After MarshalLouis-Nicolas Davout's hard-fought victory at Battle of Teugen-Hausen the previous day, Napoleon determined to break through the Austrian defenses behind the Abens River. The emperor assembled a provisional corps consisting of part of Davout's corps plus cavalry and gave Marshal Jean Lannes command over it. Napoleon directed his German allies from the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Kingdom of Württemberg to attack across the Abens from the west, while Lannes thrust from the north toward Rohr. While the Austrians initially held the river line, Lannes' strike force crashed through Louis' defenses farther east. On the left, the Austrians managed to conduct a capable rear guard action, but during the day the French smashed their opponents' right flank and captured thousands of soldiers. The day ended with the Austrians barely holding onto a line behind the Große Laber River.
The next day, Hiller withdrew to Landshut, separating the left wing from the main army under GeneralissimoArchduke Charles, Duke of Teschen near Regensburg (Ratisbon). The French surrender of Regensburg on 20 April allowed Charles' army a retreat route to the north bank of the Danube. The Battle of Landshut was fought on 21 April.
Background
Operations
Archduke Charles stole a march on Napoleon when his army invaded the Kingdom of Bavaria on 10 April 1809. Even though the Austrian army took six days to slowly march from the Inn River at the frontier to the Isar River, the move placed the army of France and their German allies in grave danger.[4] Napoleon's deputy commander Marshal Louis Alexandre Berthier mismanaged the Grande Armée's concentration, leaving its units scattered across a broad front in a confused state.[5]
Archduke Charles
The central mass of Archduke Charles' 209,600-man host[6] crossed the Isar at Landshut on 16 April, but the next day Emperor Napoleon arrived at the front from Paris. Desperately trying to wrest the initiative back from the archduke, Napoleon consolidated his forces and ordered Marshal André Masséna's IV Corps and General of Division Nicolas Oudinot's II Corps on the right flank to march on Landshut to cut the Austrian line of communications. He planned for Marshal François Joseph Lefebvre's Bavarian VII Corps to hold in the center at Abensberg while Davout's left flank III Corps withdrew west to escape being trapped between Charles' main body and the Danube.[7]
On 19 April, Charles realized he had an opportunity to destroy Davout. He launched 65,000 troops in three powerful columns northwest as Davout attempted a flank march across his front. Luckily for the French, General of Cavalry Johann I Joseph, Prince of Liechtenstein's 20,000 troops found no opposition on the Austrian right.[8] In the center, General of DivisionLouis-Pierre Montbrun's 3,800 cavalry and infantry skilfully held off Feldmarschall-Leutnant Prince Franz Seraph of Rosenberg-Orsini's much stronger IV Armeekorps for most of the day.[9]
On the left flank, Feldmarschall-Leutnant Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen's III Armeekorps crashed into General of Division Louis Vincent Le Blond de Saint-Hilaire's division and a terrific fight blazed up. Both sides fed in reinforcements as the infantry battled over a pair of parallel ridges in the Battle of Teugen-Hausen. Ultimately, Davout brought superior forces to bear in the late afternoon and pushed back the Austrians a short ways. That night, Charles ordered Hohenzollern to withdraw a little to the east, closer to his main body.[10]
On the morning of 19 April, Archduke Charles requested that Hohenzollern provide a link between the III and V Armeekorps. Accordingly, the III Armeekorps commander detached General-Major Ludwig Thierry's 6,000-man infantry brigade to his left. As an additional link between Thierry and III Armeekorps, Hohenzollern detached General-Major Joseph Freiherr von Pfanzelter with a Grenz infantry battalion and two squadrons of hussars, about 1,000 men.[11] While the Battle of Teugen-Hausen raged, Thierry clashed with Bavarian troops near Arnhofen and fell back to Offenstetten.[12]
Austrian deployment
Johann Kollowrat
