Craonne

Napoleon had hoped to defeat Blucher’s army piecemeal since it was strung out in retreat after the series of Allied set-backs, but Blucher’s force recovered more quickly than expected. Napoleon pushed forward and on March 7th caught up to what …

1814-03-07

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Napoleon had hoped to defeat Blucher’s army piecemeal since it was strung out in retreat after the series of Allied set-backs, but Blucher’s force recovered more quickly than expected. Napoleon pushed forward and on March 7th caught up to what he believed was the Russian rear guard near Craonne. Blucher, however, had concentrated his forces and was eager to give battle. While his main force attacked up the valley, Napoleon sent Ney with the young guard and Victor’s cavalry to outflank the Russian left and Nansouty’s force to outflank the right. The coordination of the three forces, however, was poor. Ney’s force attacked before Napoleon’s artillery was up in the center and all attacks suffered heavy casualties which included cavalry commander Nansouty. A Russian counter attack was roughly handled and neither commander choose to continue the attack.

Craonne, France

The Battle of Craonne was a battle between an Imperial French army under Emperor Napoleon I opposing a combined army of Imperial Russians and Prussians led by Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. The War of the Sixth Coalition engagement began when the bulk of Napoleon's army tried to drive Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov's 22,000 Russians off the Chemin des Dames plateau to the west of Craonne. After a bitter struggle, Napoleon's attacks compelled Vorontsov's force to withdraw, but French casualties exceeded Russian losses. While the battle raged, Blücher's attempt to turn Napoleon's east flank ended in failure due to poor planning.

Wikipedia: Battle of Craonne

French

Russians

Sixth Coalition