#battle of bautzen

[empirearchives]

“The only person Napoleon seems to have really wanted to be buried by his side was Duroc.” 

“Since the siege of Toulon in 1793, he had never really left Bonaparte.”

“Napoleon had complete confidence in him; he esteemed the servant and loved the man.”

As Duroc was dying at Bautzen in 1813 after getting hit by a cannon ball, “Napoleon went to his bedside, where the dying man, terribly mutilated, was strong enough to ask him to leave. The Emperor held his hand. As he left, Caulaincourt tells us, Napoleon wept, something no one had ever seen.”

Napoleon returned to the farm where Duroc had died three months later and bought the land on the spot, permitting the farmer to continue to live there. His intention for buying the farm was to erect a monument for Duroc.

It was instructed to say: “Here General Duroc, Duke of Friuli, grand marshal of the palace of Emperor Napoleon, struck by a cannon ball, expired in the arms of his emperor and friend.”

This monument was never built because the Russians soon occupied the region and refused to permit it. Duroc’s remains were moved to Les Invalides in 1847, over 30 years after he died. There, he rests in the same location as Napoleon.

I’m crying reading this

Source: Napoleon and de Gaulle by Patrice Gueniffey

[sollannaart]

Prince Poniatowski entering Saxony in June 1813

After leaving Kraków in May 1813, the Polish Army was originally supposed to go to Bavaria. However, having received news of Napoleon's victory over the coalition in the battles of Lützen and Bautzen, Prince Joseph directed the army to Saxony. On June 16, he reached Zittau, the first city on the Saxon side of the border.

Carl Beyer, Prince Józef Poniatowski after Revue – Zittau 1813

The locals greeted the Polish Army very warmly. And one of the residents, Carl Beyer, immortalized those moment on an amateur sketch.

Bronisław Gembarzewski, Commander-in-Chief's Staff. Zittau 1813

What’s more, in Zittau there was already an order from the Emperor to prince Józef to come to Dresden. So Poniatowski, having waited for the rest of the corps to arrive, went then, on the 20th of June, to the headquarters of the Grand Army in the Saxon capital.

Zbigniew Łoskot, prince Poniatowski meeting emperor Napoleon in Dresden in June of 1813

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.20 (before 1900)

325 – The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church. 491 – Empress Ariadne marries Anastasius I. The widowed Augusta is able to choose her successor for the Byzantine throne, after Zeno (late emperor) dies of dysentery. 685 – The Battle of Dun Nechtain is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated. 794 – While visiting the royal Mercian court at Sutton Walls with a view to marrying princess Ælfthryth, King Æthelberht II of East Anglia is taken captive and beheaded. 1217 – The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke. 1293 – King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Estudio de Escuelas de Generales in Alcalá de Henares. 1426 – King Mohnyin Thado formally ascends to the throne of Ava. 1449 – The Battle of Alfarrobeira is fought, establishing the House of Braganza as a principal royal family of Portugal. 1497 – John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date). 1498 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovers the sea route to India when he arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India. 1520 – Hernan Cortés defeats Pánfilo de Narváez, sent by Spain to punish him for insubordination. 1521 – Ignatius of Loyola is seriously wounded in the Battle of Pampeluna. 1570 – Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas. 1609 – Shakespeare's sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe. 1631 – The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War. 1645 – Yangzhou massacre: The ten day massacre of 800,000 residents of the city of Yangzhou, part of the Transition from Ming to Qing. 1714 – Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata for Pentecost, Erschallet, ihr Lieder, BWV 172, at the chapel of Schloss Weimar. 1741 – The Battle of Cartagena de Indias ends in a Spanish victory and the British begin withdrawal towards Jamaica with substantial losses. 1775 – The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is allegedly signed in Charlotte, North Carolina. 1802 – By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution. 1813 – Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory. 1861 – American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. Meanwhile, the State of North Carolina secedes from the Union. 1862 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law, opening eighty-four million acres (340,000 km2) of public land to settlers. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church: In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory. 1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets. 1875 – Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 nations leading to the establishment of the International System of Units. 1882 – The Triple Alliance between the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy is formed. 1883 – Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano explodes three months later, killing more than 36,000 people. 1891 – History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope.

