XLIV. 1807. CHAP. Voust to march from Wartenberg to Spiegelberg with his whole corps, in order to get entirely round the left flank of the Russians in this position and attack them in rear, while Soult received orders to force the bridge of Bergfried, by which their retreat and communications lay across the Alle.1 1 Wilson, 89, 90. Jom. ii. 355. Dum. xvii. 330, 340. Who dis It was all over with the Russians if these orders had been carried into full execution without their covers his being aware how completely they were in course of design, and falls back. being encircled; but by a fortunate accident the des Feb. 3. patches to Bernadotte, announcing the design, and enjoining him to draw Benningsen on towards the Lower Vistula, had previously fallen into the hands of the Cossacks, and made that general aware of his danger; he immediately dispatched orders to the officer at Bergfried to hold the bridge to the last extremity, which was so gallantly obeyed, that though Soult assailed it with all his corps, and it was taken and retaken several times, yet it finally remained in the hands of the Russians. The situation of Benningsen, however, was still very critical; he was compelled to fall back to avoid being turned in presence of very superior forces, and by his lateral movement from Mohrungen he had become entirely separated from Lestocq, who saw the most imminent danger of being cut off and destroyed by the superior forces of Bernadotte. Fortunately, however, from the despatches being intercepted, that Marshal remained entirely ignorant, both of what was expected from him, and of the great advantages which remained in his power; and Lestocq, without being disquieted, was enabled to check his advance and make preparations for a retreat, which was presented to him from Freys355, 356. tadt, where he had been covering the revictualling of Graudentz, by Deutch-Eylau, Osterode, Mohrungen 1 Wilson, 89, 92. Jom. ii. Dum. xvii. 330, 349. XLIV. to Leibstadt, while Benningsen himself, on the night CHAP. of the 3d, broke up from Junkowo, and retired in the same direction. 1807. French who re give battle. By daybreak the French army, headed by Murat with his numerous and terrible dragoons, were in mo- The tion to pursue the enemy; and as the Russians had pursue the been much retarded during the night by the passage of Russians, so many pieces of cannon and waggons through the solve to narrow streets of Junkowo, they soon came up with their rearguard. By overwhelming numbers the Rus- Feb. 4. sians were at length forced from the bridge of Bergfried; but they rallied in the village, and, forming barricades with tumbrils, waggons, and chariots, effectually checked the advance of the enemy until the carriages in the rear had got clear through, when they retired, obstinately contesting every inch of ground, which they did with such effect that the French lost fifteen hundred men in the pursuit, without inflicting a greater loss on their adversaries. Nor were any or chariots taken-a striking proof of the orderly nature of the retreat, and the heroism with which the rearguard performed its duty, when it is recollected that Napoleon, with eighty thousand men, thundered in close pursuit ; and that, from the state of the roads, the march, which had been ordered upon three lines, could take place on two only. Soult and Davoust continued to manoeuvre, in order to turn the Russian left, while Murat and Ney pressed their rearguard. On the night of the 4th, the Russians retired Feb. 5. to Frauendorf, where they stood firm next day. But this continued retreat in presence of the enemy was now beginning to be attended with bad effects, both upon the health and spirits of the soldiers. The Russian commissariat was then wretched; magazines there were none in the country which was now the theatre XLIV. 1807. CHAP. of war; and the soldiers, when worn out with a night march over frozen snow, had no means of obtaining subsistence but by prowling about to discover and dig up the little stores which the peasants had buried for the use of their families. The men every where lay on the bare ground in intense frost, with no other bed but the snow, and no covering but their great-coats, which were now little better than rags. They were not as yet inured to retire before the enemy; and the murmur against any further retreat was so loud, that Benningsen resolved to fall back only to a chosen field of battle; and, upon examining the map, that of PREUSSICH-EYLAU was selected for this purpose. No sooner was this announced to the troops than their discontents were appeased, the hardships of the night marches were forgotten, and from the joyful looks of the men it would rather have been supposed they were marching to tranquil