On 20 April, Archduke Charles' main body consisted of the III, IV, and I Reserve Armeekorps. These were arrayed near Dünzling and Eckmühl.[13]FeldzeugmeisterJohann Kollowrat's II Armeekorps spent 19 April attacking Regensburg from north of the Danube. While successfully defending the city, Colonel Louis Coutard's 2,000-man 65th Line Infantry Regiment ran dangerously low on small-arms ammunition.[14] General of Cavalry Count Heinrich von Bellegarde's I Armeekorps also remained north of the Danube.[15]
Archduke Louis spread out his V Armeekorps behind the Abens River, facing west.[16] Having detached Feldmarschall-Leutnant Karl Friedrich von Lindenau's division to Liechtenstein,[17] only the divisions of Feldmarschall-Leutnants Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss-Plauen and Vincenz Freiherr von Schustekh-Herve remained under Louis' command.[18] Feldmarschall-Leutnant Michael von Kienmayer's II Reserve Armeekorps, nominally 7,975-strong, waited in support at Ludmannsdorf.[16][19] Kienmayer's cuirassier brigade under General-Major Andreas von Schneller was serving with Liechtenstein[20] and four dragoon squadrons were attached to Thierry's brigade. On the evening of the 19th, the bulk of Hiller's VI Armeekorps reached Mainburg to the south.[16] Like V and II Reserve Armeekorps, the VI suffered from detachments. At the beginning of the war, Charles sent the division of Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz Jellacic to hold Munich, the Bavarian capital, where it remained.[21] Hiller also posted General-Major Armand von Nordmann with a small force at Moosburg an der Isar to watch his south flank.[22] The official returns of Hiller's three corps totalled 75,880 troops,[19] but after detachments, the left wing numbered only 42,000.[2]
French deployment
Siegenburg from a c.1700 woodcut
When Lannes arrived at the front, Napoleon immediately placed him in command of a provisional corps. This ad hoc formation consisted largely of III Corps units that escaped Archduke Charles' trap the day before, namely General of Division Charles Antoine Morand's 1st Division, General of Division Charles-Étienne Gudin de La Sablonnière's 3rd Division, General of Division Raymond-Gaspard de Bonardi de Saint-Sulpice's 2nd Heavy Cavalry Division, and General of Brigade Charles Claude Jacquinot's light cavalry brigade of Montbrun's division. Also added was General of Division Etienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty's 1st Heavy Cavalry Division from the cavalry reserve.[23] One of Saint-Sulpice's brigades was detailed to guard Saal an der Donau, a defile between Lannes and Davout.[24]
On the morning of 20 April, Napoleon mistakenly assumed that the bulk of Archduke Charles' army lay in front of him. Accordingly, he gave orders for a drive southeast in the direction of Landshut. Lannes' mission was to turn the Austrian right flank by pushing south toward Rohr. General of Division Dominique Vandamme would attack Siegenburg with his small Kingdom of Württemberg corps. Lefebvre's other VII Corps divisions, together with General of Division Joseph Laurent Demont's Reserve Division of the III Corps, would link Lannes and Vandamme. Napoleon ordered Masséna's IV Corps to capture Landshut and the Isar River crossings, cutting the Austrian line of communications.[25]
Battle
Abensberg
Archduke Charles sent orders to his brother Archduke Louis at 7:30 AM on 20 April. He instructed Louis to fall back to Rottenburg and defend behind the Große Laber. Charles intended Hiller to take position on Louis' left at Pfeffenhausen. Charles erred in sending the orders so late and in not informing Louis of Hohenzollern's withdrawal to the east. The latter move left the V Armeekorps' right flank exposed.[15]
Pfanzelter held Bachl on the extreme right flank. To the west of Bachl, Thierry held Offenstetten with three and one-third battalions. His other two and two-thirds battalions had become separated the previous day and joined General-Major Frederick Bianchi, Duke of Casalanza who had six battalions near Biburg. Louis posted Schustekh with four squadrons of hussars and one and one-third battalions at Rohr.[26] Schustekh's infantry had just rejoined V Armeekorps after marching from Mainburg with General-Major Joseph, Baron von Mesko de Felsö-Kubiny's detachment.[27]
Battle of Abensberg map showing Lannes breakthrough at Bachl and Rohr
