Grosberin's battle

After the destruction of the French army in the Russian campaign of 1812 in the spring of 1813, Prussia rebelled against Napoleon. The Russian-Prussian army cleared Germany from the French garrisons to Elba , but by May 1813, Napoleon had gathered a new large army and, after the battles at Lutzen and Bautzen, threw the allies back to Silesia . In June 1813, a ceasefire followed, which ended on August 11, 1813 with the entry into the war of Austria and Sweden on the side of the Allies (6th coalition).

The Allies seized the forces of Napoleon with three armies, the North under the command of the Swedish Crown Prince Bernadotte (former Napoleonic Marshal), Silesian under the command of the Prussian General Blucher and the main Bohemian under the command of the Austrian Field Marshal Schwarzenberg . Russian troops were part of all three armies, but for political reasons, Tsar Alexander I did not insist on the appointment of a Russian military commander as the commander of any army, especially since the commanders of the national corps maintained a significant degree of autonomy in decision-making.

After the resumption of hostilities, Napoleon moved with the main forces against the Silesian army, believing it to be the main among the allies. To capture Berlin , which was defended by the Northern Army, he sent 3 corps led by Marshal Udino . The Oudinot group consisted mainly of Saxons and Italians.

The northern army of Bernadotte consisted of the national corps of Prussia, Russia, Sweden, with small contingents of small German states and England. The Prussian contingent, reinforced by Russian Cossack regiments, was the largest: the 3rd corps of Lieutenant General Byulov (41 thousand, 102 guns) and the 4th corps of Lieutenant General Tauenzin (39 thousand, 56 guns). In the Russian corps of Lieutenant General Wincingerode there were 29,600 soldiers with 96 guns. The Swedish corps numbered 20-24 thousand soldiers with 62 guns. The remaining national contingents were part of the consolidated corps of Lieutenant General Valmoden (22 thousand, 53 guns). In total, under the command of Bernadotte there were up to 156 thousand soldiers with 369 guns, but part of the troops was involved in the garrisons and scattered throughout Prussia ^[2] . The main forces of the army were located around Berlin scattered throughout the corps.

Odino had at his disposal the 4th Corps of General Bertrand (13–20 thousand), recruited from Italians and Germans, the 7th Saxon Corps of General Rainier (20–27 thousand), and his own 12th Corps (20–24 thousand). ) and the cavalry of General Arrigi . In the memoirs of General Savary, the Duke of Rovigo and the work of A.I. Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky , an estimate of the strength of Oudinot is found in 80 thousand soldiers. ^{[3] The} modern historian Peter Hofschreoer cites the number of Udino troops at 70 thousand (of which 9 thousand cavalry) with 216 guns ^[4] .

Odino was to be supported by Marshal Davout (30–35 thousand French and Danes) from Hamburg and General Girard (10–12 thousand) from Magdeburg on the Elbe. Davout and Girard could intercept the Northern Army’s retreat from Berlin. Napoleon’s plan implied the capture of Berlin and the union of all groups into a powerful army that could defeat the Northern Army of Bernadotte, lift the siege of fortresses along the Oder and drive Prussia out of the war.

The forces of the parties in terms of the number of soldiers were comparable, but it was easier for Bernadotte to concentrate the army on the battlefield, which he ultimately managed to carry out.

Heavy rains eroded the roads, Oudino had to move from the south to Berlin with three different roads without communication between the corps: on the left went the 12th corps to Arensdorf, in the center the 7th corps and the cavalry to Grosberen, on the right the 4th corps to Blankenfeld. The untrained cavalry and marshland did not allow the French to determine the exact location of the forces of the Northern Army of Bernadotte.

On August 22, the French came into contact with the Prussian corps, which, not accepting the battle, moved north towards Berlin and took more advantageous positions. Byulov’s corps blocked the road to Berlin outside the village of Grosberen (18 km south of the center of Berlin), the Tauenzin corps blocked another road a few kilometers east of Byulov’s position (Blankenfeld village), separated from the Bulova corps by a swamp.

On August 23, Oudinot launched an attack on the positions of the Prussians by forces of the 4th and 7th corps. The 12th corps covered the left flank of the French, where Oudinot awaited the appearance of other corps of the Northern Army. Commander Bernadotte at first wanted to retreat, according to German historians, but the Prussians did not obey.

The Prussian corps of Tauenzin held a position in the village of Blankenfeld against the 4th French corps, which was the first to come and join the battle at 10 a.m. The fighting was reduced to a shootout with the loss of 200 people on both sides.

Then at 3 o'clock in the afternoon the 7th Rainier Corps marching along another road entered the battle. The Saxons immediately stormed the village of Grosberen, having driven out the Prussian battalion, and camped, believing that the battle had begun in the rain. At this time, Bulov’s main forces pulled up to Grosberen from the village of Geinersdorf and suddenly attacked the Saxons, after firing at a camp of 60 guns (including 2 Russian batteries). The Prussian brigade of Colonel Kraft burst into Grossbeeren, but was knocked out. Heavy rain continued, the guns did not shoot. With a second bayonet attack, the Prussians knocked out the 7th Rainier Corps from the village of Grosberen and pursued it with cavalry forces. According to the Saxons, the French were the first to run from the Dürutt division, fleeing in the woods.

Upon learning of the defeat of Rainier, Bertrand moved away from Blankenfeld. Two divisions rescued from complete defeat Rainier, sent by Oudinot to the aid from the left flank, where the marshal made false attacks. At this time in the evening, the Russian-Swedish corps of Bernadotte approached the right flank of the allies. Seeing the impending danger over his left flank, Oudinot gave the order for a general retreat.

The French units did not manage to support Odinot. Girard suffered a separate defeat on August 27 ^[5] at Belzig , and Marshal Davout, seeing this, retreated to Hamburg , where he remained the whole campaign.

Odin lost 2200 killed and wounded, 1800 captured and 26 guns ^[6] . The Prussians lost about 2 thousand soldiers. According to the author Peter Hofschreoer, the French suffered 3,000 soldiers and 13 guns damage, while the Prussians lost only a thousand. A large number of captured weapons made it possible to improve the armament of the Prussian militia — the landver .

The main losses were suffered by the Saxon corps. The Saxons felt that the French 12th Corps intentionally left them without support. Distrust between the national contingents within the French army intensified, which led to the reluctance of the Saxons to fight for Napoleon.

The victory over the French, gained by the Prussians almost independently, caused a patriotic upsurge in Prussia.

Odino retreated south under the protection of the fortress of the city of Wittenberg and was soon replaced by Napoleon by Marshal Ney , who had the previous task of mastering Berlin. An attempt to re-attack Ney on Berlin again ended with the defeat of the French in the battle of Dennevice on September 6 .

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  Monument to the dead at Grosberen.

• The course of the battle is described mainly by the presentation in the work of A. I. Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky “Collected Works. Description of the war of 1813. "
• G. Katkart , “Comments on the war in Russia and Germany in 1812 and 1813.”, 1850, p. 246