Capitulation of Stettin
Encyclopedia
In the Capitulation of Stettin on 29–30 October 1806, Lieutenant General
Friedrich Gisbert Wilhelm von Romberg surrendered the garrsion and fortress to a French light cavalry brigade led by General of Brigade Antoine Lasalle. This event was one of a number of surrenders by demoralized Prussian soldiers to equal or inferior French forces after their disastrous defeat at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
on 14 October. Szczecin
, Poland
is a port city on the Oder River near the Baltic Sea
lying 120 kilometers north-northeast of Berlin
. In 1806 the city was called Stettin and belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia
.
After Jena-Auerstedt, the broken Prussian armies crossed the Elbe River and fled to the northeast in an attempt to reach the east bank of the Oder. Following a two-week chase, Marshal
Joachim Murat
intercepted over 10,000 Prussians at the Battle of Prenzlau
and bluffed them into surrendering on 28 October. The following day, Lasalle's and another French light cavalry brigade induced 4,200 more Prussians to lay down their weapons in the Capitulation of Pasewalk
. On the afternoon of the 29th, Lasalle appeared before the fortress of Stettin and demanded its surrender. A completely unnerved Romberg, believing he was confronted by 30,000 Frenchmen, entered into negotiations with Lasalle and surrendered Stettin that night.
Within a week, the fortress of Küstrin
capitulated and three isolated Prussian columns were hunted down and captured at Boldekow
, Anklam
, and Wolgast
. This left only one Prussian corps at large between the Elbe and Oder, plus garrisons at Magdeburg
and in the former Electorate of Hanover
.
's Grande Armée shattered the Prussian-Saxon armies at the Battle of Jena-Auerstadt on 14 October 1806. In the wake of this catastrophe, the Prussian forces retreated to the Elbe River. Feldmarschall Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
, commander of the main Prussian army at Auerstedt
, was fatally wounded and died on 10 November at Altona
. General of Infantry
Ernst von Rüchel
, badly wounded at Jena
, left the army and later recovered. The commander at Jena, General of Infantry Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen
assumed command of a large portion of the defeated Prussian army, while Lieutenant General
Gebhard von Blücher took command of another column. Lieutenant General Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, who had missed Jena-Auerstedt, brought up the rear with 12,000 troops.
At Magdeburg
, Hohenlohe joined Lieutenant General Eugene Frederick Henry, Duke of Württemberg
whose Reserve was routed by Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's I Corps at the Battle of Halle
on 17 October with heavy losses. Leaving a large garrison in Magdeburg, Hohenlohe struck out for the Oder on 21 October. Blücher and Saxe-Weimar crossed the Elbe at Sandau
between the 24th and 26th. Oberst
Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg fought a successful rear guard action at Altenzaun
on the latter date against Marshal Nicolas Soult's IV Corps. Meanwhile, Murat's cavalry, Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout's III Corps, and Marshal Jean Lannes
' V Corps marched east toward Berlin
, with Marshal Pierre Augereau's VII Corps not far behind. On 25 October, Davout's troops marched through Berlin and headed for east for Küstrin and Frankfurt an der Oder
. Meanwhile, Marshal Michel Ney
's VI Corps began the Siege of Magdeburg
. Seeing a opportunity to cut off Hohenlohe, Napoleon sent Murat, Lannes, and Bernadotte north from Berlin.
Murat routed General-Major Christian Ludwig Schimmelpfennig's 1,300-man flank guard at Zehdenick
on 26 October. After losing 250 men, the survivors fled along the highway until they reached Stettin. The next day, General of Brigade Édouard Jean Baptiste Milhaud
got across Hohenlohe's escape route at Boitzenburg
. After a three hour action, Hohenlohe drove off the French light cavalry brigade, but not before Murat's dragoons captured most of the Gensdarmes Cuirassier Regiment Nr. 10 which was acting as a flank guard. On 28 October, Murat finally ran Hohenlohe to earth at the Battle of Prenzlau
. General of Division Emmanuel Grouchy's 2nd Dragoon Division cut a swath through the Prussian column of march, after which General of Division Marc Antoine de Beaumont
's 3rd Dragoon Division captured the rear guard. With 3,000 of Lannes' infantry on hand in addition to Lasalle and the dragoons, Murat bluffed Hohenlohe into surrendering his remaining 10,000 troops by falsely claiming that the Prussians were surrounded by overwhelming forces.
