Battle of Gué-à-Tresmes

Campaign in north-east France

Metz Hoogstraten Brienne La Rothière Six Days Campaign Champaubert Montmirail Château-Thierry Vauchamps Mormant Montereau Bar-sur-Aube Gué-à-Tresmes Craonne Laon Reims Arcis-sur-Aube Fère-Champenoise Saint-Dizier Paris Campaign in south-west France Bidassoa Nivelle Nive Garris Orthez Toulouse Bayonne Campaign in Italy Caldiero Trieste Mincio

War of the Sixth Coalition

The Battle of Gué-à-Tresmes (28 February 1814) was fought between 14,500 French troops led by Marshals Auguste Marmont and Édouard Mortier and 12,000 Prussians commanded by Friedrich Graf Kleist von Nollendorf and Friedrich von Katzler. In late February, Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher's Russo-Prussian army advanced toward Paris, pressing an outnumbered French force before it. When Kleist's II Corps took a threatening position on the north bank of the Marne River near Meaux, the French attacked and pushed their adversaries to the northeast. The action occurred during the Campaign in north-east France, part of the War of the Sixth Coalition. Gué-à-Tresmes (Tresmes Ford) is located where Route D405 crosses the Thérouanne stream about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northeast of Meaux.

Background

From 10–14 February 1814 in the Six Days' Campaign, a 30,000-man French army led by Napoleon outmaneuvered and beat Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher's 50,000 Allies at the Battles of Champaubert, Montmirail, Chateau-Thierry and Vauchamps. During these combats, the French inflicted as many as 20,000 casualties on the Army of Silesia, captured many of its cannons and forced it to retreat east to Châlons. However, Blücher's army was soon reinforced by a 30,000-strong Allied corps under Ferdinand von Wintzingerode moving south from Belgium. This infusion of strength would allow Blücher to quickly resume the offensive.^[1]

On 10 February, the Army of Bohemia under Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg began advancing from Troyes. On the right, Peter Wittgenstein and Karl Philipp von Wrede headed for Nogent-sur-Seine and Bray-sur-Seine supported by the Guards and Reserves. On the left, Prince Frederick William of Württemberg moved on Sens with the I Corps of Frederick Bianchi, Duke of Casalanza on his left. These forces were backed by Ignaz Gyulai's corps.^[2] The Allies were briefly checked at Nogent on the 10th by 1,000 French troops under Louis-Auguste-Victor, Count de Ghaisnes de Bourmont.^[3] Sens was taken on the 11th after a skirmish between Württemberg and Jacques-Alexandre-François Allix de Vaux.^[4]

Notes

↑ Chandler 1966, pp. 969–976.
↑ Petre 1994, p. 77.
↑ Smith 1998, p. 494.
↑ Smith 1998, p. 495.

References

Alison, Archibald (1842). History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution to the Restoration of the Bourbons 10. Paris: Baudry's European Library. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
Chandler, David G. (1966). The Campaigns of Napoleon. New York, N.Y.: Macmillan.
Chandler, David G. (1979). Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars. New York, N.Y.: Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-523670-9.
Petre, F. Loraine (1994) [1914]. Napoleon at Bay: 1814. London: Lionel Leventhal Ltd. ISBN 1-85367-163-0.
Smith, Digby (1998). The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill. ISBN 1-85367-276-9.

Coordinates: 49°00′28″N 2°58′34″E / 49.00778°N 2.97611°E / 49.00778; 2.97611

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, February 20, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.