Capitulation of Stettin In the Capitulation of Stettin on 29 – 30 October 1806 , Lieutenant General Friedrich Gisbert Wilhelm von Romberg surrendered the garrison and fortress to a French light cavalry brigade led by General of Brigade Antoine Lasalle . This event was one of a number of surrenders by demoralized Prussian soldiers to equal or inferior French forces after their disastrous defeat at the Battle of Jena - Auerstedt on 14 October . Stettin , Prussia , is a port city on the Oder River near the Baltic Sea lying 120 kilometers north - northeast of Berlin . After Jena - Auerstedt , the broken Prussian armies crossed the Elbe River and fled to the northeast in an attempt to reach the east bank of the Oder . Following a two - week chase , Marshal Joachim Murat intercepted over 10 , 000 Prussians at the Battle of Prenzlau and bluffed them into surrendering on 28 October . The following day , Lasalle ' s and another French light cavalry brigade induced 4 , 200 more Prussians to lay down their weapons in the Capitulation of Pasewalk . On the afternoon of the 29th , Lasalle appeared before the fortress of Stettin and demanded its surrender . A completely unnerved Romberg , believing he was confronted by 30 , 000 Frenchmen , entered into negotiations with Lasalle and surrendered Stettin that night . Estimates of the numbers vary . Emir Bukhari says that there were 500 French hussars and 6 , 000 Prussians within the garrison . Robert Burnham says that there were 500 men of the 5th and 7th French Hussars and 5 , 000 Prussians . Within a week , the fortress of Küstrin capitulated and three isolated Prussian columns were hunted down and captured at Boldekow , Anklam , and Wolgast . This left only one Prussian corps at large between the Elbe and Oder , plus garrisons at Magdeburg and in the former Electorate of Hanover . Background . Emperor Napoleon I of France ' s Grande Armée shattered the Prussian - Saxon armies at the Battle of Jena - Auerstadt on 14 October 1806 . In the wake of this catastrophe , the Prussian forces retreated to the Elbe River . Feldmarschall Charles William Ferdinand , Duke of Brunswick , commander of the main Prussian army at Auerstedt , was fatally wounded and died on 10 November at Altona . General of Infantry Ernst von Rüchel , badly wounded at Jena , left the army and later recovered . The commander at Jena , General of Infantry Frederick Louis , Prince of Hohenlohe - Ingelfingen assumed command of a large portion of the defeated Prussian army , while Lieutenant General Gebhard von Blücher took command of another column . Lieutenant General Karl August , Grand Duke of Saxe - Weimar - Eisenach , who had missed Jena - Auerstedt , brought up the rear with 12 , 000 troops . At Magdeburg , Hohenlohe joined Lieutenant General Eugene Frederick Henry , Duke of Württemberg whose Reserve was routed by Marshal Jean - Baptiste Bernadotte ' s I Corps at the Battle of Halle on 17 October with heavy losses . Leaving a large garrison in Magdeburg , Hohenlohe struck out for the Oder on 21 October . Blücher and Saxe - Weimar crossed the Elbe at Sandau between the 24th and 26th . Oberst Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg fought a successful rear guard action at Altenzaun on the latter date against Marshal Nicolas Soult ' s IV Corps . Meanwhile , Murat ' s cavalry , Marshal Louis - Nicolas Davout ' s III Corps , and Marshal Jean Lannes ' V Corps marched east toward Berlin , with Marshal Pierre Augereau ' s VII Corps not far behind . On 25 October , Davout ' s troops marched through Berlin and headed for east for Küstrin and Frankfurt an der Oder . Meanwhile , Marshal Michel Ney ' s VI Corps began the Siege of Magdeburg . Seeing an opportunity to cut off Hohenlohe , Napoleon sent Murat , Lannes , and Bernadotte north from Berlin . Murat routed General - Major Christian Ludwig Schimmelpfennig ' s 1 , 300 - man flank guard at Zehdenick on 26 October . After losing 250 men , the survivors fled along the highway until they reached Stettin . The next day , General of Brigade Édouard Jean Baptiste Milhaud got across Hohenlohe ' s escape route at Boitzenburg . After a three hour action , Hohenlohe drove off the French light cavalry brigade , but not before Murat ' s dragoons captured most of the " Gensdarmes " Cuirassier Regiment Nr . 