After the surrender Lasalle rode on to Löcknitz
on the road between Pasewalk
and Stettin, reaching the village in the afternoon of the 28th. Milhaud's brigade marched north on the west bank of the Uecker
River until he reached Pasewalk early on 29 October. Discovering Oberst von Hagen's force in the town, Milhaud demanded an immediate surrender. Hagen, finding Lasalle ahead of him and Milhaud behind him, surrendered 4,200 soldiers and eight guns in the Capitulation of Pasewalk
.
Friedrich Gisbert Wilhelm von Romberg refused at first. At 4:00 PM, Lasalle sent another summons to Romberg, this time with a threat of harsh treatment to the city. The French general claimed the Lannes' entire corps of 30,000 men was present. In fact, the V Corps advance guard got no nearer than Löcknitz
that day. The elderly Prussian general entered negotiations and capitulated during the night of the 29th and 30th.
Romberg surrendered the Stettin fortress, 5,300 troops, and 281 guns. The Prussian garrison was made up the remnants of Schimmelpfennig's and other forces, plus the 3rd battalions of the Kuhnheim Infantry Regiment Nr. 1, Arnim Infantry Regiment Nr. 13, Brunswick
Infantry Regiment Nr. 21, Pirch Infantry Regiment Nr. 22, Winning Infantry Regiment Nr. 23, Möllendorf Infantry Regiment Nr. 25, and Larisch Infantry Regiment Nr. 26. One hundred officers were released on their word of honor not to fight against France while the common soldiers became prisoners of war. Lasalle's entire force consisted of 800 horsemen of the 5th and 7th Hussar
Regiments plus two cannons.
Neither of two subordinate officers protested the capitulation, but instead agreed to surrender. These were General-Major Kurt Gottfried von Knobelsdorff, the fortress commandant and General-Major Bonaventura von Rauch, commander of Fort Prussia. In March 1809, Romberg was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for giving up Stettin without a fight. He died on 21 May 1809, two months short of his 80th birthday, before his punishment began.
Historian Francis Loraine Petre
concluded that Stettin's surrender was "shameful". Its adequate garrison and supplies would have allowed it to sustain a siege. Even if the fortress was indefensible, there was nothing preventing the troops from crossing to the east bank of the Oder, joining their Russian allies, and continuing the war. Lannes wrote to Napoleon, "The Prussian army is in such a state of panic that the mere appearance of a Frenchman is enough to make it lay down its arms." Napoleon congratulated Murat,
at noon and reached Friedland five hours later. Earlier, it had been delayed by "perverse orders" from Hohenlohe's chief of staff Oberst Christian Karl August Ludwig von Massenbach
. Hearing of Hohenlohe's capitulation, Major von Höpfner altered his march to the northeast toward Anklam
the next day. At Boldekow
, 14 kilometers south of Anklam, he encountered elements of Lannes' corps and surrendered on 30 October. Altogether, the French captured the Reserve Artillery Park and Park Column Nr. 5 with 600 soldiers, 800 horses, 25 field pieces, and 48 ammunition wagons.
General-Major Karl Anton von Bila's cavalry brigade, which was acting as Hohenlohe's rear guard, became separated from the main body. Detecting Milhaud's brigade to his right, Bila veered north toward Strasburg
. Turning east, he crossed the Uecker north of Pasewalk and reached Tanowo (Falkenwalde)
northwest of Stettin late on the 29th. There he found out about Hohenlohe's surrender and, more importantly, that Romberg was negotiating the capitulation of Stettin. One authority states that Romberg refused to allow Bila passage through Stettin. Reversing his course, Bila headed northwest and reached Anklam on the morning of 31 October. At this town, he met his brother, who left Hanover
on 20 October with one battalion, the treasure, and the archives. The treasure was convoyed to Wolgast
where it was ferried to safety. However, the amount of shipping was inadequate to save the troops and baggage that arrived at the port.
