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.
In late September and early October 1805, Napoleon carried out a gigantic envelopment of the Austrian army in Bavaria led by Karl Mack von Lieberich. While the Austrian army lay near Ulm, south of the Danube River, the French army marched west on the north side of the river. Then Napoleon's troops crossed the river east of Ulm, cutting the Austrian retreat route to Vienna. Finally waking up to his danger, Mack tried to break out on the north side of the river, but a lone French division blocked his first attempt.
Realizing that his enemies might escape the trap, Napoleon ordered Ney to cross to the north bank of the river. Ney's larger corps attacked Riesch's corps at Elchingen on the north bank. The French captured the heights and drove the Austrian soldiers west toward Ulm, forcing many of them to surrender. While a body of Austrians remained at large on the north bank, the near destruction of Riesch's command meant that the bulk of Mack's army was hopelessly surrounded in Ulm.
Karl Mack von Leiberich changed the strategic plan
By 12 September when the Austrians occupied Munich, Mack changed his mind and discarded his earlier plan. He decided to concentrate his army farther west on the Iller River so he could counterattack any French invasion coming through the Black Forest. As part of his new strategy, Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franjo Jelačić (also Franz Jellacic) was ordered to move from Feldmarschall-Leutnant Archduke John's Army of the Tyrol to Lake Constance. Mack expected to have 50,000 to 55,000 troops in position near Ulm by the end of September. Jellačić would hold the left flank with 11,000 soldiers while Feldmarschall-Leutnant Michael von Kienmayer 12,000-man corps watched the Bavarians from Ingolstadt. However, the change of plans threw the Austrian army's supply system into disarray. As the weather turned bad, sickness and desertion began to diminish the army's numbers. The nominal army commander, Archduke Ferdinand and Mack's chief of staffGeneral-Major Anton Mayer von Heldensfeld both insisted that the army halt at the Lech as originally planned. By the end of September, relations between Mack and Ferdinand became so poor that all communication between the two was done in writing.[4]
Battle of Gunzburg strategic map, situation morning 9 October 1805
At this time Mack's army was divided into four corps. Jellačić had 15,000 troops in 16 infantry battalions, six Jäger companies, and six cavalry squadrons to the south of Ulm. Feldmarschall-Leutnant Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg commanded 28 battalions and 30 squadrons at Ulm. Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz von Werneck had 30 battalions and 24 squadrons near Günzburg. Kienmayer's command near Ingolstadt consisted of 19 battalions and 34 squadrons. Unwisely, Mack decided to defend Ulm, instead of trying to escape the approaching French army.[7]
Mack reacted by sending Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz Xaver von Auffenberg with only 6,000 men to stop the French.[6] Murat and Lannes crushed the hapless Auffenberg at the Battle of Wertingen, inflicting losses of 400 killed and wounded on the Austrians and capturing 2,900 soldiers and six cannons. The next day, General of Division Jean-Pierre Firmin Malher's VI corps division attacked General-Major Konstantin Ghilian Karl d'Aspré's 7,000 troops in the Battle of Günzburg. The Austrians suffered 2,000 casualties while the French lost 700 soldiers.[8]
Pierre Dupont
Napoleon placed Davout and Bernadotte at Munich to guard against General Mikhail Kutuzov's Russian army and Kienmayer's troops. The emperor sent Soult west to Memmingen, south of Ulm. Murat, Lannes, Ney, Marmont, and the Imperial Guard moved directly west toward Ulm.[9] At this time, Ney's corps was still on the north bank. On 11 October, when Murat ordered Ney to bring his corps to the south bank, Ney furiously protested but was overruled.[10] In consequence, Mack and Prince Schwarzenberg with 25,000 troops fell upon General of Division Pierre Dupont's solitary division in the Battle of Haslach-Jungingen that day. Dupont's 5,350 infantry, supported by General of Division Jacques Louis François Delaistre de Tilly's 2,169 cavalry fought the Austrians to a standstill. Dupont's force was mauled, losing 1,400 casualties, plus 11 guns and 2 eagles captured. Austrian losses numbered 6,100 killed, wounded, and captured.[11]
