'Bernadotte had never an order to support Davout, neither Davout to support Bernadotte. the Prince de Ponte-Corvos units were placed to march via Dornburg and that is exactly what Napoléon did want. The Prince de Ponte-Corvo could not disregard his orders only because Davout - hypotetical - was asking for support, there he must still assume that the main battle was fought at Jena and not at Eckartsberg, Petre - as well as Chandler - are just not critcially refelcting what orders the marshals had and what they did know before the fight started.'

That is an incorrect conclusion, as Bernadotte did have an order to support Davout, as Napoleon states in his letter to Davout after the battles:

'However, according to a very precise order, you ought to have been at Dornburg, which is one of the principal passages of the Saale, on the same day as Marshal Lannes was at Jena, Marshal Augereau at Kahla, and Marshal Davout at Naumburg. In case you had not executed these orders, I had informed you during the night that, if you were still at Naumburg, you should march with Marshal Davout and support him. You were at Naumberg when these orders arrived; it was communicated to you; but, nevertheless, you preferred to make a false march in order to turn back to Dornburg, and in consuence you did not find yourself in the battle, and Marshal Davout bore the principal efforts of the enemy's army.'-quoted in Foucart, II, 243.

I would assume that you have seen this as you often refer to Foucart on 1806.

Seems to me that the continued assumption that Bernadotte was some kind of 'victim' or scapegoat is incorrect and is not supported by the evidence.

Sincerely,
K