page_title: Battle of Montmirail
section_title: Combat
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Montmirail / Battle / Combat
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: lors du Bi-centenaire de la bataille de Montmirail, la division Ricard et en arrière plan l'eglise Marchais. English: Bicentenary re-enactment of the Battle of Montmirail: The Ricard division and in the background the church in Marchais
context_page_description: The Battle of Montmirail was fought between a French force led by Emperor Napoleon and two Allied corps commanded by Fabian Wilhelm von Osten-Sacken and Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg. In hard fighting that lasted until evening, French troops including the Imperial Guard defeated Sacken's Russian soldiers and compelled them to retreat to the north. Part of Yorck's Prussian I Corps tried to intervene in the struggle but it was also driven off. The battle occurred near Montmirail, France during the Six Days Campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. Montmirail is located 51 kilometres east of Meaux.
  After Napoleon crushed Zakhar Dmitrievich Olsufiev's small isolated corps in the Battle of Champaubert on 10 February, he found himself in the midst of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher's widely-spread Army of Silesia. Leaving a small force in the east to watch Blücher, Napoleon turned the bulk of his army to the west in an attempt to destroy Sacken. Unaware of the size of Napoleon's army, Sacken tried to smash his way east to join Blücher. The Russians managed to hold their ground for several hours, but were forced back as more and more French soldiers appeared on the battlefield.
context_section_description: Sacken created a 2,360-man task force under General-major Heidenreich that included the Pskov, Vladimir, Kostroma and Tambov Infantry Regiments, two companies of the 11th Jägers, the Lukovkin Cossack Regiment and six guns. Except for the guns which were unable to cross the stream, Heidenreich's troops moved east and seized Marchais at about 11:00 am. More French artillery having arrived in the interval, Napoleon ordered Ricard to attack Marchais at noon. A bitter struggle for Marchais raged for two hours, with the Russians retaining control of the village. Napoleon ordered an artillery bombardment while he waited for Michel's Old Guard division to march forward from Montmirail. At 2:00 pm the emperor ordered an attack on Sacken's left flank. Four of Friant's Old Guard battalions marched west along the highway toward Haute-Épine dairy farm, supported on their right by seven squadrons of Gardes d'Honneur. At the same time, Claude-Étienne Guyot led four Guard cavalry squadrons around the Russian left flank. The combined attacks broke Sacken's first line and compelled him to send his second line into action while moving his cavalry to the left to get in contact with Yorck's Prussians.
  To break the connection with Yorck, Napoleon ordered a new attack straight down the highway by Nansouty with all three of his divisions, Colbert, Desnouettes and Laferrière. This charge broke up some Russian formations, forcing the soldiers to scatter into the Viels-Maisons woods. Vasilshikov's cavalry counterattacked, forcing Nansouty's horsemen back and restoring the link with the Prussians. By this time Meunier's Young Guard division joined Ricard's in the fighting for Marchais on Napoleon's left flank. The French captured Marchais twice before being driven out again when Sacken's 18th Division recaptured the village.
  At either 3:00 pm or 3:30 pm Otto Karl Lorenz von Pirch's 1st Infantry Brigade and Heinrich Wilhelm von Horn's 7th Infantry Brigade arrived at Fontenelle-en-Brie on the Château-Thierry highway. Because of the poor condition of the roads, the Prussians only had brigade Batteries Nrs. 2 and 3 armed with 6-pounders. The heavier cannons were left behind with the 8th Brigade at Château-Thierry. Fearing the appearance of MacDonald's forces in his right rear, Yorck also sent his remaining infantry brigade back to hold Château-Thierry. The Prussian reserve cavalry deployed near Fontenelle though it lacked its artillery. Pirch deployed his brigade in two lines between Fontenelle and the hamlet of Tourneux farther east. After waiting for Horn's brigade to close up behind him, Pirch began attacking toward the Bailly and Plenois woods. Sacken ordered his two reserve heavy batteries to support the Prussian advance. At the same time, Michel's Old Guard division reached the battlefield and was committed to the fight against Yorck.
  Napoleon ordered the tired soldiers of Ricard and Meunier back into the battle for Marchais. The emperor sent Marshal François Joseph Lefebvre with two battalions of Old Guard Foot Chasseurs to cut off Marchais from the north. Ricard organized a four-battalion attack from the hamlet of Pomesson in the south. Lefebvre's two battalions captured L'Épine-aux-Bois. Though the French achieved local artillery superiority, the Russians in Marchais continued to resist until 5:00 pm when they were forced to relinquish control of the village and pull back. When they reached the west side of the ravine, Defrance's cavalry charged into them, inflicting heavy losses on the brigades of Dietrich and Blagovenzenko. Several hundred Russian skirmishers near Marchais were either cut down or captured. Realizing that without control of Marchais, the battle was lost, Sacken began pulling back his artillery from the right wing toward the center. Near the highway, Russian infantry squares were charged by French cavalry, but they were able to escape when their own cavalry intervened. The Sophia Regiment was completely engulfed by French cavalry but fought its way clear.
  Pirch attacked with the 1st East Prussian and West Prussian Grenadier Ba
caption: Ricard's division goes into action near Marchais during a re-enactment of the battle.
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