Battle of Craonne
On the 22nd of February 1814, Austrian field marshal Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg commanded nearly 150,000 Allied troops against Napoleon's half that number at Troyes. Bad news from the south and poor supplies forced Schwarzenberg to order a retreat that evening. Blücher proposed his army separate from the main force to operate northward toward Paris. Schwarzenberg agreed, allowing Blücher's 53,000 soldiers to begin moving northwest on their own. Napoleon left Marshal Jacques MacDonald with 42,000 troops to contain Schwarzenberg while he marched after Blücher with only 35,000 men. An additional 10,000 soldiers under Marshals Auguste de Marmont and Édouard Mortier stood between the Prussian field marshal and Paris. Blücher evaded Napoleon's attempt to trap him and retreated north toward Laon, picking up reinforcements as he went. Russian forces under Ferdinand von Wintzingerode and a Prussian corps led by Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow would soon give Blücher a huge numerical advantage over the French. Napoleon came into contact with Vorontsov's corps on the evening of the 6th of March, believing that he had Blücher on the run.
By 5:00 am on the 5th of March, Guard cavalry divisions under Pierre David de Colbert-Chabanais and Louis Marie Levesque de Laferrière surprised and captured Reims and its Allied garrison. Napoleon ordered Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty to seize Berry-au-Bac with a cavalry force consisting of Rémi Joseph Isidore Exelmans' division and Louis Michel Pac's brigade. At the Battle of Berry-au-Bac, Nansouty's troopers overran some Russian cavalry and captured 200 men and two guns, but the main prize was their seizure of the bridge. Louis Friant's 1st Old Guard Division and Claude Marie Meunier's 1st Young Guard Division crossed and occupied positions as far north as Corbeny. From 3:00, 6:00 pm on the 5th of March, Marmont and Mortier tried to capture Soissons from its Russian garrison, but were repulsed. The Russians sustained 1,056 casualties, while the French lost 800, 900 men. Another source calculated French losses as 1,500 men. Blücher realized that Napoleon was trying to reach Laon by the Reims road. He sent Bülow and his wagon trains back to Laon. The Prussian commander began to shift his other forces to the northeast.
At 9:00 am, the French Imperial Guard artillery unlimbered on the east end of the Chemin des Dames ridge and opened fire. The Russian artillery replied, but the range was too long to inflict much damage on either side. Ney had been told to wait for the order to attack, but the bombardment caused him to send his troops forward. He ordered Pierre Boyer to attack Ailles with Meunier advancing on his left. One account stated that Curial's division operated with Meunier's troops from the beginning. Napoleon was partly responsible for Ney's blunder because he did not explain his battle plan to the marshal. Sending his men into the attack without artillery support was Ney's fault alone. The soldiers of both Meunier and Pierre Boyer were stopped in their tracks by the Russian cannons. Boyer de Rébeval's division arrived on the field at 11:00 am, but Charpentier's division was slowed by sleet-covered roads. At about 11:00 am Heurtebise Farm burst into flame and was abandoned. Vorontsov ordered Krasovsky's advanced troops to pull back to the main line.
Wintzingerode's cavalry was supposed to gather at Filain before setting out on its march and was expected to arrive at Festieux at dawn. When Wintzingerode arrived at Filain during the night, he found that the cavalrymen of Yorck and Langeron were already in camp with their horses unsaddled. In the circumstances, Wintzingerode decided to wait until daybreak to start on his march, but he neglected to order a reconnaissance of the roads. That morning, having failed to reconnoiter the roads, Winzingerode selected a bad route. Meanwhile, Kleist selected a more direct route and the two columns crossed at Chevregny at 11:00 am, causing a traffic jam. Kleist finally arrived at Festieux at 4:00 pm. Blücher caught up with Winzingerode at 2:00 pm at Bruyères-et-Montbérault and realized there was no chance to carry out the intended attack on Napoleon's east flank. Anxious that Sacken and Vorontsov were in danger, Blücher ordered those generals to retreat. Sacken received his orders at 3:00 pm.
One historian stated that the Russians lost 5,000 while the French counted 5,500 casualties. A second authority placed French casualties between 5,400 and 8,000, while the Russians admitted losing 4,785 killed, wounded and missing. A third source broke down the Russian casualties into 1,529 dead and 3,256 wounded, while giving French losses as 8,000. General-Major Lanskoy was mortally wounded; Generalmajor Sergey Nikolaevich Ushakov II of the Courland Dragoon Regiment and Colonel Parkinson of the artillery were killed. The Pavlograd Hussars lost 22 officers killed or wounded, the 13th Jägers lost 16 officers and 400 men and the Shirvan Infantry Regiment lost half its numbers. On the French side, Marshal Victor and Generals of Division Grouchy, Laferrière and Boyer de Rébeval were wounded as were Generals of Brigade Bigarré and Lecapitaine. Boyer de Rébeval's division suffered losses of two out of three men. Neither side lost a cannon or a color.
According to two historians, Craonne was a Pyrrhic victory because the French held the battlefield at the day's end, but their other objectives were not attained. Napoleon hoped to march rapidly to Laon and get there ahead of Blücher. In the event, the effort involved to drive off Vorontsov caused the French army to be spread out toward Soissons, rather than toward Laon. Napoleon had hoped to easily dispose of Vorontsov's corps, but found that he had to fight a major battle. Instead of cutting off Blücher from Laon, Napoleon had to pursue the Allied army directly. If Blücher had added Sacken's infantry to Vorontsov's corps, Napoleon might well have been beaten. Napoleon believed that the Allied army was fleeing from him in confusion, but this was not the case. Napoleon's army would sustain a defeat in the Battle of Laon on 9, the 10th of March and be lucky not to suffer even worse damage.
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Common questions
Who commanded the Allied forces at the Battle of Craonne?
Austrian field marshal Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg commanded nearly 150,000 Allied troops against Napoleon's half that number. Blücher led a separate force of 53,000 soldiers moving northwest toward Paris while Schwarzenberg remained with the main army.
When did the Battle of Craonne take place in March 1814?
The French Imperial Guard artillery opened fire on the east end of the Chemin des Dames ridge at 9:00 am on the 6th of March 1814. The battle concluded by day's end when the French held the battlefield but failed to achieve their strategic objectives.
Where was the Battle of Craonne fought relative to Laon and Soissons?
The engagement occurred along the Chemin des Dames ridge near Reims and Berry-au-Bac as Napoleon attempted to reach Laon. The fighting involved positions extending from Corbeny northward toward Soissons where Marmont and Mortier had previously tried to capture the city.
How many casualties were reported for each side during the Battle of Craonne?
One historian stated that the Russians lost 5,000 men while the French counted 5,500 casualties. A second authority placed French casualties between 5,400 and 8,000 while Russian sources admitted losing 4,785 killed wounded and missing.
Why is the Battle of Craonne considered a Pyrrhic victory for Napoleon?
Craonne was a Pyrrhic victory because the French held the battlefield at the day's end but their other objectives were not attained. Napoleon hoped to march rapidly to Laon ahead of Blücher but instead found his army spread out toward Soissons rather than cutting off the Allied retreat.