Battle of Saalfeld

Battle of Saalfeld
Part of the War of the Fourth Coalition
The death of Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, as depicted by Richard Knötel
Date 10 October 1806 Location Saalfeld, Germany Result French victory
Belligerents
French Empire	Kingdom of Prussia Electorate of Saxony
Commanders and leaders
Jean Lannes Claude Victor-Perrin Louis Gabriel Suchet	Prince Louis Ferdinand †
Strength
12,800 men 14 guns	8,300 men 44 guns
Casualties and losses
c.200 dead or wounded	1,700-1,800 men killed, wounded or captured 33 guns (15 Prussian, 18 Saxon) Colours of "Müffling", "Kurfürst", and "Prince Clemens" regiments

The Battle of Saalfeld took place on the 10 October 1806, at which a French force of 12,800 men commanded by Marshal Jean Lannes defeated a Prussian-Saxon force of 8,300 men under Prince Louis Ferdinand. The battle took place in Thuringia in what was the Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. The battle was the second clash in the Prussian Campaign of the War of the Fourth Coalition.

Background

Main article: War of the Fourth Coalition § Prussian_campaign

French Movements

Jean Lannes

Napoleon had arranged the Grand Armée into three columns to cross the Thuringian Forest to attack the Prussian-Saxon army. The westernmost column was headed by V Corps commanded by Jean Lannes, with Pierre Augereau’s VII Corps following behind. They had orders to march from Coburg via Gräfenthal due at Saalfeld on the 11 October. V Corps set out on 8 October, and by the end of 9 October was at Gräfenthal with light cavalry on the road to Saalfeld. At 5am on 10 October, Lannes with Louis-Gabriel Suchet’s division and Anne-François-Charles Trelliard brigade of light cavalry of V corps began advancing down the road to Saalfeld, aware that a Prussian-Saxon force was in front of them.

Prussian-Saxon movements

Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia

Prince Louis Ferdinand commanded the Advanced Guard of Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen’s army and on the 9 October the Prince his headquarters at Rudolstadt, with detachments at Saalfeld, Schwarz, and Bad Blankenburg. The Prince had received a message from Hohenlohe that the Prussian-Saxon army would be advancing across the River Saale to support Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel von Tauentzien's force after the Battle of Schleiz, and that Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel’s main army would be advancing to Rudolstadt. In the evening of the 9 October Colonel Rabenau (who commanded a detachment at Saalfeld) reported to Prince Louis that a French column of between 16,000 to 20,000 men had left Coburg heading for Saalfeld and that a post of 30 hussars stationed at Gräfenthal and the Jäger Company "Valentini" stationed at Hoheneiche had both retreated to Arnsgereuth after clashing with the French. Knowing that the main body of the army under Hohenlohe was due to advance across the River Saale on the 10 October, Prince Louis therefore decided that his forces needed to stop the French column from either crossing the Saale at Saalfeld and interfering with Hohenlohe’s movements or from moving up the western side of the Saale to Rudolstadt, which they would reach before Brunswick’s army. During the 9 October a fusilier company commanded by August von Gneisenau was sent to Arnsgereuth to support the troops there, and having confirmed that the French were advancing on Saalfeld and in strength, the Prussian troops withdrew from Arnsgereuth to Lerchenhügel, just outside Saalfeld, with advance posts in Garnsdorf.

At 7am Prince Louis began concentrating his troops at Saalfeld, and by 9am he had arranged his forces for battle. The troops were arranged in a line stretching from in front of Saalfeld to behind Crösten and Beulwitz facing the woods the covered the hills above Saalfeld and the Saale valley. The Prince left Generalmajor Karl Gerhard von Pelet's detachment at Blankenburg.

