BATTLE REPORT - Ulm-Austerlitz 1805

[Nilgiri]

Napoleon's plan at this juncture was his classic strategy of superiority-La manuever sur les Derrieres.
Leaving one corps and murat's cavalry reserve to make movements in front of mack to attract mack's attention frontally in the black forest,the other corps would swing around a large strategic turning movement and descend upon mack 's right and rear by concentrating between ulm and ingolstadt,to thus reach the danube from the rhine by forced marches the french forces would position themselves between mack and the advancing russians seperating the 2,thus combining at once the indirect approach attack with the tactic of the central position.Once mack was isolated,his communications severed and encircled he would be squeezed out.This large turning movement was to be screened by the french cavalry.



28 SEPTEMBER-French corps continue their movement.Murat's cavalry corps feints through the black forest to attract austrian attention and screens the movement preventing austrian patrols from gathering information.Mack has 2 lines of communications-one through munich into austria proper and the secondary LOC through memmingen into atyrol in the south towards italy.



29 SEPTEMBER-Murat leaves behind a screen of light cavalry (not shown) and joins the turning movement with the rest of the cavalry reserve.


OCTOBER 1 - Four french corps advancing along parallel routes all within mutually supporting distance of each other with murat's cavalry reserve behind.Bernadotte and marmont coming from the north in flanking position.A battalion carre strategic march formation.Kienmayer's force on the extreme right formed as a observation force against the bavarians and possibly bernadotte.



OCTOBER 3 - The french advancing with clockwork precision,Bernadotte's I corps casually moves through the prussian enclave of ansbach.Napoleon writes to soult -''My intention is to envelop the foe from all sides''.By this time he had met the electors of baden and wurtemmberg and been promised their support.Austrian forces are still unaware of the true position of the french and are divided between the ulm area and further west still expecting the french to emerge in force from the black forest.(murat's light cavalry left behind still making movements here-not shown).Meanwhile kienmayer is unable to find any sign of the bavarians and pulls back to the south bank of the danube.The conflicting reports coming from north germany confuse the austrians,in contrast to the normal practice of the main army advancing through one route french corps unknown to the austrians are travelling by seperate but close routes-every road leading into germany apparently has napoleon's troops on it.Where they actually are,or where they are going..austrian intelligence has no idea.



OCTOBER 5 - Whole of the french army now about to concentrate on the danube,by now mack has been informed of the french advance through ansbach and kienmayer's force has been sent forward to the north bank of the danube to probe for signs of bernadotte.On the night of the 5th napoleon orders his forward corps's to seize the bridges over the danube.Meanwhile mack while still unawareof the exact position of the french now understands that the main french body is not coming through the black forest but rather from more north eastern direction.He abandons the forward positions on the rhine and begins redeployment of the troops along the danube riverline with the centre of operations at ulm.

NEXT: CONTINUED.

 

[Nilgiri]

OCTOBER 6:Mack plans a counterstroke,he concentrates his army at ulm for an attack across the danube through halsach in the direction of stuttgart hoping to attack what he believes are napoleon's line of communications.Kienmayer is asked to support the attack by renewing his advance on the north bank.On the night of the 6th of october Vandamme's division storms and siezes the danauworth bridge which was lightly defended by a battalion of kienmayer's force.With the french in front of him(davout and bernadotte ) and now his flank exposed by the fall of Danauworth kienmayer quickly retreats.French have secured a crossing across the danube and mack's plan comes to a standstill even before preparations were complete for its undertaking.


OCTOBER 7:The french stream through Donauworth as soult,lannes and murat are across the danube,meanwhile ney and davout secure crossings on the flanks.Mack finally understands the gravity of the situation and also recieves confirmed news of bernadotte's crossing of ansbach.He postpones his projected counterattack and attempts to shift his forces to face this new threat.He wrote to the Emperor Francis: “Since my courier of yesterday evening, our position has become alarming. We have confirmed the unfortunate news that Bernadotte has forced Ansbach, whereby he gained many marches whereby he has arrived sooner on the Danube. We will do everything possible in order to defeat him or to find our junction with the Russians without fighting, but everything has become much more difficult because of this unfortunate event which no one thought possible.“


Meanwhile the whole grande armee is more or less assembled on the danube.It had been an epic march..in just thirteen days 200,000 men with artillery and equipment had marched over 200 miles from the rhine to the danube and were now in a position to interpose themselves between mack and kutuzov.Napoleon understandably elated declared in his bulletin of the 7th october to his troops-
''The enemy advanced into the passes of the black forest where he planned to position himself and hold up our penetration,he hastily fortified the iller(tributary riverlinebetween rhine and danube),ulm and memmingen.However our patrols which are scouring the countryside have assured me he has abandoned these movements and appears gravely concerned by our movements which are as novel as they are unexpected.This great and vast movement has carried us in a few days into bavaria,avoiding the mountains of the black forest,the line of parallel rivers running into the danube and the inconvinience of a system of operations always threatened from the flank by the passes of tyrol.Furthermore it has placed us several days march into the rear of the enemy who has no time to lose if he is to avoid a complete disaster.''

 

[Nilgiri]

THE MANUEVRE OF ULM


OCTOBER 8 :French forces continue to pour over the danube,soult pursues Kienmayer.Lannes and murat assemble on his right and marmont,davout and bernadotte on his left.Meanwhile mack hears reports of the french crossing at donauworth and sends Auffenberg's force with 9 infantry battalions(including 6 grenadier battalions) and 4 cavalry squadrons as a reconssaince in force to investigate.Auffenberg force marches his grenadiers all night but doesn't encounter the french,he settles into the town of wertingen to rest his troops.At about this time the austrian patrols begin to encounter large incoming bands of french cavalry.The stage is set for the combat at wertingen.

BATTLE OF WERTINGEN:



The french cavalry advance in 3 bodies upon wertingen from 3 routes.In total they have 6 hussar squadrons and 18 dragoon squadrons.On the right Fauconnet's six hussar squadrons (from Lannes V corps light cavalry division) form a screen and distract the austrians frontally.Meanwhile on the right bank of the stream Beaumont's Cavalry division(from murat's cavalry reserve) with 18 dragoon squadrons is split in two.

Beaumont takes six dragoon squadrons and the horse artillery of both his and fauconnet's division and prepares to attack wertingen from the right flank.Meanwhile Exelmans,murat's chief of staff takes command of the rest of the 12 dragoon squadrons and assaults the village on the extreme right where the austrians had set up a outpost with a band of tyrolean jaeger skirmishers and 2 cheavuxleger cavalry squadrons.Lacking infantry ,exelmans dismounts his dragoons and storms the village..after savage fighting he overwhelms the outnumbered austrians..though the austrian cavalry escapes most of the austrian jaegers are cut down or captured.
Meanwhile Beaumont's guns begin bombarding wertingen.Auffenberg realizes his predicament and retreats his force to a nearby elevated sloping hillock for a better defensive posture.



Exelmans reorganizes his dragoons and masses all his cavalry at the foot of the hill.Meanwhile beaumont repositions all his guns at a flanking position to engage a bombardment of the austrian grenadiers formed up in squares and lays down an effective bombardment,the austrian infantry battalion guns(not shown here)are unable to silence this fire as the french guns are excellently positioned on the crest of the slope.
Now exlemans unleashes his 12 dragoon squadrons in wave after wave of attacks on the austrian line(note 2 chevauxleger cavalry squadrons having rallied and at the back) but to no effect.The french cavalry charging uphill against grenadiers in square are unable to make a dent and are shot down by volleys from the mutually supporting squares or impaled upon the hedge of bayonets.Auffenberg has chosen an excellent defensive position..an elevated hill protected on one side by the stream and the other by woods preventing movement of cavalry to encircle him.After several hours of this,it looks as if auffenberg may escape with slight damage as nightfall is not too long away.