[the-paintrist]

Louis-François, Baron Lejeune (3 February 1775 in Strasbourg – 29 February 1848) was a French general, painter, and lithographer. His memoirs have frequently been republished and his name is engraved on the Arc de Triomphe.

He studied painting in the studio of Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes, alongside Jean-Victor Bertin, but left the studio to volunteer in the Compagnie des arts de Paris in 1792. He received his baptism of fire in the battle of Valmy later that year. He became a sergeant in the 1st Arsenal battalion and in 1793 moved to the artillery at La Fère, assisting in the sieges of Landrecies, Le Quesnoy and Valenciennes. At Valenciennes he became aide-de-camp to General Jacob then, as a lieutenant on attachment to the engineers, took part in the 1794 Holland campaign and the 1795 campaign.

Called to the depot in 1798, he succeeded brilliantly in his exams and was made a captain on attachment to the engineers. He became aide-de-camp to Marshal Berthier in 1800, a post he retained until 1812 and in which he took an active part in practically all of the Napoleonic campaigns. He was wounded and captured in Spain. He was promoted to full captain after Marengo and chef de bataillon after Austerlitz, also becoming a knight of the Légion d'honneur and a colonel at the Siege of Saragossa.

In 1812, during the French invasion of Russia, he was made général de brigade and chief of staff to Davout. Frostbitten on the face, Lejeune left his post during the retreat from Russia and was arrested on the orders of Napoleon. Freed in March 1813, Lejeune was then sent to the Illyrian provinces, before rejoining the army under the orders of Marshal Oudinot, becoming his chief of staff. During the Saxony campaign, Lejeune was present at the Battle of Lutzen (1813), the crossing of the River Spree and at Bautzen. He was made an officer of the Légion d'honneur and a commander of the Order of Maximilian of Bavaria. At the battle of Hoyersverda, when Bülow's corps wiped out the 12th corps formed up in square on the plain, Lejeune (at risk of being kidnapped) ventured into the enemy lines with one battalion, General Wolf's cavalry and six 12 pounder guns. He thus broke the whole of the Prussian artillery and saved marshal Oudinot and his army. Wounded several times and lastly at Hanau, he was authorised to leave the army in November 1813 after more than 20 years' service. After his departure from the army, he devoted himself to painting.

After an initial grant in Hanover in 1808, and a second in Westphalia in 1810, he was made a baron d'Empire in 1810. Already a member of the cross of the Order of Leopold, Lejeune was made a knight of St Louis by Louis XVIII and in 1823 a commander of the Légion d'honneur. He returned to the army (now under the Bourbons) from 1818 to 1824, becoming commander of Haute-Garonne in 1831. On 2 September 1821 he married Louise Clary, sister of General Marius Clary and niece of Désirée Clary, queen of Sweden by her marriage with Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte. In 1824 the king of Sweden conferred on Lejeune the grand-cross of the Order of the Sword. In 1837 he became director of the École des beaux-arts et de l’industrie in Toulouse, a city of which he became mayor in 1841 and in which he died of a heart attack aged 73.

Louis-François Lejeune (1775-1848) had an exciting career as a soldier and  painter. He served mostly under Berthier, and also under Davout and Oudinot. This was his most daring feat: 

“At the battle of Hoyersverda [1813], when Bülow’s corps wiped out the 12th corps formed up in square on the plain, Lejeune (at risk of being kidnapped) ventured into the enemy lines with one battalion, general Wolf’s cavalry and six 12 pounder guns. He thus broke the whole of the Prussian artillery and saved marshal Oudinot and his army.”

Lejeune painted a bunch of battle scenes and continued painting into the reigns of the Bourbon restoration.

This was an interesting sidelight:

“The German campaign of 1806 brought him to Munich, where he visited the workshop of Alois Senefelder, the inventor of lithography. Lejeune was fascinated by the possibilities of the new method and whilst there he made the drawing on stone of his famous Cossack. Whilst he was taking his dinner, and with his horses harnessed and waiting to take him back to Paris, one hundred proofs were printed, one of which he subsequently submitted to Napoleon. The introduction of lithography into France was greatly due to the efforts of Lejeune.”

