Main Moves. August 16th to September 1st.
War started again on the 16th of August and the Danish division was sent into action with the French XIII corps. The Danish division received the name: Auxiliærkorpset (the auxiliary corps). Along with the 3 small French divisions of the French corps the Danes were to secure and stabilise Marshal Oudinots left flank. Oudinot commanded a force of 80.000 men with orders to engage Bernadottes Army of the North (based near Berlin). Napoleon hoped Oudinot could tie down Bernadotte and keep him out of the fighting taking place further south where Napoleon was commanding the French main force. Besides acting as a flank guard Davout was ordered to advance to a position between Berlin and the North Sea. Here he was to engage and destroy an enemy corps commanded by Lieutenant General Walmoden and thereby relieve the French occupied Stettin. Davout´s corps numbered 32.000 men including the 11.000 Danes. Before the campaign began Davout formed a Danish-French formation commanded by l´Alleman. This formation was only intended as a temporary vanguard force, but it quickly became permanent as it showed itself extremely valuable. The force was named Vanguard Brigade l´Alleman, and acted as vanguard for the entire XIII corps.
Map of early operations. Click on hotspots to jump to relevant pages.
The corps opposing the French XIII corps was Walmodens Army corps. Walmoden had 27.000 men under his command. His orders was to cover the Army of the North´s right flank. Besides acting as a flank guard Walmoden had orders to commence offensive operations against the enemy units located between Hamburg and Lübeck. If possible he was to drive the enemy back and besiege him either in Hamburg, Lübeck or Rendsborg. When the enemy was destroyed or besieged Walmoden was to use his powerful cavalry to capture and occupy Holstein.
In early August the two corps stood a mere 10 to 30 kilometres from each other. The French XIII corps was in positions behind the Bille and Trave rivers, Northwest of the Hamburg-Lübeck line. Walmodens corps was spread out covering the line between Dassau-Ratzeburg-Lauenburg. Davout wanted to attack and occupy Schwerin, which he planned to reach marching his corps along to separate roads. One northern road leading trough Mölln-Ratzeburg-Gadebusch and a southern route leading trough Lauenburg-Boizenburg-Wittenburg. A strong reconnaissance force was to move towards Lübeck while the corps moved towards Schwerin.
L´Allemans vanguard had bridged the Bille river near Trittau early in the morning on August the 17th and the force was now rapidly advancing towards Mölln. Once there the force assaulted and destroyed a Cossack force. From Mölln l´Alleman turned south and marched to Büchen, which was occupied by enemy forces. The town was captured after a well planned attack pushed the enemy back. Thiebaults 40th French Infantry Division had reached Lauenburg while Colonels Engelsteds reconnaissance force had passed trough Lübeck without any enemy contacts. The 20th of August saw Davout in control of the entire Delvenau line, which meant that the road to his objective Schwerin was wide open. On the 21st l´Alleman´s brigade supported by Loissons 3rd French Infantry Division began a march towards Camin while Thibaults 40th Division marched toward Goldenbow. An enemy force at Camin (Dörnbergs cavalry and 1 battalion infantry) quickly fled before contact could be made. As did a large Cossack force at Goldenbow. By now Walmoden thought he faced a superior enemy force. This caused him to fall back to a better defensive position. His main force retired to Wöbbelin just south of Schwerin while the Swedish-Mecklenburgske Division occupied the terrain near Grevismühlen and Wismar.
Schwerin fell to the XIII corps on the 23rd of August. Walmodens forces had been parted into a northern and southern part, with the French XIII corps between the two parts. To secure his left flank Davout ordered l´Alleman and Loissons 3rd Division north. They marched trough Gadebusch towards the Swedish forces at Wismar. As the Swedish force fell back towards Rostock before contact could be made, the Danish - French force occupied Wismar. L´Alleman received orders on the 27th of August, which ordered him to perform a reconnaissance towards Rostock to located the enemy division. On the next day l´Alleman made contact with the Swedish division near Retschow. The mission had been successful and l´Alleman fell back towards friendly lines. The Swedish force that outnumbered l´Allemans brigade did not organise a pursuit. The Danes spend the night in Neu Bukow while the Swedes advanced to Kröpelin. L´Alleman withdrew to Hornsdorf during the next few days. The Swedes still failed to pursue him. After L´Allemans successful reconnaissance it was decided that the XIII corps should maintain its position along the Schwerin - Wismar line.