The Battle of Montereau (18 February 1814) was fought during the War of the Sixth Coalition between an Imperial French army led by Emperor Napoleon and a corps of Austrians and Württembergers commanded by Crown Prince Frederick William of Württemberg. While Napoleon's army mauled an Allied army under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, the main Allied army commanded by Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, advanced to a position dangerously close to Paris. Gathering up his outnumbered forces, Napoleon rushed his soldiers south to deal with Schwarzenberg. Hearing of the approach of the French emperor, the Allied commander ordered a withdrawal, but on 17 February saw his rear guards overrun or brushed aside.
Ordered to hold Montereau until nightfall on 18 February, the Crown Prince of Württemberg posted a strong force on the north bank of the Seine River. All morning and past noon, the Allies stoutly held off a series of French attacks. However, under increasing French pressure, the Crown Prince's lines buckled in the afternoon and his troops ran for the single bridge to their rear. Brilliantly led by Pierre Claude Pajol, the French cavalry got among the fugitives, captured the spans over both the Seine and Yonne Rivers and seized Montereau. The Allied force suffered heavy losses, and the defeat confirmed Schwarzenberg's decision to continue the retreat to Troyes.
Background
Allied advance
On 10 February, the Army of Bohemia under Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg began advancing from Troyes. On the right, Peter Wittgenstein and Karl Philipp von Wrede headed for Nogent-sur-Seine and Bray-sur-Seine on the Seine River supported by the Guards and Reserves. On the left, Crown Prince Frederick William of Württemberg moved on Sens with the I Corps of Frederick Bianchi, Duke of Casalanza on his left. The left flank forces were backed by Ignác Gyulay's corps. The Allies were briefly checked at Nogent on 10 February by 1,000 French troops under Louis-Auguste-Victor, Count de Ghaisnes de Bourmont. Sens was taken on 11 February after a skirmish between the Crown Prince and Jacques Alexandre Allix de Vaux.
Tasked with the defense of the Seine, Marshal Claude-Victor Perrin held Nogent and Marshal Nicolas Oudinot defended Montereau-Fault-Yonne. On 12 February the Allies captured Bray from a weak force of French National Guards as well as the bridge at Pont-sur-Seine near Montereau-Fault-Yonne. Afraid of being surrounded, Victor evacuated Nogent and fell back. The appearance of troops under Marshal Jacques MacDonald did not stop the retreat and by 15 February the French were moving back to the Yerres River only 18 miles (29 km) from Paris. Alexander Nikitich Seslavin led a scouting force of three Russian hussar squadrons and one Cossack regiment well to the south to seize Montargis and threaten Orléans. Auxerre was stormed and its garrison wiped out. Cossacks roamed freely in the Forest and Palace of Fontainebleau. When Victor's wagon train appeared at Charenton-le-Pont the Parisians were thrown into panic. Meanwhile, fleeing peasants reported that Paris would soon be attacked by 200,000 Cossacks.
French counteroffensive
Following his successes in the Six Days' Campaign on 10–14 February 1814, Emperor Napoleon headed southward towards the Seine to stop Schwarzenberg's threat to Paris. Forces under Marshals Édouard Mortier and Auguste Marmont were left behind to keep Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher's Army of Silesia under observation. Giving up his plans to finish off Blücher, Napoleon left Montmirail on 15 February with the Imperial Guard and Emmanuel Grouchy's cavalry. In an epic march, with some infantry traveling in carts and wagons, Napoleon's leading forces reached Guignes at 3:00 pm on the 16th after moving 47 miles (76 km) in 36 hours. Another authority stated that some troops marched 60 miles (97 km) in 36 hours.
Hearing of Blücher's defeat and the approach of Napoleon, the cautious Schwarzenberg scrambled to put the Seine between his army and the French emperor. On 17 February, he ordered Wittgenstein to retreat to Provins while Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly massed the Russian and Prussian Guards near Nogent. He instructed Wrede to fall back to Donnemarie while leaving an advanced guard at Nangis. Württemberg and Bianchi were posted near Montereau while Gyulai held Pont-sur-Yonne and the Austrian Reserve was at Sens. If the Army of Bohemia needed to retreat farther, it was important to hold the position at Montereau. Matvei Platov was to the west at Nemours where his 2,100 Cossacks captured 600 men of an Imperial Guard depot battalion on the 16th.