On the evening of the 31st, General of Division Nicolas Léonard Beker
's dragoons located the Bila brothers near Anklam and attacked, driving them to the north bank of the Peene
River. Beker talked the Bilas into surrendering on 1 November with 1,100 infantry, 1,073 cavalry, and six colors. The units involved were the 1st battalion of the Grävenitz Infantry Regiment Nr. 57, Sack Grenadier battalion, Quitzow Cuirassier Regiment Nr. 6, one squadron of Bailliodz Cuirassier Regiment Nr. 5, and the remnant of the Gensdarmes Cuirassiers. Historian Digby Smith
wrote that Beker's brigade was from General of Division Louis Michel Antoine Sahuc
's 4th Dragoon Division. Like Smith, Petre noted that Beker was the French commander, but states that on 1 November Sahuc's division was with Soult at Rathenow
, far to the southwest. According to Petre, Beker temporarily took command of the 2nd Dragoon Division when Grouchy became ill earlier in the campaign.
Küstrin fortress fell on 1 November to General of Brigade Nicolas Hyacinthe Gautier's brigade of Davout's III Corps. The brigade, which belonged to General of Division Charles-Étienne Gudin de La Sablonnière
's 3rd Division, included four battalions of the 25th and 8th Line Infantry Regiments. Oberst von Ingersleben commanded a garrison of 2,400 troops, including 75 troopers of Usedom Hussar Regiment Nr. 10 and the 3rd battalions of the Oranien
Infantry Regiment Nr. 19, Zenge Infantry Regiment Nr. 24, and Prince Heinrich Infantry Regiment Nr. 35. Though he had 92 guns and ample stocks of food and ammunition, he quickly capitulated. Ingersleben was later sentenced to be executed for cowardice, but King Frederick William III commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.
On 2 and 3 November, the 22nd Dragoon Regiment from General of Brigade André Joseph Boussart
's brigade arrived before Wolgast and secured the capitulation of Oberstleutnant
von Prittwitz. A total of 2,500 men, mostly teamsters and non-combatants, and 500 wagons of Park Column Nr. 8 fell into the hands of this unit of Grouchy's 2nd Dragoon Division.
, and Plassenburg
. Winning desired to march for the port of Rostock
and try to escape by sea. This notion was overruled by Blücher, who wanted to march the 21,000-man force east. He planned to join forces with Lieutenant General Karl Ludwig von Lecoq
in Hanover or march on Magdeburg. Soult, Bernadotte, and Murat finally caught up to Blücher at the Battle of Lübeck
on 6 November.
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
Friedrich Gisbert Wilhelm von Romberg surrendered the garrsion and fortress to a French light cavalry brigade led by General of Brigade Antoine Lasalle. This event was one of a number of surrenders by demoralized Prussian soldiers to equal or inferior French forces after their disastrous defeat at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia...
on 14 October. Szczecin
Szczecin
Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
is a port city on the Oder River near the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
lying 120 kilometers north-northeast of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. In 1806 the city was called Stettin and belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
.
After Jena-Auerstedt, the broken Prussian armies crossed the Elbe River and fled to the northeast in an attempt to reach the east bank of the Oder. Following a two-week chase, Marshal
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
Joachim Murat
Joachim Murat
Joachim-Napoléon Murat , Marshal of France and Grand Admiral or Admiral of France, 1st Prince Murat, was Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808 and then King of Naples from 1808 to 1815...
intercepted over 10,000 Prussians at the Battle of Prenzlau
Battle of Prenzlau
In the Battle of Prenzlau or Capitulation of Prenzlau on 28 October 1806 two divisions of French cavalry and some infantry led by Marshal Joachim Murat intercepted a retreating Prussian corps led by Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen. In this action from the War of the Fourth...
and bluffed them into surrendering on 28 October. The following day, Lasalle's and another French light cavalry brigade induced 4,200 more Prussians to lay down their weapons in the Capitulation of Pasewalk
Capitulation of Pasewalk
The Capitulation of Pacewalk on 29 October 1806 resulted in the surrender of Oberst von Hagen's 4,200 Prussian soldiers to an inferior force of two French light cavalry brigades led by Generals of Brigade Édouard Jean Baptiste Milhaud and Antoine Lasalle...
