Battle of Champaubert

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Champaubert


caption=
partof=the War of the Sixth Coalition
date=February 10, 1814
place= Champaubert, east of Paris.
result= French victory
combatant1=flagicon|France French Empire
combatant2=flagicon|Prussia|1803 Prussia,
flagicon|Russia Russian Empire
commander1=Napoleon I,
Auguste Marmont
commander2=General Olsufiev
strength1=30,000
120 guns
strength2=5,000
casualties1=300
casualties2=3,000The Battle of Champaubert (now "Giffaumont-Champaubert") was the opening engagement of the Six Days Campaign. It was fought on February 10, 1814 by a French force under Napoleon I against Russians and Prussians under General Olsufiev. The battle was a French victory

The battle of Champaubert was one of the few times during the War of the Sixth Coalition that France was able to take to the field with a considerable numerical advantage.

Napoleon Bonaparte moved against an over-extended Prussian army in the hope of whittling it down by a series of battles. On 10 February, he caught General Olussiev's five thousand Russians just south of Champaubert, a town located in the valley of the Marne, east of Paris.

French strength consisted of 30,000 hungry and tired men, including many raw conscripts, and 120 cannonsChandler, David. "Dictionary of the Napoleonic wars". Wordsworth editions, 1999. pg.87.] . The French, nonetheless, enjoyed a six-to-one advantage. They were commanded in the field by the marshal, Auguste Marmont, under the direction of Napoleon himself.

Badly outnumbered, Olsufiev decided to fight rather than retreat. His decision was based on the mistaken hope that he would get reinforcements from Field Marshal Blücher in time to prevent a disaster. He was wrong, and Marmont crushed him.

After five hours of fighting, the Russians were surrounded by French cavalry. They suffered three thousand killed, wounded, and captured. One of the prisoners was Olsufiev himself, who dined that very evening with Napoleon. The French lost about three hundred men, among whom was General Lagrange.

Footnotes

* [http://homepage.mac.com/mmmayou/autourdemontmirail/index.html La bataille de Champaubert, Montmirail-Marchais et Vauchamps]