At around 4.00 PM Murat and Lannes finally arrive.Murat has with him 18 dragoon squadrons(6 regiments with 3 squadrons each) of Klein's division and the corps artillery of the cavalry reserve.Lannes has with him the first division of his corps-10 fresh battalions of oudinot's grenadiers.The marshals confer on a joint attack as they observe exelmans's futile heroics.
Exelmans withdraws his tired and blown out 12 squadrons and is replaced by 18 squadrons of Klein's fresh dragoons on the french left.On the right beaumont's remaining fresh 6 squadrons are also ready.Murat's 8 pounders join the bombardment of the austrian squares and now the volume of fire gets too uncomfortable for auffenberg's men packed into cl;ose squares as whole files are blown away.Auffenberg sees fresh french cavalry massing on the foot of the hillock and this new artillery bombarment taking effect and knowing his tired men fighting and marching non stop for 24 hours gives the order to retreat... he hopes to slip away with less than 2 hours of daylight remaining.He instructs his 4 cavalry squadrons to delay the french cavalry.Unknown to him lannes 10 battalions have taken a secondary route,covered by the woods and the cavalry screen of fauconnet's hussars they are directly marching to cut off auffenberg's escape route to the rear.

French launch an all out attack from all directions.Klein's dragoons and beaumont's dragoons from the front with artillery support.Fauconnet's hussars from the right flank,the austrians try to retreat keeping their squares intact but as lannes grenadiers join the assault from the woods and cut them off ..austrian resistance collapses and degenerates into total rout.Nearly the whole force is captured or killed.The french suffered a mere 175 killed while the austrians suffered 400 killed and 2900 captured.Auffenberg's force had ceased to exist.
Mack in a fit of rage unfairly court martialled Auffenberg.



9 TH OCTOBER:Bonaparte expected mack now with his lines of communication with vienna in dire peril to come in a desperate retreat east where he intended to catch and crush mack.To this effect Soult,Lannes,murat and the guard were massed around Augsberg which he made his temporary centre of operations...while davout chased kienmayer and bernadotte and marmont would be within supporting distance.To napoleon this seemed the most likely situation.

However there were 2 other possibilities that might arise.Mack might instead of retreating East towards vienna retreat south through his secondary lines of communication at memmingen through the tyrolean passes into italy.However napoleon considered this a remote possibility,such a course of action would leave vienna-the austrian capital defenceless and remove all possibility of link up with kutuzov.Also without the austrian army, kutuzov's outnumbered forces coming west would find themselves faced with the full might of the grand armee and be overwhelmed destroying the whole allied plan.Nonetheless napoleon was already planning to send soult to take memmingen and cut off this escape route.

The final course of action left to mack would be a bold attack across the danube on to the north bank to threaten napoleon's own LOC.Napoleon however though this unlikely as this would take the austrians far away from the security of their last remaining secure LOC-the depots at memingen to tyrol.Nonetheless napoleon took steps for this eventuality.He rerouted his Line of communications further north to Nordlingen and assigned its protection to his new baden and wurtemmberger allies.2 Cavalry divisions and 1 infantry division was also detatched to support the german allies.Meanwhile napoleon ordered Ney's VI corps(23,000) to seize the crossings on the Danube to prevent any attempt at an austrian crossing.Ney ordered each of his 3 divisions to seize a crossing -General Malher at Gunzburg,General Dupont at Halsach and General Loison's division at Elchingen.

Meanwhile Mack planned just such a move,instead of retreating towards vienna,he hoped to stand fast at Ulm and wait for kutuzov.To this effect he ordered a concentration around Ulm and to threaten napoleon's own LOC with france commanded his forces to seize the crossings across the Danube at Gunzburg and Elchingen.

 

[Nilgiri]

BATTLE OF GUNZBURG:

Ney's first division(of VI corps) under General Malher arrived in the morning of the 9th in chilly weather with snow and rain to find the austrians in charge of the town under D'aspre,a fiery anti -revolutionary austrian general.Above picture( Malher)


By the time the french arrived the austrians had succeeded in partially demolishing 2 of the 3 possible bridge crossings over the danube.But the work on the central bridge was underway.Malher after conducting an initial reconssaince decided on an immediate 3 pronged attack simultaneously on all points hoping to break through on at least 1 point and then secure a beachhead.Malher had 9 infantry battalions and his divisional artillery with him.He took the elite company(grenadiers) of each battalion to form a 9 company ad-hoc assault force under Lefol and send it to seize the crossing at Leipheim.
On his left flank he assigned Labasee with 2 battalions and all the divisional artillery-7 guns to force a crossing on the left bridge.He employed the bulk of his forces under marcognet to seize the intact central bridge with six battalions.One battalion was left in reserve to reinforce any success.In total malher had 7200 men and 7 guns.

Facing him was D'Aspre with 7500 men and 20 guns.Auersperg defended the leipheim bridge with 3 battalions and 2 cuirassier squadrons and gyulai the right bridge with 4 battalions and 4 cavalry squadrons.The artillery was massed defnding the centre bridge in a perfect crossfire along with 3 infantry battalions.
In order to buy time for his engineers to demolish the bridge D'aspre leads a heroic charge with just 200 tyrolean jaegers on the centre island to stall the french.They are met and swamped by the onrushing 2 lead battalions of marcognet's assault force on the centre island.The whole force is killed or captured including D'Aspre ,but they buy enough time to enable the austrians to demolish the bridge.(see explosion sign on bridge).The french try to repair the bridge but come under devastating enfilade fire from the austrian artillery and are forced to retreat.


On the french right Lefol's grenadiers had got stuck in the muddy marsh and the projected attack had come to naught.Nonetheless their presence excited the attention of austrian forces at leipheim.
On the french centre marcognet had pulled out his forces to the far side of the island away from austrian canister range.
Overall the austrians had blunted the french storm and things had settled into a stalemate.

At this point Mack arrived in person and having deduced the impetus of the french to have been blown he ordered the reconstruction of the far right bridge as a first step towards an austrian attack across the danube.Just as the bridge is completed repairing however...the 2 battalions of Labasee's force who had lost their way in the woods appear.The veteran french infantry do not wait to assess the situation and taking the austrians completely by surprise storm the bridge at bayonet point even as the artillery sets up for fire support.Gyulai's 4 infantry battalions are still in line when they are struck in massed column attack by the french.

Unfortunately here the austrians had 2 problem.First gyulai ,a cavalryman had deployed his infantry without space between them like a packed body of cavalry.Second these 4 battalions were largely newly recruited.So when the 2 french battalion columns struck the first of these raw battalions and broke it without space the fleeing troops collided with their rear battalions sending the whole closely stacked force into disorder and disarray,ultimately causing a chain rout of 4 austrian battalions at the hands of 2 french.Austrian mishaps had now caused a recipe for disaster.



1.Gyulai charges his 4 cavalry squadrons at the 2 french battalions but are easily repulsed by the french formed up in squares.After taking heavy losses from interlocking fire from squares they retreat.
2.Meanwhile malher seizes the oppurtunity and redirects as his reserve battalions from the centre to support the beachhead on the left flank.
3.The four routed austrian battalions flee in disorder with attempts to rally them continuing.
4.After repulsing the austrian cavalry,Labasee is reinforced by malher and with artillery support launches his assault upon gunzberg.Meanwhile in the centre marcognet also joins in.
5.Facing a 2-pronged assault mack gives the order to retreat even though austrian reinforcements were nearby.The austrians fall back to Ulm.The french have seized gunzberg crossing.

The austrians lost 1650 men including d'aspre captured,plus six guns.French lost only 520 men.

NEXT: Bonaparte closes the trap.Battles of Halsach and Elchingen.