. On the afternoon of the 29th, Lasalle appeared before the fortress of Stettin and demanded its surrender. A completely unnerved Romberg, believing he was confronted by 30,000 Frenchmen, entered into negotiations with Lasalle and surrendered Stettin that night.
Within a week, the fortress of Küstrin
Küstrin
Before 1945 Küstrin was a town in the former Prussian province of Brandenburg in Germany, situated on both sides of the Oder river...
capitulated and three isolated Prussian columns were hunted down and captured at Boldekow
Boldekow
Boldekow is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany....
, Anklam
Anklam
Anklam is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the Kleines Haff, the western part of the Stettin Lagoon. Anklam has a population of 14,603 and was the capital of the former...
, and Wolgast
Wolgast
Wolgast is a town in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the bank of the river Peenestrom, vis-a-vis the island of Usedom that can be accessed by road and railway via a bascule bridge...
. This left only one Prussian corps at large between the Elbe and Oder, plus garrisons at Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
and in the former Electorate of Hanover
Electorate of Hanover
The Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...
.
Background
Emperor Napoleon I of FranceNapoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
's Grande Armée shattered the Prussian-Saxon armies at the Battle of Jena-Auerstadt on 14 October 1806. In the wake of this catastrophe, the Prussian forces retreated to the Elbe River. Feldmarschall Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
Charles William Ferdinand , Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, was a sovereign prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and a professional soldier who served as a Generalfeldmarschall of the Kingdom of Prussia...
, commander of the main Prussian army at Auerstedt
Auerstedt
Auerstedt is a municipality in the Weimarer Land district of Thuringia, Germany. It lies northeast of Weimar. On October 14, 1806, the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, a decisive victory for Napoleon I of France, took place near Auerstedt. As a result, the leader of the victorious French forces,...
, was fatally wounded and died on 10 November at Altona
Altona, Hamburg
Altona is the westernmost urban borough of the German city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864 Altona was under the administration of the Danish monarchy. Altona was an independent city until 1937...
. General of Infantry
General of the Infantry (Germany)
General of the Infantry is a rank of general in the Imperial Army, Reichswehr or Wehrmacht - the second-highest regular rank. The same rank spread to the Imperial Russian Army and the Defence forces of Finland between the world wars...
Ernst von Rüchel
Ernst von Rüchel
Ernst von Rüchel, born 21 July 1754 – died 14 January 1823, fought in the army of the Kingdom of Prussia during the French Revolutionary Wars. Afterward he held various appointments as a diplomat and a military inspector. In 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars he held an important army command...
, badly wounded at Jena
Jena
Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...
, left the army and later recovered. The commander at Jena, General of Infantry Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen
Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen
Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen was a Prussian general and the eldest son of Prince John Frederick of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen....
assumed command of a large portion of the defeated Prussian army, while Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
Gebhard von Blücher took command of another column. Lieutenant General Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, who had missed Jena-Auerstedt, brought up the rear with 12,000 troops.
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
, Hohenlohe joined Lieutenant General Eugene Frederick Henry, Duke of Württemberg
Eugene Frederick Henry, Duke of Württemberg
Duke Eugen of Württemberg was a German nobleman. He was brother of Frederick I of Württemberg-Life:Duke Eugen was born at Schwedt, Margraviate of Brandenburg, third child of Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg , and his wife, Margravine Sophia Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt...
whose Reserve was routed by Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's I Corps at the Battle of Halle
Battle of Halle
In the Battle of Halle on 17 October 1806 a French corps led by Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte fought the Prussian Reserve under Eugene Frederick Henry, Duke of Württemberg. The French defeated their opponents, forcing the Prussians to retreat northeast toward Dessau after suffering heavy losses. The...
on 17 October with heavy losses. Leaving a large garrison in Magdeburg, Hohenlohe struck out for the Oder on 21 October. Blücher and Saxe-Weimar crossed the Elbe at Sandau
Sandau
Sandau is a town in the district of Stendal, in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, approx. 5 km south of Havelberg. It is part of the Verbandsgemeinde Elbe-Havel-Land....
between the 24th and 26th. Oberst
Oberst
Oberst is a military rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway. The Swedish rank överste is a direct translation, as are the Finnish rank eversti...
Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg fought a successful rear guard action at Altenzaun
Altenzaun
Altenzaun is a village and a former municipality in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2009, it is part of the municipality Hohenberg-Krusemark....
on the latter date against Marshal Nicolas Soult's IV Corps. Meanwhile, Murat's cavalry, Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout's III Corps, and Marshal Jean Lannes
Jean Lannes
Jean Lannes, 1st Duc de Montebello, was a Marshal of France. He was one of Napoleon's most daring and talented generals. Napoleon once commented on Lannes: "I found him a pygmy and left him a giant"...
' V Corps marched east toward Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, with Marshal Pierre Augereau's VII Corps not far behind. On 25 October, Davout's troops marched through Berlin and headed for east for Küstrin and Frankfurt an der Oder
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...
. Meanwhile, Marshal Michel Ney
Michel Ney
Michel Ney , 1st Duc d'Elchingen, 1st Prince de la Moskowa was a French soldier and military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original 18 Marshals of France created by Napoleon I...
's VI Corps began the Siege of Magdeburg
Siege of Magdeburg (1806)
The siege of Magdeburg was a siege of the city that took place during the war of the Fourth Coalition...
. Seeing a opportunity to cut off Hohenlohe, Napoleon sent Murat, Lannes, and Bernadotte north from Berlin.
Murat routed General-Major Christian Ludwig Schimmelpfennig's 1,300-man flank guard at Zehdenick
Zehdenick
Zehdenick is a town in the Oberhavel district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Havel, 26 km southeast of Fürstenberg/Havel, and 51 km north of Berlin .-Subdivision:Zehdenick includes the following villages:...
on 26 October. After losing 250 men, the survivors fled along the highway until they reached Stettin. The next day, General of Brigade Édouard Jean Baptiste Milhaud
Édouard Jean Baptiste Milhaud
Édouard Jean-Baptiste Milhaud was a French politician, Général de Division, and comte d'Empire.-French Revolutionary wars:...
got across Hohenlohe's escape route at Boitzenburg
Boitzenburger Land
Boitzenburger Land is a municipality in the Uckermark district, in Brandenburg, Germany....
. After a three hour action, Hohenlohe drove off the French light cavalry brigade, but not before Murat's dragoons captured most of the Gensdarmes Cuirassier Regiment Nr. 10 which was acting as a flank guard. On 28 October, Murat finally ran Hohenlohe to earth at the Battle of Prenzlau
Battle of Prenzlau
In the Battle of Prenzlau or Capitulation of Prenzlau on 28 October 1806 two divisions of French cavalry and some infantry led by Marshal Joachim Murat intercepted a retreating Prussian corps led by Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen. In this action from the War of the Fourth...
. General of Division Emmanuel Grouchy's 2nd Dragoon Division cut a swath through the Prussian column of march, after which General of Division Marc Antoine de Beaumont
Marc Antoine de Beaumont
Marc Antoine Bonnin de la Bonninière de Beaumont, born 23 September 1763 – died 4 February 1830, a French nobleman, became a page to the king and joined the army of the Old Regime. He stayed in the army during the French Revolution and narrowly escaped being executed...
's 3rd Dragoon Division captured the rear guard. With 3,000 of Lannes' infantry on hand in addition to Lasalle and the dragoons, Murat bluffed Hohenlohe into surrendering his remaining 10,000 troops by falsely claiming that the Prussians were surrounded by overwhelming forces.