However, Mack was wounded in the fight and, with his force, "tamely returned to Ulm that night."[12] On 12 October Mack reorganized his army into four corps under Schwarzenberg, Werneck, Jellačić, and Feldmarschall-Leutnant Riesch. The units were organized similar to the French corps, except that Mack constantly shuffled the component units. That day, Mack issued a flurry of orders, each set countermanding the previous instructions. In sum, he ordered Jellačić to march south to the Tyrol, Schwarzenberg to hold Ulm, and Werneck to move north to Heidenheim an der Brenz followed by General-Major Johann Ludwig Alexius von Loudon's division of Riesch's corps. This was followed by a council of war at which Mack decided to send Riesch along the Danube to destroy all the bridges.[13] In one speculative account, the real reason Mack sent Jellačić to the Tyrol was to get rid of Mayer, who led a brigade. Historian Frederick Kagan surmised that Mack was either confused or he deliberately scattered his army to give it a better chance to escape. In any case, Mack soon issued a new set of orders which were similar to the last set. Riesch set out with his command on the 13th, marching on water-logged roads in the direction of Elchingen.[14]
On 13 October several French corps marched west on the south side of the Danube. Napoleon still hoped to encircle Mack's forces south of the river. He seemed unaware of the possibility that the Austrians could get away on the north bank. That day, Napoleon heard from Ney that only Dupont's division and some cavalry occupied the north bank in force. The French emperor ordered Ney and Marshal Joachim Murat to shift their forces to the north side of the river the next day.[15] Also on the 13th, Soult wiped out General-Major Karl Spangen von Uyternesse's brigade in the Battle of Memmingen, capturing 4,600 men at the cost of 16 casualties.[16]
Battle
Austrian forces
On 13 October when he arrived at Elchingen, Riesch found Loudon sparring with a French force for control of the bridge over the Danube. Feeling unable to defeat the French, he broke off the fight and merely posted troops to defend the north bank of the river and left the bridge intact with the French in control of the south end of the span. He passively ordered his troops to pitch camp at Elchingen. Kagan proposed that Riesch failed to act more aggressively because he had lost faith in Mack's ability.[17]
Riesch and an 8,000-man Austrian corps occupied high ground near the villages of Ober- and Unter-Elchingen. Deployed on the heights under Loudon and General-Major Daniel Mécsery were 14 battalions of infantry, 11 squadrons of cavalry, and 12 artillery pieces. The infantry contingent included four battalions each of the Riese Infantry Regiment Nr. 15 and Erbach Infantry Regiment Nr. 42, two battalions of the Archduke Ludwig Infantry Regiment Nr. 8, and the 1st Battalion of the Kaiser Infantry Regiment Nr. 1. The cavalry consisted of six squadrons of the RosenbergChevau-léger Regiment Nr. 6, three squadrons of the Hohenzollern Cuirassier Regiment Nr. 8, and two squadrons of the Archduke FranzCuirassier Regiment Nr. 2.[18]
Alternate Austrian Order of Battle
An alternate order of battle is given by Scott Bowden in his highly detailed account of the battle.[19] In this version Riesch has 32 battalions of infantry (13,300), 12 1/2 squadrons of cavalry (1,250) and 14 guns served by 450 crew, for nearly 15,000 men. Bowden's order of battle from the Osterreichschen Kriegsarchiv.[20]
Corps: FML Riesch
1st Division: GM von Loudon
Avantgarde: GM Prinz Coburg
Erzherzog Ludwig IR #8 (three fusilier and one grenadier battalions, reduced strength from casualties at Haslach-Jungingen)
Hussar Regt Blankenstein #6 (two squadrons)
Center Brigade: GM Genedegh
Karl Riese IR #15 (four fusilier battalions, somewhat reduced from action at Haslach-Jungingen)
Erzherzog Maximilien IR #35 (four fusilier battalions)
Cuirassier Regt Hohenzollern #8 (two squadrons)
Uhlanen-Regt Schwarzenberg #2 (one squadron of approx 150 men)
Reserve Brigade: GM Ulm
Froon IR #54 (two fusilier battalions that had suffered greatly at Haslach-Jungingen)
Froon IR #54 (one grenadier battalion only lightly engaged at Haslach-Jungingen)
Josef Colloredo IR #57 (one grenadier battalion)
Cuirassier Regt Hohenzollern #8 (two squadrons)
Cavalry battery armed with four 6-pounder guns and two howitzers
2nd Division: FML von Hessen-Homburg
Avantgarde: GM Mescery
Erbach IR #42 (three fusilier battalions and one grenadier battalion)
Cuirassier Regt Erzherzog Franz #2 (two squadrons)
Cuirassier Regt Erzherzog Franz #2 (one-and-a-half squadrons)
Reserve Brigade: GM Hermann
Froon IR #54 (two additional fusilier battalions from this regiment that had not been at Haslach-Jungingen)
Erzherzog Karl IR #3 (the grenadier battalion from this regiment)
Auersperg IR #24 (the grenadier battalion from this regiment)
Cuirassier Regt Erzherzog Franz #2 (two squadrons)
Eight 6-pounder guns, distributed as battalion support to the Auersperg IR #24 and Froon IR #54
French forces
