The Fields of Death

‘The army will continue the pursuit. There is still a chance of trapping the Army of Bohemia in the mountains. I will stay here with the Imperial Guard and wait for further news from Oudinot.’

Berthier nodded. As Napoleon looked round the nave he became aware of the silence and the stillness of his staff officers and aides. ‘Well, what are you waiting for? Prepare the orders!’

At once the men bent their heads over their notebooks and despatches and carried on with their tasks, not daring to look up in case they caught the Emperor’s eye. He stood, arms crossed, glaring at them for a while before turning back to the map. Coloured wooden blocks denoted the three main enemy armies, north, east and south of Dresden. Napoleon knew that he could defeat any one of them. But he could not be in more than one place at a time, and that meant he was compelled to delegate his command of scattered formations to his subordinates. They had failed him in this campaign. Perhaps they too were losing their touch, he thought. Fellow victims of the strains of age and weariness.

The pursuit continued for two more days, and then, on the evening of the thirtieth, a muddied dragoon officer arrived at headquarters with the news that Vandamme had been defeated at Kulm. Napoleon nodded calmly and bid the officer make his report in full. Vandamme, it seemed, had obeyed his orders with alacrity, driving his troops on as they marched round the hills to cut off the enemy’s escape. On the twenty-ninth they had encountered the rearguard in the narrow valley at Kulm and fought an inconclusive battle. That night, another enemy column, in an attempt to escape St-Cyr’s corps, had blundered into the rear of Vandamme’s men, trapping them in the valley. Nearly ten thousand had managed to cut their way free, but the rest were either dead or had been taken prisoner, like Vandamme himself.

Napoleon heard the news without interruption, and then politely dismissed the officer before turning to Berthier and the other staff officers.

‘It seems that the pursuit has failed. Recall the army to Dresden.’

‘Yes, sire.’ Berthier nodded. ‘What are your plans now, sire?’

Napoleon frowned and shook his head. ‘Plans?’

For a terrifying moment, he could think of nothing. His mind was numbed by lack of sleep and in any case every scheme he had devised to defeat the enemy had failed. It was becoming clear to Napoleon what the enemy’s campaign strategy was. While they were content to fight his marshals when and where they could, they had resolved not to face Napoleon in person if possible.

‘Clever, very clever,’ he mused wearily. There was little doubt that the allies had finally hit upon an effective means of fighting him. Worse still, the fatal weakness that they had divined in the Grand Army was one of his own creation. For years now, Napoleon had exercised personal authority over every aspect of his army. His officers and men had come to rely on him utterly and had lost the ability to use their own initiative and trust their own judgement. So now, he was obliged to be everywhere, or concentrate all his men in one unwieldy host so large that it could not possibly survive for long off the land as it attempted to corner an enemy who was ever willing to trade time for space.

‘Oh, yes . . .’ Napoleon muttered under his breath. ‘Very clever indeed.’

Chapter 44

Early in September Napoleon ordered Marshal Ney to make one last attempt to capture Berlin. Ney only managed to advance as far as De

For the rest of the month the enemy continued to probe towards Ney and MacDonald and each time Napoleon was obliged to force-march reinforcements to meet the threat, only for the enemy to withdraw again the instant they detected his presence. Napoleon was aware that Saxony could no longer feed his army. The supplies that had been built up in Dresden were steadily dwindling as the soldiers’ daily ration issue was cut and cut again until the soldiers were being issued less than quarter of their usual allowance of bread. Forage for the horses was also ru

‘What do we do, gentlemen?’ Napoleon asked his marshals at a meeting in Dresden towards the middle of the month.‘We have too few men to cover all the ground we are obliged to occupy. Those men that we do have are weak and weary and have lost the zeal that they showed when they fought here last month. And now there is news from our spies that the Russians have sent a fresh army from Poland to join the campaign against us.’

‘We need to shorten our front, sire,’ said Murat. ‘Pull back to a more central position, behind the Elbe, concentrate our forces and wait for the opportunity to strike on our terms.’

‘That is all very well, but what do we do about Dresden? We ca

‘Why, sire?’ Murat raised his eyebrows. ‘Dresden has ceased to be of any real military value. It has all but run out of food, and the magazines are nearly empty. It would be better to have the garrison with the main army than cut off in Dresden and unable to affect the outcome of the campaign.’

Napoleon regarded Murat patiently. ‘You are a fine soldier, Joachim, but you show poor political sense. Dresden is the capital of our sole remaining German ally, now that Bavaria is expected to declare for the coalition any day. If we abandon Dresden then we abandon any legitimacy for having French soldiers stationed on German soil. We cease to be allies protecting the interests of our friends, and become occupiers - invaders - instead. I can think of nothing more dangerous to our interests at the moment. The thought of every German peasant with a gun turning on our supply convoys is an alarming prospect.’

‘Not if there are reprisals, sire. If we shoot enough peasants then I’m sure we will have no trouble.’

Marmont laughed drily.‘Have you forgotten your time in Spain? For every man we shot, five more took his place, filled with desire for revenge.’

‘I remember Spain,’ Murat replied. ‘My only regret is that I did not shoot more of them.’

‘Gentlemen, that’s enough,’ Napoleon interrupted. ‘I have made my decision. We will leave a garrison in Dresden. St-Cyr, you are the obvious choice. I will leave you Lobau’s division as well. You will hold out at all costs.’

St-Cyr nodded.

‘That leaves us the question of where to make our new centre of operations.’

‘The Elbe, then,’ said Murat.

Napoleon thought briefly and shook his head. ‘That is too much of a risk. Too long a front. We have to assume that the enemy will be able to get over the Elbe. If they manage to cross in more than one place then the front will collapse. What we need is a base from which we can concentrate our forces and then strike in any direction.’ He leaned forward over the map, and pointed. ‘Leipzig. It’s a large city, co

None of the marshals demurred and Napoleon nodded, the decision made. ‘Very well, then the army will be ordered to concentrate at Leipzig.’

As the year moved into October the Grand Army’s position grew steadily worse. Blьcher and Bernadotte were operating in concert to the north, while General Be