After the surrender Lasalle rode on to Löcknitz
Löcknitz
Löcknitz is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, located 12 km west of the German-Polish border and 25 km west of Szczecin .- Cross-border contacts :...
on the road between Pasewalk
Pasewalk
Pasewalk is a town in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany. Located on the Uecker river, it is the capital of the former Uecker-Randow district, and the seat of the Uecker-Randow-Tal Amt of which it is not part.Pasewalk became a town during the 12th...
and Stettin, reaching the village in the afternoon of the 28th. Milhaud's brigade marched north on the west bank of the Uecker
Uecker
The Uecker or Ucker is a river in the northeastern German states of Brandenburg, where it is known as the Ucker, and of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Its source lies in the Uckermark district, near the village Alt-Temmen. It flows north through Lake Oberuckersee, Lake Mollensee and Lake Unteruckersee,...
River until he reached Pasewalk early on 29 October. Discovering Oberst von Hagen's force in the town, Milhaud demanded an immediate surrender. Hagen, finding Lasalle ahead of him and Milhaud behind him, surrendered 4,200 soldiers and eight guns in the Capitulation of Pasewalk
Capitulation of Pasewalk
The Capitulation of Pacewalk on 29 October 1806 resulted in the surrender of Oberst von Hagen's 4,200 Prussian soldiers to an inferior force of two French light cavalry brigades led by Generals of Brigade Édouard Jean Baptiste Milhaud and Antoine Lasalle...
.
Stettin
Lasalle marched to Stettin where he demanded its surrender in the early afternoon of 29 October. Lieutenant GeneralLieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
Friedrich Gisbert Wilhelm von Romberg refused at first. At 4:00 PM, Lasalle sent another summons to Romberg, this time with a threat of harsh treatment to the city. The French general claimed the Lannes' entire corps of 30,000 men was present. In fact, the V Corps advance guard got no nearer than Löcknitz
Löcknitz
Löcknitz is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, located 12 km west of the German-Polish border and 25 km west of Szczecin .- Cross-border contacts :...
that day. The elderly Prussian general entered negotiations and capitulated during the night of the 29th and 30th.
Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
Charles William Ferdinand , Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, was a sovereign prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and a professional soldier who served as a Generalfeldmarschall of the Kingdom of Prussia...
Infantry Regiment Nr. 21, Pirch Infantry Regiment Nr. 22, Winning Infantry Regiment Nr. 23, Möllendorf Infantry Regiment Nr. 25, and Larisch Infantry Regiment Nr. 26. One hundred officers were released on their word of honor not to fight against France while the common soldiers became prisoners of war. Lasalle's entire force consisted of 800 horsemen of the 5th and 7th Hussar
Hussar
Hussar refers to a number of types of light cavalry which originated in Hungary in the 14th century, tracing its roots from Serbian medieval cavalry tradition, brought to Hungary in the course of the Serb migrations, which began in the late 14th century....
Regiments plus two cannons.
Neither of two subordinate officers protested the capitulation, but instead agreed to surrender. These were General-Major Kurt Gottfried von Knobelsdorff, the fortress commandant and General-Major Bonaventura von Rauch, commander of Fort Prussia. In March 1809, Romberg was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for giving up Stettin without a fight. He died on 21 May 1809, two months short of his 80th birthday, before his punishment began.
Historian Francis Loraine Petre
Francis Loraine Petre
Francis Loraine Petre OBE was a British civil servant in India and a military historian upon his retirement. He wrote a two-volume regimental history of the Norfolk Regiment, but is best known for his works on the Napoleonic Wars. The grandson of the 11th Baron Petre, he was educated at Oscott...
concluded that Stettin's surrender was "shameful". Its adequate garrison and supplies would have allowed it to sustain a siege. Even if the fortress was indefensible, there was nothing preventing the troops from crossing to the east bank of the Oder, joining their Russian allies, and continuing the war. Lannes wrote to Napoleon, "The Prussian army is in such a state of panic that the mere appearance of a Frenchman is enough to make it lay down its arms." Napoleon congratulated Murat,
"My compliments on the capture of Stettin; if your light cavalry thus takes fortified towns, I must disband the engineers and melt down my heavy artillery."
