The opening of the road to Paris - the battle of Arcy-sur-Oba
20 — 21 March 1814 was between the army of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Allied main army under the command of Austrian field marshal Karl Schwarzenberg at Arsi-sur-Oba. It was the last battle of the French emperor (where he personally commanded the troops) before his first abdication. After this battle, the Allied troops opened the road to Paris, and after a few days they were able to start taking the French capital.Start of the 1814 campaign of the year
By the beginning of 1814, the situation was in favor of the Sixth Anti-French Coalition (as part of Russia, Prussia - the main forces of the union, England, Austria, Sweden, Württemberg and Bavaria). Napoleon left Bavaria, Württemberg and smaller German principalities in 1813, defeated Saxony, which remained loyal to him. Napoleon suffered a heavy defeat in the “Battle of the Nations” at Leipzig 16 — 19 in October 1813 of the year, losing to 80 thousands of people. On the side of the opponents of France, there was an advantage in human and economic resources, France was depopulated and was exhausted by long wars. Only the military talent of Napoleon and his commanders dragged on the inevitable defeat, plus quarrels and contradictions between the allies. Napoleon maneuvered, inflicting private defeats on individual corps of allied units, but on the whole this situation could not change.
But even in this situation, Russia's allies doubted, not daring to launch an invasion of France. Only Alexander demanded not only to launch an offensive in the winter, but also to go to Paris. At the end of December 1813 of the year - beginning of January 1814 of the year, the Russian, Prussian, Austrian corps crossed the border of France. The first attack on Paris, because of the lack of a unified command, the inconsistency of the actions of allies and political differences, failed. Napoleon, although he had about 70 thousand soldiers against more than the 200 thousand allied army and had to close the main directions, spreading his forces, was able to successfully contain the onslaught of the enemy.
In the first major battle after the invasion of the Allied armies on the territory of France - the battle of Brienne (January 29 1814), Napoleon forced the Russian corps to retreat under the command of Prussian Field Marshal Blucher. Then, during the six-day 9 — 14 campaign in February, the French emperor defeated the Silesian army under the command of Blucher (Napoleon's Six-Day War) piece by piece, after which, under Morman and Montro, Napoleon successfully attacked and destroyed the forward corps of the Allied Main Army led by Austrian field marshal Shvartsen. Napoleon’s success impressed the Allies so much that he was offered to conclude a peace treaty on the condition of preserving the borders of France by the beginning of the French Revolution, which he refused. Napoleon wanted his military successes to force the powers of the Sixth Coalition to make peace on the condition of preserving the French borders by the beginning of the Napoleonic wars, that is, along the Rhine and the Alps.
Blucher, dissatisfied with indecisive actions of Schwarzenberg, appealed to Alexander and the Prussian king to act independently. As a result, his army was reinforced by the Russian corps of Wintzingerode and Prussian by Bülow from the Northern Army of Bernadot. And the army Blucher began to lead the main actions (previously it was considered auxiliary), and the main army of Schwarzenberg was to distract and disperse the French troops. Together, Blucher and Schwarzenberg’s forces nearly doubled Napoleon’s troops - 150 thousand against the 74 thousand French army.
27 February, the army of Blucher approached Laferte-sous-Joir (75 km east of the French capital) on Marne, where she threw away the weak barriers of Marshals Marmont and Mortier. Napoleon left Paris to cover the 30 Thousand Corps under the command of marshals Oudinot, MacDonald and General Gerard, while he himself moved to catch up with the forces of the Prussian marshal, Blucher, learning about the movement of the army of the French emperor, began to retreat along the River Urk northwards to Soissons on Ene. March 4 forces Blucher moved to the right bank of Ena, where his troops, combined with the corps of Wintzingerode and Bülow, doubled and began to count to 109 thousand soldiers. 7 March Napoleon, having 40-50 thousand soldiers, attacked the positions of Blucher on the Kraon highlands, which defended two Russian divisions Vorontsov and Stroganov (16 thousand soldiers) from the corps of Wintzingerode. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the 1814 campaign of the year: the Russian divisions lost up to a third of the personnel — 5 thousand people, and the French 7-8 thousand. Napoleon achieved private success, but could not achieve complete victory. Blucher and Napoleon pulled together all their forces and came together in a new battle of Laon - March 9-10. Blucher had up to 105 thousand, the French had 52 thousand. March 9 battle went with varying success, without a decisive advantage of one side or the other. On the night of 9 on 10 in March, Blucher smashed Marmon's detached corps. 10 March Napoleon continued his attacks, but without the strength of Marmon, he could not beat the enemy army, which was twice as strong. By the end of the day, the French emperor unchecked led troops across the river Ain. After that, the strategic initiative was in the hands of Blucher. And Napoleon would be forced to retreat to Paris, to which Schwarzenberg’s army was slowly approaching.
