Main Moves. November 11th to December 11th
October 16th to the 19th saw the biggest battle in history fought near Leipzig. Napoleon was defeated and his armies suffered horrible losses. Davout received news of the defeat in early November. Shortly thereafter he received orders to occupy and defend Hamburg. Besides the defence of the Hamburg Davout was to march to Holland with the majority of XIII corps. The planned march to Holland was quickly abandoned as enemy forces had already moved between Davout and Holland. Therefore Davout decided to retire to a defensive line behind the Stecknitz river. The Danish Auxiliary corps was ordered to defend the northern part of the line, from Travemünde to an area north of Mölln. The southern part of the front was assigned to the French 40th and 50th Infantry Divisions. 3rd Division was placed in reserve near Mölln. The corps occupied this position without any enemy contacts until the 30th November. During the calm period the enemy was busy planning a major offensive towards XIII corps. The plan called for the 3 French divisions to be surrounded and besieged in Hamburg. Once the French had been surrounded in Hamburg the offensive would turn North. The Danes should then be isolated and destroyed as the besieged Davout would be unable to assist them. Once the Auxiliary corps was destroyed an invasion of Denmark would surely result in the surrender of Denmark. Sweden would finally get it’s long awaited prize: Norway. For this plan to be effective reinforcements had been moved to the area. A new Swedish corps had joined Walmoden, whose forces were now divided into 3 corps. Corps Woronzow, Corps Walmoden and the Swedish Corps. 43.100 troops were ready to attack the XIII corps. The overall command was given to Prince Karl Johan of Sweden.
Map of the last part of the campaign. Click on battle-hotspots to read more.
In late November Davout finally realised that a major enemy offensive was forthcoming. He
instantly began drawing up plans for the French withdrawal to Hamburg. This left the
defence of Holstein in the hands of the Danish Auxiliary corps. On November the 30th
Davout withdrew his French divisions to Hamburg. He arrived at the town on December the
3rd and immediately set up his headquarters. Lieutenant General Vichery was left near
Wandsbeck with the 40th Division. Jydske Regiment Light Dragoons had been assigned to
Vichery, who used the regiment to rout Cossacks and enemy cavalry near Rahlstedt on the 6th of December. December the 9th saw Corps
Woronzow crossing the Alster river and cutting off the connection between Hamburg and
Holstein. The Danes had been successfully isolated in Holstein. Just before the roads
between XIII corps and the Auxiliary corps were closed the Jydske Regiment Light Dragoon
performed a heroic march from the French corps to link up with the Danes. Enemy cavalry
repeatedly tried to stop the dragoons, which several times repulsed enemy attacks, before
they could continue their march.
When Davout fell back he ordered the Prince of Hessen to fall back with the entire Auxiliary corps to a defensive line between Oldesloe and Lübeck behind the Trave river. At the time the Danes were positioned with l´Allemans brigade and the 1st brigade in Kronförde while the second brigade was located in Bliesdorf. Major General Lasson commanding the 2nd brigade felt quite isolated after the contact to XIII corps had been lost, as his flank was "hanging in the air". Lasson decided to retire to Oldesloe. The enemy had decided that the Swedish Prince should advance with the Swedish corps towards Lübeck while Walmoden would march to Boden and from there to Oldesloe. Tettenborns strong Cossack force would link Corps Walmoden with Corps Woronzow located outside Hamburg. When the Prince of Hessen learned of Lassons movements with the 2nd brigade he instantly ordered Lasson, who had already reached Oldesloe, to march to Boden in an attempt to re-establish contact with the French XIII corps. A short time later the Prince learned that the French corps was surrounded in Hamburg. The Prince wanted to abort the march to Boden before disaster struck, but it was already to late. The 2nd brigade made contact with enemy forces of December the 4th near Boden. The Prince of Hessen realised that enemy forces occupied the terrain between his forces and the French corps. Any attempt to link up with Davout would result in disaster. The enemy had been surprised by the Danish "counter-attack" towards Boden, which resulted in a Danish victory over a numerically larger force. Before Walmoden could concentrate his forces against Boden, the Danes withdrew back to Oldesloe. The battle at Boden had been a huge success. For the first time large elements of Danish infantry had been engaged by the enemy. They had fought with great skill and had proven themselves as professional as the Danish cavalry and the light infantry.
During the next few days the enemy attempted to flank the Auxiliary corps right flank. This led to a number of small skirmishes. While these small actions were taking place the Prince of Hessen received a report from l´Alleman. L´Alleman had left his defensive position in Lübeck due to increasing enemy pressure. This made the Prince of Hessen abandon his plans of defending Oldesloe, where his main force of 2 brigades was located. He began to withdraw towards Segeberg and from there to Bornhöved. On December the 7th the Danes were in the area between Segeberg and Bornhöved. Walmoden was marching towards Neumünster to block the Danish line of retreat towards Rendsborg while the vanguard of the Swedish corps were advancing North of Segeberg. The fatigued Danes clashed with the Swedish vanguard at the traffic junction Bornhöved. To this day the outcome of this battle is still debated. The Danes claimed victory as they repulsed and routed the Swedish attackers. The Swedes claimed victory because they had made a very well co-ordinated cavalry attack on the withdrawing Danes.
After the battle, the Danes swung North and marched towards Kiel, which they reach the same evening. Kiel could easily be defended but the Prince of Hessen feared that staying in Kiel would mean that his lines of retreat might be cut and he his force besieged. He therefore marched the Auxiliary corps across the Eider Canal and into a position near Gettorf and Lindau (not shown on the map, but it’s west of Frederiksort and north east of Sehested). The corps train was placed between the two small towns. L´Allemans brigade was also located in the area. Elements of Walmodens corps and Dörnbergs Swedish cavalry division had also crossed the Eider Canal and was now located in Wittensee north of Sehested. Walmodens main force was located at Kluvensik. Advanced elements of his corps had moved into Sehested. The Prince of Hessen knew exactly where Walmoden´s corps was located and he faced a difficult choice. He could either march north to Ekernførde or he could march west to Rendsborg. A march north would mean less enemy infantry in the way but the strong enemy cavalry would cause immense problems for the slow train and tired troops. A march towards Rendsborg would result in a battle with most of Walmodens corps. If Walmoden could be routed or destroyed, Rendsborg would be a brilliant defensive position. On December the 10th the Prince decided. He issued orders for the march on Rendsborg. Walmoden was convinced that the Danes were heading towards Eckernførde and that their fighting spirit was completely broken. Therefore he ordered Dörnberg to move his vanguard into Gross Wittensee and move north from there. On December the 10th Walmoden´s corps encountered the Danish Auxiliary corps near Sehested. The Danish fighting spirit was far from broken and as a result Walmoden was severely beaten and routed. The battle at Sehested was by far the largest in the campaign with more than 20.000 troops engaged. The Danes reached Rendsborg in good order on the night between the 10th and 11th.