Other surrenders
On the 28th, Blücher's artillery convoy marched through NeustrelitzNeustrelitz
Neustrelitz is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the shore of the Zierker See in the Mecklenburg Lake District. From 1738 until 1918 it was the capital of the duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz...
at noon and reached Friedland five hours later. Earlier, it had been delayed by "perverse orders" from Hohenlohe's chief of staff Oberst Christian Karl August Ludwig von Massenbach
Christian Karl August Ludwig von Massenbach
Christian Karl August Ludwig von Massenbach , Prussian soldier, was born at Schmalkalden, and educated at Heilbronn and Stuttgart, devoting himself chiefly to mathematics....
. Hearing of Hohenlohe's capitulation, Major von Höpfner altered his march to the northeast toward Anklam
Anklam
Anklam is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the Kleines Haff, the western part of the Stettin Lagoon. Anklam has a population of 14,603 and was the capital of the former...
the next day. At Boldekow
Boldekow
Boldekow is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany....
, 14 kilometers south of Anklam, he encountered elements of Lannes' corps and surrendered on 30 October. Altogether, the French captured the Reserve Artillery Park and Park Column Nr. 5 with 600 soldiers, 800 horses, 25 field pieces, and 48 ammunition wagons.
Strasburg, Germany
Strasburg is a town in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated in the historic Uckermark region, about west of Pasewalk, and east of Neubrandenburg....
. Turning east, he crossed the Uecker north of Pasewalk and reached Tanowo (Falkenwalde)
Tanowo
Tanowo is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Police, within Police County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland, close to the German border....
northwest of Stettin late on the 29th. There he found out about Hohenlohe's surrender and, more importantly, that Romberg was negotiating the capitulation of Stettin. One authority states that Romberg refused to allow Bila passage through Stettin. Reversing his course, Bila headed northwest and reached Anklam on the morning of 31 October. At this town, he met his brother, who left Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
on 20 October with one battalion, the treasure, and the archives. The treasure was convoyed to Wolgast
Wolgast
Wolgast is a town in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the bank of the river Peenestrom, vis-a-vis the island of Usedom that can be accessed by road and railway via a bascule bridge...
where it was ferried to safety. However, the amount of shipping was inadequate to save the troops and baggage that arrived at the port.
On the evening of the 31st, General of Division Nicolas Léonard Beker
Nicolas Léonard Beker
Nicolas Léonard Beker or Nicolas Léonard Becker or Nicolas Léonard Bagert, born 18 January 1770 – died 18 November 1840, joined the French army as a dragoon before the French Revolutionary Wars and rose in rank to become a general officer. In 1800 he married the sister of Louis Desaix, who...
's dragoons located the Bila brothers near Anklam and attacked, driving them to the north bank of the Peene
Peene
The Peene is a river in Germany. The Westpeene, Kleine Peene and Ostpeene flow into the Kummerower See, and from there as Peene proper to Anklam and into the Oder Lagoon....
River. Beker talked the Bilas into surrendering on 1 November with 1,100 infantry, 1,073 cavalry, and six colors. The units involved were the 1st battalion of the Grävenitz Infantry Regiment Nr. 57, Sack Grenadier battalion, Quitzow Cuirassier Regiment Nr. 6, one squadron of Bailliodz Cuirassier Regiment Nr. 5, and the remnant of the Gensdarmes Cuirassiers. Historian Digby Smith
Digby Smith
Digby Smith is a British military historian. The son of a British career soldier, he was born in Hampshire, England, but spent several years in India and Pakistan as a child and youth. As a "boy soldier," he entered training in the British Army at the age of 16...
wrote that Beker's brigade was from General of Division Louis Michel Antoine Sahuc
Louis Michel Antoine Sahuc
Louis-Michel-Antoine Sahuc, born 7 January 1755 – died 24 October 1813, joined the French Royal Army and spent 20 years there before fighting in the French Revolutionary Wars. He rose to command a French cavalry regiment and later became a general officer...
's 4th Dragoon Division. Like Smith, Petre noted that Beker was the French commander, but states that on 1 November Sahuc's division was with Soult at Rathenow
Rathenow
Rathenow is a town in the district of Havelland in Brandenburg, Germany, with a population of 26,433 .-Overview:The Protestant church of St. Marien Andreas, originally a basilica, and transformed to the Gothic style in 1517-1589, and the Roman Catholic Church of St...
