In the Capitulation of Stettin on 2930 October 1806, Lieutenant General Friedrich Gisbert Wilhelm von

Romberg surrendered the garrison and fortress to a much smaller French light cavalry brigade led by General of
Brigade Antoine Lasalle. This event was one of a number of surrenders by demoralized Prussian soldiers to equal
or inferior French forces after their disastrous defeat at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt on 14 October. Stettin, now
Szczecin, Poland, is a port city on the Oder River near the Baltic Sea, about 120 kilometres (75 mi) northeast
of Berlin.
After Jena-Auerstedt, the broken Prussian armies crossed the Elbe River and fled to the northeast in an attempt to
reach the east bank of the Oder. Following a two-week chase, Marshal Joachim Muratintercepted over 10,000
Prussians at the Battle of Prenzlau and bluffed them into surrendering on 28 October. The following day, Lasalle's
and another French light cavalry brigade induced 4,200 more Prussians to lay down their weapons in
the Capitulation of Pasewalk. On the afternoon of the 29th, Lasalle appeared before the fortress of Stettin and
demanded its surrender. A completely unnerved Romberg, believing he was confronted by 30,000 Frenchmen,
entered into negotiations with Lasalle and surrendered Stettin that night. Estimates of the numbers vary between
500 French hussars of the 5th and 7th French Hussars and 5,000 to 6,000 Prussians within the garrison.[1]
Within a week, the fortress of Kstrin capitulated and three isolated Prussian columns were hunted down and
captured at Boldekow, Anklam, and Wolgast. This left only one Prussian corps at large between the Elbe and Oder,
plus garrisons at Magdeburg and in the former Electorate of Hanover.
Emperor Napoleon I of France's Grande Arme shattered the Prussian-Saxon armies at the Battle of Jena-
Auerstadt on 14 October 1806. In the wake of this catastrophe, the Prussian forces retreated to the Elbe
River.[2] Feldmarschall Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, commander of the main Prussian army
at Auerstedt, was fatally wounded and died on 10 November at Altona.[3] General of Infantry Ernst von Rchel, badly
wounded at Jena, left the army and later recovered.[4] The commander at Jena, General of Infantry Frederick Louis,
Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen assumed command of a large portion of the defeated Prussian army,
while Lieutenant General Gebhard von Blcher took command of another column.[5] Lieutenant General Karl August,
Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, who had missed Jena-Auerstedt, brought up the rear with 12,000 troops.
At Magdeburg, Hohenlohe joined Lieutenant General Eugene Frederick Henry, Duke of Wrttemberg whose
Reserve was routed by Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's I Corps at the Battle of Halle on 17 October with heavy
losses.[7] Leaving a large garrison in Magdeburg, Hohenlohe struck out for the Oder on 21 October.[8] Blcher and
Saxe-Weimar crossed the Elbe at Sandau between the 24th and 26th. Oberst Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg fought
a successful rear guard action at Altenzaun on the latter date against Marshal Nicolas Soult's IV
Corps.[9] Meanwhile, Murat's cavalry, Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout's III Corps, and Marshal Jean Lannes' V Corps
marched east toward Berlin, with Marshal Pierre Augereau's VII Corps not far behind. On 25 October, Davout's
troops marched through Berlin and headed east for Kstrin and Frankfurt an der Oder. Meanwhile, Marshal Michel
Ney's VI Corps began the Siege of Magdeburg. Seeing an opportunity to cut off Hohenlohe, Napoleon sent Murat,
Lannes, and Bernadotte north from Berlin.
Murat routed General-Major Christian Ludwig Schimmelpfennig's 1,300-man flank guard at Zehdenick on 26
October. After losing 250 men, the survivors fled along the highway until they reached Stettin.[11][12] The next day,
General of Brigade douard Jean Baptiste Milhaud got across Hohenlohe's escape route at Boitzenburg. After a
three-hour action, Hohenlohe drove off the French light cavalry brigade, but not before Murat's dragoons captured
most of the Gensdarmes Cuirassier Regiment Nr. 10 which was acting as a flank guard.[13] On 28 October, Murat
finally ran Hohenlohe to earth at the Battle of Prenzlau. General of Division Emmanuel Grouchy's 2nd Dragoon
Division cut a swath through the Prussian column of march, after which General of Division Marc Antoine de
Beaumont's 3rd Dragoon Division captured the rear guard. With 3,000 of Lannes' infantry on hand in addition to
Lasalle and the dragoons,[14] Murat bluffed Hohenlohe into surrendering his remaining 10,000 troops by falsely
claiming that the Prussians were surrounded by overwhelming forces.[15]
After the surrender Lasalle rode on to Lcknitz on the road between Pasewalk and Stettin, reaching the village in the
afternoon of the 28th. Milhaud's brigade marched north on the west bank of the Uecker River until he reached
Pasewalk early on 29 October. Discovering Oberst von Hagen's force in the town, Milhaud demanded an immediate
surrender. Hagen, finding Lasalle ahead of him and Milhaud behind him, surrendered 4,200 soldiers and eight guns
in the Capitulation of Pasewalk.
Lasalle marched to Stettin where he demanded its surrender in the early afternoon of 29 October. Lieutenant
General Friedrich Gisbert Wilhelm von Romberg refused at first. At 4:00 PM, Lasalle sent another summons to
Romberg, this time with a threat of harsh treatment to the city. The French general claimed the Lannes' entire corps
of 30,000 men was present. In fact, the V Corps advance guard got no nearer than Lcknitz that day. The elderly
Prussian general entered negotiations and capitulated during the night of the 29th and 30th.
