The weather at Eylau was the most incessant and formidable of opponents for all the belligerents and its impact was significant throughout the field of battlefield. The numerous streams and ponds were so frozen, and snow covered that French artillery and troops were able to move across them thus affording additional tactical deployment opportunities that otherwise might not have been possible. These cold, frozen conditions were measured by the Imperial Guard surgeon, Dominque-Jean Larrey to that of 14° Fahrenheit the night of 7 February and again in the early morning of 8 February when it had dropped even further to 2° Fahrenheit. The artic and piercing cold greatly impacted the triage and efforts of the surgeons to treat the wounded of the battle as well. In this instance, the cold proved to be a double-edged sword. The catastrophic cold took many lives, be they French or Russian that literally froze to death, while others, such as Larrey would note, were saved by the cold. This was possible as the conditions were so cold that it literally slowed the flow of blood from many who were severely wounded and saved them from bleeding to death. The cold of nature was truly finicky.

ABOVE: Marshal Augereau was in ill health at the blizzard Battle of Eylau, so much so that he was tied to his horse so that he would not fall off. His VII Corps was decimated in the blinding snow by near point blank Russian artillery and friendly fire. 

The extreme winter conditions greatly impacted troops movements and tactics on the hilly and frozen ground. The “piercing north wind which blew the snow that fell intermittently throughout the day so hard into the troops’ faces that at times it was literally blinding.” This howling wind throughout the day would drown out commands from officers to their men, hamper the movement of mounted troops and make it difficult for the Russians to even see the town of Eylau through the maelstrom. These conditions would lead to the disastrous 10 am counterattack by Marshal Charles-Pierre Francois Augereau’s troops against the Russians when, with visibility that was reduced to no more than fifteen yards, marched right into fire from both Russian and French guns.

One of Augereau’s regiments in the attack, the 14^th Line, would go down in history when after reaching a low hill, they became engaged by the might of Russian artillery and soon were cut off in the blizzard. Attempts were made to pull the regiment back to no avail and the major in charge of the 14^th in an effort to spirit away their Eagle to Marcellin de Marbot (ADC to Augereau) said to relay to Napoleon to “bid him farewell from the 14^th of the Line, which has faithfully executed his orders, and bear to him the Eagle which he gave us, and which we can defend no longer: it would add too much to the pain of death to see it fall into the hands of the enemy.” The 14^th would fall with the wrath of nature being responsible for over 5,000 Frenchmen being shot to pieces by foe and friend alike in the blizzard death trap of the attack. As the fighting wore on, so did the weather becoming so bad as the day progressed that visibility would be reduced to no more than ten paces. This affected tactical battlefield deployments further, as the French had to tighten up their battalions to remain in contact with one another or risk becoming isolated and destroyed like what happened to the 14^th Line earlier.

The weather on this field, as with so many others, proved to be an implacable foe that could not be reasoned with, beaten, or made peace with; it claimed who it wanted, when it wanted and the French, Russians and Prussians just had to try and survive.

BELOW: Louis Joseph Hugo and around 85 grenadiers of the 55th Ligne were ordered by Napoleon to hold the cemetary in the snowstorm of Eylau. Hugo would be one of only three suvivors in their efforts to hold the cemetary against the Russians.

Suggested Readings

Chandler, David. The Campaigns of Napoleon. New York, NY: Macmillan Company, 1966.

Dwyer, Philip G. Citizen Emperor: Napoleon In Power. London, UK: Bloomsbury, 2014.

Haythornthwaite, Philip J. Die Hard! Dramatic Actions from the Napoleonic Wars. London, UK: Arms and Armour, 1996.

Macdonell, Archibald G. Napoleon And His Marshals. London, UK: Prion, 1999.