In one account, Lannes' advance guard approached Bachl in the late morning of 20 April, forcing Pfanzelter's small detachment from the Austrian III Armeekorps eastward. The 1st Bavarian Division under Lieutenant General Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and the 3rd Bavarian Division led by Lieutenant General Bernhard Erasmus von Deroy, together with Demont's III Corps Division advanced on Offenstetten. Around 10:00 AM, they defeated Thierry's brigade, forcing him back on Bachl as Lannes approached from the north. Thierry hastily withdrew to Rohr, which he reached at 2:00 PM.[28]
Historian James R. Arnold offers a different narrative. He writes that Pfanzelter's command was withdrawn on the III Armeekorps commander Hohenzollern's orders, leaving the north–south road through Bachl wide open. Meanwhile, Thierry's attached dragoons discovered that Abensberg and its nearby roads were alive with moving columns of enemy troops. Around 8:00 AM, Thierry fell back on Bachl and found to his dismay that French cavalry already occupied the village. Having become separated from his supporting dragoons, Thierry's men were chased into the woods by Jacquinot's horsemen. From there the Austrians hiked cross-country toward Rohr.[23]
Author Francis Loraine Petre states that Gudin encountered Pfanzelter north of Bachl and brushed him aside about 9:00 AM. The 1st Bavarian division and General-Major Hügel's Württemberg brigade drove Thierry from Offenstetten around 10:00 AM. When the Austrians reached Bachl they stumbled upon Jacquinot who attacked and they "scattered through the woods".[29] Pfanzelter marched east to Langquaid where he rejoined Hohenzollern's corps.
Because he feared that the woods to his left might contain Austrians, Lannes slowed his march so he could scout the terrain to the east. Even so, his column arrived at Rohr before Thierry's infantry. Without Pfanzelter's detachment to warn him, the arrival of Lannes' column surprised Schustekh. The Austrian commander gamely threw four squadrons of hussars at Jacquinot's advance guard. Eventually, Jacquinot got his entire brigade into action and pressed the Austrian hussars back on the supporting battalion and one-third of Grenz infantry south of Rohr. At this time, Thierry's winded infantry appeared on the scene. With the help of Gudin's 17th Light Infantry and a battery of artillery, Jacquinot's chasseurs broke Thierry's foot soldiers and hounded them into the woods again.[30]
French Cuirassier in 1809
To take the pressure off the infantry, Schustekh charged again, just as Thierry's lost dragoons showed up. At first, the attack went well, but then the Austrian horsemen came up against a mass of cuirassiers. The result was a rout of the Habsburg cavalry, who rode through the ranks of their own foot soldiers. The French chasseurs and cuirassiers rode roughshod over the troops of Thierry and Mesko, cutting down the fugitives. Over 3,000 Austrians became prisoners, including Thierry, and four cannon were lost.[31]
The previous evening, Hiller's VI Armeekorps bivouacked at Mainburg. Though a road ran directly from Mainburg to Louis' left flank at Siegenburg, a distance of only 13 kilometers, Hiller elected to join his colleague by a roundabout march via Pfeffenhausen. Once he arrived, Hiller was authorized to take command of all three left wing corps.[32] Hiller personally arrived in Siegenburg to confer with Archduke Louis around midday. Hearing troubling reports from the right flank, he sent Feldmarschall-Leutnant Karl von Vincent toward Rottenburg with the line brigades of Generals-Major Josef Hoffmeister and Nikolaus Weissenwolf, plus four squadrons of the Rosenberg Chevauxlegers Regiment # 6.[33] Petre names the two line infantry brigade commanders.[34]
Archduke Louis posted Prince Reuss and General-Major Joseph Radetzky von Radetz with four battalions and 12 cavalry squadrons at Siegenburg. Bianchi held the east bank of the Abens opposite Biburg. Lieutenant-General Karl Philipp von Wrede probed at Siegenburg but his 2nd Bavarian Division was easily fended off by Radetzky and a battery of 12-pdr cannon. At this time, Louis heard that the French attacked Thierry, so he ordered Radetzky to send two battalions to the right flank and called up Kienmayer's command from Ludmannsdorf.[35]