[ausnaphistoryblog]

The Battle of Bautzen (1945) – The Last German Victory of World War II

[bismarckczorneboh]

Alfons Bauer sagt: "Bismarck war kein Eisbrecher"

The Social Democratic mayor of Bautzen said in a right-wing daily newspaper: "Bismarck was not a criminal (Verbrecher)." I modified this sentence with a play on words (Verbrecher/Eisbrecher) and put it into the mouth of the character Alfons Bauer from the novel "The Wendish Voyage" by Kito Lorenc. In the novel, the positive-tragic hero Alfons Bauer dreams of connecting Upper Lusatia to the sea using canals. The 'Bismarck' was the largest and most powerful German battleship in the Second World War (and not an icebreaker). The ship sank three days after beginning her first mission during a naval battle in the North Atlantic.

[northernmariette]

A Biography of Marshal Ney (Part 5)

This part marks the end of what is most famous about Ney’s military career - excepting Waterloo, of course. After this, we will get into Ney’s life after Louis XVIII acceded to the Throne of France - not once, but twice. This is where what the Sénat has to write about Ney becomes interesting, as it is more directly connected to the Sénat’s own archives.

By the end of this section of Ney’s biography, although he doesn’t know it, he has less than two years to live.

The original French text for this can be found here:

 https://www.senat.fr/evenement/archives/D26/le_marechal_ney/sous_lempire.html

The campaigns in Germany and France (1813-1814)

Ney's stay in Paris, and later on at Les Coudreaux, was of short duration. A new coalition against France rapidly re-formed in 1813. Ney took command of the First Corps, known as the "Rhine Observation Corps", which then became the Third Corps; however, he was among those who were sceptical about the outcome of this new campaign. Napoleon refused to sign a peace treaty, as some were urging him to do.

Nevertheless, there were victories: Lützen on 2 May, Bautzen on 21 May 1813. During the battle Bautzen, Ney seems to have commanded rather badly, poorly coordinating his numerous divisions.

Exhilarated by his victories, Napoleon stubbornly rejected a long-awaited peace. He won his last great victory at Dresden on 26 and 27 August 1813. After that, there was one setback after the other: Katzbach for Macdonald, Dennewitz for Ney on 5 September, Leipzig on 15 October... Ney was wounded and had to return to France. He therefore did not take part in the withdrawal from Germany.

The way to France was opened to the Allies who entered Paris on 31 March 1814. On April 2, the Senate pronounced the deposition of the Emperor. The Campagne de France had been brief - from 27 January to 6 April 1814, the date of Napoleon's unconditional abdication. Marshal Ney made a major contribution to the abdication by insisting that the army would not crush the Allies in Paris, as Napoleon had envisioned.

[blankasolun]

Who Is Leopold? (Part 4) Leopold left Erfurt and went back to Coburg. Four years later Napoleon summoned the princes of the German Confederation to Dresden.

[histoireettralala]

The case of the mutilations of Bautzen 1/3

The considerable and unusual number of wounded, 8,000 in Lützen, 6,500 in Bautzen, worries Napoleon, who sees his numbers melt away. What could have happened? he asks himself.

Not daring to admit the relentless and murderous new direction of the recent fights, he questions his entourage, and, above all, Larrey, who does not hesitate for a single moment to risk his position, his reputation, his honor, his future.

"To reduce in Napoleon's eyes the considerable number of wounded which the battles of Lützen, Bautzen, and Würschen had caused, a few people accustomed to veiling the truth made him understand that many of these wounded had voluntarily mutilated themselves to escape the service, and all those who had their fingers cut off or their hands pierced through by bullets were included in this group. "

Far from defending the honor of their men, several marshals, Soult in particular, Larrey reveals, give credence to this sinister tale which suits them. Tired of wars and bivouacs, they want to enjoy the comfort of the wealth created by the Emperor [..]

Starting from the principle that "any argument which could bring peace appeared valid to them", judges Larrey who knows them well since he approaches them every day, they strive to highlight to the eyes of the Emperor the allegedly voluntary character of these mutilations in order to persuade him that the army is no longer following its leader. How could he count on a troop whose morale is low enough to engage in such extremes?

The baseness of the process [..] is also adorned with an insinuation as perfidious as it is slanderous after the heroic behavior of the young "Marie-Louise" during the previous days. The blow hits and finds Larrey in the front line. "On these assertions, the order was given to bring them all together and shut them up in the entrenched camp established for customs, a quarter of a league from the town, on the main road to Bautzen. There were nearly three thousand of them."

