For the 1813 spring campaign, Ricard took command of the 11th Infantry Division in Marshal Michel Ney's III Corps. The 1st Brigade consisted of the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the 9th Light Infantry and two battalions each of the 17th and 18th Provisional Regiments. The 2nd brigade was made up of four battalions each of the 142nd and 144th Line Infantry. There were 7,608 infantrymen, 175 gunners, 152 sappers and 305 wagon drivers. Both attached foot artillery companies were armed with six 6-pounders and two 5½-inch howitzers. In the Battle of Lützen on 2 May 1813 the Russo-Prussian army achieved surprise when it attacked the III Corps. Joseph Souham's 8th and Jean-Baptiste Girard's 10th Divisions absorbed the force of the initial assault. Girard's artillery was not immediately available so the guns of Antoine François Brenier de Montmorand's 9th Division and Ricard's division were utilized in support. Savage fighting revolved around four villages which were repeatedly taken and retaken. Ricard's troops recaptured the village of Kaja in the afternoon.