Wrede moved north to Biburg, where he tried to get across the Abens again. At first he was not successful, but Bianchi withdrew to Kirchdorf, allowing the 2nd Bavarian Division to cross to the east bank of the stream. Meanwhile, General of Division Dominique Vandamme's Württemberg contingent (later known as the VIII Corps) replaced Wrede in front of Siegenburg. Vandamme soon realized that crossing at Siegenburg was futile, so he too marched north, crossed the river at Abensberg and moved south to Kirchdorf. Here the Bavarians and Württembergers found Bianchi with his reinforced brigade and a cavalry squadron.[36] Reuss soon arrived with Radetzky's two battalions.[37] Around 2:00 PM a sharp combat took place after which the Austrians retreated to the southeast.[38] According to one account, General of Division Jean Victor Tharreau's cavalry of the II Corps also became involved at Kirchdorf.[39]
Pressed by Wrede's 7th Bavarian Infantry Regiment, plus two of Hügel's Württemberg battalions,[37] Radetzky conducted an orderly retreat on the Siegenburg road, covered by the grenzers and Kienmayer's grenadiers under General-Major Konstantin Ghilian Karl d'Aspré. He managed to shepherd the V Armeekorps trains safely through Pfeffenhausen before the Bavarians cut him off. Wrede pursued aggressively and scooped up many prisoners but failed to capture the bridge, which the Austrians burned.[40] Even so, the Bavarians kept up the pressure, crossing the shallow Große Laber at 11:00 PM to attack. Radetzky fell back to a hill called the Hornbach where his rear guard skirmished with the Bavarians into the early morning hours.[41]
When Vincent's column neared Rottenburg, he found the road jammed with the III Armeekorps trains. A charge by the Rosenberg Chevauxlegers halted the French cuirassiers long enough for his infantry to gain solid positions on the east side of the Große Laber. Hiller arrived at Rottenburg in the late afternoon and ordered a counterattack at 7:00 PM. Vincent swung his left brigade forward and quickly overran a Bavarian unit, capturing 300 troops. Soon after, the Deutschmeister Infantry Regiment # 4 got into a vicious firefight with Bavarian and French infantry. In the twilight, the Austrians were forced back by superior numbers with 600 casualties, but they had finally stopped their enemies.[42]
Regensburg
Prince Liechtenstein
On 20 April, the Austrian II Armeekorps continued attacking Colonel Louis Coutard's 65th Line Infantry Regiment at Regensburg. A French convoy sent to replenish the critically low ammunition supply was ambushed by Austrian cavalry at 8:00 AM.[43] The French troops finally ran out of ammunition and Coutard asked Kollowrat for a 24-hour truce after which he promised to surrender if not relieved. The Austrian commander foolishly agreed to the terms.[44]
However, Liechtenstein's column soon appeared from the south. Liechtenstein pointed out that the existing truce did not apply to him and demanded an immediate surrender. Coutard thereupon capitulated at 5:00 PM.[44] The French sappers had found it impossible to demolish the sturdily-built Regensburg bridge. The intact bridge later played a key factor in the escape of Charles' army.[45] In two days of fighting, the French lost 11 officers and about 200 soldiers killed and wounded, plus 1,988 captured. Austrian losses were 73 dead, 220 wounded, and 85 missing for a total of 378 casualties. During the struggle the French captured 75 troops and one color, all of which were recovered.[46]
When Kollowrat finally reported the II Armeekorps available for duty that evening, the headquarters ordered his troops to make an overnight march west to Hemau on the north bank of the Danube. In the morning, the tired troops were recalled to Regensburg from their pointless ramble.[47]
Aftermath
