Four Lost Battles

To the Gates of Berlin, 23 August 

The battle of Grossbeeren was a meeting engagement in which the two forces were ignorant of their mutual presence in the area. Grossbeeren is a double battle, with little possibility of interaction between troops that fought in Blankenfeld because of swamps. Oudinot took a risk in separating his three corps on parallel routes as was customary when marching through open country. The IV Corps on the right, held-up as they emerged from the woods, were unable to assist VII Corps at Grossbeeren in the center; while Oudinot, on the left, tended to his own corps, considerably strung out after a long Forced March on the 22nd—instead of coordinating the battle.

Enfilade in the Mountains, 29-30 August 

After the Battle of Dresden on 26-27 August, several French Corps began the pursuit of the defeated Coalition Army through the mountain passes leading back into Austrian territory. Vandamme’s Corps, with two divisions of the best-trained conscripts of 1813, fought several rearguard actions with Ostermann’s Russians, and expected this battle to be no different. The Emperor had already heard rumors of Macdonald’s disaster on the Katzbach. With the possibility of having to defend his great depot of Dresden against an advance by both Bernadotte and Blücher, his hopes of being able to pursue far into Bohemia were vanishing.

Image: Painting by Alexander Kotzebue