Summary

Medal Delivrance de Dantzic, 'Deliverance of Danzig', Issued by France, 1807
Artist: Bertrand Andrieu
Minted by Paris Mint

Obverse Description

Laureate head facing right; around, NAPOLEON EMP. ET ROI.; on neck truncation, ANDRIEU F.

Reverse Description

Napoleon standing facing left in imperial robes, head laureate, receiving a female, allegorical of the city of Danzig, who is in the act of kneeling; he is raising her with his left hand, and is placing a turretted crown on her head with his right; behind Danzig, a winged caduceus with entwined serpents; behind the Emperor, the ornamental prow of an ancient ship; near rim at left and right, in small lettering, ANDRIEU . F. DENON . DIR.; in exergue; LIBERTAS DANTISCO RESTITUTA. / MDCCCVII.

Edge Description

Plain

Significance

"In the month of April, a division of the French army commenced the siege of Dantzic. The garrison made vigorous sorties, and several obstinate actions took place in the environs. General Kalkreuth, who commanded in Dantzic, ordered the houses in the suburbs to be destroyed to the value of nine millions of livres, and the damages occasioned in the city itself, by the cannonade and bombardment, were estimated at twelve millions. The Russians, however, notwithstanding their pretended victory at Eylau, could never make an effort for its relief, and Dantzic surrendered by capitulation to the French, on the 28th May, 1807, after the garrison ad been reduced from 16,000 to 9,000 men, of whom not less than 4,000 are said to have deserted. The capture of this city was styled by the French, "the first fruits of their victory of Eylau," so decidedly claimed by General Benningsen; and it must be allowed, that the surrender of so important a city and fortress, in the very face of a Russian army, was a very unfavorable omen. " Laskey p.139-140

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