JENA
During the 1805 campaign against
Russia and Austria, the Prussians had been convinced to join the
Allies against Napoleon. The creation of the Confederation of
the Rhine threatened them. But the movement of Bernadotte's Corps
through Ansbach was a violation of their neutrality. So the Prussians
sent Napoleon an ultimatum in a way that would disagree with him.
The ultimatum arrived several days before the battle of Austerlitz,
and Napoleon refused to see the messenger until the battle was
over. The messenger wisely changed the message to one of congratulations.
Napoleon punished Prussia for this with humiliating terms. And
with no army mobilized to defend herself, Prussia had to accept.
In 1806 Napoleon offered Hanover to England in return for peace,
after already promising it to Prussia. This was the last straw.
Queen Louise would stand for no more. Napoleon would call her
the only man in Prussia. The Prussians occupied Saxony, while
hotheads sharpened their swords on the French embassy steps in
Berlin. Saxony reluctantly agreed to join Prussia against Napoleon
once it realized it could not remain neutral. Napoleon called
up the class of 1806. War had begun. While the Prussian high command
debated every plan that came up, Napoleon was acting. He formed
his corps in a large square and headed through Bamberg and the
Thuringerwald. Lannes ran into the troops of Prince Louis Ferdinand
at Saalfeld and overran them, the Prince being killed in combat.
Napoleon expected to give battle near Erfurt on the 16th. But
on the 13th Lannes found himself in front of what appeared to
be the whole Prussian Army, and his corps was all alone. Napoleon
gave orders during the night for everyone to hurry towards Jena.
There would be a battle the next day. Lannes began an attack on
Closewitz at 6:30 AM. Due to intense fog, his troops veered to
the left and hit the road between Closewitz and Lutzeroda. The
infantry slugged it out for over 2 hours, while 28 French guns
fought it out with the Prussian artillery. Suchet took most of
Closewitz and much of the road to Lutzeroda. Gazan was repulsed
at Lutzeroda, but the Prussians abandoned the village to form
a new line. Lannes continued attacking towards Vierzehnheilegen,
taking the village and much of the Dornberg heights as well. But
a counterattack by Prussian cavalry and infantry pushed the French
back to the road between Lutzeroda and Closewitz, taking both
villages in the process. Meanwhile Soult was pushing through the
Closewitz woods. Prussian light infantry was no match for French
tirailleurs, and the French cleared the woods by 8:15. As Soult
headed toward Rodigen, his troops were hit in the flank by Holtzendorff's
cavalry and infantry. Holtzendorff decided to pull back to a new
position. Soult's light infantry caught the Prussians in the act,
and they began to break. Holtzendorff ordered a general retreat.
Guyot's cavalry caught one Prussian column, capturing two colours,
6 guns, and 400 prisoners. Ney arrived on the field at 9:30, personally
leading 3,000 of the best troops in his command. Ordered to the
east of Veirzehnheilegen, Ney attacked to its west, taking the
burning village from the startled Prussians, who had just pushed
out Lannes. He captured the Steinmetz battery, pushed away two
cavalry regiments, and started to take the Dornberg heights. But
the Prussians counterattacked with 45 squadrons and 11 battalions,
supported by 35 cannon and the Saxon Division. Ney's cavalry was
chased off, and the Prussian cavalry went around his squares and
into the French rear. Ney was surrounded. Napoleon was aware of
what had happened and ordered two cavalry regiments to counterattack,
Lannes to support Ney, and Augereau to take Isserstedt and link
with Ney's left wing. Lannes pushed into Vierzehnheilegen and
beyond, linking with Ney briefly before being forced back into
the village. Augereau took Isserstedt and linked up with Ney.
Ney retreated to Isserstedt, out of ammunition. It was now 11:30
AM.\par The Prussian advance stopped short of Veirzehnheilegen.
It wasn't the French shooting that stopped them, it was Hohenlohe's
desire to wait for Ruchel's 15,000 men. And so the Prussians stayed
in the open under heavy artillery fire for a whole hour. At 12:30
PM Napoleon began his coup de grace. He ordered attacks on both
flanks, to push the Prussian army off the roads they would retreat
by. At the same time all the French artillery moved forward to
hit the Prussians with canister at close range. The Prussians
tried to hold, but the advance of three corps against their center
caused them to fall back. Hohenlohe ordered a general withdrawal
to another position. The Prussians started retreating well, but
then Napoleon unleashed Murat's heavy cavalry at 1:45. Many Prussians
fled from the onslaught. Winkel's battalon formed a square in
the road to buy time, as did what was left of Tauentzien's Division.
The Prussians lost 8 colours, 16 cannon and 2,500 more prisoners.
By 2:30 PM the battle for Jena was over. But Hohenlohe wasn't
done making mistakes. While the army was retreating it ran into
Ruchel's 15,000 men. Hohenlohe ordered it to attack the French
instead of forming a rear-guard. This brought Lannes to a halt.
Soon St. Hilaire started outflanking Ruchel and he began to fall
back. Ruchel tried to cover his retreat with cavalry, but artillery
fire broke them up. Then Murat's cuirassiers came upon the infantry,
and they too fled to the rear. Half the Prussian army was in retreat.
At the battle of Jena Napoleon's forces lost 5,000 men. In return,
the Prussians had lost 10,000 casualties, 15,000 prisoners, 34
colours and 120 cannon. But the real victory had been at Auerstadt.
Bernadotte's corps, which fought in neither battle, would head
up the chase of the Prussians. Within 60 days, only 10,000 Prussians
would remain in arms, and all of Prussia would be conquered.