 

[Nilgiri]

I agree with @Koovie . Outstanding explanations, @AUSTERLITZ . From a more abstract perspective, what do you suppose enabled the French commanders to devise and employ such innovative tactics? I wonder what happened to degrade French military prowess in the following century.

Austerlitz:

The spirit of the french revolution which produced a meritocracy,soldiers and commanders with over a decade of practical battlefield experience behind them and also the result of half a century of military introspection after france's poor performance in the seven years war against frederick's prussia.
In the following century in the first world war french fought heroically,but became completely complacent after their victory.The introspection was gone because they had won.their commanders went to ww2 to fight the LAST war,while the germans introspected and adopted new technologies.Overall i think the decline of cavalry-an arm particularly suited to the french also affected french performance.Also by 20 th century france was both outperformed by a unified germany in both manpower and industrial strength,no longer the grand nation of europe.And they also didn't have napoleon to lead them.

 

[Nilgiri]

MANUEVER OF ULM -PART II


10 OCTOBER: Napoleon ordered ney to take ulm which he believed mostly abandoned while he positioned his forces to meet a mack in retreat,and his other corps to block a russian approach.Murat was given temporary command over the right wing of the french army(authority over ney and lannes)-a decision that would have unforeseen consequences.Meanwhile after gunzburg all austrian forces had retreated around ulm.



11 OCTOBER:Napoleon orders soult to move towards landsberg as a first step towards attacking memmingen,the last remaining austrian secure depot.On the night of 10 october murat with his temporary authority showed his amateur skills as a strategist and unable to fully understand napoleon's orders ,commanded ney to move 2 out his 3 divisions to the south bank of the danube.This left his third division under Dupont isolated on the north bank.Ney violently protested this and the two almost came to blows before being stopped by lannes.Murat remained defiant ,declaring -''I only make plans in sight of the enemy',a furious ney accepted his orders grudgingly.This however left Dupont and his 5000 men alone on the north bank of the danube.
Meanwhile mack had been persuaded by his officers and ferdinand to make a breakout attempt through the north bank of the danube.He was further emboldened by the news that the french had crossed over to the south bank last night.This was to take place through Haslach -Jungingen.(see map,just N-W of ulm),exactly where dupont was marching.

BATTLE OF HASLACH JUNGINGEN:




Dupont saw this massive austrian force before him and saw his only chance at survival being to bluff.He would act aggressively as if he was the advance guard of ney's whole corps and not just a isolated detatchment.If he retreated the austrians would follow with full force and with 3200 cavalry would overtake his small force and destroy it.Dupont's intention was to decieve the austrians as to the size of his force and his actual situation and delay until nightfall.

Dupont saw the village of Jungingen as a key strongpoint,if the austrians seized it they would be clear to launch a two prong frontal and flank attack at halsach.Dupont had just 6 battalions of infantry,8 guns and 9 squadrons of cavalry.He detatched all the elite companies of each battalions and formed a ad-hoc force of 500 grenadiers under Officer Decouchy and sent them to fortify jungingen-on a sloped position.Grenadiers established the church as their main strongpoint.
To support this force dupont sent his 2 regiments( 4 battalions) -the 9th light and 96th line and placed them in column on the reverse slope behind the village to act as a counterattack force.
His remaining regiment the 32nd line regiment with its 2 battalions and 6 guns he placed on the forward slope overlooking halsach.Behind him stood 3 squadrons of hussars and 2 guns as a counterattack force on the right of halsach and 6 squadrons of dragoons under sahuc as a general reserve.

Mack's main problem was he couldn't see the full strength of the french forces-Ney's whole corps could be behind the slopes of halsach.He decided to proceed cautiously as most austrian generals of the era did.He massed 12 battalions of infantry and 28 squadrons of cavalry to take jungingen which he correctly identified as a key strongpoint.Howver these battalions lacked their battalion guns due to shortage of horses.

Meanwhile on the right Reisch and Werneck were still forming up their huge force of 26 infantry battalions(with guns),unsure about the the strength of the enemy in front of them.

1. Meanwhile Ferdinand accompanying mack relased the first wave of austrian infantry to assault jungingen.However no attempt was made to co-ordinate the infantry with cavalry or artillery though both were available in plenty nearby.6 battalions in columns stormed jungingen unsupported by either artillery or cavalry,initially they pushed back the screen of french skirmishers but got disordered in the streets and ran to massed musketry fire from the elite french grenadiers in the church.(lacking artillery support they couldn't blow out the gates of the church)As this battle was heating up ,the 2 battalions of the crack veteran 9th light(9' Legere)-awarded the title 'Incomparable' by napoleon due to their superb battlefield performance in the italian campaigns and one of the most famous regiments in the grande armee came headlong bayonets shining and crashed into the disordered and scattered austrians from both flanks.The result was a total rout with 2000 austrian prisoners captured and the rest fled.

2. Neither mack nor ferdinand made any attempt to learn from their mistake and simply hurled in the second wave of six battalions at the village.The result was exactly the same- again the attack went in without any cavalry or artillery support,again the 9th light ambushed the austrians from both flanks and again 2000 austrians were captured.It had been an incredible debacle.

 

[Nilgiri]

At this point mack finally unleashed his cavalry -3200 horsemen under schwarzenberg thundered towards jungingen in 28 squadrons.A first wave of 15 cheavuxlegers ,followed by 13 more of cuirassiers.Here they found the lone battalion of 96th line still in line waiting as a reinforcement force for the village.(9th light was in the village with the combined elite companies force).Seeing easy prey the chevauxlegers surrounded the hapless outnumbered force which had formed square to annihilate it from all directions by spreading out..aand got ambushed.Sahuc and his six dragoon squadrons had been watching the 96th line's 1st battalion in dire peril and the french dragoons charged the austrian cavalry scattered and out of formation from the flank and rear causing a rout.Sahuc's 600 dragoons had saved the 96th.


1. But soon sahuc's outnumbered horsemen encountered the second line of cuirassiers coming up,forced back by this new attack the dragoons covered the withdrawal of the 96th.Decouchy and all french forces seeing the village compromised evacuated the village and retreated.At this point the austrians had an excellent chance to harry the retreating french into their open flank.If they got to halsach they would in any case discover the true strength of the french.

2.However the austrian cavalry discovered the nearby french baggage train,and suffering from bad supplies for a while,lost control and went off on a mass looting spree as they sabred the cooks and gorged on whatever foodstuffs and goodies they could find.-in the process taking themselves out of the fight.This indiscipline probably saved dupont.

3.Meanwhile after the austrians had taken jungingen by 5:00 PM,reisch finally got moving deeming the other flank secure.His initial six columns atatcked uphill into the waiting 32ndLine and ran into a withering fire from muskets and the french artillery while being simultaneously hit from the right flank by the hussars.The whole force fell back in disarray.
Now reisch came back for a second attempt..this attempt supported by artillery and with greater numbers began to push dupont's force back.Realizing he had done as much as he could dupont began a orderly fighting withdrawal-french retreated in perfect order with all 4000 prisoners.Nightfall prevented any pursuit and the austrians were wary of further ambushes.


The battle overall had been a complete disaster for the austrians.The austrians lost 400 killed,1100 wounded and a 4000 prisoners.They had not only blown their best chance at breaking out on the north bank of the danube by taking advanatge of murat's blunder,but failed to destroy dupon'ts isolated force and lost a huge number of casualities with little to show for it.Mack was so dejected after the battle he cancelled his breakout attempt for a day to reorganize his force.He would never have another chance.French for their part had escaped with about a 1000 killed and wounded including camp followers.Dupont's generalship as well as the initiative of the local commanders decouchy and sahuc had been first rate.

