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fr:Bataille de Lützen (1813) sv:slaget vid Lützen (1813)
Battle of Lützen | |
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Date of battle | May 2, 1813 |
Conflict | Napoleonic Empire Wars |
Site of battle | Near Lützen, southwest of Leipzig, Germany |
Combatant 1 | France |
Commanders | Napoleon I of France General Jacques Lauriston Michel Ney Nicolas Oudinot Auguste Marmont |
Strength | 120,000 troops, no cavalry |
Combatant 2 | Prussia, Russia |
Commanders | Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Ludwigsburg, Gebhard von Blucher |
Strength | 73,000 troops | Result | French repulsed the pursuing army |
Casualties | (1): 22,000 (2): 20,000 |
This Battle of Lützen happened as Napoleon's army was on the way home from its Russian disaster. On May 2, 1813, Wittgenstein attacked Napoleon's advanced column near Lützen to undo Napoleon's capture of Leipzig. After a day of heavy fighting, the combined Prussian and Russian force retreated, but without cavalry the French were unable to follow their defeated enemy.