1-632-814 - Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images

The Battle of Lutzen, 2nd May 1813. With a Prusso-Russian army of some 100,000 men moving on a small French force at Leipzig, Napoleon Bonaparte decided to intercept the enemy. At the head of 120,000 men, the French emperor detached Marshal Ney's III Corps at Lutzen to use part of it as bait to attract the attention of the enemy commanders Count Wittgenstein and General Blucher. By the time Bonaparte arrived on the field the French were more than 110,000 strong and pressuring the Allies from the flanks. In the early evening, the emperor ordered his Guard forward and, together with flank assaults, drove the Russians and Prussians into retreat. French casualties were up to 20,000 while the Prusso-Russian losses of up to 20,000 would have been considerably worse if the depleted French army had not been hamstrung by a shortage of cavalry.