Editing Battle of Leipzig (section)

====The ''Grande Armée'' begins to retreat====
The battle during the day of 18 October was one of [[attrition warfare|attrition]]. French troops held on to their respective positions, but were steadily being worn out and depleted by fierce and intensifying Allied attacks throughout the day. The French artillery had only 20,000 rounds left.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|p=936}} Later that night, Napoleon was treating the battle as a lost cause.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|p=935}} At this time, he promoted Poniatowski to the rank of ''[[Marshal of the Empire|Maréchal d'Empire]]'', the only foreigner of all his marshals who was given this title, and the latter swore that he would fight to the last stand, which he did.{{sfn|Bowden|1990|p=191}} After this, the emperor began to stage the retreat for the ''Grande Armée'' westward across the [[White Elster]] River.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|p=935}}

During the night the French army had been ordered to withdraw silently from [[Connewitz]], Probstheida, Stotteritz, Volkmansdorf, and Reudnitz, all to cross the river via Leipzig and the single bridge in the river. Those in Lindenau were to move to Weissenfels. Weak rear guards occupied the villages in order to conceal the retreat, and support troops were placed in the outer suburbs by the wind mills and near the walls of the city. The garden and cemetery walls by the [[Leipzig City Gates|Grimma Gate]] were pierced with loopholes as well as the gates themselves. Skirmishers were posted in the farm houses, in the brush, in the parks, and everywhere possible. Leipzig was to be occupied by Reynier's VII Corps, Poniatowski's VIII Corps and MacDonald's XI Corps.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|p=935}} They were ordered to hold it for a day or a bit longer, in order to allow the rest of the army, its artillery, and its equipment sufficient time to evacuate. The Allied cavalry advance posts were ordered to attack without relief the French advanced posts during the night to determine whether or not the French were attempting to withdraw. However, they failed to realize that the French were, in fact, pulling out from the battle area. Therefore, the evacuation continued throughout the night.{{sfn|Nafziger|1996|pp=233–234}}