For the rest of the month the enemy continued to probe towards Ney and MacDonald and each time Napoleon was obliged to force-march reinforcements to meet the threat, only for the enemy to withdraw again the instant they detected his presence. Napoleon was aware that Saxony could no longer feed his army. The supplies that had been built up in Dresden were steadily dwindling as the soldiers’ daily ration issue was cut and cut again until the soldiers were being issued less than quarter of their usual allowance of bread. Forage for the horses was also running short and Berthier’s daily report of the strength returns revealed a steady decline in the army’s numbers.

‘What do we do, gentlemen?’ Napoleon asked his marshals at a meeting in Dresden towards the middle of the month.‘We have too few men to cover all the ground we are obliged to occupy. Those men that we do have are weak and weary and have lost the zeal that they showed when they fought here last month. And now there is news from our spies that the Russians have sent a fresh army from Poland to join the campaign against us.’

‘We need to shorten our front, sire,’ said Murat. ‘Pull back to a more central position, behind the Elbe, concentrate our forces and wait for the opportunity to strike on our terms.’

‘That is all very well, but what do we do about Dresden? We cannot afford to leave the city exposed to the Army of Bohemia. It will have to be defended, by at least one corps.’

‘Why, sire?’ Murat raised his eyebrows. ‘Dresden has ceased to be of any real military value. It has all but run out of food, and the magazines are nearly empty. It would be better to have the garrison with the main army than cut off in Dresden and unable to affect the outcome of the campaign.’

Napoleon regarded Murat patiently. ‘You are a fine soldier, Joachim, but you show poor political sense. Dresden is the capital of our sole remaining German ally, now that Bavaria is expected to declare for the coalition any day. If we abandon Dresden then we abandon any legitimacy for having French soldiers stationed on German soil. We cease to be allies protecting the interests of our friends, and become occupiers - invaders - instead. I can think of nothing more dangerous to our interests at the moment. The thought of every German peasant with a gun turning on our supply convoys is an alarming prospect.’

‘Not if there are reprisals, sire. If we shoot enough peasants then I’m sure we will have no trouble.’

Marmont laughed drily.‘Have you forgotten your time in Spain? For every man we shot, five more took his place, filled with desire for revenge.’

‘I remember Spain,’ Murat replied. ‘My only regret is that I did not shoot more of them.’