The Weak Commander of a Powerful Garrison
After the French victory in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt in 1806, Napoleon ordered a vigorous pursuit of the retreating Prussians. He wanted to round them and capture their garrisons, before they got the chance to link up with and reinforce their Russian allies, who were still game for a fight. The once-proud Prussian army, less than two decades removed from its glory days under Frederick the Great, was now a demoralized loser mob after the disaster at Jena-Auerstedt. Against that backdrop, a French cavalry brigade under General Antoine Lasalle approached the port city of Stettin.
Lasalle had about 500 hussars under his command, and 2 light field guns. Stettin was a well-fortified port city with a garrison of nearly 10,000 men and 281 cannons, commanded by a General Friedrich von Romberg. A veteran with over 50 years’ experience, Romberg’s career stretched back to the Seven Years War, in which he fought under Frederick the Great. The city was well provisioned by the British Royal Navy, whose supply-laden ships sailed in and out of the port with no hindrance.