Battle of Schleiz The Battle of Schleiz took place on October 9 , 1806 in Schleiz , Germany between a Prussian - Saxon division under Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel von Tauentzien and a part of Jean - Baptiste Bernadotte ' s I Corps under the command of Jean - Baptiste Drouet , Comte d ' Erlon . It was the first clash of the War of the Fourth Coalition , part of the Napoleonic Wars . As Emperor Napoleon I of France ' s Grande Armée advanced north through the Frankenwald ( Franconian Forest ) it struck the left wing of the armies belonging to the Kingdom of Prussia and the Electorate of Saxony , which were deployed on a long front . Schleiz is located 30 kilometers north of Hof and 145 kilometers southwest of Dresden at the intersection of Routes 2 and 94 . At the beginning of the battle , elements of Drouet ' s division clashed with Tauentzien ' s outposts . When Tauentzien became aware of the strength of the advancing French forces , he began a tactical withdrawal of his division . Joachim Murat assumed command of the troops and began an aggressive pursuit . A battalion - sized Prussian force to the west was cut off and suffered heavy losses . The Prussians and Saxons retreated north , reaching Auma that evening . Background . Political . During the War of the Third Coalition , King Frederick William III of Prussia signed the Potsdam Accord with Tsar Alexander I of Russia , an active belligerent , on 3 November 1805 . Frederick William promised to send an ambassador to Napoleon with an offer of armed mediation . Unless the French emperor agreed to disgorge the Kingdom of Holland and Switzerland , and renounce the crown of the Kingdom of Italy , the Prussians would join Habsburg Austria and the Russian Empire against Napoleon . Curiously , the Prussian army had already been mobilized against Russia in September when the tsar demanded that Prussia join the Third Coalition . Irritated by Napoleon ' s violation of its territory of Ansbach in September 1805 , Prussia subsequently moved toward an understanding with Russia . Napoleon managed to stall the Prussian ambassador Christian Graf von Haugwitz until after his great victory at the Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805 . Soon afterward , Austria sued for peace and Russia withdrew its troops , effectively dissolving the Third Coalition . On 15 February , Napoleon maneuvered Prussia into agreeing to transfer several of her territories to France and France ' s allies in return for Hanover , which France had previously occupied . France invaded the Kingdom of Naples on 8 February 1806 and the last foothold on the Italian peninsula fell to the conquerors on 23 July . On 25 July , Napoleon created the Confederation of the Rhine , a French satellite in Germany . In the face of these French aggressions , the pro - war faction at the Prussian court , centered around the stunningly attractive Queen Louise , soon gained the upper hand . The pacific Haugwitz was dismissed as chief minister and on 7 August 1806 King Frederick William determined to go to war against Napoleon . Military . Prussia mobilized 171 , 000 soldiers , including 35 , 000 cavalry , 15 , 000 gunners , and 20 , 000 Saxon allies . The troops were grouped in three armies . Feldmarschall Charles William Ferdinand , Duke of Brunswick concentrated his soldiers around Leipzig and Naumburg in the center . The left wing , led by General of the Infantry Frederick Louis , Prince of Hohenlohe - Ingelfingen assembled near Dresden and included the Saxon contingent . Generals Ernst von Rüchel and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher gathered the right wing at Göttingen and Mühlhausen . Presently , Napoleon became aware of the Prussian preparations for war . He called up 50 , 000 conscripts of the class of 1806 on 5 September and put the French forces in Germany on alert . When he received intelligence that the Prussians absorbed the Saxon army into their forces , he rapidly massed his Grande Armée with the goal of destroying the Prussian army . On 5 October , Napoleon issued an order describing the order of march for the Grande Armée ' s invasion of the Electorate of Saxony . Marshal Bernadotte ' s I Corps led the center column , followed by Marshal Louis Davout ' s III Corps , most of Marshal Murat ' s Cavalry Reserve , and Marshal François Joseph Lefebvre ' s Imperial Guard . The right column was formed by Marshal Nicolas Soult ' s IV Corps in the lead , Marshal