The heads of the Health Service are summoned forthwith by the Emperor, impatient to hear their opinion on this question which feeds his anger.

"Desgenettes and Yvan told the Emperor that the wounds were voluntary [..] My opinion did not agree with that of some of my colleagues: it did not prevail, and the order to form a surgical jury , which I was to preside, was immediately issued to me. This jury was responsible for designating those of these individuals whom they would have found guilty of these offenses, so that they be then placed at the disposal of the general, the army provost. "

Larrey measured the importance of the case. The order was "issued" to him by Napoleon, who did not show him his usual marks of affection; the letter received from General Pradel, the provost, claiming two culprits per army corps, does not bode well for the consequences.

So would it be twenty-four innocent soldiers who would be brought before a war council before being shot on the front lines? From his experience of the campaigns of Poland and Spain, Larrey knows that these are injuries due to the inexperience of young recruits in the handling of their rifle.

But he is the only one to know it, he has to bring proof, to brave the wrath of Napoleon [..]

Jean Marchioni - Place à monsieur Larrey, chirurgien de la garde impériale.

[josefavomjaaga]

Thank you so much, @hoppityhopster23​! That does help a lot indeed! 💖

From what I have read on Soult’s side, I would agree there simply was no interaction between him and Larrey before 1813. Larrey’s service (before 1812, I think?) was restricted to Napoleon’s guard, who usually was with Napoleon, of course, while Soult was usually serving elsewhere (Prussia, Spain). So, even if they had wanted to get into a fight they simply would not have a chance to meet 😁.

About Soult being vengeful and able to hold a grudge - very much so, on occasion. About an incident like this, that did not even really involve him, and for such a long time, until decades later ... I doubt it. (Unless of course there is more to this story.) So maybe Hippolyte only used this long forgotten story to later blame Soult for the fact that his adored father was not buried in Les Invalides.

Out of curiosity: Does any of your books mention if we have more contemporary information on these investigations after Bautzen than Larrey’s own writings? He (or the author of his biography cited in the original posts) makes it out to be a pretty big deal. Chances that someone else wrote about it should be good. Apparently Desgenettes and Yvan - no lightweights in their trades either - had come to the opposite conclusion from Larrey? I’d love to hear their side of the story.

Napoleon in Saxony 1813

This is for @snowv88: a brief snippet from Otto von Odeleben's "Napoleon's Feldzug in Sachsen im Jahr 1813". Odeleben was detached by the Saxon king and served as a liaison officer on Napoleon's staff, so he is a direct eye witness. He wrote, however, under Prussian rule already, so while his fascination is notable, if only in the way he describes plenty of details about Napoleon's manners, he often gives it an overall negative spin.

[Napoleon] let his horse go at a careless walk or short trot and sagged thoughtfully on it. His horse was used to follow the two chasseurs or orderlies who rode ahead. He preferred to ride cross-country without anyone knowing where to. The Chasseurs of the Guard, however, had become so familiar with his manner that they always could guess, at the first direction Napoleon took, the point he wanted to reach. He was so fond of riding on side roads and footpaths that he sometimes had to dismount in mountainous areas and valleys. It was always unpleasant for him to hear of obstacles or impossibilities. - "On ne peut pas?" (One can't?), Napoleon said with a sneer, and usually did not abandon a resolution until he had convinced himself. In bad or swampy spots, the Grand Stable Master rode ahead by a few horse lengths to examine the path where Napoleon was to follow him [...]

The Grand Stable Master of course being Caulaincourt. I'm pretty sure there was another mention of a similar kind but I could not find it again on short notice. I'll add it once I stumble across it again.

[rabbitcruiser]

Völkerschlachtdenkmal, Leipzig (No. 1)

The Monument to the Battle of the Nations (German:  Völkerschlachtdenkmal, sometimes shortened to Völki) is a monument in Leipzig, Germany, to the 1813 Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations. Paid for mostly by donations and the city of Leipzig, it was completed in 1913 for the 100th anniversary of the battle at a cost of six million goldmarks.

The monument commemorates the defeat of Napoleon's French army at Leipzig, a crucial step towards the end of hostilities in the War of the Sixth Coalition. The coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden were led by Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg. There were Germans fighting on both sides, as Napoleon's troops also included conscripted Germans from the left bank of the Rhine annexed by France, as well as troops from his German allies of the Confederation of the Rhine.

