‘Gentlemen, that’s enough,’ Napoleon interrupted. ‘I have made my decision. We will leave a garrison in Dresden. St-Cyr, you are the obvious choice. I will leave you Lobau’s division as well. You will hold out at all costs.’

St-Cyr nodded.

‘That leaves us the question of where to make our new centre of operations.’

‘The Elbe, then,’ said Murat.

Napoleon thought briefly and shook his head. ‘That is too much of a risk. Too long a front. We have to assume that the enemy will be able to get over the Elbe. If they manage to cross in more than one place then the front will collapse. What we need is a base from which we can concentrate our forces and then strike in any direction.’ He leaned forward over the map, and pointed. ‘Leipzig. It’s a large city, connected to good roads, and will give us the advantage of interior lines if the enemy does advance from more than one direction. Thoughts, gentlemen?’

None of the marshals demurred and Napoleon nodded, the decision made. ‘Very well, then the army will be ordered to concentrate at Leipzig.’

As the year moved into October the Grand Army’s position grew steadily worse. Blücher and Bernadotte were operating in concert to the north, while General Bennigsen’s Army of Poland was advancing from the east. The Army of Bohemia had bypassed Dresden and was forcing Murat back on Leipzig. As Napoleon read the reports he could not help but marvel at the scale of the coming struggle. A quarter of a million Frenchmen and a handful of allied contingents were facing nearly four hundred thousand Russian, Austrian and Prussian troops.

It was early in the afternoon as Napoleon entered Leipzig. The sound of cannon fire from the south told him that Murat was fending off the vanguard of the Army of Bohemia. The people of the city had learned that a great battle was imminent and were hurrying from their homes clutching whatever valuables they could carry. Some went east, but most went west, Napoleon noted. Clearly they judged that he would win the day and did not want to get caught on the wrong side of a pursuit once the battle was over.

His escort cleared a path for his carriage through the refugees, some of whom stopped to marvel at this glimpse of the great Emperor of France. The carriage and squadron of hussars trotted through the city, passing soldiers forcing their way into shops and houses to find food and secure a comfortable billet, and soon reached the Grand Army’s headquarters in Leipzig’s chamber of deputies. Berthier and his staff had arrived at dawn and occupied the clerks’ hall, immediately settling down to work to ensure that the army’s communications would flow efficiently once the battle was under way.