Michel Ney ' s VI Corps , and the Bavarians in the rear . The left column contained Marshal Jean Lannes ' V Corps , followed by Marshal Pierre Augereau ' s VII Corps . Napoleon directed the right column toward Hof , the center column from Kronach to Schleiz , and the left column from Coburg to Saalfeld . The 59 , 131 - strong right column ' s IV Corps numbered 30 , 956 infantry , 1 , 567 cavalry , and 48 guns , its VI Corps had 18 , 414 infantry , 1 , 094 cavalry , and 24 guns , and Lieutenant General Karl Philipp von Wrede ' s Bavarian division had 6 , 000 infantry , 1 , 100 cavalry , and 18 guns . The 38 , 055 - man left column ' s V Corps counted 19 , 389 infantry , 1 , 560 cavalry , and 28 guns and its VII Corps had 15 , 931 infantry , 1 , 175 cavalry , and 36 guns . The 75 , 637 - man center column ' s I Corps numbered 19 , 014 infantry , 1 , 580 cavalry , and 34 guns , its III Corps had 28 , 655 infantry , 1 , 538 cavalry , and 44 guns , its Imperial Guard had 4 , 900 infantry , 2 , 400 cavalry , and 36 guns , its Cavalry Reserve had 17 , 550 troopers and 30 guns . Not counted in the previous totals were 9 , 000 gunners , sappers , and others . The Prussian high command held several councils of war but no strategy could be agreed upon until a 5 October reconnaissance revealed Napoleon ' s forces were already moving north from Bayreuth toward Saxony . Then it was decided that Hohenlohe would move to Rudolstadt , Brunswick to Erfurt , and Rüchel to Gotha . The right wing would send forces to menace the French communications at Fulda . The Reserve under General Eugene Frederick Henry , Duke of Württemberg was ordered to move from Magdeburg to Halle . The Thuringian and Franconian Forests stretch northwestward from Bohemia . This area is composed of wooded mountains of about 750 meters altitude . In 1806 , there were only a few poor roads through the tract . Napoleon selected his invasion route in the zone where the belt of rough terrain was narrowest , the Franconian Forest to the east . The French army crossed the Saxon border on 8 October , screened in front by light cavalry . Napoleon was not certain where the opposing Prussian - Saxon army was located , so his army was arranged in a " batallion carré " ( battalion square ) , capable of concentrating against threats coming from any direction . Murat personally led the light cavalry screen in front of Napoleon ' s " batallion carré " . In the east General of Brigade Antoine Lasalle scouted toward Hof , while General of Brigade Édouard Jean Baptiste Milhaud probed toward Saalfeld to the west . Napoleon directed General of Brigade Pierre Watier to take one regiment from his brigade and push as far forward as possible in front of the I Corps . The objects of the light cavalry ' s attentions were the location of Prussian and Saxon units and details of the road net . On the 8th , Murat ' s horsemen seized the bridge at Saalburg - Ebersdorf . A small defending force fell back east to Gefell where it rendezvoused with General - Major Tauentzien as his division retreated north from Hof . That evening , Tauentzien assembled his troops at Schleiz . About 9 , 000 Saxons lay at Auma 15 kilometers north - northeast of Schleiz and Oberst Carl Andreas von Boguslawski ' s Prussian detachment was 18 kilometers north - northwest at Neustadt an der Orla . General - Major Christian Ludwig Schimmelpfennig ' s detachment of 600 cavalry was 20 kilometers to the northwest at Pößneck . Tauentzien ' s division counted 6 , 000 Prussians and 3 , 000 Saxons . Bernadotte ' s three infantry divisions were led by Generals of Division Drouet , Pierre Dupont de l ' Etang , and Olivier Macoux Rivaud de la Raffinière , and his corps cavalry brigade by General of Brigade Jacques Louis François Delaistre de Tilly . General of Division Jean Baptiste Eblé commanded the corps artillery reserve . Battle . " See the Jena - Auerstedt Campaign Order of Battle for the composition and organization of the French , Prussian , and Saxon armies . " On 9 October , the first clash occurred between the troops of Bernadotte and Tauentzien near the Oschitz Wood , a belt of timber which lies south of Schleiz . Bernadotte ordered General of Brigade François Werlé to clear the forest to the right as Drouet ' s division advanced on Schleiz . In the thick woods , the infantry moved ahead while Watier ' s regiment followed behind . Werlé ' s advance guard took possession of the woods but was prevented from continuing