winter quarters, than the most 356. Dum. desperate struggle which had occurred in modern times.1 1 Wilson, 92, 94. Jom. ii. xvii. 349, 352. Lands berg. Feb. 6. Severe actions, however, awaited these brave men ere they reached the theatre of final conflict. On the night of the 5th the army moved to Landsberg, Combat of where the troops from Heilsberg joined them, notwithstanding a bloody combat with Marshal Davoust. On the following day, the rear-guard, under Bagrathion, posted between Hoff and that town, was assailed with the utmost vehemence by Murat, at the head of the cavalry and the principal part of the corps of Soult and Augereau. The approach of these formidable masses, and the imposing appearance of their cavalry, as well as the balls which began to fall from the French batteries, occasioned great confusion among the cannon and carriages in the streets of the town. But with such resolution did the rear-guard maintain XLIV. their position, that though they sustained a heavy loss, CHAP. the enemy were kept at bay till night closed the carnage, and relieved the Russian general from the an- 1807. xieties consequent on so critical a situation in presence of such enormous forces of the enemy. Two battalions of Russians were trampled under foot in the course of the day or cut down, chiefly by one of their own regiments of horse dashing over them, when broken and flying from Murat's dragoons. Benningsen upon this supported the rear-guard by several brigades of fresh troops, and the combat continued with various success till night, when both armies bivouacked in presence of each other; that of the French on the heights of Hoff, that of the Russians on those which lie in front of Landsberg, and the little stream of the Stein separating their outposts from each other. In this untoward affair the Russians sustained a loss of 2500 men, among whom was Prince Gallitzin, whose chivalrous courage had already endeared him to the army; but the French were weakened by nearly as great a number, During the night the whole army again broke up, and, without further molestation, reached Preussich-Eylau at seven the next morning, when it passed 354, 365. through the town, and moved quietly to the appointed Wilson, ground for the battle on the other side, where it arrived Jom. ii. by noonday. 'Dum, xvii. 94, 95. 356. Feb. 7. This rapid concentration and retreat of the Russians isolated the Prussian corps of Lestocq, and gave Combat of too much reason to fear that it might be cut off by the Leibstadt, superior forces of Bernadotte or Ney, who were now of Lestocq. pressing on it on all sides. But the skilful movements and retreat of the Prussian general extricated him from a most perilous situation. On the 5th, he set out from Moh- Feb. 5. rungen, and his horse encountered the cavalry of Murat near Deppen, while the head of the column of in CHAP. fantry was at the same time charged by Ney, who had XLIV. crossed the Passarge to intercept his progress near 1807. Waltersdorf. The heroic resistance of the advanced Feb. 7. 1 Jom. ii. 356, 357 352, 353. Dum. xvii. forces on guard, only three thousand strong, gave time for the main body to change the line of its march, and escape in the direction of Schlodein; but it proved fatal to itself, as almost the whole were slain or made prisoners, with twelve pieces of cannon. The firm countenance of the cavalry, however, defeated all the efforts of Murat, who in vain charged them repeatedly with six thousand horse, and after baffling all his attacks, they retired leisurely, and in the best order, covering the march of the infantry all the way; crossed the Passarge at Spandau, and arrived on the 7th in safety at Hussehnen in the neighbourhood of PreussichEylau.1 Thus, after sustaining incredible hardships, and undergoing serious dangers, the whole Russian army was at length concentrated in one field of battle, and about to measure its strength with the enemy. It was reduced, by the fatigues and losses of this winter campaign, to sixty-five thousand men, assembled around Relative Eylau, to which, if ten thousand be added as Lestocq's both side. division, which might be expected to co-operate in the approaching action, the whole amount that could be relied on for the shock was seventy-five thousand, with 460 pieces of cannon. The French, after deducting the losses of this dreadful warfare, exclusive of Bernadotte, who did not arrive on the ground for two days after, could still bring eighty-five thousand men into the field, including nearly sixteen thousand horse; but they had not above three hundred and fifty pieces of artillery.* *The following is the account given by Dumas of the troops presen under arms, in January 1807, under Napoleon on the Vistula: |