Napoleon was not pleased by the battle at halsach and rebuked both ney and murat for leaving dupont unsupported.But now he knew mack was still in force around Ulm.Lannes ,murat, and marmont were to surround mack from the east,ney from the north and soult would swing from the south-seize memmingen cutting off his last remaining escape route and close the trap.His orders to his marshals was simple -
''Not one is to escape''

13 OCTOBER:By 13 october napoleon was in the vicinity of Ulm .On the same day soult's corps attacked and captured memmingen taking 4600 austrians prisoner and sealing off this last escape route.Meanwhile bernadotte ,davout and the bavarians were firmly entrenched on the danube defense line around munich ready to repulse any russian advance,but napoleon was assured the russians were still 180 miles away.(ignore auffenberg in above diagram,its an error-his command was destroyed at wertingen)
On the other side ,Mack was planning another breakout this time through elchingen-initially planning to send the army in four columns force the crossing,brush aside dupont and move towards bohemia to unite with the russians.
.Repeated defeats to the french had caused autrian morale to hit rock bottom.Even as he was planning this,here mack recieved news from a french double agent that the british had landed in boulogne and a coup had taken place in paris.Living in his own world of delusions,he concluded napoleon was thus in full retreat that is why the french were streaming west.Based on this piece of gossip,mack living in his own paradise ordered Reisch,Werneck and Jellacic to form 3 flying columns initially planned for the breakout to 'pursue the french' both north and south.Reisch went towards elchingen to 'block the french retreat'.
Meanwhile on the night of the 13th ney got the orders he had been waiting for.He was to recross the danube at elchingen ,rejoin Dupont and seal of any austrian escape attempt through the north bank.This set Reisch and Ney on collision course at Elchingen.


NEXT: Battle of Elchingen- Capitulation of Ulm - Analysis of the whole Maneuver

 

[Nilgiri]

ENCIRCLEMENT OF ULM-FINAL PHASE

BATTLE OF ELCHINGEN:

Reisch's column was one of the supposed pursuit forces that was to harry the french on the north bank of the danube according to mack's delusions.Meanwhile ney had orders from napoleon to rejoin dupont's isolated division on the north bank of the danube and seal off any austrian escape through the crossings over the danube.On the night of the 13th reisch reached elchingen and garrisoned the town ,resting his men.His force had 15,000 men.Reisch deployed the bulk of his army on the reverse slopes between the twin villages that formed elchingen and had a small scouting advance guard covering the bridge across the danube.

On the morning of the 14th Ney's 6th corps made a series of assaults across the bridge and with heavy artillery support forced the austrian advance guard to retreat towards the main body.The impetous french infantry vanguard recklessly pursued them before ascending a crest and coming in view of the whole austrian army deployed on the reverse slope.Beating a hasty fighting withdrawal they rejoined the main body of ney's corps.Ney now knew what he was up against and began feeding his whole corps across the bridge deploying on the plains before elchingen for a showdown with the austrians.



Reisch had deployed his whole force with its two flanks anchored by the two sections of elchingen(ober-elchingen on the left from our view and unter elchingen on the right).His force numbered around 15,000 infantry and cavalry but just 14 guns.Lack of horses had not allowed more to be carried forward.However 12 of his 14 guns were light 6 pounders and the other 2 howitzers and he lacked any heavy 12 pdrs that ney's corps artillery reserve possesed.He had 29 infantry battalions and 13 squadrons of cavalry.
Reisch garrisoned ober-elchingen with 4 infantry battalions with 2 grenadier battalions further backwards on the reverse slope as reinforcement and 2 hussar squadrons nearby.This force was supported by 6 6-pounder guns.
He stationed 20 infantry battalions on the reverse slope between the two villages(almost like wellington at waterloo),8 cuirassier squadrons and 1 uhlan squadron as support and his remaining guns .He didn't garrison unter-elchingen on his left flank but put forward a flanking detatchment of 3 battalions and 2 cuirassier squadrons to harass any french attack on his position from the right flank.

Ney had with him his 2nd infantry division of Loison -9 fullstrength infantry battalions(french battalions 1000 men to austrian 800 usually),Colbert's famous light cavalry 'Infernal brigade" with 6 squadrons of light cavalry(3 chasseurs,3 hussars) plus Laplanche's cavalry division from the cavalry reserve(9 dragoon squadrons)-whole force being supported by 28 guns several of them being 12 pounders.His 3rd division under malher(have met them at battle of gunzburg earlier) was fast approaching.




(Marshal Ney)

1.Ney's plan was to first dislodge the austrians from their secure flanks and then roll them up with an all out assault from all directions.Loison's divisional artillery was combined with ney's corps artillery to form an assault battery under seroux directly aimed at ober elchingen.Here the redheaded ney ,sabre in hand led 2 battalions of the 6th Line in person into the village of ober elchingen.The french infantry were supported by 2 guns and were able to slowly engage the scattered austrian infantry piecemeal.

2.Austrian defenses in the village as well as the hussar squadrons are devastated from long range french artillery fire from seroux's 12 pounders.Aided by this heavy volume of firepower and ney leading by example the french stormed ober elchingen and took the village in heavy close quarter fighting.Surviving austrians fled the village.The nearby 2 grenadier battalions never joined the battle as reinforcements for unknown reasons even though they were within supporting distance.Ney had now unhinged the austrian right flank without interference.

3 and 4.Ney ordered Laplanche to deal with the austrian left flank forces.Laplanche's 9 dragoons squadrons supported by horse artillery formed up in 3 waves of 3 squadrons each.The first wave charged the austrian lead battalion directly.The supporting austrian cuirassier squadrons took the bait and moved to take the french dragoons from both wings.Now laplanche's second and third waves flanked and swarmed the cuirassiers from both directions sending them in headlong flight.With mescery's cavalry support gone,the french dragoons surrounded the 3 austrian infantry battalions from all sides.The asutrian battalions attempted to form battalionmasse formation,but the close fire support provided by the accompanying french horse artillery broke up the austrian defenses resulting in a total rout of teh austrian dragoons.Laplanche;s pursuing cavalry took large numbers of prisoners.Now the austrian left flank too had been torn open.An interesting thing to note here as reisch's passivity..he let ney roll up both of his secure flanks without any attempt to reinforce them in a shabby show of generalship.



1.At about midday with his flanks secure ney began his main attack.His main attack on the austrian centre was led by 5 battalions of loison's infantry with 2 more in reserve.The french attacked uphill in columns preceeded by skirmishers.As they neared the asutrians they switched to line formation,the french skirmishers had already begun engaging the austrians.The austrians fired at the coming french at about 150-200 yards-at this extreme range their musket volleys were were largely ineffective and most of the bullets flew high harmlessly.The french in contrast kept coming,held their fire to the last moment before discharging a devastating volley at 50-75 yards that shattered the austrian front ranks.

2.Meanwhile Laplanche has reorganized his dragoons and is formed ready to engage the battalions on the extreme of the austrian left flank.Note the french infantry attack concenetrated entirely on the right centre ignoring these battalions.

3.At this point the austrian centre was already struggling under accurate french musketry,Colbert with his 'hell's brigade' sensed blood and screaming with their sabres waiving launched a reckless cavalry assault on the austrian infantry of the austrian centre.The charging french light cavalry took very heavy losses but were irreppressible and kept coming.Once they got among the austrians in line all hell broke loose and they began sabring the austrians.The austrian infantry in this sector under dual attack from the french infantry and cavalry began to surrender in droves.A last ditch attempt was made by the uhlan squadron which charged the french skirmishers of the rightmost french infantry battalion.But the french had judciously kept this battalion in column and they quickly formed square to repulse the uhlans.At this point the hussars and chasseurs of colbert joined the fray forcing the uhlans into retreat.

4.The austrian right flank battalions were the first to collapse.They took flanking fire from the 6L garrisoned in the village while being pressed by the french from the front.The battalions on this flank belonging to 24 auersperg regiment had already suffered a beating few days ago at halsach jungingen and had enough.They broke and fled as the austrian right flank began to give way.

