In the last episode in our series on the Napoleonic Wars, Emperor Bonaparte defeated the British
at Corunna and managed to restore his rule over most of the Iberian Peninsula. But Napoleon
couldn’t be at two places at the same time, and his absence in France was stirring his
old opponents, the Austrians - and that was putting
his hegemony over Europe in jeopardy. The war
of the Fifth Coalition was about to begin. Heavy defeats suffered by his subordinates
at the hands of the Spanish, Portuguese and British
troops at the battles of Bailen and Vimeiro in the Summer of 1808, showed the emperor
of France Napoleon Bonaparte that the war effort
there needed his personal command. However, he
knew that commander-in-chief of the Austrian army, Archduke Charles, was modernizing the
army, making it more similar to that of Napoleon, while the war party led by the Empress
Ludovica and Prince Metternich were advocating to go to war against France. So, to secure
his borders in Germany and Italy in September
of 1808 Napoleon called the congress of Erfurt with
the Russian Emperor Alexander I. Among 14 articles signed in October was the French
recognition of the Russian conquest of Finland from Sweden, and the Russian promise to defend
France in case of a war against Austria. With that, Napoleon left for Spain. Despite
the fact that he managed to score decisive victories
almost immediately, he left just around 100 thousand troops defending the vast territory
from the Duchy of Warsaw to the Rhine, and that was
enough for Russia and Austria to enter secret negotiations, during which Alexander, advised
by the former minister of Foreign Affairs for
France, Talleyrand, promised Francis I that he wouldn’t be defending France.
Although the war was not yet declared in the beginning of 1809, Napoleon knew of the Austrian
mobilization effort, and begin his return home on January 17th - the day after the victorious
battle of Corunna. In his usual swift fashion, he was back in Paris just 6 days later. Unfortunately
for him, the situation in the Iberian Peninsula was still complicated, and almost 300 thousand
of his best troops were tied up there. Meanwhile,
Charles used that time to bring up the total number of the Austrian troops to 340 thousand.
Napoleon started his own mobilization, and planned to have 260 thousand in Germany and
150 thousand in Italy, but the demographic situation
in France was rapidly deteriorating due to the
almost non-stop war of the last 2 decades, so not only did the French conscript the youth
from the class of 1810, but they also heavily relied
on their allies. Even despite these measures, Napoleon managed
to gather only around 174 thousand troops and
300 guns in the Army of Germany, with just 80 thousand in Italy and Dalmatia, and 35
thousand in Saxony and Poland. Napoleon knew that his
presence beyond the Rhine would provoke the Austrians into war, and would make him look
like an aggressor in the eyes of other European monarchs, so to prevent that from happening
he remained in Paris, nominating his chief of staff
Berthier the acting commander in chief with the headquarters in Strasbourg.
The emperor anticipated that the Austrians would send 100 thousand to Italy and a further
40 thousand against his forces in Saxony and
Poland, which would give his troops in the Danube
theater, which he expected to be crucial, numerical parity. Napoleon’s plan was to
halt the Austrian advance to the north of the Danube
and then attack and take Vienna.
To that end in early March he sent Davout’s corps to Nuremberg, Oudinot’s to Augsburg
and Massena’s to Ulm, while Lefebvre’s Bavarian
troops pushed all the way to the river Isar to
provide reconnaissance and forward screening. According to intelligence, Austrian troops
were massing between Vienna and Prague, and Napoleon
calculated that they were going to declare war on or after April 15th.
The emperor concluded that the Austrians had 3 possible lines of attack, and that the disposition
of his forces was good enough to defend against any of them. Therefore Berthier was sent orders
to make the town of Regensburg the center of French concentration if the Austrians attacks
after the 15th, or the River Lech if the attack
came earlier. However, Berthier lacked Napoleon’s genius and wasn’t able to execute the orders
in time, as the Austrian plan was even more ambitious than expected.
Charles sent only 50 thousand to Italy and less than 40 thousand to the Eastern theater,
which meant that he had more than 200 thousand troops
and 500 guns available for the Danube campaign. His attack was somewhat delayed
in March, since the Austrian court expected Prussia
to also join the war, but the latter was still too weak after the crushing losses in the
war of the Fourth Coalition.