, far to the southwest. According to Petre, Beker temporarily took command of the 2nd Dragoon Division when Grouchy became ill earlier in the campaign.
Küstrin fortress fell on 1 November to General of Brigade Nicolas Hyacinthe Gautier's brigade of Davout's III Corps. The brigade, which belonged to General of Division Charles-Étienne Gudin de La Sablonnière
Charles-Étienne Gudin de La Sablonnière
Charles-Étienne Gudin de La Sablonnière, count, was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.-Early career and Revolutionary Wars:...
's 3rd Division, included four battalions of the 25th and 8th Line Infantry Regiments. Oberst von Ingersleben commanded a garrison of 2,400 troops, including 75 troopers of Usedom Hussar Regiment Nr. 10 and the 3rd battalions of the Oranien
William I of the Netherlands
William I Frederick, born Willem Frederik Prins van Oranje-Nassau , was a Prince of Orange and the first King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg....
Infantry Regiment Nr. 19, Zenge Infantry Regiment Nr. 24, and Prince Heinrich Infantry Regiment Nr. 35. Though he had 92 guns and ample stocks of food and ammunition, he quickly capitulated. Ingersleben was later sentenced to be executed for cowardice, but King Frederick William III commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.
On 2 and 3 November, the 22nd Dragoon Regiment from General of Brigade André Joseph Boussart
André Joseph Boussart
André Joseph Boussart or André Joseph Boussard, born 13 November 1758 – died 11 August 1813, enlisted in the army of Habsburg Austria as a youth. A Belgian by birth, he joined the Brabant Revolution against Austria and fled to France when the rebellion collapsed. He soon found himself...
's brigade arrived before Wolgast and secured the capitulation of Oberstleutnant
Oberstleutnant
Oberstleutnant is a German Army and Air Force rank equal to Lieutenant Colonel, above Major, and below Oberst.There are two paygrade associated to the rank of Oberstleutnant...
von Prittwitz. A total of 2,500 men, mostly teamsters and non-combatants, and 500 wagons of Park Column Nr. 8 fell into the hands of this unit of Grouchy's 2nd Dragoon Division.
Result
By 3 November, between the Elbe and the Oder, the only remaining Prussian field army was led by Blücher and Lieutenant General Christian Ludwig von Winning, who relieved Saxe-Weimar. There also were garrisons at Madgeburg, Hameln, NienburgNienburg, Lower Saxony
Nienburg is a town and capital of the district Nienburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany.-Geography:Situated on the scenic German Framework Road, Nienburg lies on the river Weser, approximately southeast of Bremen, and northwest of Hanover...
, and Plassenburg
Plassenburg
Plassenburg is a castle in the city of Kulmbach in Bavaria. It is one of the most impressive castles in Germany and a symbol of the city. It was first mentioned in 1135. The Plassenberg family were ministerial of the counts of Andechs and used as their seat the Plassenburg...
. Winning desired to march for the port of Rostock
Rostock
Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...
and try to escape by sea. This notion was overruled by Blücher, who wanted to march the 21,000-man force east. He planned to join forces with Lieutenant General Karl Ludwig von Lecoq
Karl Ludwig von Lecoq
Karl Ludwig von Lecoq or Karl Ludwig von Le Coq, born 23 September 1754 – died 14 February 1829, of French Huguenot ancestry, first joined the army of the Electorate of Saxony. He later tranferred his loyalty to the Kingdom of Prussia and fought during the French Revolutionary Wars, earning a...
in Hanover or march on Magdeburg. Soult, Bernadotte, and Murat finally caught up to Blücher at the Battle of Lübeck
Battle of Lübeck
The Battle of Lübeck took place on 6 November 1806 in Lübeck, Germany between soldiers of the Kingdom of Prussia led by Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher and troops of the First French Empire under Marshals Joachim Murat, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, and Nicolas Soult...
on 6 November.
See also
- German Wikipedia, Friedrich Gisbert Wilhelm von Romberg