Including most of III Corps, Macdonald’s army held a twelve-mile line stretching northeast to southwest along the Katzbach between Goldberg and Liegnitz on the evening of the 25th. Souham’s main body camped at Rothkirch, with one division still marching east from Haynau to Liegnitz, which the French occupied. Sébastiani’s cavalry passed the night at Hohendorf, some nine miles southwest of Liegnitz and four miles northeast of Goldberg. Lauriston’s V Corps maintained Goldberg itself, with a vanguard at Prausnitz. Gérard’s XI Corps stood just west of Goldberg; his 31st Division held Schönau, eleven miles south of Goldberg. After losing two days because of Ney, Macdonald eagerly prepared to move against Blücher’s suspected position north of Jauer. He wanted to drive the Allied army deeper into Silesia and believed the mere advance of his own army would suffice to achieve this goal (see Map 2).

Just as Blücher needed a battle to save his army, Macdonald likewise needed to improve the situation of his own. Supply became a headache that worsened with each passing hour. Sitting in a region sucked dry during the armistice, his army desperately needed to move across the Katzbach and the Wütende Neiße in the hope of finding food in the untouched region of the former neutral zone. The region as far west as the Queis offered little for the masses that concentrated along the Katzbach. Inadequate supply forced the individual soldier to survive as best he could, inflicting devastation and violence on the inhabitants. The complete breakdown of discipline led to the victimization of the civilian population through plunder, robbery, burning, rape, and murder. Now the time had come for this army to conduct a military operation: could discipline be restored with the flip of a switch?