Battle Of Gué-à-Tresmes

The Battle of Gué-à-Tresmes (28 February–1 March 1814) was fought between 14,500 French troops led by Marshals Auguste de Marmont and Édouard Mortier and 12,000 Prussians commanded by Friedrich Graf Kleist von Nollendorf and Friedrich von Katzler. On 28 February the French attacked and drove the Prussians to the north along the west bank of the river Ourcq. That evening and the next day Kleist tried to push the French back while Russian units under Peter Mikhailovich Kaptzevich tried to cross from the east to the west bank of the Ourcq; the Allies were unsuccessful. Gué-à-Tresmes (Tresmes Ford) is located where Route D405 crosses the Thérouanne stream about northeast of Meaux.

In late February, Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher's Allied Army of Silesia advanced west toward Paris, pressing a badly outnumbered French force before it. When Kleist's Prussian II Corps took a menacing position on the north bank of the river Marne near Meaux, the French attacked and pushed their adversaries back. When he learned that Napoleon's army was fast approaching from the southeast, Blücher abandoned the effort to force a way past Marmont and Mortier and began retreating to the north. The action occurred during the Campaign in north-east France, part of the War of the Sixth Coalition.

Background

Schwarzenberg retreats

On 18 February 1814, Napoleon mauled a Coalition corps led by Crown Prince Fredrick William of Württemberg in the Battle of Montereau. After this defeat the Austrian field marshal Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg ordered the Army of Bohemia to withdraw to Troyes. Schwarzenberg requested that his ally Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher help defend his northern flank at Méry-sur-Seine; the Prussian general immediately marched to his aid. The Austrian intended to offer battle on 21–22 February near Troyes. However, bad news from his commander in the south, Prince Frederick VI of Hesse-Homburg altered his plans. With Marshal Pierre Augereau threatening to retake Chalon-sur-Saône and Jean Gabriel Marchand marching on Geneva, Schwarzenberg detached Vincenzo Federico Bianchi and the Austrian I Corps plus other troops. Bianchi was ordered to march to Dijon and reinforce Hesse-Homburg's forces.

At Troyes, Schwarzenberg had 90,000 troops and Blücher had 50,000 soldiers to pit against 75,000 men under Napoleon. Schwarzenberg's intelligence services habitually overrated French strength so he remained unaware of his nearly two-to-one superiority. The Allied soldiers had worn-out uniforms and not enough food in a region that had been stripped of supplies by both sides. On 22 February the French launched probing attacks on the Allied positions from Méry to Troyes. That day, Marshal Nicolas Oudinot's infantry cleared Méry of enemy troops and gained a foothold on the far bank, but they proved unable to hold their bridgehead against Coalition counterattacks. In this action, 3,600 French troops from Pierre François Xavier Boyer's division fought against 5,000 Russians from Alexei Grigorievich Scherbatov's VI Infantry Corps of Fabian Wilhelm von Osten-Sacken's command and 1,200 men from Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg's Prussian I Corps. That evening Schwarzenberg ordered his army to withdraw behind the river Seine, except for Ignaz Gyulai's III Corps, which was directed to move southeast to Bar-sur-Seine.

Disappointed that his Austrian colleague was determined to retreat, Blücher requested permission to operate independently and it was granted him. He hoped to join forces with two corps under Ferdinand von Wintzingerode and Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow and advance toward Paris by a northerly route. Meanwhile, on 23 February Schwarzenberg's army withdrew to the east. The Coalition leaders sent an envoy to Napoleon to propose a truce, but the emperor's unreasonable conditions nixed the plan.

Blücher's offensive

With 53,000 troops, Blücher's Army of Silesia began moving north on the morning of 24 February, destroying the bridges at Arcis-sur-Aube and Plancy-l'Abbaye behind it. That evening he received an order from Schwarzenberg to withdraw east and form the right flank of the Army of Bohemia. Since this would have exposed his march to a French attack, Blücher ignored his instructions and continued marching northwest toward Sézanne. Marshal Auguste de Marmont was at Sézanne with 6,000 soldiers on the evening of 24 February. Detecting the build up of Allied forces in his direction, the French marshal withdrew to the Vindey heights to the west of Sézanne. On 26 February Marmont fell back west toward La Ferté-Gaucher, while calling for Marshal Édouard Mortier to join him at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre. Between Marmont and Mortier there were only 10,000 soldiers.

On 27 February the two French marshals burned the bridge at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre before crossing the river Marne at Triport. Once on the west bank, Mortier turned north toward Varreddes while Marmont moved east toward Meaux. Forming the rearguard, Étienne Pierre Sylvestre Ricard's 8th Infantry Division and Jean-Pierre Doumerc's cavalry repulsed Fabian Gottlieb von Osten-Sacken's pursuing troops and burned the bridge at Trilport. As Marmont's troops approached Meaux, they found Russians in possession. Sacken's Russian cavalry appeared at the first bridge at Meaux and routed the 1,600 French National Guards that defended the span. The Russians quickly fanned out into the city streets while a 4-gun battery began shelling the market place. Marmont quickly gathered up the nearest available body of French soldiers and led them in an attack that drove the Russians back to the bridge. French artillery rapidly moved through the city streets and silenced the Russian battery. The French sustained 100 casualties in the skirmish. Marmont finally gained control of the Meaux bridge and demolished it.

Earlier, Mortier detached a force of 300 cavalry and 500 infantry led by Henri Baltazard Vincent. Finding himself isolated at Château-Thierry, Vincent slipped out of the city on the night of 26 February. With Allied forces at large in the area, Vincent's soldiers abandoned the main roads and moved across country to reach Lizy-sur-Ourcq. In doing so, Vincent avoided Friedrich von Katzler's Prussian advanced guard which counted three cavalry regiments, three fusilier (light infantry) and two grenadier battalions, two jäger companies and a half-battery of artillery. During the day Katzler reached the Marne at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre and established a bridge at Sammeron. After crossing the river, Katzler found Vincent's force at Lizy-sur-Ourcq and drove it out of the village. Behind him, Friedrich Graf Kleist von Nollendorf's Prussian II Corps crossed to the north bank of the Marne.

Marmont and Mortier informed Joseph Bonaparte at Paris of their predicament; they were badly outnumbered and the capital was threatened. Raking up every available soldier from the Paris depots, Joseph immediately sent 1,300 foot soldiers and 100 lancers to the two marshals. Soon afterward, the 3,600-man 3rd Provisional Guard Infantry Division under Paul-Jean-Baptiste Poret de Morvan was organized and sent, together with 800 cavalry and 48 artillery pieces. After Blücher's army left his front, Napoleon was not sure of its intentions or direction. The French emperor left Marshal Claude Perrin Victor's corps at Méry-sur-Seine and Marshal Michel Ney's corps at Arcis-sur-Aube to watch to the north. On 26 February Napoleon reinforced Ney with Nicolas-François Roussel d'Hurbal's cavalry division and Pierre Boyer's infantry brigade. Even so, Napoleon did not believe Blücher was driving toward Paris.
On the morning of 27 February, Napoleon finally received conclusive reports that Blücher's army was advancing on Paris and had gained a 3-day head start. The French emperor ordered Marshal Jacques MacDonald to take command of the 42,000 troops opposing Schwarzenberg along the river Aube