LUTZEN & BAUTZEN: NAPOLEON’S SPRING CAMPAIGN OF 1813

◗ George Nafziger

◗ Helion & Company (2021)

◗ £29.95

◗ 394 pages (softback)

◗ ISBN:9781911512271

◗ helion.co.uk

This paperback edition of Helion’s 2017 hardback reprint of the original volume published in 1992 by The Emperor’s Press covers the period from January 1813 to the Armistice of Plesswitz, 4th June 1813.

The author begins with a description of the military situation in January-February 1813 after the disastrous Russian campaign, then explains the politics of early 1813 leading to the defection of General Yorck, the creation of the Prussian Landwehr, Landsturm and freiwilliger jagers, and the Prussian declaration of war against France in March. The Race to Rearm describes Napoleon’s efforts to rebuild French army and how the krumper system of rotating recruits into the army and putting them on leave once trained, designed to evade restrictions imposed by the French after Jena-Auerstadt bore fruit in January 1813, producing an estimated 70,000 men ready for service. The next chapter describes the beginning of the Befreiungskrieg, the War of Liberation, in March 1813.

Two chapters are devoted to the battle of Lutzen, on 2nd May 1813 and five chapters – Prelude to Bautzen, 16-18 May, The First Day, 20 May 1813, The Second Day, 21 May 1813, The Aftermath of Bautzen and the Path to Armistice, 22 May – 1 June 1813 and The Armistice – cover the climactic battle of the campaign. The text of the Armistice of Plesswitz is reproduced as an appendix.

Thirteen colour maps showing built up dark brown areas, light brown roads, blue rivers, green woodlands and high ground shaded slightly darker than the beige background, are bound into the centre of the book.

Eight of them, depicting Saxony and Central Germany; the Battle of Lutzen at 11:00, 12:00 and 18:00-18:30; the Eastern Saxon Theatre of Operations, 3 May to 6 June 1813, and the initial positions and the situation at 08:00 and at 14:30 during the Battle of Bautzen, each occupy two facing pages but are helpfully presented as two separate plates with white borders, so that no detail is lost in the central binding – a technique some other military history publishers should copy! French forces in blue are identified by block capitals; Allied troops in red by lower case letters.

The colour maps are followed immediately by a three-page List of Map Keys, presented in boxes and in a significantly smaller font than the main text. The Key for Map 7 - the Battle of Lutzen, 11:00 a.m. – however, states incorrectly that the French are identified by lower case letters and the Allies by capital letters. 114 illustrations, mainly monochrome reproductions of portraits of monarchs and high-ranking officers and battle scenes, mainly by Richard Knotel, also enliven the text.

A two-page Table of Contents of the Orders of Battle, and three pages of explanatory diagrams on how to read them, are followed by eighty-two pages of orders of battle, and fifteen pages of endnotes. A six-page bibliography and an index conclude the book.

This book contains much detail that requires careful study and concentration. Wargamers particularly interested in this campaign and the two battles who desire a more detailed account of the opposing armies’manoeuvres and tactics than will be found in Osprey Campaign 87, and desire orders of battle at different stages of the operations, will appreciate this affordable reprint of George Nafziger’s meticulous research.