Initially, the Austrian commander preferred to attack via Bohemia, hoping to separate
Napoleon from his allies in Germany and Poland, but
that would have left Vienna virtually undefended. So,
the Austrians lost precious time waiting for the Prussians and then changing their positions
after the French forces began concentrating around
Regensburg. On March 20th Charles moved his army into
a new order: 60 thousand Austrians were going to
attack Regensburg via Cham, 66 thousand via Scharding, with 60 thousand more defending
the left flank around Landshut. This plan was
ambitious, and if successful would have split the
French German army in two. Unexpectedly for Napoleon, Charles attacked
on April 9th with no formal declaration of war.
The only official indication that the war of the Fifth Coalition had begun was the note
sent to the French representative in Bavaria and Marshal
Lefebvre - the Austrians has achieved the element
of surprise. On the 10th their forces crossed the River
Inn at Braunau threatening Lefebvre’s corps at
Landshut. Berthier learned about this only on the 11th, and instead of executing his
orders to retreat to the river Lech, decided to move
to Donauwörth to assess the situation. The Austrians
were moving very slowly, which deceived Berthier, who gave orders to Davout, Oudinot and
Lefebvre, who were retreating to Lech, to advance to Regensburg again.
Berthier was completely out of his depth and unprepared to lead so many troops, and that
was amplified by orders from Paris often coming
late or being confusing. So, instead of falling back
to the Donauwörth-Augsburg line, the French army was positioned in two large wings,
connected by the small corps of Lefebvre, which was going to be attacked by the Austrians
any day now.
Fortunately for Berthier, the help was on the way. Napoleon, who sensed the confusion,
left the capital early on the 13th and reached Donauwörth
on the 17th. The timing was perfect, as on the
16th, Lefebvre was pushed from his positions on the River Isar and the Austrians had started
crossing. Napoleon assessed the situation and started giving orders. Davout and Vandamme’s
Württemberg troops were ordered to retreat towards the area of Ingolstadt and Geisenfeld,
while Lefebvre had to cover this retreat, slowly
inching toward the same area. On other hand, Charles thought that both Davout
and Lefebvre are now in his hands, and moved his forces in two pincers to catch them before
they would reach the Danube. However, Napoleon’s order to Massena and Oudinot
to move to Pfaffenhoffen, forming the French right
flank, was a new threat for the Austrian left and rear.
Unfortunately for him, the emperor underestimated the number of Austrian troops pushing
Lefebvre. He had also never fought in this area in Spring and didn’t know that the
terrain would slow Massena and Oudinot down, not allowing
them to reach Pfaffenhoffen in time. On the 18th, Napoleon realized that his plan
was too ambitious, and instead ordered Massena to
cross the river Ilm in the hopes that this would force Charles to move some of his forces
to the west, which would give the forces of Davout,
Lefebvre and Vandamme an opportunity to counter-attack near Abensberg.
This decision would prove crucial for the French, as Charles was forced to dedicate
Hiller’s corps to defend his left flank, so when his
forces attacked Davout and Lefebvre on April 19 th at
the triple battle of Teugen-Hausen, the French had a slight numerical advantage and managed
to score a minor victory.
On the same day Oudinot reached Pfaffenhoffen, while Massena was force marching towards
Landshut, planning to cut the Austrian line of retreat across Isar. Napoleon hoped to
counter- attack at Abensberg and turn the Austrians
to the east in order to then crush them along the
Danube and to that end he ordered Davout to give almost half of his divisions to the newly
arrived Lannes in the center of the front. Initially that maneuver worked to perfection,
as the French achieved numerical superiority over
the Austrians, which allowed Lannes and Lefebvre to defeat Archduke Louis and Kienmayer at
Abensburg on the 20 th . Simultaneously Oudinot scored a win against Hiller in a small skirmish.
Everything was pointing to a swift French victory and Napoleon issued new orders sending
Lannes and Lefebvre towards Landshut, while Davout was tasked to march to Regensburg,
to cut off the retreat of another Austrian corps
to the south. However, 3 of the Austrian corps were unaccounted
for, which meant that at least two thirds of
Charles’ army was intact. On the 20 th two of these corps attacked the lone French division
left in defense of Regensburg, and took the city.
