Battle of Eylau
The Battle of Eylau, fought on February 7–8, 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive contest between the forces of Napoleon and a mostly Russian army under General Benigssen.
Eylau was the first serious check to the French Grand Armee, which in the previous two campaigning seasons had carried all before it, demolishing the armies of the established great powers of Europe at Austerlitz in December 1805 (Austria assisted by Russia), and Jena-Auerstedt (Prussia) in October 1806.
With the Prussian army reduced to a handful of harried fugitives after Jena-Auerstedt, Napoleon occupied the major cities of Germany and marched on east in pursuit of the remaining forces opposed to him: largely Russians under the command of the frail 75-year-old Marshal Kamenskoi. Kamenskoi was unwilling to risk battle, and continued to retreat, leaving the Grand Armee free to enter Poland almost unopposed. After a series of inconclusive encounters, Napoleon's troops took up winter quarters in Poland to recuperate after a victorious but exhausting campaign.
In January 1807 the Russian forces, now under the command of General Benigssen, attempted to surprise the isolated French I Corps under Bernadotte. With his customary inventiveness, Napoleon turned the situation to his own advantage, instructing Bernadotte to withdraw before Benigssen's forces, and secretly manouvering with the balance of the Grand Armee to cut off the Russian retreat. The French plans fell into Russsian hands, however, and Benigssen was just able to retreat once more and avoid the trap.
By early February, the two armies were once again in close proximity, and the Russians turned at bay near Eylau. During the pursuit, perhaps influenced by the dreadful state of the Polish roads, the savage winter weather, and the relative ease with which his forces had dealt with Prussia, Napoleon had allowed the Grand Armee to become more spread out than was his custom. In contrast, Benigssen's forces were already concentrated.
Soult's corps and Murat's cavalry were the first French formations to reach Eylau, at about 2:00PM on the 7th. During the afternoon, they were reinforced by Agereau's corps and the Imperial Guard, making up about 45,000 soldiers in all. Benigssen had 67,000 Russian troops with 460 guns already assembled. (The French had only 200.) The Russians could expect to be reinforced by the Lestocq's detachment of 9000 Prussians; the French by Davout's depleted III Corps — proud victors of Auerstedt but now only 15,000 strong — and Ney's 14,000-strong VI Corps, which was shadowing the Prussians. Bernadotte's I Corps was too far distant to take part.
The battle began when French forces advanced to occupy the town of Eylau. Authorities differ on the reasons. Napoleon later claimed that this was on his orders; that the advance had the dual aims of pinning the Russian force to prevent them retreating yet again, and providing his soldiers with at least some shelter against the terrible cold. Other surviving evidence, however, strongly suggests that the advance was unplanned, and occurred as the result of an undisciplined skirmish which Marshals Soult and Murat should have but did not act to quell. According to