on by a Prussian force under General - Major Rudolf Ernst Christoph von Bila . By 2 : 00 pm , the French were in strength and Tauenzien decided to abandon Schleiz . The Prussian division fell back to the north covered by Bila ' s rear guard of one infantry battalion and one and a half cavalry regiments . Drouet attacked Schleiz at 4 : 00 pm and drove out the last of the Prussians . North of the town , Murat charged the rear guard with the 4th Hussar Regiment , but this attack was repulsed by the Prussian horsemen . Reinforced by the 5th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiment and with infantry support , Murat pressed back Bila ' s troops to the wood north of Oettersdorf . Earlier , Tauentzien sent an officer named Hobe with one battalion , one squadron , and two guns to Crispendorf about six kilometers west of Schleiz . Hobe ' s assignment was to guard the right flank and maintain communications with Schimmelpfennig ' s cavalry in Pößneck . When Tauenzien began to fall back , Hobe ' s detachment retreated to the northeast to rejoin his division . At the wood near Pörmitz , a village four kilometers north of Schleiz , the detachment found itself caught between Murat ' s cavalry and one of Drouet ' s battalions . Attacked in a marshy forest , Hobe ' s force was badly mauled and lost one of its cannons . Most of the losses in the battle were from Hobe ' s luckless detachment . The Prussians and Saxons lost 12 officers and 554 rank and file killed , wounded , captured , and missing , as well as one artillery piece captured . French losses are unknown but probably light . Result . Tauentzien retreated to Auma where his tired and hungry troops camped at 7 : 00 pm . Joined to the Saxon troops under General der Kavallerie Hans Gottlob von Zeschwitz , the total number of troops at Auma was 16 , 400 strong . That evening , Boguslawski ' s 3 , 000 men were still at Neustadt and Schimmelpfennig ' s 600 cavalry remained at Pößneck . Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia ' s 8 , 000 - man division held Saalfeld to the west . Hohenlohe had 8 , 000 troops at Orlamünde south of Jena . The rest of the Prussian army was strung out to the west . Brunswick with the main body lay at Erfurt . Rüchel was positioned farther west near Gotha , while Blücher held Eisenach . General Karl August , Grand Duke of Saxe - Weimar - Eisenach led a 11 , 000 - man corps with an advance guard at Schmalkalden and a detachment under General Christian Ludwig von Winning at Vacha . Duke Eugene of Württemberg ' s Reserve lay far to the north between Magdeburg and Halle . When Hohenlohe heard about the encounter at Schleiz , he ordered the troops of his left wing to mass between Rudolstadt and Jena before moving east to the support of Tauentzien and the Saxons . However , Brunswick refused to allow the maneuver so Hohenlohe suspended it . In the meantime , Hohenlohe sent a vaguely worded order to Louis Ferdinand , which the prince misinterpreted as an order to defend Saalfeld . The Battle of Saalfeld occurred the next day in front of Lannes ' left flank corps . Commentary . Historian Francis Loraine Petre notes that Napoleon ' s Grande Armée had a superior organization , employed better tactics , had more youthful and energetic subordinates , and enjoyed a 20 % to 25 % numerical superiority over their enemies . The French corps were commanded by marshals capable of managing the details of their organizations . Lacking the corps system , the Prussian commanders were often forced to issue orders that went into great detail . The French army was led by a single commander who alone made the decisions . Against Napoleon , the leaders of the Prussian army , who were mostly older , frequently held councils of war which " never decided anything definite " . Though Brunswick was nominally the Prussian commander in chief , his orders had to be confirmed by King Frederick William , while Hohenlohe and Rüchel were almost independent of him . Napoleon ' s strategy was simple , but the Prussian generals felt compelled to plan for every eventuality , resulting in a much wider deployment of their forces . On the evening of 9 October , between Winning ' s detachment in the west and Zeschwitz ' s Saxons in the east , the Prussian - Saxon army covered a 145 kilometer front . Furthermore , the Reserve was hopelessly out of touch at Magdeburg . Meanwhile , Napoleon ' s powerful " batallion carré " advanced on a front of only 60 kilometers .