Romberg surrendered the Stettin fortress, 5,300 troops, and 281 guns. The Prussian garrison was made up of the
remnants of Schimmelpfennig's and other forces, plus the 3rd battalions of the Kuhnheim Infantry Regiment Nr.
1, Arnim Infantry Regiment Nr. 13, Brunswick Infantry Regiment Nr. 21, Pirch Infantry Regiment Nr.
22, Winning Infantry Regiment Nr. 23, Mllendorf Infantry Regiment Nr. 25, and LarischInfantry Regiment Nr. 26.
One hundred officers were released on their word of honor not to fight against France while the common soldiers
became prisoners of war. Lasalle's entire force consisted of 800 horsemen of the 5th and 7th Hussar Regiments
plus two cannons.[16]
Neither of two subordinate officers protested the capitulation, but instead agreed to surrender. These were General-
Major Kurt Gottfried von Knobelsdorff, the fortress commandant and General-Major Bonaventura von Rauch,
commander of Fort Prussia. In March 1809, Romberg was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for giving
up Stettin without a fight. He died on 21 May 1809, two months short of his 80th birthday, before his punishment
began.[19]
Historian Francis Loraine Petre concluded that Stettin's surrender was "shameful". Its adequate garrison and
supplies would have allowed it to sustain a siege. Even if the fortress was indefensible, there was nothing
preventing the troops from crossing to the east bank of the Oder, joining their Russian allies, and continuing the war.
Lannes wrote to Napoleon, "The Prussian army is in such a state of panic that the mere appearance of a
Frenchman is enough to make it lay down its arms." Napoleon congratulated Murat,[20]
"My compliments on the capture of Stettin; if your light cavalry thus takes fortified towns, I must disband the
engineers and melt down my heavy artillery."[20]

Other surrenders
On the 28th, Blcher's artillery convoy marched through Neustrelitz at noon and reached Friedland five hours later.
Earlier, it had been delayed by "perverse orders" from Hohenlohe's chief of staff Oberst Christian Karl August
Ludwig von Massenbach. Hearing of Hohenlohe's capitulation, Major von Hpfner altered his march to the northeast
toward Anklam the next day.[21] At Boldekow, 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) south of Anklam,[16] he encountered elements of
Lannes' corps and surrendered on 30 October.[21] Altogether, the French captured the Reserve Artillery Park and
Park Column Nr. 5 with 600 soldiers, 800 horses, 25 field pieces, and 48 ammunition wagons.
General-Major Karl Anton von Bila's cavalry brigade, which was acting as Hohenlohe's rear guard, became
separated from the main body. Detecting Milhaud's brigade to his right, Bila veered north toward Strasburg. Turning
east, he crossed the Uecker north of Pasewalk and reached Falkenwalde (now Tanowo) northwest of Stettin late on
the 29th. There he found out about Hohenlohe's surrender and, more importantly, that Romberg was negotiating the
capitulation of Stettin.[23] One authority states that Romberg refused to allow Bila passage through
Stettin.[16] Reversing his course, Bila headed northwest and reached Anklam on the morning of 31 October. At this
town, he met his brother, who left Hanover on 20 October with one battalion, the treasure, and the archives. The
treasure was convoyed to Wolgast where it was ferried to safety. However, the amount of shipping was inadequate
to save the troops and baggage that arrived at the port.
On the evening of the 31st, General of Division Nicolas Lonard Beker's dragoons located the Bila brothers near
Anklam and attacked, driving them to the north bank of the Peene River.[24] Beker talked the Bilas into surrendering
on 1 November with 1,100 infantry, 1,073 cavalry, and six colors. The units involved were the 1st battalion of
the Grvenitz Infantry Regiment Nr. 57, Sack Grenadier battalion, Quitzow Cuirassier Regiment Nr. 6, one squadron
of Bailliodz Cuirassier Regiment Nr. 5, and the remnant of the Gensdarmes Cuirassiers. Historian Digby Smith wrote
that Beker's brigade was from General of Division Louis Michel Antoine Sahuc's 4th Dragoon Division.[22] Like Smith,
Petre noted that Beker was the French commander, but states that on 1 November Sahuc's division was with Soult
at Rathenow, far to the southwest.[25] According to Petre, Beker temporarily took command of the 2nd Dragoon
Division when Grouchy became ill earlier in the campaign.
Kstrin fortress fell on 1 November to General of Brigade Nicolas Hyacinthe Gautier's brigade of Davout's III Corps.
The brigade, which belonged to General of Division Charles-tienne Gudin de La Sablonnire's 3rd Division,
included four battalions of the 25th and 8th Line Infantry Regiments. Oberst von Ingersleben commanded a garrison
of 2,400 troops, including 75 troopers of Usedom Hussar Regiment Nr. 10 and the 3rd battalions of
the Oranien Infantry Regiment Nr. 19, Zenge Infantry Regiment Nr. 24, and Prince Heinrich Infantry Regiment Nr.
35. Though he had 92 guns and ample stocks of food and ammunition, he quickly capitulated. Ingersleben was later
sentenced to be executed for cowardice, but King Frederick William III commuted the sentence to life
imprisonment.[22]
On 2 and 3 November, the 22nd Dragoon Regiment from General of Brigade Andr Joseph Boussart's brigade
arrived before Wolgast and secured the capitulation of Oberstleutnant von Prittwitz. A total of 2,500 men, mostly
teamsters and non-combatants, and 500 wagons of Park Column Nr. 8 fell into the hands of this unit of Grouchy's
2nd Dragoon Division.