5.At this point resich's situation was looking bad,but he still had several battalions of the second line unengaged.Resich however could see thousands of french reinforcements under malher's division now crossing the danube and massing on the plains below and gave the order to retreat with whatever force he could salvage.Battle of elchingen was over.

Battle cost the austrians heavily.4000 killed and wounded and 3000 prisoners in the battle itself.Several thousand more went missing/deserted or captured in the retreat.When reisch reached ulm the next day he had 2500 men from 15,000 left with him.His force had ceased to exist as a battleworthy formation.Elchingen plummeted remaining austrian morale to rock bottom after a string of 4 back to back defeats.It was now also clear that not only were the french not in retreat but the austrian hopes of breaking out via the north bank of the danube were gone.Poor performance of the austrians in the battle can be attributed to lack of artillery support and low morale and passive generalship.Napoleon on the other had was delighted with the battle and granted ney the title of '.Duke of Elchingen'.French had lost 1600 men.



By 15th october french forces had surrounded ulm from all sides.Ney,lannes,marmont and soult.Meanwhile the 2 other pursuit columns of jellacic and werneck had continued unsupported unaware of the reality,one was about to face soult's corps coming from the south and the other was pursued by murat(ignore auffenberg in map as stated earlier-murat had beaten off an attack by werneck on dupont with austrians losing 2500 men).Meanwhile napoleon arrived at ulm in person and ordered that the Michelsberg, a hill that dominated Ulm from the northwest, be seized. Having now totally surrounded Ulm, Napoleon sent an emissary to Mack demanding the Austrian army's surrender.French seizure of michelsburg would allow french artillery to bombard ulm with impunity

 

[Nilgiri]

Mack was now in a dangerous situation: there was no longer any hope of escaping along the north bank, Marmont and the Imperial guard were hovering at the outskirts of Ulm to the south of the river, and Soult was moving north from Memmingen to prevent the Austrians escaping south to the Tyrol. Troubles continued with the Austrian command as Ferdinand overrode the objections of Mack and ordered the evacuation of all cavalry from Ulm, a total of 6,000 troopers on the 16th and escaped from ulm abandoning mack.Events at Ulm were now reaching a conclusion. On October 15, Ney's troops successfully charged the Michelsberg encampments and on the 16th the French began to bombard Ulm itself. Austrian morale was at a low point and Mack began to realize that there was little hope of rescue. On October 17, Napoleon's emissary, segur signed a convention with Mack in which the Austrians agreed to surrender on October 25 if no aid came by that date.
However murat's pursuit of the austrians was ferocious.only six squadrons of 6000 of ferdinand's men could escape.On 19th october with no supplies,low on ammunition and morale rockbottom,continously harried by murat's cavalry werneck surrendered with 8,000 men followed by another12,000 stragglers.Soult scooped up further austrian detatchments as murat also captured the entire austrian field park of 500 vehicles,the debacle for austria was complete.Mack heard of the capitulations and dejected, agreed to surrender five days before schedule on October 20. He now understood there was no hope of kutuzov reaching him anytime soon and in any case his path would be blocked by 3 french corps. Fifteen hundred troops from the Austrian garrison managed to escape, but the vast majority of the Austrian force marched out on October 21 and laid down their arms without incident, all with the Grande Armée drawn up in a vast semicircle observing the capitulation.




Mack surrenders ulm with 30,000 austrians.Mack introduced himself to napoleon as 'the unfortunate general mack'.
AFTERMATH:The news of Ulm was met with disbelief and accusations of treason and cowardice in London and vienna.Mack was courtmartialled and sentenced to death.(not carried out).A shocked kutuzov came to know of the disaster when a tired dishevelled austrian officer came into his headquarters and gave him the news in person,introducing himself as general mack -minus his army.

As shockwaves hit the courts of europe,the french were jubiliant.An elated bonaparte declared in his bulletins-
''“Thirty thousand men, among them 2,000 cavalry, together with 60 guns and 40 standards have fallen into the hands of the victors…. Since the beginning of the war, the total number of prisoners taken can be evaluated at 60,000, the number of standards at 80 without listing the artillery or baggage trains…. Never have victories been so complete and less costly''

It was not an empty boast.The ulm campaign remains one of the great strategic masterpieces of military history and one of the great examples of manuever warfare,the whole austrian field army of germany was destroyed almost without any heavy fighting.The campaign cost the austrians 60,000 of their frontline troops in total(mostly surrendered-30,000 at ulm other in lesser actions).In contrast french had lost around 3000.An incredible feat.The astounded french soldiers boasted-

''The emperor has found a new way of making war,he makes us use our legs instead of our bayonets''.

ANALYSIS OF THE ULM CAMPAIGN:



The ulm campaign is considered THE classic example of the indirect approach strategic manuever or La manuever sur les Derrieres and a grand masterpiece in military history.'This maneuver involves distracting the enemy with secondary forces while using the main force to strategically envelop the enemy in rear and flank. This maneuver seeks to force the enemy to react and give battle on unfavourable terms for fear of being cut off from supplies or communications. This maneuver is usually attempted if an aggressive mobile force is available or if enemy supply and communication lines are vulnerable. Advantages of this maneuver include the total victory if the enemy loses a battle while cut off from his base and the prospect of alternative objectives once in the enemy’s rear and flank. The disadvantages of this maneuver are few because the maneuver has so much diversity although mobility and timing are vital to its success.'



[A template of Manuever sur les Derrieres]
Napoleon's favourite move and startegy of superiority/equity.This strategy entailed for a secondary force [1-2 corps] to pin the enemy down in a feint attack,while napoleon force marched his main force through the nearest flanking route hidden by a cavalry screen and natural obstacle to arrive on the enemy's rear or flank and sever his line of communications.On the extreme left is the french secondary force that diverts enemy attention, any garrisons in nearby areas[optional and conditional] may also serve as diversions.Meanwhile aided by a natural obstacle and covered by a cavalry screen the main army force marches to attack the enemies lines of communication.[Note in this case its the danube river and murat's cavalry screen].This movement required excellent mobility and very bold leadership and nerve.Once arrived on his enemies flank or rear napoleon whenever possible attempted to set up a 'strategic curtain' based on a natural barrier.All river crossings would be blocked[blocking bridges required very few troop],thus isolating his victim from reinforcements ,supply and retreat.If there was possibility of reinforcement a corps of observation could be set up to pin down any approaching reinforcements[This was what we saw here as davout and bernadotte were dispatched to hold up the approaching russians on the danube line].After establishing the strategic curtain he then relentlessly advanced on the main enemy army from its rear or flank.Now the enemy had 2 choices fight on unfamiliar ground or even worse be caught from the rear while engaged with secondary force[if he failed to detect the turning movement] or surrender/flee with whatever forces could be salvaged out of the trap.

Advantages of the strategy are high.Enemy would be surprised and his equillibrium shaken at the sudden threat to his rear.An enemy general could attempt 3 things at this juncture.

1.If he was confident enough he could continue to advance against the french secondary force.
However Napoleon was always careful to see to it that the pinning force was strong enough to resist for a certain amount of time,and also that it was covered by a river line or nearby fortress.[See the image,secondary force based on easily defensible riverline with fortress nearby for refuge in case of emergency].However the kicker is that even if the enemy was successful in forcing his way through and advanced against the secondary force-he would still be only more and more entangling himself into the trap.Going deeper and deeper into hostile territory,cut off from provisions and a rampaging napoleon about to descend upon him from the rear.