Early on 17 February, Napoleon's leading elements under Etienne Maurice Gérard enveloped a Russian force led by Peter Petrovich Pahlen. In the Battle of Mormant, Pahlen's 2,500 infantry and 1,250 cavalry were overwhelmed by the French, suffering 3,114 killed, wounded or captured. A nearby Austrian force led by Anton von Hardegg remained largely inert while its allies were being cut to pieces. Finally, Hardegg allowed 550 troopers from the Schwarzenberg Uhlan Regiment Nr. 2 to assist the Russians. The Reval and Selenginsk Infantry Regiments suffered such heavy losses that they were withdrawn from the campaign. Next, the French struck Wrede's advance guard at Nangis and threw it back to Villeneuve-le-Comte.
At Nangis Napoleon split his army into three columns. The right column including Victor's II Corps, Gerard's Reserve of Paris and cavalry under Samuel-François Lhéritier and Étienne Tardif de Pommeroux de Bordesoulle took the road south toward Montereau. The center column consisted of MacDonald's XI Corps, two cavalry divisions and the Imperial Guard. This force headed for Bray. The left column, made up of Oudinot's VII Corps and François Étienne de Kellermann's cavalry, pursued Wittgenstein east toward Provins. Pierre Claude Pajol's cavalry and Michel-Marie Pacthod's National Guards set out from Melun and advanced southeast toward Montereau. The divisions of Allix and Henri François Marie Charpentier moved south from Melun to Fontainebleau. MacDonald and Oudinot pressed Hardegg's rear guard back, capturing some wagons. Victor came across one of Wrede's divisions drawn up on the heights of Valjouan near Villeneuve. Victor sent Gérard to attack the Bavarians in front while Bordesoulle circled to take them from behind. Soon the Bavarians were retreating in disorder and Lhéritier missed a chance to deliver the coup de grace with his cavalry. Nevertheless, Wrede's corps sustained 2,500 casualties during the day. Victor's soldiers were exhausted, so he called a halt. Napoleon was furious that Victor disobeyed his orders to press on to Montereau during the night and asked his chief of staff Louis-Alexandre Berthier to write him a harsh reprimand.
Battle
Forces
The Crown Prince's IV Corps consisted of an infantry division led by Christian Johann Gottgetreu von Koch and a cavalry division under Prince Adam von Württemberg. Ludwig Stockmeyer's brigade consisted of two battalions of King Frederick Jäger Regiment Nr. 9 and one battalion of Light Infantry Regiment Nr. 10. Christoph Friedrich David Döring's brigade was made up of two battalions each of Infantry Regiments Duke Wilhelm Nr. 2, Nr. 3 and Nr. 7. Prince Karl von Hohenlohe-Kirchberg's brigade included two battalions each of Infantry Regiments Nr. 4 and Crown Prince Nr. 6. Walsleben's cavalry brigade comprised four squadrons each of Duke Louis Jäger zu Pferde Regiment Nr. 2 and Crown Prince Dragoon Regiment Nr. 3. Karl August Maximillian Jett's cavalry brigade had four squadrons of Prince Adam Jäger zu Pferde Regiment Nr. 4. Attached to each cavalry brigade was one horse artillery battery while Döring's and Hohenlohe's brigades each had a foot artillery battery. All four batteries were armed with four 6-pound cannons and two howitzers.
Attached to the IV Corps was Joseph Schäffer's Austrian brigade. This unit consisted of two battalions each of Infantry Regiments Gyulai Nr. 21, Esterhazy Nr. 32 and Josef Colloredo Nr. 57, three battalions of Infantry Regiment Zach Nr. 15, six squadrons of Archduke Ferdinand Hussar Regiment Nr. 3 and two-foot artillery batteries. Altogether there were 11,000 Württembergers and 4,000 Austrians present. A second source credited the Allies with 18,000 troops in Montereau.
