Battle of Mormant | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Campaign of France of the Sixth Coalition | |||||||
Battle of Mormant by Jean-Antoine-Siméon Fort | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
France |
Austria Bavaria Russia | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Napoleon Bonaparte Claude Victor-Perrin Étienne Gérard François Kellermann Édouard Milhaud |
Karl von Schwarzenberg Anton von Hardegg Peter de Lamotte Peter Wittgenstein Peter Pahlen | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
II Corps Reserve of Paris V Cavalry Corps VI Cavalry Corps |
V Corps V Corps VI Corps | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
18,000[1]–20,000 |
Hardegg's division Lamotte's division 3,500–4,300, 12 guns Total: 9,000[1] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
600[1]–800[2] |
1,000 +2,114, 9–12 guns lost Total: 3,114[1] | ||||||
The Battle of Mormant (17 February 1814) was fought during the War of the Sixth Coalition between an Imperial French army under Emperor Napoleon I and a division of Russians under Count Peter Petrovich Pahlen near the town of Mormant, some 50 km (31 mi) southeast of Paris. Pahlen's outnumbered force was enveloped by cavalry and infantry, and nearly destroyed, with only about a third of its soldiers escaping.
Later in the day, a French column encountered an Austrian-Bavarian rearguard in the Battle of Valjouan. The Allied force was attacked and mauled by French infantry and cavalry, before it withdrew behind the Seine River. The Mormant-Valjouan actions and the Battle of Montereau the following day marked the start of a French counteroffensive intended to drive back Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg's Allied Army of Bohemia.