battles of Jena/Auerstadt

Jena/Auerstadt, battles of (1806). In August 1806 the Prussian government, humiliated by Napoleon's actions since his victory over Austria and Russia at Austerlitz the previous year, decided to declare war on France. The French army had at least 160, 000 men quartered in southern Germany, and although the Prussians and their Saxon allies could produce rather more, the Prussian army was ‘a walking museum piece’ which had changed little since the days of Frederick ‘the Great’. In September the Prussians began a hesitant advance, initially confident that Napoleon would stand on the defensive. They were beset by divided counsels, with both Prince Hohenlohe and the Duke of Brunswick favouring different plans which an irresolute King Frederick William III did his best to balance.

Napoleon decided to concentrate on his extreme right and push swiftly through the difficult Thuringerwald into the area between Dresden and Leipzig. If the Prussians advanced he would outflank them, and if they fell back he hoped to catch them at a disadvantage on one of a number of river lines. He crossed the Saxon frontier on 8 October behind a cavalry screen with the Guard and six corps, a bataillon carré (lit., square battalion) of 180, 000 men moving in lateral columns close enough to offer mutual support. Prince Louis of Prussia, commanding a division watching the south-west approaches to the Prussian concentration area, was caught and killed at Saalfeld. On the 13th Napoleon reached Jena, where reports from Lannes, commanding his leading corps, suggested that the whole Prussian army lay on the lofty Landgrafenberg feature in front of him, though thick fog prevented accurate reconnaissance. He was confident that he would be able to move his corps up to concentrate in overwhelming strength over the next 24 hours, and decided to attack. That night he set about securing the Windknollen feature, highest point of the Landgrafenberg.

On the morning of the 14th Napoleon duly attacked, and a combination of French élan and Prussian command errors soon gave him enough room to deploy his troops as they came up. By late morning Hohenlohe realized that he was dealing with the main French army and did his best to concentrate to meet it. The turning point of the battle came when 20, 000 Prussian infantry drew up outside the village of Vierzenheiligen, under merciless fire from French in the village, until, as Maj Gen Maude says: ‘In places the fronts of companies were marked only by individual files still loading and firing, while all their comrades lay dead and dying around them.’ A general advance, begun at about midday, pushed the Prussians from the field.

Unbeknown to Napoleon, he was in fact only facing part of the Prussian army: Brunswick's 60, 000 men were at Auerstadt, 12 miles (19 km) to the north. Two French corps under Davout and Bernadotte had hooked to the east of Jena, making for Hohenlohe's rear, and collided with Brunswick early on the 14th. Davout fought a masterly battle against the odds, unsupported by Bernadotte who turned a deaf ear to his appeals for help and was lucky to escape court martial for it. The Prussians were routed and Brunswick himself was killed. Auerstadt was a prodigious achievement, a tribute to the ‘Iron Marshal’ and his troops.

The double battle of Jena/Auerstadt cost the Prussians 25, 000 prisoners and 200 guns. The towering reputation of the Prussian army was demolished, and French defeat at Rossbach avenged: Napoleon entered Berlin on 26 October. The Prussians had been hamstrung by disunited command, fatal for an army which worked by order, not by reflex. Although Napoleon's advance had been skilful, he had made a significant error of judgement on the night of the 13th and was saved from its consequences by Prussian hesitation, by Davout's talent, and by the superb fighting qualities of a French army at the very peak of its form.

The campaign of Jena-Auerstadt, October 1806.
(Click to enlarge)

Bibliography

• Chandler, David G., Jena 1806 (London, 1993).
• Maude, Maj Gen., The Jena Campaign (London, 1906)

— Richard Holmes