Battle of Vauchamps The Battle of Vauchamps , the final major engagement of the Six Days Campaign of the War of the Sixth Coalition , was fought on 14 February 1814 . It resulted in a part of the Grande Armée under Napoleon I defeating a superior Prussian and Russia n force of the " Army of Silesia " , under Field - marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher . At the beginning of 1814 , the armies of the French Empire , under the direct command of Emperor Napoleon I , were scrambling to defend Eastern France against the invading Coalition Armies . Despite fighting against vastly superior forces , Napoleon managed to score a few significant victories and , between 10 and 13 February repeatedly beat Blücher ’ s “ Army of Silesia ” . On 13 February , reeling from his successive defeats , Blücher looked to disengage from Napoleon and instead manoeuvre with a part of his forces to fall upon the isolated Corps of Marshal Auguste de Marmont , who was defending Napoleon ’ s rear . The Prussian commander attacked and pushed back Marmont , late on 13 February . Nevertheless , the Emperor had read into his enemy ’ s intentions and directed powerful forces to support Marmont . On the morning of 14 February , Blücher , commanding a Prussian Corps and elements of two Russian Corps , resumed his attack against Marmont . The latter continued to fall back until he was reinforced . Napoleon arrived on the battlefield with strong combined - arms forces , which allowed the French to launch a determined counterattack and drive back the leading elements of the “ Army of Silesia ” . Blücher realized that he was facing the Emperor in person and decided to pull back and avoid another battle against Napoleon . In practice , Blücher ' s attempt to disengage proved extremely difficult to execute , as the Coalition force was by now in an advanced position , had virtually no cavalry present to cover its retreat and was facing an enemy who was ready to commit its numerous cavalry . While the actual pitched battle was short , the French infantry , under Marshal Marmont , and most of all the cavalry , under General Emmanuel de Grouchy , launched a relentless pursuit that rode down the enemy . Retreating in slow - moving square formations in broad daylight and along some excellent cavalry terrain , the Coalition forces suffered very heavy losses , with several squares broken by the French cavalry . At nightfall , combat ceased and Blücher opted for an exhausting night march in order to take his remaining forces to safety . Context . On 13 February , having fought three successful actions in three days against the Prussian and Russian army at Champaubert , Montmirail and Château - Thierry , Napoleon was pursuing the defeated enemy . After his consecutive defeats , Field - marshal Blücher decided to disengage from Napoleon and move a significant force against the isolated French Army Corps of Marshal Marmont , at Étoges . Blücher knew that Marmont ' s Corps was weak and his plan was to destroy it and thus fall upon the rear of Napoleon ' s main force . Still in pursuit of the debris of the enemy force , late on 13 February , Napoleon received reports that Marmont ' s Corps had been attacked and pushed out of his position at Étoges . The Emperor deduced that the enemy force before him would have to be a much reduced one and promptly decided to go to Marmont ' s aid . The Emperor left Château - Thierry on 14 February , towards 3 o ' clock in the morning , leaving a small portion of his forces with Marshal Mortier , with orders to continue the pursuit of the enemy . Taking with him the cavalry of the Guard and Grouchy ' s Cavalry Reserve , Napoleon headed for the village of Vauchamps . Meanwhile , late on 13 Fabruary , having successfully regrouped what forces he could muster at Bergères - lès - Vertus , Blücher had launched an attack against Marmont ' s single division , pushing him out of Étoges and advancing as planned towards Champaubert and Fromentières , in the rear of Napoleon ' s force . However , having read Blücher ' s intentions , Napoleon had given orders for a concentration of French forces in that very sector . Opposing forces . Army of Silesia . During the battle of Vauchamps on 14 February , Prussia n Field - Marshal Blücher , commander of combined Prussian and Russian " Army of Silesia " could count on 20 , 000 to 21 , 500 men , from three Army Corps : Grande Armée . Napoleon had sent orders for a major concentration