Arnold lists 1,107 Allied casualties, including 746 Bavarians. He gives Austrian losses as 492 killed, 2,219 wounded, and nearly 4,000 captured, or a total of 6,711. The French also captured eight colors and 12 cannons.[48]Digby Smith notes Allied casualties as 34 dead and 438 wounded, but this seems to count only the German allied troops. Austrian total losses are given as 6,872, including 3,000 to 4,000 captured. The 2nd battalion of the Broder Grenz (Mesko's brigade) was annihilated, with 18 officers and 1,040 rank and file counted as lost. Smith gives killed, wounded, captured, and missing, but the numbers only add up to 5,824 so they are not listed.[49] Petre lists 2,710 Austrians killed and wounded, plus about 4,000 captured. Altogether, the 42,000 troops of Hiller's three-corps left wing faced 55,000 French and their German allies. Only about 25,000 Austrians and an equal number of Allies were engaged in action.[2] More recent scholarship by John H. Gill attributes losses of 7,200 men and 12 guns to Austrian forces, and 1,000 to French and French-allied forces.[3]
Davout was not disturbed on 20 April.
That evening, as the extent of Thierry and Schustekh's disaster became known, Hiller resolved to pull his three corps behind the Isar at Landshut. In this decision, he was also influenced by Masséna's move against his left rear and unfavorable reports from Archduke Louis. This crucial decision meant that the Austrian left wing would in the near future operate independently from Archduke Charles' main body. Hiller would only reunite with his army commander on 15 May north of Vienna.[50]
While Napoleon savaged his left wing, Archduke Charles remained amazingly inert.[51] At 6:00 AM, the archduke was with Prince Rosenberg and at 7:30 AM he sent orders to Archduke Louis and then wrote a letter to Emperor Francis I of Austria. But from 11:00 AM until 6:30 PM, the Austrian generalissimo failed to issue any orders. He either became obsessed with capturing Regensburg or he had an epileptic seizure during which he is supposed to have locked himself in his quarters.[52] The epileptic attack is probable, but there is a possibility it may be a cover story for Charles' failure to exercise command.[53] What is known is that the Austrian III, IV, and I Reserve Armeekorps did not disturb Davout's remaining three divisions under Generals of Division Louis Friant, Saint-Hilaire, and Montbrun on 20 April.[51]
Despite being outnumbered, Napoleon's 113,000 troops split the 161,000 strung-out Austrians into two forces. Charles five corps, including 48,000 additional troops of the I and II Armeekorps north of Regensburg, lay to the north while Hiller's three corps fell back to Landshut. (Massena and Oudinot's 57,000 soldiers are not counted in Napoleon's total.)[54] Both Austrian forces had to fight a second major battle each. Hiller fought the Battle of Landshut on 21 April, while Charles engaged in the Battle of Eckmühl on the 22nd.[55]
Order of battle
The following is an abbreviated order of battle. Complete orders of battle are found in the Abensberg 1809 Order of Battle.
Division: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz Jellacic(Jellacic detached at Munich)
Brigade: General-Major Konstantin Ettingshausen (6 battalions, 8 guns) (Detached at Munich)
Brigade: General-Major Karl Dollmayer von Provenchères (5 battalions, 8 squadrons, 14 guns) (Detached at Munich) Hoffmeister's brigade belonged to Jellacic, but it was exchanged for Dollmayer von Provenchères' brigade of the Light Division at the beginning of the conflict.[57]
Brigade: General of Brigade François Marie Clément de la Roncière (8 squadrons) (One brigade guarding Saal) It is not known which brigade was detached.[60]
Brigade: General of Brigade Marie Adrien François Guiton (8 squadrons)
The Battle of Sacile on 16 April 1809 and its companion Clash at Pordenone on 15 April saw an Austrian army commanded by Archduke John of Austria defeat a Franco-Italian army led by Eugène de Beauharnais and force it to retreat. Sacile proved to be the most notable victory of John's career. The action took place east of the Livenza River near Sacile in modern-day Italy during the War of the Fifth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
The Battle of Elchingen, fought on 14 October 1805, saw French forces under Michel Ney rout an Austrian corps led by Johann Sigismund Riesch. This defeat led to a large part of the Austrian army being invested in the fortress of Ulm by the army of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France while other formations fled to the east. Soon afterward, the Austrians trapped in Ulm surrendered and the French mopped up most of the remaining Austrian forces, bringing the Ulm Campaign to a close.
