In 1813, the Saxons had to raise troops as fast as they could to aid the Allies in the war against Napoleon. As most of you know, the Prussians had prepared for that case already for years (Krümpersystem), able to field trained units quickly. Not so the Saxons, where manpower had been drained for years to fight as a French ally. So indeed, especially the Prussians demanded an enormous effort from the Saxons. Beside that, the Prussians hated the Saxon soldiers for having been such a loyal French ally for so long. In 1813, Saxon prisoners were maltreated and abused by the Prussian population, before they were handed over to the Russians.

In my opinion, the Saxons, which indeed hated the French by now as much as the Prussians and other Germans, did their best to raise troops, And when units were of enough strength, they were immediately send to the southern Netherlands to reinforce the much under-strength Duke of Saxe-Weimar's 3rd German Army Corps, composed of units of Saxony and the Saxon Duchies. For example the city Leipzig delivered 600 Landwehr. In the southern Netherlands, the duke found himself in an enormous difficult situation, military as well as political, with our 'swivel' Bernadotte making things even worse. And the British having their own agenda as well.

The initial although provisional units of the 3rd German Army Corps were composed of the regular soldiers that had changed sides during the battle of Leipzig. Augmented with released prisoners of war, although not many would return from the 1812 campaign in Russia. These were experienced and did extremely well under these difficult circumstances. For the newly raised regular, volunteer and Landwehr units, there was just not enough time to convert them into reliable units able to survive a regular battle.

For example, the untrained Saxon 3. Landwehr-Infanterieregiment marched on arrival in the southern Netherlands straight into battle against GD Maison at Sweweghem, with their brigade-commander ordering three companies to deploy in skirmishing order and to engage the superior number of French tirailleurs, reinforcing them with even more men. Not surprisingly, that did not went well, and soundly defeated the retreat became a rout. 7 companies of the 2nd and 3rd battalions of the Saxon 1. Provisorischen Linien-Regiment (experienced soldiers) in skirmish order then engaged the French tirailleurs. They were backed up with the three battalions of the Saxon 1. Landwehr-Infanterieregiment in Bataillonsmassen, as these were just not able to form a proper square. Several French cavalry charges followed, but the Landwehr held, and supported by the Saxon hussars every French attack was defeated.

As some of you know, for some time now I am working on a project about the 3rd German Army Corps (not to be confused with Bülow's 3rd Prussian Army Corps in the same area) of which the result hopefully will appear next year.

Best regards, Geert