Siege of Hamburg
1813 CE.
Shown on the map at 53.550°, 10.000°.
The siege of Hamburg took place from December 1813 to May 1814, at the end of the wars of the War of the Sixth Coalition. The French garrison of Hamburg, commanded by Marshal Davout, resisted the coalition forces of Prussia, the Russian Empire, and Sweden for nearly six months. Isolated from the main theatre of war of the German Campaign of 1813 by the defeat of Marshal Oudinot at the Battle of Grossbeeren, Marshal Davout's 13th Corps withdrew to the Hamburg region, which the French had fortified during the summer. After the Battle of Leipzig and the retreat of the Grande Armée to the Rhine, the uprising in the Netherlands and the Russian occupation of Bremen severed communications between Hamburg and France. Initially separated by the natural defenses formed by the lower reaches of the Elbe and the Bille, the French garrison and the besieging army engaged in psychological warfare throughout December. In January, the branches of the Elbe froze over, allowing Russian forces to launch several assaults against the city. Despite the loss of a few advanced positions, the French garrison managed to retain the strategic positions of Harburg and Wilhelmsburg.
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