AFTER THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG
19 October 1813
translated by Geert van Uythoven
[From the diary of an officer with the
Austrian reserve artillery]
“(…) Early on the 19th we found out that
the enemy had disappeared before us. We marched in the direction of Leipzig,
reaching the area where our opponents had stood. Here we found a destruction
without example. Dead and wounded lay on numerous spots heaped together. In
this miserable environment the battery received orders to halt. The short
period of rest was the cause of an unusual event. Some soldiers searched the
clothing of several of the enemy; several lucky efforts caused a general
participation to this trade. NCO’s, of which their honour prevented them to
participate in the same occupation, pierced with their sabres a suspicious
spot, were the recently dug up ground seemed to be tampered on purpose. They
discovered several gun tubes, which most probably had been buried by the enemy
before their retreat in order to hide them, to diminish the amount of trophies
won by the victor mentioned in the first reports of the battle. Not far from
this spot there was a heap of iron parts of carriages and iron axles. Of the
wooden parts of the carriages and vehicles only unusable extinguished charred
parts had remained on fireplaces, which had not been completely consumed by the
fire. We now knew the cause of the large fires that we had observed during the
previous night, and at the same time a valuable reason to search for the still
undiscovered abandoned gun tubes, which the enemy impossible could have taken
with him without the necessary carriages. The huge amount of dead an wounded
horses which we found in this area, illustrated that the lack of horse teams
had been the real cause of the laborious measure the enemy had taken. Also
illustrating very clearly the great efforts the French warriors would take to
diminish the effect and bad impression of the defeat they had suffered with all
means at their disposal. We dug up several gun tubes of various calibres.
However, we were not able to complete our labour as we received orders to
continue our advance. As far as I know the troops following behind us, the
Division of FML Baron von Wimpfen, completed digging up this discovered
treasure.
To the side of the fireplaces mentioned
before, several guns on carriages were found. Among those was an Austrian
cavalry gun tube with the button sawn off, positioned on a French gun carriage.
I also remember noticing a Prussian howitzer among those. This mingling of
various kinds of guns can only be explained to be done out of great peril, the
loss of so much artillery equipment forcing to French to use all useful stocks
from the neighbouring depots for the newly organised army. The unusual huge
amount of guns would have aided the untrained army greatly in their fight
against the seasoned enemies. One should however also realise that these
foreign guns clearly had been left behind intact with the sole purpose to
oppose the triumph of the victors with the trophies of previous French victories.”
Source: Anonymous, “Auszüge aus einem Tagebuche von den
Feldzügen in den Jahren 1813, 1814 und 1815”, in ‘Oestreichische militärische
Zeitschrift’, 2. Band, 4. Heft (Wien 1820) pp.43-45
© Geert van Uythoven