tum to the onset which was to have
crushed Schwarzenberg's right wing. He therefore only detached one
weak division to cover Marmont's right flank, and with the other
divisions marched away south, when an urgent message from Moeckern
recalled him to that side of Leipzig, with the result that his 15,000
men spent the whole day in useless marches and counter-marches.[378]
The mishap was most serious. Had he strengthened Macdonald's
outflanking move, the right wing of the allied Grand Army might have
been shattered. Had he reinforced Marmont effectively, the position on
the north might have been held. As it was, the French fell back from
Moeckern in confusion, losing 53 cannon; but they had inflicted on
Yorck's corps a loss of 8,000 men out of 21,000. Relatively to the
forces engaged, Albuera and Moeckern are the bloodiest battles of the
Napoleonic wars.

On the whole, Napoleon had dealt the allies heavier losses than he had
sustained. But they could replace them. On the morrow Bennigsen was
near at hand on the east with 41,000 Russians of the Army of Reserve;
Colloredo's Austrian corps had also come up; and, in the north,
Bernadotte's Army of the North, 60,000 strong, was known to be
marching from Halle to reinforce Bluecher. Napoleon, however, could
only count on Reynier's corps of 15,000 men, mostly Saxons, who
marched in from Dueben. St. Cyr's corps of 27,000 men was too far away,
at Dresden; and Napoleon must have bitterly rued his rashness in
leaving that Marshal isolated on the south-east, while Davoust was
also cut off at Hamburg. He now had scarcely 150,000 effectives left
after the slaughter of the 16th; and of these, the German divisions
were murmuring at the endless marches and privations. Everything
helped to depress men's minds. On that Sabbath morning all was sombre
desolation around Leipzig, while within that city naught was heard but
the groans of the wounded and the lamentations of the citizens. Still
Napoleon's spirit was unquenched. Amidst the steady rain he paced
restlessly with Murat along the dykes of the Pleisse. The King assured
him that the enemy had suffered enormous losses. Then, the dreary walk
ended, the Emperor shut himself in his tent. His resolve was taken. He
would try fortune once more.[379]

Among the prisoners was the Austrian General Merveldt, over whom
Napoleon had gained his first diplomatic triumph, that at Leoben. He
it was, too, who had brought the first offers of an armistice a