Victor's II Corps had the divisions of Louis Huguet-Chateau and Guillaume Philibert Duhesme. Chateau's 1st Division was made up of 1st Battalions of the 11th and 24th Light and the 2nd, 19th, 37th and 56th Line Infantry Regiments. Duhesme's 2nd Division included 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 4th, 18th and 46th Line and 1st Battalions of the 72nd and 93rd Line and 26th Light. Chateau's division numbered only 1,536 officers and men, since all units except the 477-strong 19th were sadly understrength, while Duhesme had 2,442 effectives. The 1st Division was supported by five 6-pound cannons and one howitzer while the 2nd Division counted eight 6-pound cannons and four howitzers. With 475 gunners and 135 sappers, Victor's total strength was 4,588 soldiers. Gérard's Reserve of Paris included the divisions of Georges Joseph Dufour and Jacques Félix Jan de La Hamelinaye. The 1st Division was made up of one battalion each of the 5th, 12th, 15th and 29th Light and the 32nd, 58th and 135th Line. The 2nd Division comprised the 26th, 82nd, 86th, 121st, 122nd and 142nd Line. Gérard's force had 214 artillerists from three companies attached.
Pajol led a provisional cavalry corps consisting of three small brigades, 460 Chasseurs à Cheval under Jacques-Antoine-Adrien Delort, 476 Dragoons under François Grouvel and 400 Hussars under Charles Yves César Du Coetlosquet. Pacthod commanded 3,000 National Guards and there were 800 gendarmes (military police) with this column. MacDonald's XI Corps counted three divisions led by Joseph Jean Baptiste Albert, François Pierre Joseph Amey and Michel Sylvestre Brayer. Lhéritier commanded the V Cavalry Corps which was formed from three mounted divisions. Hippolyte Piré's 3rd Light Cavalry Division included the 14th, 26th and 27th Chasseurs à Cheval and the 3rd Hussars, André Louis Briche's 3rd Heavy Cavalry Division the 2nd, 6th, 11th, 13th and 15th Dragoons and Lhéritier's 4th Cavalry Division the 18th, 19th, 20th, 22nd and 25th Dragoons. Bordesoulle's detachment numbered 500 horsemen from depot squadrons.
The Imperial Guard consisted of the Old Guard Division of Louis Friant, the 1st Young Guard Division of Claude Marie Meunier, the 2nd Young Guard Division of Philibert Jean-Baptiste Curial, and the 2nd and 3rd Guard Cavalry Divisions. Marshal Michel Ney led the two Young Guard divisions while Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty led the Guard cavalry divisions. The 2nd Guard Cavalry was made up of the 1st Polish Guard Lancer, Empress Dragoon and Polish and 3rd Éclaireur Regiments. The 3rd Guard Cavalry Division had the Guard Horse Grenadier and Guard Chasseurs à Cheval Regiments. According to one authority, units that fought in the battle included most of the regiments from the corps of Victor and Gérard, the Guard artillery, Guard Chasseurs à Cheval and 2nd Guard Lancers, 3rd Hussars from Jacques Gervais, baron Subervie's brigade, 18th Dragoons of Auguste Lamotte's brigade, 25th Dragoons from Jean Antoine de Collaert's brigade, 9th Lancers and 22nd Chasseurs à Cheval from Kellermann's VI Cavalry Corps and the 7th Lancers, 9th Chasseurs à Cheval and 7th Hussars from unidentified corps. MacDonald's corps and the Guard infantry were not engaged.
Action
After issuing conflicting orders concerning the defense of Montereau, Schwarzenberg finally directed the Crown Prince to hold the town until the evening of 18 February. Meanwhile, Oudinot's leading troops found that Wittgenstein had withdrawn across the Seine at Nogent while Wrede was across at Bray. At both places, the Allies broke the bridges. While Montereau on the south bank is in flat terrain, the north bank is crowned by a 150–200 feet (46–61 m) height with a steep slope next to the river and a gentler slope on the north side. Atop the ridge, Surville chateau overlooks the bridges and town of Montereau, which was surrounded by vineyards and meadows to the south and east. The Paris road approached Montereau from the northwest where there was a forest. The road from Salins came from the northeast and ran alongside the river from Courbeton chateau to the bridge. The hamlet of Les Ormeaux was a short distance east of the Paris road. The roads from the north join at the bridge which crosses the Seine to the eastern suburb, then immediately crosses the Yonne into Montereau. The Seine bridge was the site of the Assassination of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy in 1419.