The Battle of Teugen-Hausen or the Battle of Thann was an engagement that occurred during the War of the Fifth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle was fought on 19 April 1809 between the French III Corps led by Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout and the Austrian III Armeekorps commanded by Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen. The French won a hard-fought victory over their opponents when the Austrians withdrew that evening. The site of the battle is a wooded height approximately halfway between the villages of Teugn and Hausen in Lower Bavaria, part of modern-day Germany.
The Battle of Ebelsberg, known in French accounts as the Battle of Ebersberg, was fought on 3 May 1809 during the War of the Fifth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The Austrian left wing under the command of Johann von Hiller took up positions at Ebersberg on the Traun river. The French under André Masséna attacked, crossing a heavily defended 550-meter-long bridge and subsequently conquering the local castle, thus forcing Hiller to withdraw. Ebelsberg is now a southern suburb of Linz, situated on the south bank of the Traun, a short distance above the place where that stream flows into the Danube River.
The Battle of Piave River was fought on 8 May 1809 between the Franco-Italian army under the command of Eugène de Beauharnais and an Austrian army led by Archduke John of Austria. The Austrian commander made a stand behind the Piave River but he suffered a defeat at the hands of his numerically superior foes. The combat took place near Nervesa della Battaglia, Italy during the War of the Fifth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
In the Battle of Hohenlinden on 3 December 1800, a French army commanded by Jean Victor Marie Moreau decisively defeated the army of Habsburg monarchy led by Archduke John. The first action of the campaign was the Battle of Ampfing, two days earlier. After Hohenlinden there was a series of rearguard clashes beginning on 9 December at Rosenheim and continuing from the 14th through the 20th at Salzburg, Neumarkt am Wallersee, Frankenmarkt, Schwanenstadt, Vöcklabruck, Lambach, and Kremsmünster. During the retreat, the Habsburg army began a process of disintegration and an armistice was concluded a few days later.
In the Battle of Sankt Michael on 25 May 1809, Paul Grenier's French corps crushed Franz Jellacic's Austrian division at Sankt Michael in Obersteiermark, Austria. The action occurred after the initial French victories during the War of the Fifth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Sankt Michael is located approximately 140 kilometers southwest of Vienna.
The Battle of Verona was fought on 18 October 1805 between the French Army of Italy under the command of André Masséna and an Austrian army led by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen. By the end of the day, Massena seized a bridgehead on the east bank of the Adige River, driving back the defending troops under Josef Philipp Vukassovich. The action took place near the city of Verona in northern Italy during the War of the Third Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
The Battle of Graz took place on 24–26 June 1809 between an Austrian corps commanded by Ignaz Gyulai and a French division led by Jean-Baptiste Broussier. The French were soon reinforced by a corps under Auguste Marmont. The battle is considered a French victory though Gyulai was successful in getting supplies to the Austrian garrison of Graz before the two French forces drove him away from the city. Graz, Austria is located 145 kilometers south-southwest of Vienna at the intersection of the modern A2 and A9 highways.
The Battle of Abensberg was fought on 20 April 1809, between an Allied force under the command of Emperor Napoleon I of France on one side and three Austrian corps led by Johann von Hiller, Archduke Louis of Austria, and Michael von Kienmayer. The Austrians formed the left wing of Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen's main army and were under the overall command of Hiller. Napoleon's French troops, reinforced by troops from the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Kingdom of Württemberg outfought their opponents, inflicted heavy losses, and forced the Austrians to retreat to the southeast.
