At a glance
- Sacken turns back east to fight instead of retreating
- Fierce fighting for the farm and village of Marchais
- The Guard breaks the Russian centre
- Yorck arrives too late to help
- Sacken loses about 2,800 men and 13 guns
The full account
Sacken had marched west after Macdonald and was now cut off from Blücher. Yorck, who had a clearer view of the danger, urged him to retreat on Château-Thierry and the Marne. Sacken insisted on fighting his way back east towards Montmirail. Napoleon held the plateau there and waited for him.
The fighting centred on the farm and village of Marchais. It was taken and retaken several times, and the Russians fed in their reserves to restore the line after Ney broke through. In the afternoon the Emperor’s Guard went in, and the Russian centre gave way. Yorck’s Prussians came in from the north, but too late and in too few numbers to change the result.
Sacken’s battered corps got away northwards to join Yorck on the road to Château-Thierry. It had lost about 2,000 killed and wounded, 800 prisoners, six standards and thirteen guns. The French were too exhausted to pursue that night.
Why it mattered
The western half of Blücher’s army was now in full retreat towards the Marne.
,_by_Horace_Vernet.jpg){kind=link}