Battle of Laon

‘…Only the interval of one day elapsed between the bloody battle of Craonne and that of Laon.  On the 9^th, availing himself of a thick mist, Napoleon pushed his columns of attack to the very foot of the eminence on which Laon is situated, possessed himself of two of the villages, termed Semilly and Ardon, and prepared to force his way up the hill towards the town…

Upon the 10^th, at four in the morning, just as Bonaparte arising before daybreak, was calling for his horse, two dismounted dragoons were brought before him, with the unpleasing intelligence that the enemy had made a hourra upon Marmont, surprised him in his bivouac, and cut to pieces, taken, or dispersed, his whole division, and they alone had escaped to bring the tidings…Notwithstanding this great loss, and as if in defiance of bad fortune, Napoleon renewed the attack upon Clacy and Semilly; but all his attempts being fruitless, he was induced to relinquish the undertaking, under the excuse that the position was found impregnable…’

The Battle of Laon began on March 9^th, and ended March 10^th, 1814.  Count Gebhard von Blucher and his Prussian forces won the day.  Scott relates the story in the text above, taken from “The Life of Napoleon”.

Crossing the Marne

‘Sunday, the 6th of March [1644], I went to Charenton, two leagues from Paris, to hear and see the manner of the French Protestant Church service. The place of meeting they call the Temple, a very fair and spacious room, built of freestone, very decently adorned with paintings of the Tables of the Law, the Lord's Prayer, and Creed. The pulpit stands at the upper end in the middle, having an inclosure of seats about it, where the Elders and persons of greatest quality and strangers, sit; the rest of the congregation on forms and low stools, but none in pews, as in our churches, to their great disgrace, as nothing so orderly, as here the stools and other cumber are removed when the assembly rises. I was greatly pleased with their harmonious singing the Psalms, which they all learn perfectly well, their children being as duly taught these, as their catechism.

In our passage, we went by that famous bridge over the Marne, where that renowned echo returns the voice of a good singer nine or ten times. ‘

John Evelyn writes in his diary, on March 6, 1644 of crossing the Marne River.  It was much easier for him to pass in 1644, than it was for Count Gebhard von Blucher 170 years later, in his battles with Napoleon.  Walter Scott’s “Life of Napoleon” discusses the strategy for entering Paris.

‘A general council of war, held at the castle of Brienne, now resolved that the two armies (although having so lately found the advantage of mutual support) should separate form each other, and that Blucher, detaching himself to the northward, and uniting under his command the division of Yorck and Kleist, both of whom had occupied St. Dizier and Vitry, should approach Paris by the Marne; while Prince Schwartzenberg and the Grand Army should descend on the capital by the course of the Seine.  The difficulty of finding provisions for such immense armies was doubtless in part the cause of his resolution.  But it was likewise recommended by the success of a similar plan of operations at Dresden, and afterwards Leipsic, where the enemies of Buonaparte approached him from so many different quarters, as to render it impossible for him to make head against one army, without giving great opportunity of advantage to the others…’

Battle of Bautzen Ends

As reported yesterday, The Battle of Bautzen ended in victory for Napoleon.  The victory came on May 21, 1813, but it came at a cost, and Count Gebhard von Blucher's Prussian soldiers avoided a devastating rout when they escaped from Bautzen past Marshal Ney's troops.  Sir Walter Scott provides some human color to this episode in the Napoleonic Wars, in his "Life of Napoleon Bonaparte":

 '...The victories of Lutzen and Bautzen were so unexpected and so brilliant, that they completely dazzled all those who, reposing a superstitious confidence in Bonaparte's star, conceived that they again saw it reviving in all the splendour of its first rising. But the expressions of Augereau to Fouche, at Mentz as the latter passed to join Bonaparte at Dresden, show what was the sense of Napoleon's , best officers. "Alas!" he said, "our sun has set. How little do the two actions of which they make so much at Paris, resemble our victories in Italy, when I taught Bonaparte the art of war, which he now abuses. How much labour has been thrown away only to win a few marches onward! At Lutzen our centre was broken, several regiments disbanded, and all was lost but for the Young Guard. We have taught the allies to beat us. After such a butchery as that of Bautzen, there were no results, no cannon taken, no prisoners made. The enemy everywhere opposed us with advantage, and we were roughly handled at Reichembach, the very day after the cattle. Then one ball strikes off Bessieres, another Duroc; Duroc, the only friend he had in the world. Bruyeres and Kirchenner, are swept away by spent bullets. What a war! it will make an end of all of us. He will not make peace; you know him as well as l do; he will cause himself to be surrounded by half a million of men, for, believe me, Austria will not be more faithful to him than Prussia. Yes, he will remain inflexible, and unless he be killed, (as killed he will not be,) there is an end of all of us."?...'