Editing Battle of Craonne (section)

===Pre-battle maneuvers===
In fact, Blücher may have had as many as 110,000 troops by this time. They were distributed as follows – Russians: Wintzingerode (30,000), [[Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron]] (26,000), [[Fabian Gottlieb von Osten-Sacken]] (13,700); Prussians: Bülow (16,900), Kleist (10,600), [[Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg]] (13,500). For his part, Napoleon had 34,233 troops on 2 March while Marmont and Mortier had been reinforced to 17,000 men but lost possibly 3,000 casualties in the week before Craonne. Yet, Napoleon hoped to get to Laon before Blücher's army arrived there.{{sfn|Petre|1994|pp=115–116}} On 5 March, Napoleon was at [[Fismes]] from where he hoped to move straight north to Laon. Since he lacked a [[pontoon bridge]] to cross the Aisne, the French emperor directed his forces to move northeast to [[Berry-au-Bac]] where there was a stone bridge. Berry-au-Bac was on the direct road from Reims to Laon.{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=117}} On this day, Napoleon ordered [[Jan Willem Janssens]] at [[Charleville-Mézières|Mézières]] to gather up the [[Ardennes]] garrisons and operate in Blücher's rear areas.{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=119}} Janssens promptly obeyed and the movements of his troops threw a scare into the Allies.{{sfn|Nafziger|2015|p=236}}

At 5:00&nbsp;am on 5 March, Guard cavalry divisions under [[Pierre David de Colbert-Chabanais]] and Louis Marie Levesque de Laferrière surprised and captured [[Reims]] and its Allied garrison.{{sfn|Nafziger|2015|p=235}} Napoleon ordered [[Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty]] to seize Berry-au-Bac with a cavalry force consisting of [[Rémi Joseph Isidore Exelmans]]' division and Louis Michel Pac's brigade. At the [[Battle of Berry-au-Bac]], Nansouty's troopers overran some Russian cavalry and captured 200 men and two guns, but the main prize was their seizure of the bridge. [[Louis Friant]]'s 1st Old Guard Division and [[Claude Marie Meunier]]'s 1st Young Guard Division crossed and occupied positions as far north as [[Corbeny]].{{sfn|Nafziger|2015|p=236}} From 3:00–6:00&nbsp;pm on 5 March, Marmont and Mortier tried to capture Soissons from its Russian garrison, but were repulsed. The Russians sustained 1,056 casualties,{{sfn|Nafziger|2015|p=235}} while the French lost 800–900 men.{{sfn|Nafziger|2015|p=236}} Another source calculated French losses as 1,500 men.{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=117}}

Blücher realized that Napoleon was trying to reach Laon by the Reims road. He sent Bülow and his wagon trains back to Laon. The Prussian commander began to shift his other forces to the northeast. By 6 March Napoleon had 30,500 men near Berry-au-Bac. He planned to send an advanced guard north toward [[Festieux]], but needed to make sure of Blücher's intentions.{{sfn|Petre|1994|pp=118–119}} During the day of 6 March, Meunier's division encountered Russian forces near [[Vauclair Abbey]] (Vauclerc) while two battalions of the Old Guard were needed to flush out Craonne's Russian defenders.{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=121}} At first Blücher directed his army to concentrate near Craonne, but he decided that position was too cramped for his 90,000 men. He also heard that French cavalry were advancing north on the Reims road. Changing plans, Blücher planned to assemble 10,000 cavalry and 60 horse artillery guns under Wintzingerode and send it toward Festieux.{{sfn|Nafziger|2015|p=237}} Wintzingerode's force consisted of 5,500 of his own horsemen plus all of the reserve cavalry belonging to Langeron and Yorck. Blücher ordered Wintzingerode's infantry, commanded by Vorontsov, to remain behind and directly oppose Napoleon's army.{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=123}}