Forces At the beginning of the campaign, Bernadotte's I Corps consisted of 19,014 infantry, 1,580 cavalry, and 34 artillery pieces. General of Division
Pierre Dupont de l'Etang led the 7,000-man 1st Division, General of Division
Olivier Macoux Rivaud de la Raffinière commanded the 5,600-strong 2nd Division,
Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon headed the 5,800-man 3rd Division, General of Brigade
Jacques Louis François Delaistre de Tilly commanded the corps cavalry brigade, Smith gives the division numbers in his
Battle of Lübeck article. Petre gives the strengths of each division on 14 October. General of Division
Jean Baptiste Eblé commanded the corps artillery reserve. The 1st Division consisted of: General of Brigade
Marie François Rouyer's 9th Light Infantry Regiment, three battalions; General of Brigade
François Marie Guillaume Legendre d'Harvesse's 32nd and 96th Line Infantry Regiments, two battalions each; and two foot artillery batteries of 12 guns in total. The 2nd Division included: General of Brigade
Michel Marie Pacthod's 8th Light Infantry Regiment, two battalions; General of Brigade
Nicolas Joseph Maison's 45th and 54th Line Infantry Regiments, two battalions each; and one horse and one foot artillery battery, with a combined 12 guns in total. This data is from the Criwitz article. The 3rd Division comprised: General of Brigade
Bernard-Georges-François Frère's 27th Light Infantry Regiment, two battalions; General of Brigade
François Werlé's 94th Line Infantry Regiment, two battalions, plus the 95th Line Infantry Regiment, three battalions; and one horse and one foot artillery battery, a total of 16 guns. Tilly's cavalry brigade consisted of the 2nd and 4th
Hussar Regiments and the 5th
Chasseurs à Cheval Regiment, four squadrons each. In the artillery reserve there were one horse and one foot artillery battery of 12 total guns. In Smith's order of battle, which does not include Rivaud's division, there are six batteries with 40 guns. But his summary lists eight batteries with 36 guns. If the 12 guns with Rivaud are included, then Bernadotte's corps must have had 52 guns, many more than the 34 listed by Petre. Before 1806, a French infantry battalion was made up of nine companies. In September 1806, Napoleon decreed that each infantry regiment must have three battalions of eight companies each, including one of
grenadiers and one of
voltigeurs or skirmishers. Each foot artillery battery normally numbered six cannons and two howitzers, while each horse artillery battery counted four cannons and two howitzers. The French utilized
4-pounder,
6-pounder,
8-pounder, and
12-pounder cannons, plus captured Austrian pieces. The 12-pounders were generally employed by the corps artillery reserve. Eugene of Württemberg's Prussian Reserve included two infantry divisions, an advance guard, and a cavalry reserve. General-Major Hans Christoph von Natzmer's 1st Division comprised the
Natzmer Infantry Regiment Nr. 54,
Kauffberg Infantry Regiment Nr. 51, and
Treskow Infantry Regiment Nr. 17, each of two battalions, the
Schmeling and
Crety Grenadier battalions, and one and a half foot artillery batteries of 12 guns. General-Major Balthasar Wilhelm Christoph von Jung-Larisch's 2nd Division consisted of the
Jung-Larisch Infantry Regiment Nr. 53,
Kalkreuth Infantry Regiment Nr. 4, and
Manstein Infantry Regiment Nr. 55, each of two battalions, the
Vieregg Grenadier battalion, as well as one and a half foot artillery batteries of 12 guns. General-Major
Johann von Hinrichs' Advance Guard included infantry comprising the
Borell Fusilier battalion Nr. 9,
Knorr Fusilier battalion Nr. 12, and
Hinrichs Fusilier battalion Nr. 17, as well as cavalry consisting of two squadrons of
Usedom Hussar Regiment Nr. 10, one squadron of
Hertzberg Dragoon Regiment Nr. 9, one squadron of
Heyking Dragoon Regiment Nr. 10, along with two horse artillery pieces. The reserve cavalry comprised eight squadrons of
Usedom Hussar Regiment Nr. 10, four squadrons of
Hertzberg Dragoon Regiment Nr. 9, four squadrons of
Heyking Dragoon Regiment Nr. 10, and one horse artillery battery of six guns. In total there were 18 battalions, 20 squadrons and 32 guns present on the Prussian side. The battalion artillery pieces of the infantry regiments are not counted among the 32 guns, so the Prussians had more cannons. In 1806, Prussian heavy cavalry regiments were made up of five squadrons, while light cavalry regiments usually consisted of 10 squadrons. Foot artillery batteries included six 12-pounder cannons and two 10-pounder howitzers, while horse artillery batteries had six 6-pounder cannons and two 7-pounder howitzers. An infantry regiment comprised three line battalions. Each line battalion had five 174-man companies, while each fusilier battalion had four 165-man companies. Each line battalion was assigned a 6-pounder cannon and four gunners to work the piece. The fusilier battalions did not go to war with their regimental cannons in 1806.