2.He could attempt to attack Napoleon's main force's overextended Lines of communication[LoC] in turn,trying to cut off the army that is attempting to sever his LoC.However to do such a thing the enemy would have to split his army up piecemeal.One to engage the secondary pinning force in front.One to watch napoleon in the rear and finally the rest to conduct the actual operation.This dispersal would be fatal to the enemy,as napoleon's main army would not oblige to being 'watched' and would descend upon the outnumbered forces with utmost speed and ruthlessness and next on the one engaging the original french secondary force in all probability annihilating both seperately.If napoleon thus linked up with his original secondary force his new lines of communication along the straight route though the secondary force would make the allied attack on his previous LoC irrelevant.
In any case the french were accustomed to living of the countryside and thus far less vulnerable to temporary disruption in supply than he european armies of the period.Napoleon during a campaign kept his line short and constantly readjusted them,focusing them on a few Centre of operations directly to the armies rear.[shown on diagram- petit palace and centre of operations denote french mobile supply depots changing places].Napoleon was thus prepared to accept a temporary break in his supply columns if it meant placing the enemy army in a scattered and vulnerable position.This is what mack tried to do here but failed at gunzburg,halsach and elchingen.In any case napoleon had already shifted his LOC further northward through nordlingen as stated earlier.

3.Finally,the opposing commander could turn back in a hurry and march to offer battle to napoleon's main force.[the course of action depicted in the diagram]And this is playing Napoleon's game.Battle would be fought on ground chosen by napoleon,and the enemy morale would be shaken and his formations scattered and disorganized by the sudden withdrawal.And he would still require to leave behind a force to contain the original french secondary force or risk being taken in the rear mid-battle.Note that if the enemy army was defeated in such a position in the resulting battle,it would likely be destroyed as its retreat was cut off and french cavalry could conduct a total strategic pursuit.This was what napoleon initially believed mack would do and was concentrating his forces for.



[Napoleon's Ulm campaign in detail]
Now compare the above with the basic template of a manuever sur les derrires operation.Here the Alps to the south forms the safe flank.The danube river forms the natural barrier for the turning movement.Murat's cavalry reserve and Lannes V corps(first phase)/Ney's VI corps(second phase) forms secondary force and screen.Here bernadotte,Davout and the bavarians form the strategic curtain or the observation force that blocks any russian reinforcements.The battle depicted in the template would have happened if mack had retreated in a hurry facing napoleon unprepared and on ground chosen by bonaparte,he didn't and instead attacked napoleon's LOC but failed to break through leading to total encirclement and annihilation of his force without much heavy fighting in a devastating show of the power of this manuever.

The ulm manuever was unprecedented in european history since caesar at illerda over a thousand years earlier.No trained european field army had been defeated and surrendered without almost fighting by just manuever alone.This feat has been achieved in history by very few generals(tamerlane,caesar,napoleon,moltke,germans in ww2).The german general staff attempted to replicate the ulm manuever in their famous schliffen plan of world war I.

NEXT: ENTER KUTUZOV.

 

[Nilgiri]

PURSUIT OF KUTUZOV:

The dramatic french offensive that culminated in the capitulation of ulm had derailed all allied planning.Of mack's army of germany only kienmayer's Corps and part of jellacic's column had managed to escape.106 infantry battalions and twenty six squadrons had surrendered,leaving aside actual combat losses.Napoleon now turned his attention to kutuzov who was approaching with 27,000 men and 11,000 more following close behind.

But bonaparte couldn't afford to lose time,kutuzov's force had linked up with kienmayer's column and surviving garrisons-around 20,000 austrians.Buxhowden with another russian force of 40,000 was fast approaching.With the violation of ansbach,prussia had finally cast in her lot with the allies and its mobilization of 200,000 prussian troops were in full swing.Another 20,000 russians under bennigsen would eventually join the allied forces.Meanwhile 20,000 austrian troops under archduke john guarding the tyrol had retreated and now attempted to link up with archduke charles and his 90,000 austrians in italy opposing massena.Archduke ferdinand tried to rally some 8000 survivors of ulm in bohemia.Given the time and chance to regroup,the grand coalition could still hurl 400,000 men at napoleon and yet overwhlem him.




SUMMARY ABOVE:(Bonaparte intended to directly strike at vienna,hoping to force kutuzov and the surviving austrian forces in the central theatre to be compelled into defending the city heavily outnumbered.But the old fox kutuzov would have none of it.Doggedly refusing to fight ,kutuzov retreated burning every bridge behind him while pursued by the french in a game of cat and mouse.Ney's 6th corps which had seen heavy action and by the terms of the capitulation of ulm had to stay there till 25 october halted..Meanwhile Augereau's 15,000 strong VII corps had arrived at the rhine.With Lannes V corps and soult's IV corps sperheading the pursuit of kutuzov in the centre covered by murat's cavalry reserve,Mortier's 8th corps and Bernadotte's I corps homed in from the north on vienna while Davout's 3rd corps came from the south in a classic battalion carre strategic formation.Marmont's II corps was redirected towards Leoben(see map) which was the main road link to north italy as a precautionary blocking detatchment in case archduke charles sent any reinforcement towards vienna from there.)
DETAILS ABOVE PICTURE:Skirmishes and rearguard actions by austrian and russian troops at Reid and Lambach(map) slowed the french advance at the cost of over 1000 casulaities to 200 french.Kutuzov under pressure from his austrian allies hoped for a brief stand behind the Enns riverline(map) and positioned his rearguards while the french were busy repairing the bridges over the traun river(map).Kutuzov's main body was at Enns with the austrian column of Merveldt at Steyr further south blocking a crossing in that direction.On 4th november bagration's rearguard burnt the bridge at enns and settled on the opposite bank as the french approached.Faced with this russian riverline defense napoleon hoped for a outflanking move from Davout's 3rd corps to seize the steyr crossing from merveldt's austrian troops .

On 5th november Davout stormed Steyr and in a brief engagement drubbed merveldt's demoralized troops.The french seizure of this crossing point exposed kutuzov's southern flank at enns and he resumed his retreat.His rearguard gave a good account of themselves at amstteten (see map).Pursuing 3 weary battalions of austrians..the french came across nine battalions of russian infantry and 18 squadrons of cavalry defending a defile with forests covering both flanks.An overconfident murat had led 300 french hussars in a hot pursuit of the austrians when he suddenly came face to face with this force.The french wheeled about trying to retreat when the russian cavalry charged and the french horsemen along with murat had to flee in disorder with 300 killed or wounded before the russian cavalry was halted by french horse artillery.The french soldier Segur writes -'This was a new experience for murat,who realised he was no longer fighting austrians', and who was by this time used to unimpeded success.
Murat called up reinforcement in form of oudinot's grenadiers while bagration's rearguard was reinforced by miloradovich.In hard fought encounter that lasted into the evening allied casualities were around a thousand russians and thousand austrians to a thousand french.However an outnumbered bagration had performed his duty well and allowed the austro-russian troops to retreat that night.Overall the tenacity of the russian infantry in this first encounter left a deep impression on the french soldiers.


''Not one of them surrendered,but defended themselves and even continued to attack us.When the fight was over we had to knock them down with our musket butts''


(Marshal Mortier -'The Bear')

Unable to pin down Kutuzov,a frustrated napoleon planned a new stroke.Napoleon formed a new 8th corps under mortier at Linz(See map) -composed of Gazan's Infantry division detatched from Lannes V corps(Note V corps had already marched through linz where it had dropped of gazan).The other elements of the 8th corps would be klein's cavalry division formerly part of the cavalry reserve and Dupont's infantry division ,formerly part of ney's 6th corps-these were already marching in the direction of Linz.
This new 8th corps would move to the north bank of the danube and was intended to block the river crossings to prevent kutuzov from escaping northwards towards reinforcements coming from russia,and thus trap him between mortier(VIII) blocking him from the north,with Bernadotte's( I )corps soon within supporting distance,the main french body of Lannes(V),Soult(IV)and murat coming from centre and Davout(III) from the south.Napoleon's calculations were based on the fact that kutuzov would stand and fight before vienna based on the ferocity of the russian defense at amstteten.However this left mortier out of easy supporting distance on the northern bank if he overextended himself and kutuzov instead retreated faster than expected in the northern direction.

