Sunday, February 8, 2015

Battle of Eylau AD 1807 anniversary





Salve,
 today we have the anniversary of the battle of Eylau AD 1807,  one of the bloodiest battles of the Napoleonic Wars - article at Wikipedia.
Napoleon's Campaing in Poland, 1806-7 - an entire book from archive.org

This two-day battle, without a clear winner, is famous for the huge charge of the French cavalry. However, it saw a large number of most unhappy blunders and loss of life, due to the cold and a frightful blizzard, so as a result of the terrain and climate conditions the struggle at Pruessisch  Eylau or Bagrationovsk  saw an appalling carnage of French and Russian infantry (much less on the Prussian side), acts of heroism and bravery, and numerous charges of cavalry on both sides, especially during the second day of the engagement, obviously resulting in a tremendous loss of horses. 
Cavalry charge at Eylau - ''The 10,700 men of the Reserve Cavalry and the Guard Cavalry stepped off into the driving snow.''
Eylau Campaign - translated by Greg Gorsuch
Cavalry remounts of the French Army 1806-7
Order of battle of the Russian and allied Prussians
Cavalry lessons - Eylau and Friendland - 1st Polish Campaign


 Battle as seen from the saddle on the Russian side - excerpt from Denis Davidov's Memoirs - - original Russian

Anatoly Telenik also painted episodes from this battle, and you can find some examples below:


During this battle 7 French eagles or regimental battle standards were captured by the Russians.
For the Polish readers - good albeit quite general book -  Tomasz Rogacki, Pruska Iława 1807 (Bellona)
Enjoy

2 comments:

  1. Illustrations come from Wikipedia Commons , amongst them a painting by baron Antoine-Jean Gros (painted in 1807)

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  2. Gaming of the battle http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=343871

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