Brienne
29 January, 1814
As
the Allies advanced on France from three different directions,
Napoleon Bonaparte planned
to attack and defeat each in turn.
The first battle of the Campaign
for France came at Bonaparte's old stomping Brienne,
where he went to school.
His
first target was the spread-out force of some 25,000 Prussians
under Field Marshal Blucher.
To
battle his old adversary, Bonaparte had 30,000 troops, but
most of these were just out of the recruiting camps and
had no wartime experience.
The
French emperor began the clash by pinning the enemy down
while he organised a flanking attack.
Marshal
Grouchy's cavalry and horse artillery kept the Prussians
occupied as marshals Ney and
Victor secured both the
town of Brienne and its chateau.
During
the heavy fighting Bonaparte was almost taken by Russian
cossacks, and both Blucher and his second-in-command Augustus
Gneisenau only just managed to elude French troops.
Withdrawing
to reorganise, Blucher left behind some 4000 casualties
to France's 3000.
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