73,613
edits
Changes
→War of the Sixth Coalition
: ''The Lützowers moved north via Leipzig, where the well-known poem ''Lützow's Wild Hunt'' (''Lützows wilde Jagd'') was written on the Schneckenberg, and so they had no opportunity to take part in the fighting that took place primarily further south. The energetic poet, who had now been promoted to lieutenant, reported home disgruntled: "Meanwhile I'm sitting here on the Elbe and reconnoitering and finding nothing, looking over to Westphalia and seeing nothing, loading my pistols and not shooting anything." One of the poems he wrote there was called “Displeasure” (''Missmut''). The further march north in support of Count von Wallmoden's ([https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Wallmoden-Gimborn,_Ludwig_Georg_Thedel_Graf_von de]) corps ended when [[Hamburg]] was abandoned. Lützow turned south again. On 24 May 1813, the poet joined the cavalry because he hoped to find tasks that would satisfy his thirst for action, and became Lützow's [[adjutant]]. In fact, there were now frequent skirmishes and attacks on smaller enemy units. In one stroke, Körner robbed the famous stud farm in Wendelstein an der Unstrut of its horses which were kept ready for the French army. On 8 and 9 June 1813, the Lützow Jäger set up their camp in Eichigt in the Saxon Vogtland on the ''Husarenwiese'' next to the church; an attack on Hof in Upper Franconia was planned. While Lützow was welcomed by Pastor Johann Christian Wirth, Körner was in the camp. For this reason, the linden tree standing in the meadow was given the name ''Körnerlinde''. It was only on 9 June 1813 that Lützow found out, initially only vaguely, about the armistice that had been concluded between the Allies and Napoleon, and it was not until 14 June that he was certain. According to the regulations, the corps should have been on Prussian soil two days earlier. Instead of moving to neutral Bohemia, which was only a few hours away, Lützow had the Freischar march north via Gera and Zeitz, but with Saxon march commissioners to be on the safe side. On 17 June 1813, the Lützower J moved into camp near Kitzen (southwest of Leipzig). Württemberg troops under General Normann opposed them. He assured Lützow, who had ridden ahead accompanied by Körner, that he had no hostile intentions and also referred to the commanding French General François Fournier-Sarlovèse. However, the French general hurled at them: “L’armistice pour tout le monde, excepté pour vous!” [“The ceasefire applies to everyone but you!”] The attack by the enemy cavalry caught the Lützow Jäger unprepared; they were literally beaten to death by the overwhelming force. Körner received a saber blow over the head. Seriously wounded, he managed to make his way to Großzschocher, where he hid in a wood. Near death, he wrote the sonnet "Farewell to Life".''
In mid-June 1813, the Lützow Freikorps was ambushed by [[Napoleon]]ic troops near Kitzen due to a delay in an agreed troop withdrawal despite an armistice. 105 Lützowers [[KIA|fell]], 90 were captured and 300 fled, including Lützow, Friesen and the seriously wounded Körner, who dragged himself to Großzschocher, about 11 km away. Various monuments in the region bear witness to these days. Farmers who were supposed to guard the wood to repair the magpie weir found the poet and took him to the nearby estate gardener's house in Großzschocher. :''Major von Lützow had received official information of the armistice concluded at Plauen on 4 June. Without expecting to meet with any opposition, he chose the shortest route to rejoin the infantry of his corps, having received assurance of safety from the enemy's commanding officers, and proceeded, without interruption, back to Kitzen near Leipzig; but here he found himself surrounded and menaced by a very superior force. Körner was despatched to demand an explanation; but, instead of replying, the French General François Fournier-Sarlovèze struck at him with his sword, and ordered a general attack be made on the three squadrons of the Lützow cavalry. Several were wounded and taken, and others dispersed in the surrounding country; but Major von Lützow himself was saved by the assistance of a squadron of Uhlans, who had been in advance with the Cossacks. He reached, with a considerable number of his troops, the right bank of the Elbe, where the infantry of his corps, and a squadron of its cavalry, were already collected. Körner had received the first blow, which he was not prepared to parry, as he approached the enemy's commanding officer to deliver his message, and was severely wounded in the head. He managed to escape on his horse to a nearby forest. After he had assisted a wounded comrade, he noticed an enemy troop that was in pursuit of him, and called with a loud voice, "Fourth squadron,—Advance!" His ruse succeeded—the enemy drew back, and he was able to retreat farther into the forest. The pain of his head wound had become very severe.'' After one night, with the help of the Körner family's friend Kunze, he was taken by water to the doctor Wendler in Leipzig (occupied by the French) and cared for there. The scattered Lützowers, who Napoleon contemptuously called “brigands noirs,” “black bandits,” because of their black uniforms, were still being hunted down. When he had stabilized somewhat, Körner was directed from friend to friend to Carlsbad. He also spent a night with his foster sister Julie von Einsiedel at Gnandstein Castle. In Carlsbad he was cared for by his godmother Elise von der Recke. There was no reunion with his parents, who were staying nearby in Teplitz, in order to spare his suffering mother.
On the way to his corps, Körner was a guest of his godfather, Count von Geßler, in Reichenbach, where he met [https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Stein,_Heinrich_Friedrich_Karl_vom_und_zum Freiherr vom Stein], [https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Arndt,_Ernst_Moritz Ernst Moritz Arndt], General of the Cavalry [https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Bl%C3%BCcher,_Gebhard_Leberecht_von von Blücher] and [https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Gneisenau,_Graf_August_Neidhardt_von Gneisenau]. Via [[Berlin]] he reached his troops now fighting in northern Germany, which had lost its independence and had been assigned to the Wallmoden Corps. Small forays were continually carried out. Körner spent the evening of 25 August 1813 with a patrol under Lützow on the Gottesgabe manor. He is said to have sat here at the piano and recited the “Sword Song” that he had written two days earlier.