of forces , which resulted in a force of some 25 , 000 men being assembled in this sector . However , of these men , only 19 , 000 soldiers only got to the battlefield in time , with no more than 10 , 000 men engaged in the actual fighting : Battle . Having begun to push back the feeble French forces from Marmont ' s VI ' s Corps the day before , Blücher occupied Champaubert early on 14 February , sending his vanguard forward , as far as the village of Fromentières and then Vauchamps . Marmont , commanding only the Lagrange division and 800 men from the Ricard division , had cautiously pulled his men back towards Montmirail , where he began to receive reinforcements . Towards 9 o ' clock in the morning , Blücher set Zieten ' s brigade and some cavalry in motion from Vauchamps towards Montmirail . To their surprise , Marmont ' s men didn ' t give ground this time and vigorously counterattacked , pushing Zieten ' s advance guard back into the village of Vauchamps . The accompanying Prussian cavalry was dispersed by a violent French cannonade . With now both brigades of Ricard ' s division available , Marmont launched these men against the Prussian position at Vauchamps , with the 1st brigade on his right , advancing under the cover of the Beaumont forest , south of the Montmirail - Vauchamps road and the 2nd brigade on his left , north of the road , advancing frontally towards the position . Marmont also had with him his own escort cavalry squadron and four " élite " Imperial Guard duty squadrons from the Emperor ' s own escort , under general Lion . Marmont ' s leftmost brigade entered Vauchamps , but , with the village heavily invested with Zieten ' s Prussian defenders , the Frenchmen were soon repulsed , with the enemy in pursuit . Marshal Marmont then launched his five squadrons to the rescue and the cavalry promptly forced the Prussians back to the village , with one of their battalions taken prisoner , after taking refuge in an isolated farm . Zieten then decided to pull back his forces towards the village of Fromentières . There , Zieten was joined by Generals Kleist and Kapsevitch , who , having heard the sound of the guns , had begun to move their respective Army Corps in that direction , coming from Champaubert . The French also moved forward , with Marmont ' s two divisions ( Lagrange and Ricard ) in pursuit of Zieten , along the road to Fromentières . Marmont was now supported on his left by General Grouchy , who had just arrived on the field of battle with the divisions of Saint - Germain and Doumerc , moving past the village of Janvilliers , in order to cut off Zieten ' s retreat . Further French reinforcements were now available , this time on Marmont ' s righ : the division of Leval , who had been steadily moving up the valley of the Petit Morin river , in a bid to outflank the Prussians . With the French Imperial Guard artillery now also deployed and firing at them , Zieten ' s Prussians drew back in good order , formed in squares to fend off Grouchy ' s cavalry . Towards 2 o ' clock in the afternoon , after assessing the situation , Blücher realised that he was facing Napoleon himself and thus decided to immediately withdraw . He ordered all of his forces to retreat through Champaubert and directed a part of his artillery to safety , towards Étoges . Pursuit . With the Coalition forces now in full retreat , Marmont received orders to aggressively pursue the enemy , knowing that he could count on his two infantry divisions , plus that of Leval , as well as on the support of General Drouot ' s Guard artillery , on Nansouty ' s Guard cavalry on his right and on Grouchy ' s two cavalry divisions on his left . Following Marmont at a short distance were further reinforcements , two Guard infantry divisions ( Friant and Curial ) under the command of Marshal Ney and with them was Napoleon himself . Napoleon was followed by an additional " Young Guard " division , under General Meunier , which the Emperor had taken with him when he left Château - Thierry early that morning . The French cavalry had been hindered in its movements by the broken terrain and thus far unable to really bother Zieten ' s infantry squares . Consequently , Blücher was able to lead an exemplary retreat up to Fromentières and Janvilliers . However , once past these villages , the terrain became flat and even , proper for cavalry action , and now , with the increasingly aggressive action of the enemy cavalry against his flank and rear , Zieten and his brigade became increasingly isolated . Grouchy , with the divisions of Doumerc and Saint - Germain was now boldly menacing Zieten ' s right , while on his left , the Prussian general saw Nansouty ' s Guard cavalry ( Laferrière - Levesque ' s division , plus the four service squadrons , under Lefebvre - Desnouettes ) . Zieten ' s brigade was finally cut off from the rest of the army and charged violently by Grouchy ' s cuirassier s , who broke the infantry squares and took no less than 2 , 000 prisoners , with the rest of the brigade routed . Abandoning his position at Fromentières , where Marmont ' s infantry had just begun to irrupt , Blücher ordered the continuation of the retreat towards Champaubert and Étoges , with Kleist ' s Corps on the left , south of the road and Kapsevitch ' s Corps on the right , north of the road . Again taking advantage from the flat terrain , Grouchy was able to advance rapidly and fall onto the rear of the Coalition infantry squares , which were now slowly withdrawing in echelon and efficiently using the terrain to take shelter from the artillery bombardment . With night approaching and their retreat towards Étoges now barred by enemy cavalry , the Prussian squares began to lose cohesion . Spotting this weakness , Grouchy , who had been reinforced by Bordesoulle ' s division , energetically launched his three divisions against the Coalition squares , dispersing a number of them , with these men disorderly fleeing to take refuge in the Étoges forest . The old Blücher , who had been bravely exposing himself to great danger , in order to boost the morale his men , was almost taken prisoner , together with his Chief of Staff , Gneisenau , Generals Kleist , Kapsevitch and Prince Augustus of Prussia . Only just escaping capture , Blücher crossed the forest of Vertus and took up positions at Étoges with Prince Urusov ' s division , which had been left there in reserve . Russian General Udom , with 1 , 800 men and 15 cannon , was instructed to cover the position , by occupying the park at Étoges . Udom ' s men were exhausted after the long retreat and fighting and , seeing that night had fallen , thought themselves in safety . However , Doumerc ' s cuirassiers , formed unseen in the night , surprised these men and a single charge was enough to send the panicked men fleeing . Prince Urusov , 600 men and eight artillery pieces were captured during this action , with the French sailors ' regiment from Lagrange ' s division subsequently entering the village of Étoges . Blücher abandoned this position too and made a hasty retreat towards Vertus and Bergères . He then opted for a speedy night march and the next day he managed to bring his remaining men to Châlons , where he was joined by the Corps of York and Sacken . Result . The battle was actually no more than a very long cavalry pursuit and was a very costly defeat for Blücher ' s " Army of Silesia " , which lost as much as 10 , 000 men , during this day . French author Jean - Pierre Mir states that the Prussian Corps of Kleist had 3 , 500 men out of action ( killed , wounded and missing ) , as well as 2 , 000 prisoners . According to this author , the Russian Corps had around 3 , 500 men , killed , wounded or missing and also lost 15 cannons and 10 flags . Historian Alain Pigeard places overall losses of the Army of Silesia throughout this day between 9 , 000 and 10 , 000 men but the detail of these losses seems to suggest lighter casualties . Pigeard speaks of only 1 , 250 men killed , wounded or missing and 2 , 000 prisoners for the Prussians , and of 2 , 000 men lost for the Russians . Since Pigeard asserts that these casualties occurred during the pursuit , it is possible that these figures do not take into account the casualties incurred during the initial actions of this battle ( one battalion of Zieten ' s brigade captured , plus the 2 , 000 prisoners taken during Grouchy ' s and Nansouty ' s joint action against Zieten ) . According to Pigeard , the French registered very light casualties of around 600 men . Military Historian Jacques Garnier , analysing the battle in Jean Tulard ' s " Dictionnaire Napoléon " , notes that only the muddy , sodden ground , hampering an efficient deployment of the French artillery and infantry , prevented a much more emphatic victory . He also notes that after Vauchamps , Napoleon was able to safely turn south and fall upon the " Army of Bohemia " , commanded by Prince of Schwarzenberg .