In the Battle of Fère-Champenoise on 25 March 1814, 28,000 Allied cavalry inflicted a severe defeat on the forces of Marmont and Mortier, which numbered 12,300 infantry, 4,350 cavalry and 68 guns. Due to inadequate reconnaissance, the two marshals unwittingly marched into the arms of Schwarzenberg and Blücher. According to George Nafziger, Pacthod and Amey had 5,800 men, while Francis Loraine Petre estimated their force as 4,300 men. After leaving Vatry, the force halted at Villeseneux to rest at 10:00 am when they were attacked by Fyodor Karlovich Korff's cavalry corps. With Amey's division formed into a single large square on the left (north) flank and 16 guns protecting the front, Pacthod's troops repulsed repeated attacks by Korff's horsemen for 90 minutes. They moved southwest to Clamanges where the convoy was abandoned and the horses used to help haul the cannons. Pacthod's command reached Écury-le-Repos at 2:00–3:00 pm where it came under attack from the north by Ilarion Vasilievich Vasilshikov's cavalry corps and the southwest by Peter Petrovich Pahlen's cavalry corps. At the same time, Czar Alexander I of Russia directed the fire of 30 cannons from the south.