Editing Pyotr Bagration (section)

===Battle of Eylau===

General Bagration demonstrated his skills as military commander particularly during the brutal [[Battle of Eylau]] which took place in East Prussia on 7 and 8 February 1807 during the [[War of the Fourth Coalition]]. After destroying the Prussian army at [[Battle of Jena–Auerstedt|Jena-Auerstedt]] (October 1806), Napoleon was pursuing Russian forces under Marshal [[Mikhail Kamensky|Kamensky]]. In a series of inconclusive clashes, the French did not reach their ultimate goal of destroying the enemy, while the Russians successfully continued retreating. However, on 7 January 1807 General [[Levin August, Count von Bennigsen]] assumed overall command of the Russian forces and carried out a successful surprise attack on the French left-wing against Marshal [[Michel Ney|Ney]] and further against Marshal [[Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte|Bernadotte]]. Bernadotte managed to evade destruction by winning the [[Battle of Mohrungen]] (25 January 1807) and by retreating. Napoleon saw an opportunity to envelop Bennigsen's unprotected left-wing by instructing Bernadotte to keep retreating and allowing his army to cut off the Russians from their own retreat. By a stroke of luck, a group of Cossacks intercepted a French messenger carrying Napoleon's orders to Bernadotte and quickly reported to General Bagration. Bagration then informed Bennigsen, who immediately halted his offensive and retreated. The French pursued, and after several engagements finally confronted the entire Russian army at Eylau on 7 February 1807. Bagration occupied high ground a mile in front of the town, facing Marshal Soult's IV Corps and Marshal Murat's cavalry. The combined French forces assaulted the plateau, but Bagration's heavily outnumbered troops repulsed them. The general demanded bitter resistance from his men to gain time for Bennigsen's heavy artillery to pass through Eylau and join the main Russian force. During the afternoon the French were reinforced by Marshal [[Pierre Augereau|Augereau]]'s corps and the Imperial Guard, making up about 45,000 soldiers in all. Under pressure from greatly superior numbers, Bagration finally conducted an orderly retreat to join the main Russian army. Russian forces under General [[Barclay de Tolly]] covered the retreat. Despite a clear numerical advantage, the French were not able to achieve a greater victory than eventually driving Bagration's small force off the plateau. Bagration's delaying action and skilful withdrawal enabled the Russian army to escape destruction and consolidate for a decisive battle.

In 1946, Soviet authorities renamed the town of Preußisch Eylau [[Bagrationovsk]] in honour of Pyotr Bagration and of his remarkable skills as a tactician.