The Emperor halted at Eylau on the 13th for news of the Prussians in front and of Bennigsen on his right flank.

Against the former he hurled his chief masses under the lead of Murat in the hope of seizing Koenigsberg at one blow.[131] But, foreseeing that the Russians would probably pass over the Alle at Friedland he despatched Lannes to Domnau to see whether they had already crossed in force.

Clearly, then, Napoleon did not foresee what the morrow had in store for him: his aim was to drive a solid wedge between Bennigsen and the defenders of Koenigsberg, to storm that city first, and then to turn on Bennigsen.

The claim of some of Napoleon's admirers that he laid a trap for the Russians at Friedland, as he had done at Austerlitz, is therefore refuted by the Emperor's own orders.
None the less did Bennigsen walk into a trap, and one of his own choosing.

Anxious to thrust himself between Napoleon and the old Prussian capital, he crossed the river at Friedland and sought to strengthen his position on the left bank by driving Lannes' vanguard back on Domnau, by throwing three bridges over the stream, and by crowning the hills on the right bank with a formidable artillery.