Pomeranian Campaign
On 1 January 1807, Dąbrowski was near Łowicz, where he received from the hands of Wincenty Krasiński a bulawa of hetman Stefan Czarniecki. The great merits of Dąbrowski and his popularity among soldiers weren't given much consideration, in the appointment of the Chief of the War Office in the Ruling Commission (szef Dyrekcji Wojny w Komisji Rządzącej). Józef Poniatowski, who was unfavourable to Dąbrowski, was appointed instead. Napoleon chose him because he wanted to guarantee the cooperation of the Polish aristocracy. A large difference between Dąbrowski and Poniatowski was exemplified during the writing of the Polish Army Code. Poniatowski wanted to keep corporal punishment, but Dąbrowski loudly opposed against it. To avoid this conflict, Napoleon decided that Polish Army would adopt the French code.
On 3 January, French marshal Louis Alexandre Berthier gave the order to existing units of planned divisions of Poznań and Kalisz Departments to form one brigade from each Department. The Commander of the Poznań Brigade was General Wincenty Axamitowski and the Kalisz Brigade was commanded by General Stanisław Fiszer. Both brigades of infantry formed a division commanded by general Dąbrowski. Brigades were strengthened by 300 Polish cavalry units, in addition to the unit from the Warsaw Department, that were both transformed in a unique regiment of cavalry commanded by the son of Jan Henryk Dąbrowski - Lt. Col. Jan Michał Dąbrowski. All the units of the new division, that started their march on 7 January, had to meet in Bydgoszcz.
Meanwhile, the units commanded by Amilkar Kosiński, which had been fighting against regular Prussian troops since December, won the battle of Koronowo and marched to Świecie, forcing the enemy to leave the town and securing this place of concentration for the newly created division.
Before the beginning of the new campaign, the main Polish troops were strengthened and reorganized into three divisions: Poznań Division commanded by J. H. Dąbrowski, Kalisz Division commanded by Józef Zajączek and Warsaw Division commanded by Józef Poniatowski. Kalisz Division was sent to the siege of Grudziądz and the Warsaw Division moved northwards with the whole French Army in the direction of Danzig. At this time, 6000 soldiers of the Poznań Division stayed near Bydgoszcz and later advanced on Gniezno and Dirschau. Both towns were captured, but the Poles were forced to retreat by Prussian troops. Later on, Poniatowski ordered a part of the pospolite ruszenie that weakened the Poznań Division to disband, which were returned as reinforcements on February 1807. After that, only the troops of Gen. Kosiński were fighting in this area.
After a reorganization, Poznań Division was composed of 6 battalions of infantry, 3 squadrons of cavalry and 2,000 pospolite ruszenie commanded by Gen. Michał Sokolnicki. On 15 February, cavalry again captured Dirschau, but was once again forced to retreat. 8 days later, on 23 February, the whole division attacked the town which was defended by a strong Prussian garrison. After 7 hours of battle, Poles captured Dirschau, but Gen. Dąbrowski was wounded, forcing him to leave his division for a while, and his son was badly injured as well. Therefore, J. M. Dąbrowski was promoted to the rank of Brigade General and moved to the Invalide Corps. After the battle, Gen. Kosiński became the new division commander.
Earlier, in January 1807, Dąbrowski had formed from the Poznań troops, a Division group commanded by Col. Garczyński. This unit captured Schneidemühl, Deutsch Krone and Wieluń. February 1807, Garczyński's group was subordinated to Gen. Kosiński and later, with some troops of pospolite ruszenie, was sent to fight near Neustettin. At this time, the troops of Sokolnicki captured Stolp in Pommern and, later on, took part in the siege of Danzig, which surrendered in May. Also in May, Poznań Division, renamed as 3rd Polish Division, returned under the command of Gen. J. H. Dąbrowski. After the capture of Danzig, Polish troops fought also in Masuria, including the battle of Friedland.
Read more about this topic: Greater Poland Uprising (1806)
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