Battle of Champaubert

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

War of the Sixth Coalition
Lützen – Bautzen – Großbeeren – Katzbach – Dresden – Kulm – Dennewitz – Leipzig – Hanau – La Rothière – Champaubert – Montmirail – Château-Thierry – Vauchamps – Montereau – Craonne – Laon – Arcis-sur-Aube – Paris

The Battle of Champaubert was the opening engagement of the Six Days Campaign fought on February 10, 1814, and resulted in a French victory under Napoleon Bonaparte against Russians and Prussians under General Olsufiev.

The battle of Champaubert was one of the few times in years that France was able to take to the field with a considerable numerical advantage.

Napoleon Bonaparte had moved against a strung-out Prussian army in the hope of whittling it down by a series of battles and on 10 February he caught General Olussiev's 5000 Russians just south of Champaubert.

French strength was 30,000 hungry and tired men including many raw conscripts and 120 cannons^[1]. This gave the French a six-to-one advantage in troops, Bonaparte crushed Olsufiev, who had decided to fight rather than retreat in the mistaken hope that he would get reinforcements from Field Marshal Blücher.

After five hours of fighting the Russians were surrounded by French cavalry and suffered 4000 killed, wounded and captured.

One of the prisoners was Olsufiev. The French lost about 200 men.