10 which was acting as a flank guard . On 28 October , Murat finally ran Hohenlohe to earth at the Battle of Prenzlau . General of Division Emmanuel Grouchy ' s 2nd Dragoon Division cut a swath through the Prussian column of march , after which General of Division Marc Antoine de Beaumont ' s 3rd Dragoon Division captured the rear guard . With 3 , 000 of Lannes ' infantry on hand in addition to Lasalle and the dragoons , Murat bluffed Hohenlohe into surrendering his remaining 10 , 000 troops by falsely claiming that the Prussians were surrounded by overwhelming forces . After the surrender Lasalle rode on to Löcknitz on the road between Pasewalk and Stettin , reaching the village in the afternoon of the 28th . Milhaud ' s brigade marched north on the west bank of the Uecker River until he reached Pasewalk early on 29 October . Discovering Oberst von Hagen ' s force in the town , Milhaud demanded an immediate surrender . Hagen , finding Lasalle ahead of him and Milhaud behind him , surrendered 4 , 200 soldiers and eight guns in the Capitulation of Pasewalk . Capitulation . Stettin . Lasalle marched to Stettin where he demanded its surrender in the early afternoon of 29 October . Lieutenant General Friedrich Gisbert Wilhelm von Romberg refused at first . At 4 : 00 PM , Lasalle sent another summons to Romberg , this time with a threat of harsh treatment to the city . The French general claimed the Lannes ' entire corps of 30 , 000 men was present . In fact , the V Corps advance guard got no nearer than Löcknitz that day . The elderly Prussian general entered negotiations and capitulated during the night of the 29th and 30th . Romberg surrendered the Stettin fortress , 5 , 300 troops , and 281 guns . The Prussian garrison was made up the remnants of Schimmelpfennig ' s and other forces , plus the 3rd battalions of the " Kuhnheim " Infantry Regiment Nr . 1 , " Arnim " Infantry Regiment Nr . 13 , " Brunswick " Infantry Regiment Nr . 21 , " Pirch " Infantry Regiment Nr . 22 , " Winning " Infantry Regiment Nr . 23 , " Möllendorf " Infantry Regiment Nr . 25 , and " Larisch " Infantry Regiment Nr . 26 . One hundred officers were released on their word of honor not to fight against France while the common soldiers became prisoners of war . Lasalle ' s entire force consisted of 800 horsemen of the 5th and 7th Hussar Regiments plus two cannons . Neither of two subordinate officers protested the capitulation , but instead agreed to surrender . These were General - Major Kurt Gottfried von Knobelsdorff , the fortress commandant and General - Major Bonaventura von Rauch , commander of Fort Prussia . In March 1809 , Romberg was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for giving up Stettin without a fight . He died on 21 May 1809 , two months short of his 80th birthday , before his punishment began . Historian Francis Loraine Petre concluded that Stettin ' s surrender was " shameful " . Its adequate garrison and supplies would have allowed it to sustain a siege . Even if the fortress was indefensible , there was nothing preventing the troops from crossing to the east bank of the Oder , joining their Russian allies , and continuing the war . Lannes wrote to Napoleon , " The Prussian army is in such a state of panic that the mere appearance of a Frenchman is enough to make it lay down its arms . " Napoleon congratulated Murat , " My compliments on the capture of Stettin ; if your light cavalry thus takes fortified towns , I must disband the engineers and melt down my heavy artillery . " Other surrenders . On the 28th , Blücher ' s artillery convoy marched through Neustrelitz at noon and reached Friedland five hours later . Earlier , it had been delayed by " perverse orders " from Hohenlohe ' s chief of staff Oberst Christian Karl August Ludwig von Massenbach . Hearing of Hohenlohe ' s capitulation , Major von Höpfner altered his march to the northeast toward Anklam the next day . At Boldekow , 14 kilometers south of Anklam , he encountered elements of Lannes ' corps and surrendered on 30 October . Altogether , the French captured the Reserve Artillery Park and Park Column Nr . 