Battle of Guttstadt-Deppen

Overview

In the Battle of Guttstadt–Deppen on 5 and 6 June 1807, troops of the Russian Empire led by General Levin August, Count von Bennigsen attacked the First French Empire corps of Marshal Michel Ney. The Russians pressed back their opponents in such a way that saw Ney fight a brilliant rearguard action with his heavily outnumbered forces. During the 6th, Ney successfully disengaged his troops and pulled back to the west side of the Pasłęka (Passarge) River. The action occurred during the War of the Fourth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Dobre Miasto (Guttstadt) is on Route 51 about 20 kilometers (12 mi) southwest of Lidzbark Warmiński (Heilsberg) and 24 kilometers (15 mi) north of Olsztyn (Allenstein). The fighting occurred along Route 580 which runs southwest from Guttstadt to Kalisty (Deppen) on the Pasłęka.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

At Guttstadt-Deppen, Bennigsen committed the bulk of Russian strength—some 63,000 troops—against Ney's isolated corps of roughly 17,000, pressing the French back along the route southwest toward the Pasłęka River. Despite the severe numerical disparity, Ney's rearguard action contained Russian exploitation and allowed his corps to disengage intact, crossing to the west bank of the Pasłęka by the end of 6 June. The engagement demonstrated the difficulty Bennigsen faced in translating local numerical advantage into decisive results during the closing phase of the Fourth Coalition campaign in eastern Prussia. Coming roughly a week before Friedland, the Russian failure to destroy Ney's corps left French forces in a position to consolidate rather than absorb a crippling blow before that decisive engagement.

Tactics

Forces & casualties

Commanders (8)