Between 1861 and 1864, Apel had 44 of these landmarks erected from its own resources. Six more were then set up privately, from an Apels foundation and associations.
The Apelsteine are originally rectangular pillars made of sandstone about 1.5 m high. For the positions of the coalition troops, the stones have a pointed head (inverted V for allies) and the letter V and for the Napoleonic troops with a round head and an N. The inscriptions on the stones show the name and date of the battle on the side facing the battlefield and the names of the military leaders as well as the names and strengths of the troops on the other. Two arrows on the narrow sides indicate the course of the front. The cardinal points are indicated on the heads of the stones. Up to number 42, the rule was also observed that the coalition troops were assigned the even numbers and the Napoleonic troops the odd numbers.
Since the sandstone proved to be less resistant and the building activity reached the stones that were initially outside the city, the 19th century began to replace many of the stones with copies (sometimes several times and also made of harder material) and, if necessary, to replace them with copies to be set up differently from the original location. In doing so, the size and sometimes also the shape of the originals were deviated from, for example by tapering stones in the west of Leipzig or by plinths and attachments. Some text errors crept in while copying.
Source: Wikipedia