5 with 600 soldiers , 800 horses , 25 field pieces , and 48 ammunition wagons . General - Major Karl Anton von Bila ' s cavalry brigade , which was acting as Hohenlohe ' s rear guard , became separated from the main body . Detecting Milhaud ' s brigade to his right , Bila veered north toward Strasburg . Turning east , he crossed the Uecker north of Pasewalk and reached Tanowo ( Falkenwalde ) northwest of Stettin late on the 29th . There he found out about Hohenlohe ' s surrender and , more importantly , that Romberg was negotiating the capitulation of Stettin . One authority states that Romberg refused to allow Bila passage through Stettin . Reversing his course , Bila headed northwest and reached Anklam on the morning of 31 October . At this town , he met his brother , who left Hanover on 20 October with one battalion , the treasure , and the archives . The treasure was convoyed to Wolgast where it was ferried to safety . However , the amount of shipping was inadequate to save the troops and baggage that arrived at the port . On the evening of the 31st , General of Division Nicolas Léonard Beker ' s dragoons located the Bila brothers near Anklam and attacked , driving them to the north bank of the Peene River . Beker talked the Bilas into surrendering on 1 November with 1 , 100 infantry , 1 , 073 cavalry , and six colors . The units involved were the 1st battalion of the " Grävenitz " Infantry Regiment Nr . 57 , " Sack " Grenadier battalion , " Quitzow " Cuirassier Regiment Nr . 6 , one squadron of " Bailliodz " Cuirassier Regiment Nr . 5 , and the remnant of the " Gensdarmes " Cuirassiers . Historian Digby Smith wrote that Beker ' s brigade was from General of Division Louis Michel Antoine Sahuc ' s 4th Dragoon Division . Like Smith , Petre noted that Beker was the French commander , but states that on 1 November Sahuc ' s division was with Soult at Rathenow , far to the southwest . According to Petre , Beker temporarily took command of the 2nd Dragoon Division when Grouchy became ill earlier in the campaign . Küstrin fortress fell on 1 November to General of Brigade Nicolas Hyacinthe Gautier ' s brigade of Davout ' s III Corps . The brigade , which belonged to General of Division Charles - Étienne Gudin de La Sablonnière ' s 3rd Division , included four battalions of the 25th and 8th Line Infantry Regiments . Oberst von Ingersleben commanded a garrison of 2 , 400 troops , including 75 troopers of " Usedom " Hussar Regiment Nr . 10 and the 3rd battalions of the " Oranien " Infantry Regiment Nr . 19 , " Zenge " Infantry Regiment Nr . 24 , and " Prince Heinrich " Infantry Regiment Nr . 35 . Though he had 92 guns and ample stocks of food and ammunition , he quickly capitulated . Ingersleben was later sentenced to be executed for cowardice , but King Frederick William III commuted the sentence to life imprisonment . On 2 and 3 November , the 22nd Dragoon Regiment from General of Brigade André Joseph Boussart ' s brigade arrived before Wolgast and secured the capitulation of Oberstleutnant von Prittwitz . A total of 2 , 500 men , mostly teamsters and non - combatants , and 500 wagons of Park Column Nr . 8 fell into the hands of this unit of Grouchy ' s 2nd Dragoon Division . Result . By 3 November , between the Elbe and the Oder , the only remaining Prussian field army was led by Blücher and Lieutenant General Christian Ludwig von Winning , who relieved Saxe - Weimar . There also were garrisons at Madgeburg , Hameln , Nienburg , and Plassenburg . Winning desired to march for the port of Rostock and try to escape by sea . This notion was overruled by Blücher , who wanted to march the 21 , 000 - man force east . He planned to join forces with Lieutenant General Karl Ludwig von Lecoq in Hanover or march on Magdeburg . Soult , Bernadotte , and Murat finally caught up to Blücher at the Battle of Lübeck on 6 November .