On the second day of fighting, Emperor Napoleon finally realized he had blundered into battle as he was massively outnumbered, and immediately ordered a masked retreat.

[7] On 7 March, Napoleon fought against Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov's Russians in the Battle of Craonne[8] which one authority called a French Pyrrhic victory.

The French emperor desired to move east to gather up other garrisons, but Schwarzenberg's offensive to the south compelled him to march in that direction.

[15] Encouraged by news of Blucher's victory at Laon, the main Allied army crossed the River Seine and drove MacDonald beyond Provins by 16 March.

[17] Napoleon decided to move against Schwarzenberg with 24,000 soldiers plus reinforcements, while Marmont and Mortier with 21,000 troops observed Blücher's army.

The French emperor determined to march toward Arcis-sur-Aube, hoping to reach Troyes in the rear of the Allied main army.

The following day, Napoleon's advance guards drove Schwarzenberg's cavalry south toward Arcis, creating alarm among the Allied leaders.

The Austro-Bavarian V Corps under Karl Philipp von Wrede was ordered to hold Arcis until the remainder of Schwarzenberg's army could retreat east from Troyes to Bar-sur-Aube.

A cavalry division under Louis-Michel Letort de Lorville continued southwest to Méry-sur-Seine where it captured an Allied pontoon train.

The French cavalry divisions of Remi Joseph Isidore Exelmans and Pierre David de Colbert-Chabanais moved east on the south bank of the Aube from Plancy to Pouan-les-Vallées, halfway to Arcis.

Believing that his communications were no longer threatened, he determined in the evening of 19 March to mass his army between Troyes and Arcis with the intention of advancing against the French.

The Guards and Reserve under Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly were directed to cross from the north to the south bank of the Aube and take a position at Mesnil-Lettre.

In order to hurry the main Allied army on its way, the French emperor decided to move east on both the north and south banks of the Aube to seize Arcis.

[21] On 20 March, Schwarzenberg ordered Wrede to take position at Saint-Nabord-sur-Aube while extending the Crown Prince of Württemberg's three corps between there and Voué.

[28] Though he now knew that the Crown Prince's left wing was out of touch, Schwarzenberg finally gave the order to launch an attack at 2:00 pm.

[29] Paisiy Sergeevich Kaisarov ordered an artillery bombardment, followed with a cavalry charge by his Cossacks, the Archduke Joseph Hussar Nr.

At the same time, the crack troops of Louis Friant's Old Guard division began crossing the bridge and took up a position to defend Arcis.

[31] Spearheaded by the Austrian Archduke Rudolf Infantry Regiment, Volkmann's first attack broke into Torcy-le-Grand but was repelled by Guillaume Charles Rousseau's brigade.

However, Volkmann's second attack drove the French from Torcy-le-Grand and it was necessary for Boyer's troops to recapture the village, supported by intense artillery fire.

Between 5:00 and 8:00 pm, the French repulsed repeated assaults by the brigades of Volkmann, Georg Habermann and Prince Karl Theodor of Bavaria.

Though assisted by Jean Nicolas Curely's brigade from Sigismond Frédéric de Berckheim's cavalry division, the French were driven back to Méry.

Deciding upon a night attack using Lefebvre-Desnouettes' fresh cavalry, Sebastiani placed guard lancers and Éclaireurs in the front rank, supported by cuirassiers.

Bavarian, Russian, Austrian, and even a Prussian Guard cavalry squadron concentrated against the French, forcing their enemies to pull back, though they did it in good order.

In fact, Tsar Alexander feared that Napoleon would pull back to the north bank and lunge east, seizing the bridge at Lesmont in the Allied rear.

[32] As the troops of Ney and Sebastiani reached the crest of the plateau, they found themselves facing perhaps 100,000 enemies arrayed in three lines stretching from the Aube to the Barbuise.

Soon afterward, Antoine Drouot and the Old Guard were instructed to retreat by the Villette bridge while Lefol's division and the reserve artillery crossed the Arcis span.

To keep the Allies from interfering with the retreat, Napoleon ordered Oudinot to defend Arcis using Leval's division, consisting of three brigades of Peninsular War veterans.

At this time, Henri Rottembourg's 5th Young Guard Division took up a position covering the north end of the Arcis bridge; it had escorted Oudinot's train.

MacDonald reached nearby Ormes with two divisions at 9:00 pm, joining François Étienne de Kellermann's cavalry corps.

Étienne Maurice Gérard's corps reached Plancy while the division of François Pierre Joseph Amey was farther west at Anglure.