Editing Battle of Leipzig (section)

====Action at Probstheida====
[[File:A 19. magyar gyalogezred rohama a lipcsei csataban (1813).JPG|thumb|right|280px|Troops of the 19th Hungarian Regiment engaging French infantry]]
The bloodiest fighting of the battle occurred in Probstheida, a village just southeast of Leipzig. Here, about 60,000 soldiers under Barclay were marching and advancing towards the village in two columns, one under von Kleist advancing through Wachau, and one under General [[Peter Wittgenstein|Wittgenstein]] advancing through Liebertwolkwitz. Barclay was pressured by the monarchs, especially Alexander I, to take the village since it was the key to the positions of Napoleon's troops, and although von Kleist opposed this, the monarchs' orders were paramount, so Barclay had to follow their orders anyway.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|p=933}}

The French dispositions at the village, however, were heavily fortified, thanks to the high and thick garden walls that gave excellent protection for the French infantry. The defense was also strengthened with artillery and strong infantry reserves behind the village. A day earlier, the Russians had taken most of the losses incurred during the battle, so it was the Prussians who took the initiative.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|p=933}}

Prussian [[Jäger (infantry)|jägers]] attempted to enter the village by storm but were quickly driven back. Then the artillery of both sides opened fire upon the village; despite the enormous amount of artillery that the Allies had brought with them, the more powerful French Imperial Guard artillery gradually gained the upper hand. The Prussians conducted a series of attacks against the French positions at the village, but because the French artillery repulsed each attack, their efforts were in vain. French cuirassiers, under Murat, charged upon the weakened Prussian lines and drove them back. Counter-charges by the numerous Russian cavalry saved the infantry by repeatedly driving back the French cavalry, albeit with heavy losses. The Prussians again conducted a charge upon French lines, but this charge was less successful than the first one.{{sfn|Smith|2001}} The third assault was now conducted, this time, by the Russians, commanded by General [[Nikolay Raevsky|Raevsky]], the hero of [[Battle of Borodino|Borodino]] who had arrived a few days earlier from Russia after a delay due to sickness. The assault on the village was somewhat more successful than the first two, taking the gardens and destroying several French infantry units, but it was eventually driven back by the French Imperial Guard, who had just arrived at the scene. Despite Schwarzenberg's request that Alexander send the [[Russian Imperial Guard]], the Russian emperor ordered that more assaults were to be undertaken against the village. However, despite their successful, stubborn defense, the French were now in dire straits as they were dangerously short of manpower, and thus the fighting became only a hollow tactical victory for them.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|p=934}}