Battle of Reims (1814)

Battle of Reims (1814)
	Part of the Campaign of France of the Sixth Coalition
	; The Last Victory, by Maurice Orange
Date	12 and 13 March 1814
Location	Reims, French Empire49°15′46″N 4°02′05″E / 49.2628°N 4.0347°E
Result	Coalition victory – 12th; French victory – 13th;
Belligerents
France	Russia; Prussia
Commanders and leaders
12 March:; Jean Lacoste-Duvivier (POW); 13 March:; Napoleon Bonaparte; Auguste de Marmont; Michel Ney	Emmanuel de Saint-Priest (DOW); Georgi Emmanuel; Friedrich von Jagow
Strength
12 March:; 3,000–4,000 of the National Guard; 13 March:; 8,000–10,000;	12 March:; 13,400–15,000; 13 March:; 11,800–14,600; • Russia: 7,800–9,000; • Prussia: 4,000–5,600;
Casualties and losses
12 March:; entire force; 13 March:; 700;	12 March:; unknown; 13 March:; 6,000–8,000;
	Location within France

War of the Sixth Coalition:
Campaign in north-east France

190km
118miles

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Bar-sur-Aube

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current battle

Napoleon in command

Napoleon not in command

The Battle of Reims (12–13 March 1814) was fought at Reims, France between an Imperial French army commanded by Emperor Napoleon and a combined Russian-Prussian corps led by General Emmanuel de Saint-Priest. On the first day, Saint-Priest's Russians and General Friedrich Wilhelm von Jagow's Prussians easily captured Reims from its French National Guard garrison, capturing or killing more than half of its defenders; this event is also mentioned as the storming of Reims. On the second day, an overconfident Saint-Priest carelessly deployed his forces west of the city, not grasping that Napoleon was approaching with 20,000 troops. Too late, Saint-Priest realized who he was fighting and tried to organize a retreat. In the battle that followed, the French army struck with crushing force and the Allies were routed with serious losses. During the fighting, Saint-Priest was struck by a howitzer shell and died two weeks later.