Battle of Saalfeld

Overview

The Battle of Saalfeld took place on 10 October 1806, at which a French force of 12,800 men commanded by Marshal Jean Lannes defeated a Prussian-Saxon force of 8,300 men under Prince Louis Ferdinand. The battle took place in Thuringia in what was the Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. The battle was the second clash in the Prussian Campaign of the War of the Fourth Coalition.

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

Significance

The Battle of Saalfeld was the second engagement of the Prussian Campaign and resulted in a French victory over a combined Prussian-Saxon force. Marshal Jean Lannes's force of roughly 12,800 men defeated Prince Louis Ferdinand's 8,300-strong command, inflicting approximately 1,800 Prussian casualties. The engagement was fought in Thuringia, in the Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, placing French forces in a position to continue their advance into Prussia. As an early action in the War of the Fourth Coalition, the outcome at Saalfeld contributed to the sequential pressure France was applying to Prussian forces before the decisive confrontations that would follow later in the campaign.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (5)