The French army’s initial setbacks in Bolesławiec and its abandonment of the town resulted from a misunderstanding. Marshal Ney received orders to report to the emperor’s headquarters immediately after the Battle of Tomaszów and Wilczy Las. Ney misunderstood the order: he thought he was to march with his entire corps, which he did. General Marmont’s 20,000-strong corps was too weak to defend Bolesławiec. Thus, on 21 August 1813, the Russian troops of General Osn von Sacken, according to the chronicler, “threw themselves in a dense mass at the town” in order to seize the strategically important bridges over the Bóbr. The river was swollen at the time, and crossing it on foot was impossible.
Meanwhile, the fate of the campaign was to be finally decided near Lwówek, where the emperor’s main forces clashed with the Prussians. At the moment when the Russian troops “threw themselves” at Bolesławiec, Napoleon had soundly defeated the Prussian troops of Field Marshal Blücher and General York. These troops narrowly avoided total defeat, managing to withdraw eastward. Napoleon intended to pursue them, defeat them finally, and later deal with the Russian forces. Napoleon received word that the 180,000-strong Austrian army under General Schwarzenberg was marching toward Saxony, while Generals J. Poniatowski and H. Dąbrowski were unable to hold... The emperor therefore left around 100,000 of his troops in the Lwówek area and marched rapidly toward Saxony with the remaining 200,000 in order to support the Polish generals. Marshal Macdonald, left behind by the emperor, commanded the French forces in Silesia. Fierce fighting took place in Bolesławiec. The French counterattacked and drove the Russian troops out of the town. On today’s Prusa Street, along which the route to the bridge ran, they almost managed to capture the Russian general Osten von Sacken. Streets and houses changed hands, and hand-to-hand combat raged in many places. There were many casualties. The French slowly drove back the Russian troops, who withdrew beyond the town to the line of the stream and marshes near the villages of Godnów – Kruszyn – Świeborowice. There they settled into defensive positions.
On 21 August, French infantry and cavalry secretly crossed the Bóbr near the village of Łąka and suddenly attacked the Russian troops in the area of the three aforementioned villages. A fierce battle continued for many hours. The Russian units were defeated, and the remnants withdrew eastward. Evidence of the battle is a mass grave of Russian soldiers with a column—an obelisk topped by a two-armed Orthodox cross—and an inscription in German: “Glory to the Russian soldiers who, through their lives (lost), brought freedom to the Germans”—a sign that the monument was erected by Germans. The grave is located on an embankment near the marshes to the southeast, about 200 metres from the school building in Kruszyn. A second monument stands by the road next to the school in Kruszyn. It bears another inscription, also in German: “To the brave Russian hussar NATALOSZKA, erected by his colonel von Reutern – fell on 21 August 1813.” Legend has it that the hussar covered his commander with his body during a bayonet fight and was killed himself in this way. Both monuments were renovated several times by the district authorities during the communist period.
The Russians brought fresh forces toward Bolesławiec. Fighting for the town continued. The French had to surrender Bolesławiec, but before withdrawing they set fire to large supply warehouses. The French knew they could not cross the Bóbr on foot, so fierce fighting once again took place to hold today’s Prusa Street and the roads leading to the bridges, along which the shattered French units withdrew. The French were supported by cannon and rifle fire from redoubts built around the little church on the hill beyond the bridge. Only a Russian battalion’s bayonet attack in the bridge area led to the bridges being wrested from the French. The French retreated along the road toward Brzeźnik. A sudden attack by French infantrymen from a grove halted the momentum of the Russian assault. The outcome of the battle for Bolesławiec was nevertheless decided on 31 August, the tenth day of fighting for the town.
The Russian troops lost around 400 soldiers in the fighting for Bolesławiec, including approximately 10 officers. There must have been many more wounded. German chronicles do not state how many the French lost. It is always the same: the victors are the ones who count. There are no graves of the defeated, either. It is only known that the Russians took around 4,000 Frenchmen prisoner, including one general. The sandstone relief carved on the eastern frontage of Bolesławiec Town Hall depicts the capture of a French general surrendering his sabre.
The following day, 1 September, the front line settled on the Lusatian Neisse. Napoleon’s forces lost around 10,000 killed during the summer campaign in the Saxon War. Twenty thousand prisoners were taken.
The Polish units did not participate in the battle in Bolesławiec or near the town during the summer campaign. They were with the “god of war” in Saxony, where they fought bloody battles. Earlier, they had been stationed in Bolesławiec and the surrounding area, during the spring and summer fighting. Later they marched after the emperor. The light cavalry regiment fought near Lwówek.
While the bloody fighting for Bolesławiec was taking place, Napoleon defeated the Austrian army near Dresden on 26 and 27 August, supported by Russian and Prussian troops. This was already the last victory of the “god of war.” The Polish light cavalry of the Imperial Guard, as well as the corps of General J. Poniatowski and the division of General H. Dąbrowski, distinguished themselves bravely in this victory.
Several weeks later, on 16–17 October, the Battle of the Nations would take place near Leipzig and in Leipzig itself, with the participation of Polish troops that had earlier taken part in the campaign in Silesia. Only Captain Józef Załuski, on Napoleon’s orders, led away all the multinational regiments of the Imperial Guard in order to create mobilization bases for the army.
In the Battle of the Nations, the emperor of the French lost around 70,000 soldiers, including approximately 30,000 prisoners. The Poles lost around 7,000 killed and wounded, as well as approximately 3,000 prisoners. General Prince Józef Poniatowski fell, having been appointed Marshal of France during the battle. He is said to have spoken these words to General Wielhorski: “We can and must hold to the motto: everything can be lost except honor.” These words, sometimes repeated in another version, passed into legend and extensive literature.
And then, for more than a century, all was quiet and silent concerning Polish arms in the Bolesławiec area....