March 1813 saw the Russian army´s right flank being guarded by Cossacks and mounted militia. The extreme Russian right flank, commanded by Colonel Tettenborn had reached the Elbe river. Behind Tettenborn, in liberated Prussia, a strong freedom movement grew and countless militia legions and Freikorps were formed locally. These Freikorps and local militia forces were the main Prussian contribution to the corps which faced the French XIII corps in early September 1813. General Walmoden was an Austrian general in Russian service. He had a little while earlier left Austrian service and joined the Russian army (which was constantly desperate for commanding officers). The newly formed corps was placed under his command. During the early summer the corps was reinforced with Russian troops, Prussians regulars, British troops and Swedes and was incorporated in the Allied army as the Right Flank Corps, in the Army of the North commanded by Bernadotte.
As it is stated earlier Walmodens corps was made up from troops coming from various nations. The quality of the troops varied greatly, as one might imagine. The worst were offcause the Cossaks and the Hanseatic troops. Their equipment were bad and very unsuited form campaign warfare. Their morale was terrible and officers had a hard time trying to lower desertion, looting and pillaging. Even the famous Freikorps Lützow were far from an effective fighting force. Their equipment were mediocre, they desperately needed competent officers and both cavalry and infantry were poorly trained. Freikorps Lützow were also plagued by a lack of artillery. They had batteries, but they combined several different types of cannons and calibre.
Better were the Russian-Prussian Legion. This was made from Prussian troops which had been in French service and had been captured or had deserted during the 1812 campaigns. The troops were used to the campaign life and had seen several battles.
By far the best troops were the ones from Sweden, Mecklenburg and from Hannover. When all is taken into consideration it turns out that the two corps (French XIII and Walmodens Right Flank Corps) were evenly matched. The French troops of the XII corps were just as poorly trained as many of Walmodens men. Walmoden severely lacked competent commanders, but his troops were more numerous and they were older than their French counter parts. What might have given Davout an edge about Walmodens corps was the presence of the 11.000 Danes in the Auxiliary corps (or at least that’s what stated in the Meddelelser Fra Krigsarkiverne bd. VII page 116-117).