In the successive battles of Bautzen, Lützen and Reichenbach, the emperor defeated the enemy armies. With his sword in hand, he personally led the regiments into the assault. The losses were enormous: several tens of thousands killed and wounded on both sides.Polish light cavalrymen were constantly at the emperor’s side. But he first used them in the battle fought on 22 May near Reichenbach, close to Bautzen. The light cavalrymen attacked repeatedly and furiously, as always. Many fell and many were wounded, including two squadron commanders: D. Chłapowski and J. Załuski. Captain Załuski, the author of the account of the light cavalrymen’s march to forage, wrote in his memoirs about meeting the Sorbs, whose existence he had not yet heard of: "...whom they call Wends, who hardly speak German. The Prussian and Russian armies have gone down in the memory of the Sorbs as plunderers and brutes..." Napoleon, having found Bautzen plundered by the Prussians and Russians, allocated a considerable sum from his own funds for the reconstruction and support of "this unfortunate victim of the Prussians’ and Russians’ belligerence."In the second half of May, the boom of cannons was approaching Bolesławiec from the west. Russian and German supply trains passed by, along with the Prussian and Russian troops defeated in Lusatia. The Russian troops withdrew far to the east, toward Wrocław, while the Prussians withdrew toward Wałbrzych, near the border with Austria, which was expected to attack the Napoleonic forces any day. (And so it happened, deciding the defeat of the French in the Saxon war.) The road to all of Lower Silesia lay open before Napoleon. After a skirmish, Napoleon occupied Bolesławiec on 24 May, Legnica on 27 May, and Środa Śląska on 30 May. The emperor stopped in each of these cities. A Polish light cavalry regiment under the command of General Wincenty Krasiński was constantly at his side. The Prussian troops were in disarray; many deserted, not believing that Napoleon could be defeated...The light cavalrymen (Chłapowski and Załuski) would write in their memoirs that they dreamed and believed that from the Bóbr and Oder they would march to the Vistula. They were inspired by the thought of "restoring the Kingdom of Poland." Silesians from the Bóbr and Oder welcomed them warmly, assuring them that "they were not Germans, and even less so Prussians (...) and that incorporating their lands into Poland would be beneficial in every respect..."Major Dezydery Chłapowski would write in his memoirs about Wykroty and Bolesławiec, where he was quartered in May 1813.(To be continued.)