Battle

Battle of Saalfeld

At around 9.45AM, the advanced guard of V Corps comprising of the corps' bataillon d’élite (formed of the elite companies of battalions left at depots), the 17th Légère Regiment, and two cannons, made its way towards Saalfeld and occupied the heights overlooking the town. The French light cavalry brigade and the advanced guard began to engage the Prussian-Saxon army. The bataillon d’élite supported by French skirmishers pushed out the Prussian troops from Garnsdorf and occupied it. As the French troops advanced and the Prussian-Saxon army prepared to fight them, Marshal Lannes noticed that the right flank of the Prussian-Saxon army was completely uncovered, and while the cavalry and French advanced guard engaged the Prussians around Garnsdorf and Saalfeld, he ordered rest of Suchet’s division to march northwards through the woods to outflank the Prussian and Saxon line. To cover this move, the 17th Légère Regiment formed a skirmish line that extended from Saalfeld to Buelwitz.

Prince Louis recognised the threat to his flank and sent troops to reinforce the area. At 11am, Prince Louis received a message from Hohenlohe to hold at Ruldolstadt, but Louis decide to continue the battle, even though he did not need to protect Hohenlohe’s now cancelled advance. The fighting intensified and focused on Beulwitz and Crösten, with the Saxon Xaver and Kurfürst regiments eventually taking the villages. At 1pm, the French advanced again against Crösten and the Saxons were driven back. Général de Brigade Honoré Charles Reille with the French 34th and 40th Ligne moved further to their left advancing on Aue am Berg, with the Saxon troops withdrawing toward Schwarza. In a cavalry attack, the Saxon Generalmajor Friedrich Joseph von Bevilaqua was captured.

The whole of the Prussian and Saxon line was by then disordered with some troops driven across the bridge at Saalfeld. Prince Louis, determined to attack the French and gain time for a retreat, mustered five squadrons and leading them from the front charged the French 9th and 10th Hussars, who were advancing to attack the Prussian and Saxon infantry. The Prussian and Saxon cavalry were outnumbered and the French overlapped their flanks, during which Prince Louis was attacked by Quartermaster Guindet of the 10th Hussars. Although wounded, Prince Louis refused to surrender and was killed.

The Prussians and Saxon forces now broke. Many were captured, cut down, or drowned, and around 1,700 soldiers were lost, along with 33 guns. Pelet, commanding the detachment left at Bad Blankenburg, attempted to cover the retreat of the Prussian and Saxon army and reached Blankenhain on the 11 October. The French had only lost around 200 men.

Aftermath

Four days after Saalfeld, the twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt took place on the plateau west of the river Saale. Although the war went on for another seven months, the decisive defeat suffered by the Prussian army resulted in Prussia's effective elimination from the anti-French coalition up until the war of 1813.

Order of battle

French V Corps

Advanced Guard Division

Commander-in-chief: Marshal Jean Lannes Chief of staff: Général de Division Claude Victor-Perrin 1st Division Général de Division Louis-Gabriel Suchet 1st Brigade Général de Brigade Michel Marie Claparède 1st and 2nd battalions, 17th Légère Regiment (2,047 officers and men) Bataillon d’élite (751), fromed of carabiniers and voltigeurs of the 3rd battalions of the 17th and 21st Légère, and the grenadiers and voltigeurs of 4th battalion 34th Ligne, 3rd battalions of 40th, 64th, and 88th Ligne. 2nd Brigade Général de Brigade Honoré Charles Reille 1st, 2nd, and 3rd battalions, 34th Ligne Regiment (2,788) 1st and 2nd battalions, 40th Ligne Regiment (1,881) 3rd Brigade Général de Brigade Dominique Honoré Antoine Vedel 1st and 2nd battalions, 64th Ligne Regiment (1,954) 1st and 2nd battalions, 88th Ligne Regiment (2,104) Divisional Artillery 15th company, 5th Foot Artillery Regiment (108) 3rd company, 3rd Horse Artillery Regiment (68) (2x12lb, 6x8lb, 2x4lb cannons, 2x6" howitzers) Cavalry Brigade Général de Brigade Anne-François-Charles Trelliard 1st, 2nd, and 3rd squadrons, 9th Hussar Regiment (527) 1st, 2nd, and 3rd squadrons, 10th Hussar Regiment (495) 1st, 2nd, and 3rd squadrons, 21st Chasseurs à Cheval (608) Strengths as at 1 October 1806.