Meanwhile davout(III) and marmont(II) caught up with and destroyed parts of merveldt's austrian column at mariazell and weyer causing nearly 4000 losses with trifling casualities before continuing on to their objectives set by napoleon.Vienna and Leoben.




BATTLE OF DURRENTSTEIN:

While the bulk of the french army was being concentrated to converge on vienna,the wily kutuzov had no wish to become the second mack.Ignoring political pressure he took the right decision to abandon vienna and retreat to the north bank of the danube.The french had lost contact with the russians after amsstetten.Murat had disobeyed orders from napoleon to march in contact with mortier and surged on ahead in search of the elusive kutuzov.Meanwhile mortier too had been a tad careless,without waiting for dupont and klein to join him he had marched ahead on the north bank of the danube with just gazan's infantry division alone.Thus when kutuzov managed to get his whole force across the danube and interrogated a few french prisoners(who had been swept away while crossing the danube-confirmed by cossack scouts) he knew that Mortier was alone and isolated on the north bank with just 1 division.Here kutuzov planned to bait and annihilate mortier in a set piece ambush similar to the one used by hannibal at trasimene over a thousand years earlier against the romans.Mortier wholly unaware that the whole russian army was facing him was about to walk into a trap.This would be the battle of durrenstein.(map).


[Expand image for details]

 

[Nilgiri]

Of his original 26,000 troops kutuzov had detatched 10,000 to the east of krems ( not shown) to keep an eye on any french movements from that sector.He made krems his headquarters and planned to annihilate mortier with the remaining 16,000.
His plan was thus.The french would be lured into the open plains before krems by what looked to be a small russian force of around 6000 men.(Miloradovich 2500 plus Essen 3600).While this force pinned the french down frontally,the bulk of kutuzov's strike force(10,000) would take the long route behind the high hill plateau unseen by the french and descend in 3 columns(Dokhturov,Schmitt,Strik) on the french flank and rear cutting off and annihilating mortier.It was a bold and excellent tactical plan in conception.A rumor was circulated that the russians were in full retreat to make the bait enticing.

The flanking columns began their march from Krems through Egelsee on night of the 10th so as to arrive on the french rear at midday on the 11th.However to factors slowed the russian advance.Early snow clogged the ground decreasing movement and while passing through the villages on their way many of the russian troops lost control and formation and went on a looting spree wasting valuable time.Thus my morning Dokhturov's tired troops after slogging through the snow whole night had only reached the head of the passes.They had still to cross the whole plateau before they could get at the french rear.

Meanwhile Kutuzov unaware of this began his attack as miloradovich(2500) with 6 battalions and 4 guns and some squadrons of mariopol hussars went forward into the attack,essen stayed at stein as a reserve with 3600 men.The russian attack began at 8:00 AM.However the battleground was vineyards which favoured the french defenders and disrupted infantry formations,it also made the cavalry useless which was relegated to hovering idly behind the infantry on the defile along the bank of the danube.Facing them were 3 battalions(1300) of the 4th Line infantry regiment stationed around the village of Rothenhof.As the russian infantry began their attack they were recieved by steady volleys from the 4L but kept coming .The fury of the russian bayonet assaults were unstoppable and the outnumbered 4L was forced into retreat.They rallied once but miloradovich brought in his 2 reserve battalions and 4 6-pounder guns as support.The savage assault from the russian infantry charging with the cries of oorah!oorah! overwhelmed the french and they were sent routing in total disarray as the russians captured rothenhof.The eagle of the regiment was thrown into the danube river to avoid capture.Meanwhile mortier was fortifying Unterloben and Oberloben in expectation of the coming russians.



Mortier meanwhile fortified Unterloben.With the 4L in full retreat he had 2 more infantry regiments at his disposal -the 100thLine which he formed up before unterloben with its 3 battalions.He also gave orders for 2 of the 3 battalions of his final regiment 103Line to hurry to reinforce the 100L.Meanwhile all the elite companies of grenadiers from each battalion of the 3 regiments were detatched and merged into a temporary ad hoc force of 574 men.This elite force of grenadiers garrisoned several stone buildings in unterloben.Mortier placed all his artillery facing the main road of unterloben.In the cramped road the russians would have to enter in packed columns-a perfect target for the french gunners.Miloradovich came on nonetheless.Wave after wave of russians hurled themselves on unterloben but the french defenses proved too much.The russians columns were savaged by canister fire from the artillery,flanking fire from the buildings in the village from the grenadiers while being simultaneoulsy subjected to volley after volley from the french line infantry formed.Here unable to progress Miloradovich attempted to use skirmishers in mass, but the russian infantry unused to this came off decidedly worst.A russian officer noted -

''Our grenadiers of great height and large plumes were sent to skirmish.The weak and small french shot them from behind the rocks as they wished!''

Finally after 2 hours of futile heroics Miloradovich finally called off his exhausted men.Of his 2500 original strength only about a thousand remained.Kutuzov remaining far away from the battlefield at krems in an inexplicable act of passivity had not reinforced miloradovich with essen whose reserves were still sitting around stein.

It was only after miloradovich was calling off his attack that finally the first flanking column began to emerge from the passes over the plateau.Unfortunately as they emerged exhausted and in disorder into the vineyards they were met by shattering volleys from the 4L which in a show of endurance had rallied from their defeat at rothenhof and now poured disciplined musket volleys at the arriving russians.This was too much for the troops of Strik's column,after non stop marching for over 12 hours and in broken formation due to the vineyards they routed after taking this relentless fire from all sides.As the first battalion routed with nowhere to go it crashed into its rear battalion and then onto another causing a chain rout.The whole column lost cohesion and fled like a disorganized mob back along the same mountain pass they had come through.



After Strik had been repulsed Mortier sensed there may be more russian troops coming to fall on his rear and began to slowly withdraw,leaving the 4L as a rearguard at recaptured rothenhof the french withdrew.As this process was underway,at around 4.00 PM Dokhturov's centre column finally began to emerge out of the pass.This led to an immediate crisis for the french,low on ammunition and finding their path blocked by thousands of russian troops the french troops desperately tried to cut a way through by successive bayonet charges.Mortier was asked by his staff to escape by boat to avoid capture but he rejected their pleas and led the french attacks in person sabre in hand.Just when things were beginning to look hopeless for the french,rescue came .
Dupont with his 2nd division had been some distance away but had marched to the sound of the guns.Schimdt's 3rd column had only just begun to form up when the lead regiment of Dupont's division -the elite 9th Light 'Incomparable'-one of the best regiments in the grand armee crashed into it from the rear.The vyalka regiment was the first to bear this savage attack and was annihilated in short order by the relentless assault of the crack veterans of the 9L.They then proceeded to roll up the whole column in a chain supported by the rest of dupont's division.The 9L had already performed superbly at halsach jungingen a few weeks ago where they destroyed several austrian regiments and repeated their performance against the surprised russian forces here.Soon Schimdt's entire column was in headlong retreat back the mountain pass.

Now dokhturov was beginning to feel the heat.With mortier coming from his front and now dupont advancing from the rear he risked being trapped.Prudently dokhturov disengaged slowy and retreated back into the passes with his column in order.The french utterly exhausted conducted their own retreat from the battle field by 7:00 pm.Mortier was just glad to have lived to fight another day.Battle of durrentstein was over.