The structure is 91 metres (299 ft) tall. It contains over 500 steps to a viewing platform at the top, from which there are views across the city and environs. The structure makes extensive use of concrete, and the facings are of granite. It is widely regarded as one of the best examples of Wilhelmine architecture. The monument is said to stand on the spot of some of the bloodiest fighting, from where Napoleon ordered the retreat of his army. It was also the scene of fighting in World War II, when Nazi forces in Leipzig made their last stand against U.S. troops.

Following the French Revolution, France had waged a number of wars against its European neighbours. Napoleon Bonaparte had taken control of the country, first as Consul from 1799, and reigned as Emperor of the French under the title Napoleon I since 1804. Over the course of the hostilities, the Holy Roman Empire had ceased to exist following the abdication of Emperor Francis II, bowing to Napoleon's pressure, including the foundation of the Confederation of the Rhine from various former members of the Empire.

The War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809 had ended with another defeat for the joint forces of the Austrian Empire, Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal against the French and their German allies. Following Napoleon's unsuccessful invasion of Russia in 1812, Prussia joined the countries already at war with France to begin the War of the Sixth Coalition in March 1813. During the early part of the campaign, the allied forces against Napoleon suffered defeats at Großgörschen (2 May) and Bautzen (20–21 May), being driven back to the river Elbe. However, due to lack of training in his newly-recruited soldiers, Napoleon was unable to take full advantage of his victories, allowing his enemies to regroup. Following a ceasefire, Austria rejoined the Coalition on 17 August. The French advantage in numbers was now reversed, with the Coalition forces counting 490,000 soldiers to Napoleon's 440,000.

Between 16–19 October 1813, the Battle of the Nations outside Leipzig was the decisive one in the war, cementing the French defeat and temporarily ending Napoleon's rule. The Emperor was exiled to Elba in May 1814, but briefly returned to power the following year, before being permanently banished following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. The Battle of the Nations was fought between France and their German allies against a coalition of Russian, Austrian, Prussian, and Swedish forces. About half a million soldiers were involved and at the end of the battle, around 110,000 men had lost their lives, with many more dying in the days after in field hospitals in and around the city. The scope of the fighting was unprecedented.

Source: Wikipedia

[kumail-fan]

jean-de-dieu soult

Marshal Nicholas Jean de Dieu Soult, duc de Dalmatie Soult's focus then turned into Portugal. Back in March 1809 he conquered a Portuguese military in Oporto, a success marred by the collapse of a bridge taking refugees from town. Once More the British reacted by sending a military into Portugal under the command of Arthur Wellesley (shortly to become Viscount Wellington). The British immediately moved against Soult, who had been not able to keep them from crossing the river Douro (conflict of Oporto, 12 May 1809), also has been forced to retreat back to Galicia.

The French reaction to the British intervention was supposed to focus their armies. But on 27-28 July 1809 in Talavera Marshal Victor assaulted Wellington without needing Soult to arrive, also has been defeated.

Within this character he played a significant role in the French success in Ocana on 19 November 1809, which finished a Spanish effort aimed at Madrid.

At the beginning of 1810 Soult has been made to control the army district of Andalusia. Though he'd 70,000 guys in three corps, he had been severely stretched. The Spanish had armies to his north and west, even though a gigantic Allied garrison defended Cadiz. Soult spent the majority of 1810 involved with futile efforts to manage these multiple dangers.

He was coming under increasing pressure to assist Massena, that had been fighting in Portugal. A Spanish effort to aid the siege was defeated (conflict of this Gebora River, 19 February 1811), along with the fortress fell on 9 March 1811. Soult subsequently left a garrison in the fortress, also returned into Andalusia.

The British reacted by besieging Badajoz themselves. In spite of this success, the Allies were finally forced to abandon the siege of Badajoz, which wouldn't collapse until the following calendar year.

From the spring of 1813 Soult was summoned to Germany, to participate in Napoleon's final effort in Germany. He played well at Lützen (2 May 1813), in which he commanded the Guards, also at Bautzen (20-21 May 1813), however shortly then Napoleon learnt of Wellington's great victory at Vittoria. Soult was discharged back to Spain with requests to defend the frontier.

