Arrived at the line of the Spree, they took up and fortified a very formidable position about Bautzen (q.v.).
Finally he decided to group his corps round Gorlitz and Bautzen whence they could either meet the enemy advancing from Breslau or fall on his flank over the mountains if they attempted to force their way into Saxony by the valley of the Elbe.
Reinforcements had been coming up without ceasing and at the beginning of August he calculated that he would have 30o,000 men available about Bautzen and 10o,000 along the Elbe from Hamburg via Magdeburg to Torgau.
In his position at Bautzen he felt himself equal to all his enemy's combinations.
At length becoming impatient he advanced a portion of his army towards Blucher, who fell back to draw him into a trap. Then the news reached him that Schwarzenberg was pressing down the valley of the Elbe, and, leaving Macdonald to observe Blucher, he hurried back to Bautzen to dispose his troops to cross the Bohemian mountains in the general direction of KOnigstein, a blow which must have had decisive results.