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| Battle of Friedland by Horace Vernet (GS)
As the evening draws to a close Napoleon is seen riding amongst his men after their victory at the Battle of Friedland. Due to the French pressure the Russian Commander General Levin Bennigsen moved his army back to his main camp at Konigsberg in June 1807, while his army of 60,000 men crossed the River Alle at Friedland. It was faced by a French force of 26,000 under the command of Marshal Jean Lannes. The Russian Commander attacked early on the 14th of June. The much smaller force fought of the Russian attacks for nine hours, giving time for the main French force of 80,000 to arrive. Marshall Neys Force came up from the south and attacked the Russian left flank which gave way all the way along the river until just outside Friedland where it was halted. A second corps under the command of General Laude Victor came to the support of Neys left flank. Victor also brought up 30 Artillery pieces which blasted the Russians at very short range. The Russians that were massed in the tiny village and unable to cross the River received huge numbers of casualties due to the artillery fire. General Bennigsens army was decimated with most of his troops killed, wounded or forced to cross the river. The actual looses were 11,000 dead, 7,000 wounded and many thousands of troops drowned trying to cross the river. This compared to the French losses of 1372 killed 9,108 wounded. The French army pursued the Russians with Marshal Soult occupying Konigsberg on June 16th. A few days later Czar Alexander I arranged a truce and on the 25th of June on a barge like raft on the River Niemen along with the Prussian King Frederick Willaim III drew up the Treaty of Tilset. Prussia ceded to France all the territories West of the Elbe, becoming the Kingdom of Westphalia and from the area of Poland both Russia and Prussia recognised the new state, The Duchy of Warsaw. |