Opposing this array, Ney's VI Corps including the 2nd Division of Louis Henri Loison and the 3rd Division under Malher. The force included the Corps Cavalry Division led by Auguste François-Marie de Colbert-Chabanais, a reinforced dragoon brigade from Bourcier's 4th Dragoon Division, plus 28 cannons and howitzers.[21][22]
Total French engaged at Elchingen (not including Malher's division): 6,848 infantry, 1,125 cavalry, 485 artillerymen, 28 guns
French attack
The battlefield in front of the monastery of Elchingen
Dupont was already north of the Danube with Tilly's horsemen. Ney planned to have Loison's men attack across a partly dismantled bridge directly south of Riesch's position. As soon as the bridge was secure, Murat would send cavalry across to help. Meanwhile, Malher would cross the Danube further east and then sweep west along the north bank. At 8:00 am, Ney sent the elite companies of Villatte's brigade across the bridge where they overpowered the bridge guard. French engineers quickly repaired the span so that when Riesch sent two battalions to interfere, they were driven back by a growing body of French reinforcements.[25]
Villatte's brigade assaulted the main Austrian position, supported by Colbert's cavalry and ten cannons. Led personally by Ney, the 6th Light rapidly captured the Elchingen Abbey and all of Ober-Elchingen except a brickworks. The 39th Line was driven back by Austrian cavalry, but Loison brought up Roguet's brigade to help. The 69th Line helped roll Riesch's men back into the Grosser Forest. Threatened by Malher from the east and Dupont from the northeast, Riesch began pulling back. ColonelCharles, comte Lefebvre-Desnouettes's 18th Dragoons broke an Austrian square after it was softened up by musketry from the 76th Line. Colonel Auguste-Jean-Gabriel de Caulaincourt's 19th Dragoons also joined the pursuit. A final cavalry charge by the Austrians was checked by Roguet's brigade, then counter-charged by Colbert's horsemen.[26]
Results
Archduke Ferdinand
The French admitted losing 56 officers and 737 men killed or wounded. They captured 4,000 Austrians and 4 cannon.[27] Austrian killed and wounded may have been as high as 2,000.[28]
Riesch's survivors retreated to Ulm where they were trapped with Mack. On 14 October Archduke Ferdinand took flight from the city with a cavalry regiment. At this time, large portions of the Austrian army remained outside Napoleon's net. Mack capitulated with 23,500 troops and 60 cannons in the Battle of Ulm on October 20.[29]
In several clashes over the next few days, Murat's pursuit mopped up most of Werneck's corps and other fleeing units. The French clashed with Feldmarschall-Leutnant Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen's division at Langenau on 16 October. The next day, Murat and Dupont cut General-Major Rudolf Sinzendorf's brigade to pieces at Herbrechtingen, capturing 2,500 Austrians.[30] On 18 October, Murat and Ney forced Werneck to capitulate with 15,000 soldiers and 28 artillery pieces at Trochtelfingen. Only Archduke Ferdinand, Prince Hohenzollern, Schwarzenberg, Feldmarschall-Leutnant Ignaz Gyulai and 12 squadrons of cavalry escaped into Bohemia.[31] Far to the south, the French eliminated another fragment of the shattered Austrian army when Jellacic surrendered 4,000 men to Marshal Pierre Augereau's 15,000-man VII Corps at Dornbirn on 13 November.[32] In 1808 Napoleon bestowed the title, the Duke of Elchingen upon Ney as a reward for his victory.[33]
↑ Smith, 206. Smith states that the surrender took place at Trochtelfingen, but this town is too far west. Treuchtlingen may be the correct location but this is not stated in any written account.
The Battle of Hohenlinden was fought on 3 December 1800 during the French Revolutionary Wars. A French army under Jean Victor Marie Moreau won a decisive victory over an Austrian and Bavarian force led by 18-year-old Archduke John of Austria. The allies were forced into a disastrous retreat that compelled them to request an armistice, effectively ending the War of the Second Coalition. Hohenlinden is 33 km east of Munich in modern Germany.
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 Abensberg took place on 20 April 1809 between a Franco-German force under the command of Emperor Napoleon I of France and a reinforced Austrian corps led by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Archduke Louis of Austria. As the day wore on, Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann von Hiller arrived with reinforcements to take command of the three corps that formed the Austrian left wing. The action ended in a complete Franco-German victory. The battlefield was southeast of Abensberg and included clashes at Offenstetten, Biburg-Siegenburg, Rohr in Niederbayern, and Rottenburg an der Laaber. On the same day, the French garrison of Regensburg capitulated.
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.
