In our previous video on the Napoleonic Wars we described the beginning of the War of the Fourth
Coalition and the twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt that concluded the first phase of the conflict that
The war was just starting and soon Napoleon was tested by the new Russian army and a harsh winter
Welcome to our documentary on the battle of Eylau
The War of the Fourth Coalition erupted in October of 1806
and in less than a month French Emperor Napoleon
Had utterly defeated the Prussian army at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt and occupied Berlin
The Prussians could not oppose the Grand Army
But despite that King Frederick Wilhelm III refused to negotiate and fled to
Konigsberg in eastern Prussia as he was assured that Russian armies would soon support him
indeed
68,000 Russians under Bennigsen were in Grodno and a 40,000 strong force commanded by Buxhoeveden was on its way
Napoleon knew that he had to decisively defeat the Russians to win the war
But his supply lines were still not secure enough as some of the Prussian strongholds
Continued their resistance so in early November he sent the corps of Marshal Davout across the Oder River
To prevent the Russians from setting their defensive lineman
Fortunately for the French the main Prussian bastion of Magdeburg fell on November 8th and on the next day
Davout entered Poznan which triggered a patriotic Polish uprising
The Poles started fighting against the remainder of the Prussian forces in the area
At the same time the fall of Magdeburg allowed Napoleon to move more cause across the Oder
And that forced Bennigsen to stop and wait for his reinforcements
A lack of supplies was preventing Napoleon from marching at his usual fast pace
So he entered Warsaw only on the 19th of December
Still he attempted a pincer move by moving some of his forces to the north
The Russian troops were spread 60 kilometers to the north of Warsaw between Pultusk and Golymin
On the 26th of December the French attacked from the north, west and south, but failed to encircle the Russian troops
Bennigsen managed an orderly retreat to Bialystok where he decided to winter
Although Napoleon hoped to chase the enemy the winter was too harsh, and he also had to send his Corps back to their winter cantonments
Both armies had a hard time procuring rations
By the middle of January the situation became critical and Bennigsen started moving towards Danzig
It was still controlled by the Prussians and had ample supplies
Coincidentally Marshal Ney attempted a raid towards Heilsberg on the 17th of January
Napoleon was furious and ordered Ney to return
the latter complied
The same time the Russians reached the position of Bernadotte and threatened to cut him off from the majority of French troops
The French Marshal was too quick for them and retreated to the south
The Russians caught at Mohrungen but Bernadotte scored a minor victory and successfully withdrew
All that gave Napoleon a brilliant idea. He ordered Bernadotte and Ney to continue their withdrawal
While Augereau, Soult and Davout were commanded to march north. The goal was to cut the Russian retreat and impose a general battle
Unfortunately for Napoleon, constant rains made the road impassable
and on the 31st of January his messenger to Bernadotte was caught by Russian Cossacks,
which allowed Bennigsen to learn of the Emperor's plans and retreat
French troops almost caught up to the Russians on two occasions in early February, but Bennigsen was able to escape
However, further retreat was impossible as that would have let the French capture crucial Konigsberg
Bennigsen stopped at the small town of Preussisch-Eylau, modern day Bagrationovsk in Russia.
He asked for assistance from the 12,000 strong Prussian Corps under L'Estocq that was nearby
Napoleon knew of the Prussian forces in the area and ordered Ney to prevent them from joining Bennigsen
But the Prussians managed to avoid the French Marshal
The Battle of Eylau took place on the 7th and 8th of February 1807
At the beginning of the battle the Russians had about 66,000 troops against 45,000 with Napoleon
But the Emperor knew that Ney and Davout each with 15,000 soldiers were within marching distance
The Russians had a decided advantage in artillery with 450 guns against Napoleon's 200
Bennigsen needed time to set up his troops to the northeast of Eylau
So he left his rearguard under the command of Bagration to cover the deployment
The Russian general was able to repulse the French initially but by midday, Augereau
And the Imperial Guard joined the battle and Bagration had to retreat under overwhelming French pressure
Bagration retreated towards the main army while General Barclay screened his withdrawal in the town of Eylau
The layout of the town wasn't conductive to an attack and Barclay managed to defend his positions well into the evening
By 22:00 hours he was ordered to move back and joined Bennigsen
The Russian commander knew that not all of the French troops were
Present and ordered part of his right flank to strengthen the reserves, which weakened his wing
The morning started with an artillery tune
As the French were expecting the arrival of Davout's Corps from the southwest, Soult was ordered to attack the Russian right and create a diversion
However the Russian stopped Soult and when the vanguard of Davout's forces arrived, they were intercepted by the Cavalry Reserve
Napoleon needed to win time to let the remainder of Davout's soldiers join the battle, so he ordered his center and right to attack
A blizzard started and blinded the center of the French army led by Augereau
Visibility was so limited that the French artillery mistakenly bombarded Augereau, who walked right into the Russian artillery battery
More than 5,000 French died in the centre without reaching the Russian lines while the French right didn't do much damage to the Russian left
Bennigsen counterattacked against the French right led by Saint-Hilaire with his cavalry and forced it to stop its advance
While his infantry moved against the French Center, which was defended by what was left of Augereau's Corps
However, Napoleon still had his Guard to send in
While the infantry units joined the center, stopping the enemy advance
The cavalry portion of the Guard attached the Russians from the rear and the majority of this column was destroyed
The French also had more as cavalry in reserve. And it was ordered to counter-attack.
The right wing of these units attacked the Russian cavalry fighting Saint-Hilaire's right flank and scattered them
Murat and Saint-Hilaire continued their movement and although the infantry was stopped
their cavalry charge dispersed every Russian unit in front of it and reached the reserves
At this point in the battle Davout's remaining troops arrived and attacked the Russian left
And while Soult, Augereau, Murat and the guard held their positions, Davout supported by Saint-Hilaire pushed the Russians back
And by 15:30 the Russian left and left center who almost at a 90-degree angle to the rest of the forces
Luckily for Bennigsen 9,000 Prussians commanded by L'Estocq entered the battle and joined the beleaguered Russian left
The Russians attacked Davout from the right and slowly pushed him away
By 19:00 hours Davout had to retreat and set a line between the villages of Kutschitten and Anklappen
Around that time Ney's Corps, which was supposed to stop L'Estocq entered the fray.
His forces moved against the extreme right of the Russian troops
But Bennigsen used the remainder of his cavalry to intercept them
The battle continued until 22:00 hours at which point the sides disengaged
Both armies lost at least 15,000 troops, and it is possible that Napoleon's army suffered more casualties
Despite that at 23:00 Bennigsen ordered a retreat
The French were in no shape to chase the enemy
And although the battlefield belonged to Napoleon it was clear that for the first time in his career
he had failed to win a decisive battle
Eylau indicated that the War of the Fourth coalition was far from over
Thanks for watching our Documentary on the Battle of Eylau
In two weeks Napoleon will be back to command his troops at the Battle of Friedland
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