Action At the close of the Jena-Auerstedt battle, Bernadotte had the divisions of Drouet and Rivaud near
Apolda, while Dupont's division and the corps artillery remained at Dornburg. On the morning of 15 October, Napoleon instructed Bernadotte to march to
Bad Bibra,
Querfurt, and Halle, which would take Bernadotte's corps north and the north-east of Jena. By the morning of the 16th Bernadotte's advance guard was about five kilometers north of Bad Bibra. He heard that the Prussian Reserve lay at Halle and planned to attack it. At the beginning of the campaign, Eugene of Württemberg mustered 16,000 troops in the Reserve. On 10 October, as he was marching to Magdeburg, he received orders to proceed to Halle. On the 13th, the Reserve was at Halle, with a battalion at Merseburg to the south and another detachment at Leipzig to the southeast. The
Treskow Infantry Regiment was to the northwest at
Aschersleben, en route from Magdeburg. On the 14th, Eugene received an order to remain at Halle and that the main army was falling back in his direction. That day he heard the cannonade from the Jena-Auerstedt battles. It was not until the evening of the 15th that he heard about the military disaster. On the 16th, Eugene had received no further orders. He instructed the detachment at Merseburg, which had been reinforced to two and a half battalions, to pull back to Halle. The Leipzig force was also recalled, while he sent back a detachment to hold
Dessau on the
Elbe River, a position covering the direct line of advance of any force moving from Halle to Berlin. He deployed his main force on high ground on Halle's south side, with his battle line facing northwest toward the city and his left bent back. The two and a half battalions from Merseburg were left to defend the bridges on the east side of Halle, together with a dragoon regiment. The
Usedom Hussars were nearby, at the junction of the Saale and the
White Elster Rivers, just south of Halle. The
Treskow Regiment was at
Eisleben, to the west-northwest of Halle. Before dawn on the 17th, Bernadotte's corps set out from Querfurt to the west-southwest of Halle. Before long, he received intelligence that a Prussian column was approaching from Eisleben. He left Drouet's division to observe the Eisleben column and hurried on toward Halle with Dupont and Rivaud's divisions. On the west side of Halle, the Saale divides into three branches. In 1806, the road from Querfurt and Eisleben crossed these branches via a series of covered bridges, called the
Hohe Brücke. On the west bank, to the north of the highway, stretched the Dolau wood. From Halle, which is entirely on the east bank, radiated roads to Magdeburg in the north, to Dessau and
Wittenberg in the northeast, to Leipzig in the southeast, and to Merseburg in the south. The city gate to the northeast was named the Steinthor and the gate to the southeast was called the Galgenthor. On 17 October, Eugene of Württemberg counted 11,350 infantry, 1,675 cavalry, and 58 guns at Halle, not including the
Treskow Regiment. Not counting Drouet's division, Bernadotte's force that morning numbered 12,190 infantry, 1,000 cavalry, and 12 guns. Beginning at 8:00 AM, Bernadotte's advance guard pressed back the dragoon regiment from Passendorf on the west bank. In response, Eugene sent four infantry companies and two guns to support the dragoons. Five more companies with four cannons defended the first island in the Saale. About this time, Eugene belatedly started his wagon train back toward Dessau. Fearing that the French were at hand, the teamsters panicked and fled up the road, abandoning many wagons. Bernadotte determined to attack at 10:00 AM. Holding back his cavalry and the 96th Line, he sent Dupont's 32nd Line charging for the bridges, with one battalion of the 9th Light and three guns in support. Racing along the embanked road in columns and flanked by skirmishers, the French punched through the defenders to seize the first bridge and the island. The Prussians foot soldiers on either side of the road were cut off from the bridge and became prisoners. Those dragoons who did not pull back in time were forced to swim across the river. In less than an hour, Dupont's troops captured all three bridges and General von Hinrichs. They burst into the town, overwhelmed a Prussian battalion in the marketplace, and chased a second battalion out the Steinthor. Rapidly, Halle was occupied along with both the Galgenthor and Steinthor. Here the French paused to wait for the rest of Bernadotte's corps to appear. Deployed southeast of Halle, Eugene found himself in an awkward position with his line of retreat to the north stretching past the east side of Halle. He quickly shifted two battalions northward to face the Steinthor and prevent the French from cutting him off from Dessau. Reinforced by the remainder of Dupont's division, the French improvised defenses at the Steinthor and Galgenthor and in the gardens along the edge of Halle. When Rivaud's division began to arrive, led by the 8th Line, it was fed into the line near the Galgenthor. This allowed Dupont to mass his division, together with a hussar regiment, to the north near the Steinthor. The French skirmishers moved forward and subjected the Prussians to severe harassing fire. At length, the French surged forth from Halle and attacked the Prussian line. In between the town gates, the defenders swept the ground with intense artillery fire. But at the Steinthor and Galgenthor, the attackers rapidly gained the upper hand and pushed back the Prussians. The Prussian cavalry, which deployed east of the Funckengarten, near the Steinthor, was flanked and fell back toward Mötzlich to the northeast. Eugene's formation split in two, his right wing retreating toward Dessau and his left wing toward
Bitterfeld. The right wing fell back in good order, pausing at Mötzlich and at
Oppin where a cavalry charge discouraged further pursuit. The left wing had worse luck, being chased by Rivaud's division and most of Bernadotte's cavalry. The Prussian horsemen managed to repulse the French cavalry near Rabatz, but were driven off by Drouet's newly arrived 94th Line. The French chased the left wing as far as Bitterfeld where the Prussians managed to burn the bridge over the
Mulde River. General-Major Karl Peter von Treskow with his regiment, finding the highway blocked by Drouet's division at Nietleben, tried to reach Halle by moving to the north of the Dolau wood. As he approached the Halle bridges, Treskow's progress was checked by Maison and a few infantrymen of the 8th Line until Drouet arrived on the scene. The Prussians deployed with their left flank on the Saale and their right on a vineyard. Believing he had enough troops to deal with Treskow, Drouet sent the 94th Line and the 5th Chasseurs à Cheval to help Dupont and Rivaud. He then attacked the Prussians with the 27th Light, 95th Line, and two cannons. Prevented from escaping through the Dolau wood by a blocking force left there by Drouet, Treskow retreated north along the west bank in two battalion squares. Near Kröllwitz, the Prussian force fell into confusion as it crossed a marshy area and lost all of its cannons. Soon after, Drouet pounced on the hapless
Treskow Regiment and forced its surrender after inflicting 200 killed and wounded on it. ==Result==