Siege of Hameln In the Siege of Hameln or Siege of Hamelin ( 7 November 1806 – 22 November 1806 ) , First French Empire forces captured the fortress of Hamelin from its garrison composed of troops from the Kingdom of Prussia . The siege was begun by the VIII Corps under French Marshal Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier . The marshal initially left General of Division Jean - Baptiste Dumonceau in charge of operations . General of Division Anne Jean Marie René Savary soon arrived to conduct negotiations with the Prussian commander General Karl Ludwig von Lecoq , who was quickly persuaded to surrender . Technically , the operation from the War of the Fourth Coalition was a blockade because a formal siege never took place . Hamelin is located 36 kilometers southwest of Hanover . After Emperor Napoleon I smashed the main Prussian armies at the Battle of Jena - Auerstedt on 14 October , his victorious Grande Armée chased his enemies across the Elbe River . This left the Prussian force defending the former Electorate of Hanover strategically isolated west of the river . While Napoleon ' s Grande Armée hunted down Prussian forces between the Elbe and the Oder River , subsidiary forces invaded Hanover and Hesse - Kassel . The defenders withdrew into the fortresses of Hamelin and Nienburg where they were blockaded and captured . Background . In September 1806 , when King Frederick William III mobilized the Prussian armies , a substantial force assembled in or near the former Electorate of Hanover . Lieutenant General Gebhard von Blücher concentrated 16 battalions of infantry and 17 squadrons of cavalry to the west at Paderborn , Osnabrück , Leer , and Oldenburg . In Hanover proper were 20 battalions and 28 squadrons at Celle , Hildesheim , and Braunschweig . This body became the westernmost field army and its 30 , 000 troops were placed under the command of General of Infantry Ernst von Rüchel and Blücher . The Prussian high command understood that Napoleon ' s major thrust must come from the south , so the western field army marched toward Erfurt at the beginning of October . General - Major Christian Alexander von Hagken and General - Major Karl Friedrich von Brüsewitz were left behind to defend against a French offensive from the Kingdom of Holland and the lower Rhine . Taken together with the garrisons of Hamelin and Nienburg , the entire Prussian strength in the area numbered about 12 , 000 soldiers . The small mobile forces were assembled near Münster and placed under the command of General Karl Ludwig von Lecoq . Opposing the Prussians were King Louis Bonaparte in Holland and Marshal Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier at Mainz . Louis deployed a 5 , 000 to 6 , 000 - man division near Wesel and another similar - sized division at Utrecht , while Wesel itself was well - defended . Napoleon planned to hold Louis and Mortier in place until he defeated the Prussian main army , at which time they would seize Hesse - Kassel and Hanover . Operations . On 9 October , Lecoq and Hagken began advancing west in separate columns . The march was slow and on 19 October , the Prussians received news of the catastrophe of Jena - Auerstedt . Lecoq and Hagken immediately fell back on Hamelin , arriving on 23 October . From there , Lecoq set out the next day for the Elbe . Hearing a report that French forces already blocked his path , he halted his march on the 27th and returned to Hamelin where he began acquiring food and supplies to sustain a siege . He sent Oberst ( Colonel ) Christian Friedrich von der Osten with one dragoon regiment and one infantry battalion across the Elbe , where he joined a part of Blücher ' s command . After hearing of Jena - Auerstedt , General - Major Karl Anton Ernst von Bila left Hanover on 20 October with one battalion , the treasure , and the archives . He managed to get safely across the Elbe but his small force was caught in the French sweep that followed the Capitulation of Stettin . He met his younger brother General - Major Rudolf Ernst Christoph von Bila at Anklam on 31 October , but the next day they and their 2 , 200 troops surrendered to General of Division Nicolas Léonard Beker ' s dragoons . On 17 October , Napoleon dispatched orders to Louis and Mortier . The King of Holland was supposed to capture Paderborn and Münster , while the marshal was to seize Fulda and come into contact with General of Division Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke at Erfurt . Once , Louis and Mortier were in position , Napoleon wanted them to converge on Kassel where they would extinguish the state of Hesse - Kassel . Though William I , Elector of Hesse maintained an official neutrality , Napoleon knew that he was hostile to France and decided to depose him . Mortier ' s command , known as the VIII Corps , included General of Division Louis Henri Loison ' s infantry division . The 5 , 500 - strong formation was composed of three light infantry regiments . On the morning of 1 November , Mortier ' s force entered Kassel from the south while Louis ' troops arrived from the north soon afterward . The Hessian soldiers were disarmed without resistance and the annexation of Hesse was proclaimed . The Elector and his son escaped . Louis left the army pleading sickness on 9 November and Mortier assumed command of their combined forces . On 7 November the first French troops reached the outskirts of Hamelin , while more arrived on the 10th . Siege . Mortier left Dumonceau 6 , 000 men and 12 cannons to blockade Hamelin while he continued on toward the city of Hanover , which he seized on 12 November . Dumonceau ' s Dutch Division was organized into four brigades . General of Brigade Crass led the 1st Brigade , made up of the 1st battalions of the 2nd and 3rd Jäger Regiments . General of Brigade von Heldring commanded the 2nd Brigade , which consisted of two battalions each of the 2nd and 3rd Line Infantry Regiments and one battalion of the 4th Line Infantry Regiment . General of Brigade von Hasselt ' s 3rd Brigade included two battalions of the 7th Line Infantry Regiment and one battalion of the 8th Line Infantry Regiment . The 3rd Hussar Regiment , four squadrons strong , was the only unit in the 4th Brigade of General of Brigade Mascheck . Lecoq commanded approximately 10 , 000 troops and 175 guns in Hamelin . General - Major von Schöler ' s 3 , 058 - man garrison consisted of the 3rd battalions of the " Schenck " Infantry Regiment # 9 , " Tschammer " Infantry Regiment # 27 , " Hagken " Infantry Regiment # 44 , and " Hessen " Infantry Regiment # 48 . The 75 - year old Schöler also commanded two battalions of the " Oranien " Infantry Regiment # 19 . The remainder of Lecoq ' s force consisted of four Invalid companies from " Schenck " , " Tschammer " , " Hagken " , and " Hessen " regiments , 181 gunners , 40 hussars , 1 , 000 refugees from Jena - Auerstedt , and recruit drafts from the " Treuenfels " Infantry Regiment # 29 and " Strachwitz " Infantry Regiment # 43 . The fortress had ample stocks of food and munitions . Mortier applied continuous pressure on Lecoq in order to get him to capitulate , but at first the Prussian refused . Meanwhile , Napoleon was negotiating an armistice with Girolamo Lucchesini , the ambassador of King Frederick William III . One proposal included the surrender of all Prussian fortresses . Though the document had Lucchesini ' s approval , it was shortly to be rejected by his sovereign . Nevertheless , Napoleon sent Savary to see if he might use the information to induce the Hamelin garrison to surrender . Savary arrived at Hamelin on 19 November and received an audience with Lecoq and his generals . The Frenchman reminded his enemies that there were no Prussian forces within 400 kilometers , then dropped his bombshell , the armistice agreement reached with Lucchesini . Though he outnumbered his adversaries almost two to one , Lecoq consented to capitulate the next day under the same terms as the surrender of Prenzlau . That is , the officers were to be paroled while the rank and file became prisoners of war . Two differing accounts exist of the surrender , which occurred on 22 November . In one version , when the Prussian troops found out about the capitulation , they mutinied . The soldiers burst into the wine - shops and soon became drunk . They rioted through the streets , robbing and shooting at the people of Hamelin and one another . The officers demanded that the soldiers be sent home instead of being treated as prisoners of war . In order to enforce the terms of surrender , Savary unleashed his cavalry into the streets . The horsemen herded the Prussian garrison outside the city where they were encircled and disarmed . In the second version , only 600 Prussians were captured . The rest of the garrison , approximately 9 , 000 men , escaped from Hamelin in the confusion attending the mutiny and scattered into the countryside . Result . Leading Dumonceau ' s division , Savary marched to Nienburg which was already being blockaded by a small force . General - Major von Christian Georg Ludwig Strachwitz commanded a 2 , 911 - man garrison made up of the 3rd battalions of the " Wedell " Infantry Regiment # 10 , " Prince Ferdinand " Infantry Regiment # 34 , and " Lettow " Infantry Regiment # 41 . In addition , there were 168 gunners , 54 hussars , three Invalid companies , and one company of " Gravenitz " Infantry Regiment # 57 . On 26 November , the garrison capitulated . The officers gave their parole while the non - commissioned officers and married men were allowed to go home . The men from Westphalia were marched to Minden and released , while only a handful were sent to France as prisoners . On 25 November , the impregnable fortress of Plassenburg capitulated without a shot being fired . The place , which is near Hof , was invested by a Bavarian force on 11 October at the beginning of the war . General Mezzanelli ' s command included the 13th Bavarian Line Infantry Regiment . The day before the surrender , the 13th was relieved by the 6th Line Infantry Regiment . The garrison of 629 fusiliers and men unfit for field duty was under the leadership of General - Major von Johann Adam Siegmund Uttenhoven . Historian Francis Loraine Petre asserted that it was Lecoq ' s duty to hold out to the last . His early surrender made it easier for Napoleon to devote resources to the winter campaign in Poland and Eastern Pomerania . Digby Smith called the Hamelin surrender " shameful " . A few days before the final surrenders , on 16 November , Napoleon issued a bulletin . He claimed that of the 145 , 000 men in the Prussian and Saxon armies , only " the King , the Queen , General Kalckreuth , and 10 or 12 officers are all that escaped . " Petre noted that , for once , Napoleon ' s bulletin was not a wild exaggeration . Hundreds of captured horses would be used to remount the French cavalry . Aside from the enormous losses in men and horses , the Prussians lost 275 field pieces , 236 battalion guns , 12 wagon train columns , and three pontoon trains . For surrendering Hamelin , Lecoq was sentenced to life imprisonment in December 1809 . However , he was allowed to spend most of his confinement in the city of Spandau rather than the fortress prison and was allowed to visit his estate in 1812 . From 1813 he was permitted to live in Oranienburg and in 1814 he received a pardon . The talented cartographer continued to make maps until he went blind , and he died in 1829 . External links . " The following link is an excellent source for the full names of Prussian generals . "