The French emperor planned to attack the scattered parts of the allies on the march, breaking them separately. But Alexander, replacing the patient with Schwarzenberg gout, managed to concentrate the corps into a fist, so Napoleon could not hope to win the battle with a much superior opponent (there were thousands of soldiers in Schwarzenberg’s army before 90). Then he decided with a small army (about 32 thousand) to go between the armies of Blucher and Schwarzenberg to the northeast fortresses, unblocking them and attaching garrisons to the army, Napoleon could significantly strengthen his forces. Insignificant barriers were left against the enemy's armies and for the defense of Paris. The French emperor was counting on the slowness of the Allied armies, the indecision of their commanders, the fear of an attack from his army.
Battle of Arcy-sur-Both
By March 20, the Allied Main Army formations were concentrated between the Seine and Obom rivers near Troyes. Napoleon Bonaparte decided to lead his army north-east - from Plancy along the valley of the River Ob through the town of Arsi to Vitry and further east.
The army of the French emperor was moving towards Arsi along Oba, the infantry was on the right bank of the river, and the cavalry was on the left. By noon, 20 March 1814, parts of it reached the town, which was located on the left bank of Oba. Shortly before this, the Bavarian troops had left Arsi so that they would not be cut off from the main forces that were located on the road between Arsi and Troyes. Napoleon Bonaparte considered that the allies were retreating to Troy and ordered the cavalrymen of Sebastiani to pursue the enemy. But almost immediately the French cavalry was attacked by superior Russian forces and ran. Napoleon had to personally stop the cavalrymen who panicked on the bridge in Arsi. At this time, the Old Guard division of General Friant approached and drove the Russian cavalry out of the city. Soon other parts of the French arrived in the city. At the same time, the battle went higher on the river (on the left flank of the French), for the village of Torcy. There the Young French Guard fought with the Austro-Bavarian corps of Wrede.
By the evening of March 20, the position of the French army was a semi-circle - its edges rested on the River Aube, and the city of Arsi was located inside. The front was held by 25 thousand French, against them were 60 thousand Allied soldiers. On the right flank of the Allied Main Army stood the Austro-Bavarian Corps Wrede, in the center were Russian units under the command of Barclay de Tolly, on the left flank were Austrian Guiulai units. By evening, approximately 30 thousand more approached Field Marshal Schwarzenberg, and then he ordered the fire to begin. Almost the 300 guns of the Allied army opened fire on French positions. Napoleon, by personal example, supported his soldiers; a horse was wounded beneath him when one of the shells exploded nearby. The beginning of a decisive battle, both sides postponed the next day.
At night, the French army was reinforced by the Desnouett division (up to 7 thousand soldiers). March 21 decisive battle did not happen, Napoleon did not attack almost three times the strongest enemy army, and Schwarzenberg did not want to take the risk and take the initiative. By noon, the French emperor began to withdraw troops, the retreat was covered by Marshal Oudinot. Schwarzenberg led the army into the attack too late, the French were able to retreat and blow up bridges.
In this battle, each side lost approximately 4 thousand people. Napoleon could not solve the task - to stop the attack on Paris (the suspension was temporary) and break through to the northeast to collect additional forces.
March 24 monarchs approved a plan to attack the French capital. On March 25, the armies of Blucher and Schwarzenberg came in contact and moved to Paris. On the same day, the Allied cavalry defeated the forces of Marshals Marmont and Mortier (17 thousand) during Fr-Champenoise, who marched east to join Napoleon. At the same time, the convoy was destroyed - a train of ammunition and foodstuffs to Napoleon under the protection of the National Guard (4,3 thousand militiamen and recruits). The French lost 10-11 thousand people, the allies up to 2 thousand. As a result, between Paris and the armies of Blucher and Schwarzenberg there were no forces left to suspend the Allied offensive. And the garrison of the capital was relatively insignificant — 22 — 26, thousand regular troops, 6 — 12, thousand National Guard militias, and about 150 guns (Napoleon never decided to raise the whole nation to fight the enemies).
March 29 Allied armies (about 100 thousand people, almost two-thirds of them Russian) came to the forefront of the defense of the capital of France. 30 August Russian and Prussian troops after a fierce battle captured the suburbs of Paris - in one day of the fighting more than 8 thousand soldiers were lost (of which more than 6 thousand Russian). One of the leaders of the defense of Paris, Auguste de Marmont, for 5 watches asked for a truce. Alexander said that he would stop the battle, "if Paris is surrendered: otherwise, in the evening, they will not know the place where the capital was." 31 March in 2 the morning surrender of the French capital was signed. Marmont withdrew troops from Paris, which was one of the main reasons for the defeat of Napoleon (the war could still be continued, and Paris could be defended). At noon on March 31, the Russian and Prussian guardsmen, led by Emperor Alexander I, triumphantly entered the French capital.
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