by sheer numbers.
The battle started in the morning with the same positions as on the evening of the 16, but the allies simultaneously attacked Napoleon's forces from the North and from the South near Leipzig, whilst 60,000 of Bernadotte's soldiers were approaching from the East. Bernadotte himself led 30,000 men North of Leipzig to begin the battle. Blücher was fighting opposite the village of Schönefeld. This strong village on the northern outskirts of Leipzig changed hands many times during the day before it fell to Langeron's forces around 6pm. One of the better-known episodes of the battle recounts how two of Marmont's Saxon divisions under general Reynier turned their coats and joined the allies – the cavalry from Wurtemberg also changed camp – but the relatively small number of men involved had little effect on the course of the battle. Trapped by his determination to remain on the battlefield, Napoleon faced almost 320,000 allies with only 170,000 French soldiers. He had however begun planning the retreat, the only question remaining would be how to save as much of the army as possible whilst holding the rearguard action.

In the south, Napoleon and his staff guided the successful French defence of Probstheida, thereby not permitting the allies to outflank the French to the allied right. As the greater numbers of men on the allied side gradually began to create an advantage, Napoleon gradually began pulling his troops back through the city and away to the North West. At this point shortage of ammunition was beginning to become a problem. Napoleon was later to write to Clarke, that he could have saved everything if he had had then “30,000 rounds”. However, not all had gone smoothly for the allies – Bernadotte's 60,000-strong Army of the North was not to arrive before mid-afternoon, a fact which caused the thinning of other allied regiments and rendered the taking of Probstheida impossible. Furthermore, Russian attacks of the Halle gate had led to great casualties and little advance – though the subsequent diversion of French troops to hold that key gate made it possible for Russian forces finally to seize and hold Schönefeld.

19 October: French defeat and retreat.
What was at stake during the fighting of the 19 October was the fate of the French army. The allies tried to block it in Leipzig, whilst Napoleon was organizing the retreat. Schwarzenberg, by that point commanding the whole of the allied forces, launched five columns against the French rearguard. Whilst the French fought tooth and nail in the gardens and the houses of Leipzig as they retreated, one significant problem remained, namely, the existence of only one bridge over the river Elster. Though a good number of the army escaped, when the allies broke through the Halle Gate and came within firing distance of the Elster bridge at about Midday, the retreat was significantly compromised. As it happened, a corporal was in charge of blowing the bridge up since his commanding officer had headed off to get precise instructions as to when to act. In a panic and under fire, the corporal detonated the charges, destroying the bridge and with it the hopes of retreat of 30,000 soldiers (and 30 generals, including Lauriston and Reynier), who were soon to be captured, 260 cannon and 870 ammunition wagons. Traditional accounts put French losses at 60,000 men, though the true total is probably closer to 100,000 killed or wounded, against 54,000 for the allies – by the time the French army reached Erfurt there were 70,000 under arms and 30,000 stragglers.

Whilst it was true that Napoleon had this significant part of his army and deprived the allies of a decisive victory, the fight was by no means over. However for the first time, and the majority of the military encounters to come would be on French soil…"