Laon

The Allies were intent on capturing Paris, but after Blücher’s unsuccessful attack in February, choose to retire as Napoleon rushed to the aid of his two Marshals covering the city. Falling back to Laon, a natural defensive position and an …

1814-03-09

EPIC12

The Allies were intent on capturing Paris, but after Blücher’s unsuccessful attack in February, choose to retire as Napoleon rushed to the aid of his two Marshals covering the city. Falling back to Laon, a natural defensive position and an important road junction, Blücher deployed his 90,000 man army and waited. Napoleon ordered Ney and Mortier to attack the towns of Ardon and Semilly on March 9th. Blücher choose to hold back his reserves, when he saw the relatively small number of French troops marching to the attack, believing that Napoleon must be trying to turn his flank. Napoleon, however, had actually committed almost his entire force in the series of frontal assaults. The fighting on this front this day would end in a stalemate. On the French right, Marmont had better success and had captured Athies, but had bivouacked for the night to wait for the morning to resume the attack. During the early evening, Blücher’s reconnaissance revealed that the French right flank was exposed. He ordered Yorck and Kleist to attack Marmont’s exposed position. The French were caught off guard and were driven back, but a determined defense of the Festieux Gap allowed his battered corps to escape. The opportunity to destroy Napoleon’s troops the next day slipped away when Blücher took ill and command passed on to the conservative leader General Gneisenau who worried that Napoleon’s demonstrations on the 10th still meant that Napoleon had something up his sleeve. He called off what would have surely been the attack to end the French army. This gave Napoleon and what still remained of the French army the opportunity to slowly withdraw.

Laon, France

The Battle of Laon was the victory of Blücher's Prussian army over Napoleon's French army near Laon. During the Battle of Craonne on 7 March, Blücher's army was forced to retreat into Laon after a failed attempt to halt Napoleon's east flank. Along the way to Laon, reinforcements from Russian forces under Ferdinand von Wintzingerode and a Prussian corps led by Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow joined the defensive. Blücher opted to face Napoleon at Laon because it was the site of a strategically important road junction, and because of its highly defensible position.

Wikipedia: Battle of Laon

French

Prussians

Sixth Coalition