On 9–10 March 1814, a 100,000-strong Allied army led by Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher defeated Emperor Napoleon's 39,000-man Imperial French army in the Battle of Laon. The French lost 4,000 killed and wounded plus 2,500 men, 45 guns and 130 caissons captured. The Allies admitted only 744 casualties. Another source stated that the Allies sustained 4,000 casualties while inflicting 7,500 on the French. Early on the second day, Blücher was so ill with an eye infection that he temporarily handed over command to his chief of staff August Neidhardt von Gneisenau. Though Blücher had issued orders to attack the French that day, the new commander cancelled them. Consequently, Napoleon was able to disengage his battered army and withdraw almost unmolested to Soissons. Without Blücher's guiding hand, the Allied corps commanders began to clash with one another. Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg tried to resign his corps command and was only persuaded to remain by Blücher.