The end result was that the conflict of the Pyrenees, a succession of conflicts in the hills that saw Soult effort to push his way back to Spain. During these conflicts Soult had large armies, but they were nearly always composed of raw recruits, the previous manpower readily available to the French.

Soult made a succession of efforts to slow this invasion, but he had been defeated in the Nivelle River (10 November 1813) and the Nive River (9-12 December 1813), also in the beginning of 1814 that the Allies were besieging Bayonne. The concluding battle of the Peninsular War arrived on 10 April 1814 in Toulouse, where once more Soult was defeated. This conflict came after Napoleon's first abdication, but before the information had attained either Wellington or even Soult.

This wasn't a joyful appointment -- Soult was ill at ease at work. He fought Ligny and Waterloo, and following Napoleon's second abdication went to exile.

Read more about  Jean de Dieu Soul

[zombie-phoenix]

With what started off as a rough sketch- I ended up shading in and I think I’m pretty happy with how it turned out for a single day project.

General Gérard Duroc was a long time close friend of Napoleon and valued support for France.  Greatly trusted and reliable, he was often used for diplomatic missions.  Unfortunately, as with many of Napoleon’s closest companions, he was mortally wounded on the field.  In 1813, after the battle of Bautzen, he moved out in the morning with 2 other generals.  As the battle was dying down a stray cannon bounced off a tree, instantly killing General Kirgener and then split open Duroc.  Some sources said that Duroc was able to tell Napoleon that he wished he could have served him longer- and that he even begged to be put out of his misery. The gruesome wound led to his death within the day.    This event deprived Napoleon of yet another trusted ally capable of giving proper perspectives of their situations at a time when he was running out of those he could trust and rely on.  

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.26 (before 1950)

1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux. 1478 – The Pazzi family attack on Lorenzo de' Medici in order to displace the ruling Medici family kills his brother Giuliano during High Mass in Florence Cathedral. 1564 – Playwright William Shakespeare is baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (date of birth is unknown). 1607 – The Virginia Company colonists make landfall at Cape Henry. 1721 – A massive earthquake devastates the Iranian city of Tabriz. 1777 – Sybil Ludington, aged 16, allegedly rode 40 miles (64 km) to alert American colonial forces to the approach of the British regular forces 1794 – Battle of Beaumont during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition. 1802 – Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but about one thousand of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France. 1803 – Thousands of meteor fragments fall from the skies of L'Aigle, France; the event convinces European scientists that meteors exist. 1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines captured Derne under the command of First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon. 1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, in Virginia. 1900 – Fires destroy Canadian cities Ottawa and Hull, reducing them to ashes in 12 hours. Twelve thousand people are left without a home. 1903 – Atlético Madrid Association football club is founded 1915 – World War I: Italy secretly signs the Treaty of London pledging to join the Allied Powers. 1916 – Easter Rising: Battle of Mount Street Bridge. 1920 – Ice hockey makes its Olympic debut at the Antwerp Games with center Frank Fredrickson scoring seven goals in Canada's 12–1 drubbing of Sweden in the gold medal match. 1923 – The Duke of York weds Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey. 1925 – Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election to become the first directly elected head of state of the Weimar Republic. 1933 – The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established by Hermann Göring. 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain, is bombed by German Luftwaffe. 1942 – Benxihu Colliery accident in Manchukuo leaves 1549 Chinese miners dead. 1943 – The Easter Riots break out in Uppsala, Sweden. 1944 – Georgios Papandreou becomes head of the Greek government-in-exile based in Egypt. 1944 – Heinrich Kreipe is captured by Allied commandos in occupied Crete. 1945 – World War II: Battle of Bautzen: Last successful German tank-offensive of the war and last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht. 1945 – World War II: Filipino troops of the 66th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL and the American troops of the 33rd and 37th Infantry Division, United States Army liberate Baguio as they fight against the Japanese forces under General Tomoyuki Yamashita.

[mav-it]

Panzer V “Panther” Ausf.G of Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1. “Hermann Göring” accompanied by elements of Fallschirm-Panzergrenadier-Division 2 “Hermann Göring” are going through a forest near Kodersdorf (Görlitz) to get to their operational area to eve of the battle of Bautzen (battle of Budziszyn). Saxony, Germany, 20 April 1945.