Advancing steadily, as if on parade, his troops for a brief space held up the French onset; but neither the dash of the Prussian horse nor the bravery of the foot-soldiers could dam that mighty tide, which laid low the gallant leader and swept his lines away into the general wreck.[107] In the headlong flight before Murat's horsemen, the fugitives fell in with another beaten array, that of Brunswick.

At Jena the Prussians, if defeated, were not disgraced: before the first shot was fired their defeat was a mathematical certainty.

At the crisis of the battle they had but 47,400 men at hand, while Napoleon then disposed of 83,600 combatants.[108] But at Auerstaedt they were driven back and disgraced.
There they had a decided superiority in numbers, having more than 35,000 of their choicest troops, while opposite to them stood only the 27,000 men of Davoust's corps.
Hitherto Davoust had been remarkable rather for his dog-like devotion to Napoleon than for any martial genius; and the brilliant Marmont had openly scoffed at his receiving the title of Marshal.

But, under his quiet exterior and plodding habits, there lay concealed a variety of gifts which only needed a great occasion to shine forth and astonish the world.[109] The time was now at hand.

Frederick William and Brunswick were marching from Auerstaedt to make good their retreat on the Elbe, when their foremost horsemen, led by the gallant Bluecher, saw a solid wall of French infantry loom through the morning fog.