With the summer armistice ending on 18 August, Napoleon wasted no time in launching his rejuvenated forces at the Allies, precipitating the first battle of the autumn campaign just outside Goldberg, east of Bresalu and close to the Silesian border.
The Allied commanders had been hoping to use their superior numbers to isolate and destroy a French corps and at first this appeared to be what they had achieved with Dumoustier commanding the French Guard finding himself facing the combined forces of Wittgenstein and Osten-Sacken. However, according to the official bulletin sent back to Paris, this was all part of the French Emperor’s master plan. Not long after the first shots were fired, the advance division of Betrand’s cavalry corps began to arrive on the Allied right flank forcing a realignment of Osten-Sacken’s cavalry corps. What resulted was a mighty cavalry conflict that initially looked like a bad match up for the French as their lead units were all green units of light cavalry facing a strong force of Russian heavies. However, the French heavies weren’t far behind and gradually their quality and numbers started to tell (not to mention their better dice rolls!).
Meanwhile in the centre, Dumoustier was under strict instructions not to lose his Guard in the first battle of the campaign and the French commander uncharacteristically hung back waiting for his opponent Bennigsen to initiate matters in the centre. For his part, Bennigsen knew Wittgenstein wasn’t far away from descending on the exposed French right so refused to commit in the centre. Instead he pushed aggressively against the French right supported by a grand battery that battered the French Guard artillery who were forced to retire and redeploy further back. To defend his right, Dumoustier used his Guard cavalry to fight a delaying action. The green but enthusiastic troopers of the Gardes d’Honor supported by the Big Boots of Grenadiers a Cheval fought valiantly to stem the Russian advance.
It wasn’t long before Allied reinforcements began to arrive in the form of Wittgenstein’s corps. Leading the way with his cavalry division, this force combined with Bennigsen’s flank attack to send the French Guard cavalry into retreat and the French Guard were in danger of being rolled up from the right.
It was at this moment that the lead units of Ney’s corps began to trickle onto the field on the French rights and behind the victorious Russian cavalry. Napoleon had sent Ney urgent orders to force march to the sound of the guns and uncharacteristically this commander had done exactly what he was told and arrived in the nick of time. More typically of him though he arrived on the wrong road. Instead of arriving on the rear flank of the Allied army where he could have cut off their retreat, he arrived closer to Dumoustier which had the immediate effect of relieving the pressure on the French Guard but meant the Allied line of retreat was left clear.
Seeing these reinforcements arriving and the cavalry fight on their right flank going against them, the Allied commanders conferred and agreed to break off the combat. As night began to fall, columns of Russian infantry could be seen retreating into the dark protected by a screen of ever present Cossacks. Bertrand pushed his victorious cavalry to mount an aggressive pursuit, but the exhausted, green troopers soon lost touch with the Russians in the dark.
Most of the casualties fell to the cavalry on both sides, but these were losses the Allies could better afford than the French.
Little Wars 
The battlelines look great. Sounds like it was a fun day. 😀