The Battle of Neumarkt-Sankt Veit on 24 April 1809 saw a Franco-Bavarian force led by Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières face an Austrian Empire army commanded by Johann von Hiller. Hiller's numerically superior force won a victory over the Allied troops, forcing Bessières to retreat to the west. Neumarkt-Sankt Veit is located ten kilometers north of Mühldorf and 33 kilometers southeast of Landshut in Bavaria.
The Battle of Wörgl or Wörgel was fought on 13 May 1809, when a Bavarian force under French Marshal François Joseph Lefebvre attacked an Austrian Empire detachment commanded by Johann Gabriel Chasteler de Courcelles. The Bavarians severely defeated Chasteler's soldiers in series of actions in the Austrian towns of Wörgl, Söll, and Rattenberg. Wörgl is located 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of the modern-day German border on the upper Inn River.
Jean-Pierre Doumerc, joined a French cavalry regiment at the beginning of the French Revolution and rose in rank to command a cuirassier regiment by the start of the First French Empire. During the Napoleonic Wars he first led cavalry brigades and later divisions in many of the important battles of the era. After retiring from the army in 1815, he briefly served again during the 1830s.
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Karl Daniel Gottfried Wilhelm von Stutterheim, born 6 August 1770 – died 13 December 1811, served in the Prussian and Saxon armies during the French Revolutionary Wars, leaving the latter service in 1798. He spent most of his career in the army of Habsburg Austria and the Austrian Empire. He commanded a brigade in combat against the First French Empire during the 1805 and 1809 wars. In the latter conflict, he led his troops with dash and competence. He authored two histories about the wars; the second work remained unfinished due to his suicide in 1811.
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The Piave River 1809 order of battle shows the units and organization for the Franco-Italian and Austrian Empire armies that fought in the Battle of Piave River on 8 May 1809. Eugène de Beauharnais, the viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy defeated Archduke John of Austria. Eugène's Advance Guard crossed the river first and was assailed by Austrian cavalry and artillery. The French cavalry routed the opposing cavalry and captured 14 enemy guns. A lull followed as John arranged his infantry in a formidable defensive position. Meanwhile, Eugène struggled to pour reinforcements into the bridgehead as the Piave rose dangerously. In the afternoon, the viceroy sent Paul Grenier to drive back the Austrian left while Jacques MacDonald mounted an assault on the center. The attack succeeded in breaking the Austrian line and compelling John to order a retreat.
References
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Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 B.C. to the Present. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN0-486-24913-1.
Esposito, Vincent J.; Elting, John R. (1964). A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars. New York: Praeger.
Gallaher, John G. (2000). The Iron Marshal: A Biography of Louis N. Davout. Barnsley: Frontline. ISBN978-1526796998.
Gill, John H. (1992). With Eagles to Glory: Napoleon and His German Allies in the 1809 Campaign. Greenhill Books.
Haythornthwaite, Philip J. (1990). The Napoleonic Source Book. Guild Publishing. ISBN978-1854092878.
Herold, J. Christopher (1963). The Age of Napoleon. New York: American Heritage Publishing Co.
Hollins, David (2006). Fremont-Barnes (ed.). The Encyclopedia of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. ISBN1-85109-646-9.
Kagan, Frederick W. (2006). The End of the Old Order: Napoleon and Europe, 1801–1805. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press. ISBN0-306-81137-5.
Leggiere, Michael V. (2002). Napoleon and Berlin: The Franco-Prussian War in North Germany, 1813. University of Oklahoma Press.
Rothenberg, Gunther E. (2004). The Emperor's Last Victory. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN0-297-84672-8.
Rothenberg, Gunther E. (1982). Napoleon's Great Adversaries, The Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army, 1792–1814. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN0-253-33969-3.
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