In the Battle of Wertingen Imperial French forces led by Marshals Joachim Murat and Jean Lannes attacked a small Austrian corps commanded by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz Xaver von Auffenberg. This action, the first battle of the Ulm Campaign, resulted in a clear French victory. Wertingen lies 28 kilometres (17 mi) northwest of Augsburg. The combat was fought during the War of the Third Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
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 Ulm campaign was a series of French and Bavarian military maneuvers and battles to outflank and capture an Austrian army in 1805 during the War of the Third Coalition. It took place in the vicinity of and inside the Swabian city of Ulm. The French Grande Armée, led by Napoleon, had 210,000 troops organized into seven corps and hoped to knock out the Austrian army in the Danube before Russian reinforcements could arrive. Rapid marching let Napoleon conduct a large wheeling maneuver, which captured an Austrian army of 23,000 under General Mack on 20 October at Ulm. That brought the total number of Austrian prisoners-of-war in the campaign to 60,000. The campaign is by some military historians regarded as a strategic masterpiece and was influential in the development of the Schlieffen Plan in the late 19th century. Napoleon himself wrote:
Baron Franjo Jelačić Bužimski was a Croatian military officer and nobleman, a member of the House of Jelačić. He began his service in the Habsburg army as a Grenz infantry officer and fought against the Ottoman Empire. During the French Revolutionary Wars he received promotion to the rank of general officer and won an outstanding victory at Feldkirch. His later career proved that his martial abilities were limited. He twice led independent division-sized forces in the Napoleonic Wars, with unhappy results. He was Proprietor (Inhaber) of an Austrian infantry regiment from 1802 until his death.
Johann Sigismund Graf von Riesch joined the army of Habsburg Austria as a cavalry officer and, during his career, fought against the Kingdom of Prussia, Ottoman Turkey, Revolutionary France, and Napoleon's French Empire. He became a general officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and held important commands during the War of the Second Coalition. He displayed a talent for leading cavalry formations, but proved less capable when given corps-sized commands. During the 1805 Ulm Campaign in the Napoleonic Wars, the French badly defeated his corps and forced it to surrender soon afterward. From 1806 to his death in 1821, he was the Proprietor (Inhaber) of an Austrian cavalry regiment.
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.
Franz Freiherr von Werneck, enlisted in the army of Habsburg Austria and fought in the Austro-Turkish War, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. He had a distinguished career until 1797, when he was dismissed for losing a battle, and reinstated in 1805. In that year he surrendered his command and was later brought up on charges. He died while awaiting a court-martial.
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 Günzburg on 9 October 1805 saw General of Division Jean-Pierre Firmin Malher's French division attempt to seize a crossing over the Danube River at Günzburg in the face of a Habsburg Austrian army led by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Karl Mack von Lieberich. Malher's division managed to capture a bridge and hold it against Austrian counterattacks. The battle occurred during the War of the Third Coalition, part of the larger Napoleonic Wars.
Jean-Pierre Firmin Malher joined the army of the First French Republic and fought in the French Revolutionary Wars. During the Napoleonic Wars he rose in rank to command a division. He was accidentally killed in 1808 while on campaign in Spain. His surname is one of the Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe.
The Battle of Linz-Urfahr on 17 May 1809 saw soldiers from the Austrian Empire fighting against troops from two of Emperor Napoleon's allies, the Kingdom of Württemberg and the Kingdom of Saxony. An Austrian corps led by Feldzeugmeister Johann Kollowrat attacked General of Division Dominique Vandamme's Württembergers who held a fortified bridgehead on the north bank of the Danube opposite the city of Linz. As the combat got underway, Saxons led by Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte began reinforcing the defenders. This prompted Kollowrat to order a retreat, which was followed up by Napoleon's German allies.
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.
The VI Corps of the Grande Armée was a French military unit that existed during the Napoleonic Wars. It was formed at the Camp de Boulogne and assigned to Marshal Michel Ney. From 1805 to 1811, the VI Corps fought under Ney's command in the 1805 Austrian Campaign: War of the Third Coalition, Prussian Campaign of 1806 and Polish Campaign of 1807 of the War of the Fourth Coalition. General Jean Gabriel Marchand was in charge of the corps for a period when Ney went on leave. The VI Corps was revived in 1812 for the French invasion of Russia and placed under Marshal Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr. It consisted entirely of Bavarian soldiers at that time. During the disastrous retreat from Moscow, the corps was virtually destroyed. In 1813, during the War of the Sixth Coalition, it was rebuilt and reorganized with French troops. Marshal Auguste de Marmont took command of the corps and managed it until Napoleon's abdication in 1814. It took part in many battles including Dresden and Leipzig in 1813. During the War of the Seventh Coalition, General Georges Mouton commanded the VI Corps at the Battle of Waterloo.
References
Books
Bowden, Scott. "Napoleon and Austerlitz" Chicago, The Emperor's Press, 1997, ISBN0-9626655-7-6
Chandler, David. The Campaigns of Napoleon. New York: Macmillan, 1966.
Chandler, David. Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars. New York: Macmillan, 1979. ISBN0-02-523670-9
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
French Empire 
Austrian Empire 
Johann von Riesch 
