In this War of the Fourth Coalition action, the French inflicted a severe defeat on the Prussians, driving them from the neutral city.

After a number of well-fought rear guard actions, Blücher's troops forced their way into the neutral city of Lübeck where they took up defensive positions.

Bernadotte's courteous and respectful treatment of its officers and soldiers would in part lead to the kingdom offering its crown to the French marshal, almost four years after this battle.

[5] These forces were trailed by 12,000 troops under General Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and General-Leutnant Christian Ludwig von Winning.

Marshal Soult with the IV Corps and Murat reached the outskirts of the city that day and demanded Hohenlohe's surrender, which he refused.

Hohenlohe's planned to send General-Major Christian Ludwig Schimmelpfennig von der Oye with a flying column to protect his right flank by destroying all the bridges along this stretch of water.

[14] On 26 October, Murat routed Schimmelpfennig's column at Zehdenick, sending the Prussians fleeing to Stettin[15] after losing more than 250 cavalry from their 1,300-man force.

[16] The next day, in confused fighting at Boitzenburg, Hohenlohe overcame a French road block and pressed on to the east after losing a cavalry regiment.

That night General of Brigade Antoine Lasalle and his light cavalry accepted the Capitulation of Stettin after bluffing the fortress commander into surrendering with over 5,000 troops.

On 30 October, Major von Höpfner surrendered an artillery convoy with 600 soldiers, 25 guns, 48 wagons, and 800 horses at Boldekow south of Anklam.

Farther to the east, Bernadotte captured a Prussian supply convoy and 20 field pieces on the 26th and reached Boitzenburg on the evening of 29 October.

[22] Leading one of Bernadotte's cavalry regiments, Colonel Étienne Maurice Gérard captured 400 troops belonging to Blücher and reported that the Prussian was making for Waren.

Winning wanted to escape to the port of Rostock to the north, and had already sent General-Major Karl Georg Friedrich von Wobeser ahead to organize the evacuation.

Bernadotte's I Corps numbered 15,450, Soult's IV Corps counted 24,375, General of Division Louis Michel Antoine Sahuc led 2,550 dragoons, Grouchy had 2,432 dragoons, Lasalle counted 785 light cavalry, and General of Division Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul led 1,660 cuirassiers.

Winning marched due west covered by Oberst August Wilhelm von Pletz's rear guard.

That morning the Prussians brawled near Waren with both Soult's and Bernadotte's light cavalry brigades plus General of Division Anne Jean Marie René Savary's 1st Hussar and 7th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiments before falling back to the west.

Under Yorck's tactical direction the three fusilier battalions, six Jäger companies, and 20 squadrons of hussars gave a good account of themselves in the battle of Waren-Nossentin.

Generals of Brigade Michel Marie Pacthod and Nicolas Joseph Maison led the 8th Light and the 45th and 54th Line Infantry Regiments.

These were supported by the 2nd and 4th Hussar and 5th Chasseur à Cheval Regiments under General of Brigade Jacques Louis François Delaistre de Tilly, plus one horse and one foot artillery batteries.

After receiving a false report that Soult was between him and Boizenburg, Blücher decided to fall back from Schwerin to Gadebusch, site of a battle in 1712.

[29] On the 4th, Oberst Christian Friedrich von der Osten with a dragoon regiment, a fusilier battalion, and one company of Jägers joined Blücher from Lecoq's corps at Hameln.

On the 5th, Savary's two regiments caught up with another stray Prussian force under General-Major Friedrich Leopold Karl Bernhard von Usedom at the port of Wismar.

Though he possessed 100 artillery pieces and the Gadebusch position was strong, the Prussian declined battle because his troops were hungry and worn out by constant marching.

Also on the 5th, Soult attacked one of Blücher's rear guards under General-Major Karl Gerhard von Pelet at Roggendorf, driving it away to the south of Lübeck.

To protect his south flank, the Prussian general posted a dragoon regiment and half of a horse artillery battery at Moisling.

General-Major Balthasar Wilhelm Christoph von (Jung-)Larisch with the 2nd Division of II Corps guarded the Trave north of the city.

Other troops remained in reserve under General-Major Hans Christoph von Natzmer, so that a total of 17 battalions and 52 guns defended Lübeck.

Historian Francis Loraine Petre noted that Blücher's decision to fight a pitched battle in a neutral city made him at least partly culpable for the sack of Lübeck.

[53] Bernadotte first came to the notice of the Swedish authorities with his courteous treatment of the captured Colonel Count Gustav Mörner and his officers, who mainly hailed from the province of Ostrogothia.

[54][55] Marcellin Marbot, a hostile witness, wrote in his memoirs that Bernadotte, "was especially desirous to earn the character of a well-bred man in the eyes of these strangers.