At the same time, the pursuit of the Austrian left
wasn’t successful, as Massena was slowed down by the bad weather, and the Austrians
succeeded in regrouping beyond the Isar, leaving a strong garrison to defend Landshut. Even
though Napoleon arrived at Landshut on the 21 st and won a battle, during which the Austrians
lost 10 thousand troops, took the town and the
crossing, the Austrian left was now beyond his reach.
The same evening, Napoleon received news that the Austrians now controlled Regensburg and
Straubing, which meant that they could not only escape to Bohemia, but also retreat south
towards Vienna. Davout, who had around 36 thousand men, was being pressured by 75 thousand
Austrians. The Emperor sent Lannes towards Straubing to threaten the Austrian left, while
Vandamme was ordered to march to Ergoldsbach to assist Davout. By the 4:00 AM of the 22
nd it became clear that these maneuvers would not
force the Austrians to retreat, and Napoleon took
almost all of his forces and marched towards Ergoldsbach. Still Davout’s situation was
critical.
The morning of the 22nd April was foggy, and that made reconnaissance impossible until
8 AM. Commander of the Austrian IV Corps, Rosenberg,
sent a portion of his cavalry to occupy the positions around Schierling. Simultaneously,
Charles, who was encouraged by the apparent caution of the French, sent more
than half of his forces towards the north, as
he was sure that it would cut Davout’s possible line of retreat.
However, this severely weake ned the left of the Austrian army, and when Napoleon’s
vanguard reached them, the Austrians were pushed back with ease. The French occupied
the height of Lindach to the south of the Große Laber river.
The four Württembergian infantry battalions were sent to take the village of Buchhausen,
defended by light infantry and hussars, and after a series of clashes Austrian commander
was forced to retreat beyond the river, leaving the light infantry to defend the village of
Eckmühl. Another Austrian brigade was sent to the area to defend the village of Rogging,
which had another river crossing. The French troops quickly took over the heights
to the south of the Große Laber and Napoleon, who observed the positions, devised
a new plan - the Württembergian troops were ordered to attack Eckmühl, while Lannes
was deployed to the right and tasked with taking Rogging and attacking the Austrian
left and rear. Hearing the battle to the southeast of his
positions, Davout decided to launch his own full
frontal attack, hoping that it would pin down the Austrians and allow Napoleon to crush
them. Indeed his troops attacked, moving closer to the Austrians. By 3 PM the majority of
Napoleon’s troops were in the area, and at 4 his artillery fired ten volleys, which
was the signal for Davout that the attack was going
to start. Charles, who knew that the French were amassing
to the south, sent more troops to defend the river crossings. Initially the defenders
of Eckmühl managed to defend against the Württembergian allies of Napoleon for some
time. Only on their third attempt were the Württembergians able to seize the bridge,
after which they started fighting the Austrians within the town. More French troops were sent
to the area and the town was finally captured. Dozens of French cavalry squadrons
crossed the river and regrouped around Eckmühl. To the East, general Gudin’s forces
found a lightly defended crossing and pushed the Austrians back.
Charles has finally began to understand that he is facing the entire French army and
ordered Rosenberg and his 18 thousand to screen the retreat of the rest of his troops.
Meanwhile, Davout led his troops in an attack and Saint-Hilaire’s division captured the
village of Unterlaichling. This position was critical for the Austrians, so Rosenberg
concentrated whatever reserves he still had and managed to defend the cemetery of the
village and the forest beyond it. Davout sent his own reserves and their attack
into the Austrian left was enough to take the
cemetery. The French marshal also attempted to take Oberstanding, in order to envelop
the Austrian left, but his troops met heavy resistance and were stopped. To the south
Gudin was pushing the Austrians, however his advance was slow, so he failed to attack the
enemy rear. At the same time, Lannes’ soldiers took Rogging. Rosenberg knew that he had
to withdraw in order to save his corps. He left his cavalry and artillery to screen the
retreat and started his escape towards Thalmassing.
The battle of Eckmühl was over and the Austrian casualties were around 12 thousand, while
Napoleon lost less than 6 thousand. The early stages of this campaign proved that Napoleon
still was capable of turning almost any situation
to his advantage, but some of his plans were too
ambitious or too complicated for his subordinates to execute. The war of the Fifth Coalition
was just starting.
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