Generalleutenant Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia General staff: Stabskapitän Georg Wilhelm von Valentini Detachment at Blankenburg Generalmajor Karl Gerhard von Pelet Fusilier Battalion No. 14 "von Pelet" Jäger Company "Masars" 3 squadrons, Saxon Hussar Regiment ½ Horse Artillery Battery No. 2 "Gause" (4 guns) Troops at Saalfeld Prussian Troops Jäger Company "Valentini" Fusilier Battalion No. 13 "Rabenau" Fusilier Battalion No. 15 "Rühle" 5 squadrons, Hussar Regiment No. 6 "Schimmelpfennig von der Oye" ½ Horse Artillery Battery No. 2 "Gause" (4 guns) 2 battalions, Infantry Regiment No. 49 "Müffling" 6lb Foot Artillery Battery "Reimann" (12 guns) Saxon Troops Generalmajor Friedrich Traugott von Trützschler Generalmajor Friedrich Joseph von Bevilaqua 5 squadrons, Saxon Hussar Regiment 2 Battalions, Infantry Regiment No. 1 "Kurfürst" 2 Battalions, Infantry Regiment No. 4 "Prince Clemens" 2 Battalions, Infantry Regiment No. 9 "Prince Xaver" 4lb Foot Artillery Battery "Hoyer" (8 guns) 16 additional guns attached to the infantry regiments Detachment at Pößneck Generalmajor Christian Ludwig Schimmelpfennig von der Oye 5 squadrons, Hussar Regiment No. 6 "Schimmelpfennig von der Oye"

Further reading

• Bichler, Karl-Horst (1998). Napoleons Krieg gegen Preussen und Sachsen 1806 : (Saalfeld, Jena und Auerstedt) (in German). Reinbek: Einhorn-Presse-Verlag. ISBN 9783887567835.
• Bressonnet, Pascal (1909). Études tactiques sur la campagne de 1806 (in French). Paris: Chapelot. pp. 1–48. OCLC 610334571.
• Höpfner, Friedrich Eduard Alexander von (1855). Krieg von 1806 und 1807 : ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der preussischen Armee nach den Quellen des Kriegs-Archivs (in German). Vol. 1. Berlin: Simon Schropp & Comp. pp. 265–284. OCLC 10489667.
• Hourtoulle, François Guy (2005). Jena - Auerstaedt : the triumph of the eagle. Paris: Histoire & Collections. ISBN 9782915239768.
• von Lettow-Vorbeck, Oscar (1891). Der Krieg von 1806 und 1807 (in German). Berlin: E.S. Mittler und Sohn. OCLC 9959799.

External links

• The Battle of Saalfeld Reported by an Eyewitness (primary source)

Media

• Rugendas, Johan Lorenz, II, "Mort du Prince Louis de Prusse, près de Saalfeld" (1799). Prints, Drawings and Watercolors from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
• Chéreau, J., "Combat de Saalfeld. Mort du Prince Louis de Prusse: 10 8bre 1806 " (1806). Prints, Drawings and Watercolors from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library
• "Le Prince Louis de Prusse.: Qui commandait l'avant garde du Prince Hohenloe, le 10 octobre 1806, à Saalfeld... " Prints, Drawings and Watercolors from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library
• "Tod des Prinzen Louis Ferdinand von Preussen" Prints, Drawings and Watercolors from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library
• Bell, "The Hero Was Mortal", 1807, Royal Collections Trust
• Peter Edward Stroehling (1768-c. 1826), "The Death of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (1772-1806)", c.1806-16, Royal Collections Trust
• Francois Pigeot, "Death Of Prince Louis Of Prussia At The Battle Of Saalfeld", 1850, Getty Images
• Tranié, Jean (1984). Napoléon et l'Allemagne, Prusse 1806. Lavauzelle. ISBN 9782702500859.

Maps of the Battle

• Napoleon Series Map Archives
• Petre, Francis Loraine (1907). Napoleon's conquest of Prussia, 1806. London: John Lane. p. 102.
• Ambroise Tardieu (1820). Plan Du Champ De Bataille De Saalfeld (Map).