The russians remained in the field and according to 18th century traditions kutuzov declared victory.In reality both sides had suffered heavily in brutal see saw fighting and yet still had something to celebrate.French lost 2300 casualities,gazan's division had been shattered suffering 50% losses.The russians suffered 4000 killed and wounded.Losses being particularly heavy among miloradovich and schimdt's troops.Another 2000 odd troops from strik's column didn't rejoin their regiments and deserted in bands.(possibly newly raised ).
Both sides had fought hard,the french showed excellent endurance and managed to extricate themselves from a very dangerous situation while causing heavy losses amongst the enemy.For the russians there was disappointment at the failure to annihilate mortier due to lack of timing and co-ordination between the frontal and flanking attacks and kutuzov's failure to reinforce miloradovich.However they had forced mortier back onto the south bank of the danube,given the french a real scare and the first victory in the campaign raised allied morale.Mortier being forced back onto the south bank of the danube nullified napoleon's flanking plan.



(Marshal Murat)
Kutuzov now seemed relieved and hoped to wait for buxhowden to join him at the danube riverline where all the bridges had been burnt.Meanwhile Vienna had been abandoned and Auersperg with 15,000 austrians guraded the final series of bridges from vienna across the danube.The situation from kutuzov's point of view had stabilized somewhat.
Meanwhile Murat and Lannes entered vienna unopposed on 12th november.The imperial capital which had never fallen to an enemy in hundreds of years was now in french hands.Suleiman the magnificent had tried twice and failed(1529,1532),Kara mustafe pasha had failed in 1683,Louis XIV 's dream was shattered by marlborough at blenheim in 1704,Frderick's the great bid had ended in defeat at kolin (1757)..but finally napoleon bonaparte had succeeded.
The capture of vienna yielded huge stocks of munitions and arms to the french.
Napoleon however was furious at Murat for failing to support mortier and having lost track of kutuzov and marching for the glittering but strategically irrelevant prize of vienna.

“I cannot approve your manner of march; you go on like a stunned fool, taking not the least notice of my orders. The Russians, instead of covering Vienna, have all retreated over the Danube at Krems. This extraordinary circumstance should have made you realize that you could not act without further instructions.”
However murat would regain favour with his emperor in a grand show of audacity.



Napoleon now planned to seize the remaining crossing over the danube near vienna and outflank kutuzov from the south.Auersperg defnding this bridge with 15,000 austrians had not destroyed it owing to pressure from viennese noble families who would be cutoff in vienna otherwise.After hearing of the french occupation of vienna on the 12th auersperg prepared to blow the bridges on the 13th.When murat and lannes arrived at the scene he saw the bridge defended with cannon and preparations for demolition ongoing.

''Nevertheless, by a superb display of bluff and daring, Murat and Lannes carried the day. As Oudinot’s grenadiers crept towards their objective, the two marshals and their aides strode forward in their resplendent uniforms and calmly walked toward the bridge. The outlying picket of Austrian hussars could only gape at this spectacle with never a thought of offering resistance. Without an apparent qualm the party made its way onto the bridge, pushing before them a remonstrating Austrian underofficer of artillery, and under the dazed eyes of the troops on the farther bank proceeded to cross over crying, “Armistice! Armistice!” A parley was opened with the commander, Count Auersperg, and the garrison continued to hesitate until a column rushed the bridge while the marshals leaped among the Austrian gunners and by sheer force of personality prevented them from opening fire. Then it was all over; the grenadiers were among the guns pushing the dazed Austrians away from their pieces and the bridge was won without the loss of a life.''


(General Bagration)

Napoleon on learning this had a good laugh and forgave murat for his earlier mishaps.Kutuzov meanwhile was shocked by this setback and immediately resumed his retreat with his flank now compromised.He left Bagration with 6,000 rearguard troops to delay the french at hollabrunn(black and white map).Murat leading the french advance guard came across this force blocking his path.Murat decided to continue playing the deception game ,however the sly bagration gave as good as he got.He immediately offered to begin negotiating the terms of the armistice and sent emissaries to kutuzov who sent negotiators to keep murat busy in empty terms while the bulk of the russian army retreated at full speed.Though lannes grumbled 'we would be exchanging bullets not compliments if i had things my way',murat was totally taken in and sent the terms of the so called ceasefire to napoleon.Napoleon was absolutely furious -

“I am lost for words with which to express my discontent.“You are only the commander of my advance guard and you have no right to conclude an armistice without my order. You have thrown away the advantages of the entire campaign. Break the armistice instantly, and attack the enemy! March! Destroy the Russian army! … The Austrians let themselves be duped over the Vienna bridge, but now you have been fooled by an aide-de-camp of the Tsar!”
A humiliated murat launched ferocious assault on bagration inflicting 2000 casualities,but bagration succesfully delayed the french allowing kutuzov to slip away.There was no longer any chance of preventing kutuzov from joining Buxhowden and the czar and on 23rd november Napoleon called for a general halt and reorganization for the completely exhausted french who had been on the march nonstop for nearly 2 months.Kutuzov had manged to escape and it was now napoleon who was overstretched and about to be outnumbered.

NEXT: LEAD UP TO AUSTERLITZ: BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ.

 

[Nilgiri]

ROAD TO AUSTERLITZ


(Overall Strategic situation)
GENERAL SITUATION 25 NOVEMBER 1805:



With Kutuzov and Buxhowden uniting,the overall strategic situation had been dramatically reversed.It was now the french who were on the verge of a crisis.Some 90,000 allied troops including the fresh arrived russian imperial guard now faced them at olmutz with a secure LOC through poland back to russia under direct command of the czar Alexander who had assumed defacto control.Archduke John and Archduke charles had joined forces and were retreating from italy towards the austrian heartland with around the same number of troops.The remainder of the corps of merveldt served as a link between these forces.Some 8,000 survivors of Ulm under archduke ferdinand hovered north which served a nuisance value against the french LOC.Meanwhile10,000 followed by another 20,000 (Bennigsen)more russian troops were approaching.Prussian mobilization was nearly complete and the prussian court was drafting an ultimatum letter to france.Swedish/russian/british and neapolitan expeditionary forces had landed in both north germany and naples numbering 25,000 or more in each case and prepared to take the offensive and thus forces had to be allocated to watch these threats.

Meanwhile the situation of the grande armee itself was far from ideal.It was at the very end of its Line of communications.Stretched thin.Numerous detachments eating up its effective field strength had to be maintained to protect its long LOC.Ney's VI corps and Augereau's VII corps were entirely devoted to this purpose.In the french homeland 2 hastily assembled reserve armies(45,000 total) composed mostly of conscripts around a core of reserve battalions watched the french coast and the rhine frontier.The bavarians had been assigned to watch archduke ferdinand.While Marmont's II corps at Leoben expected to encounter Archduke charles any day.Massena shadowed charles with 40,000 men but didn't have the strength to engage.St. cyr with 15,000 men watched the neapolitan army and the russo-british expedition.
This left Napoleon with less than 100,000 men in the vicinity of vienna.The corps of Soult,Murat,Lannes,the guard plus Mortier,Davout and Bernadotte within supporting distance.Mortier was positioned to quickly reinforce Marmont.
This left Napoleon with barely 50,000 troops facing the russians plus bernadotte and davout within supporting distance.



PLAN AND COUNTER-PLAN:




Bonaparte faced several critical strategic problems ,he risked being caught in a pincer between charles and Alexander and didn't have the numbers to defend against both.Meanwhile the large prussian army would soon be in a position to fall upon his LOC from the north and more russian reinforcements were fast approaching which would only tilt the odds further against him.The Grande armee was overstretched,and the men tired and hungry,the best and logical course of action seemed to be a strategic retreat back towards bavaria which would shorten his LOC,but it would mean admitting defeat and also further marching for the exhausted french and would give prussia time to deploy her full strength against france making allied numbers extremely daunting.
Napoleon's solution was daring and unconventional.If the allied forces in olmutz could be lured into a hasty ill-advised attack before reinforcements joined them and the prussians became a factor by giving an illusion of french weakness a possible decisive french victory resulting in the destruction of alexander's army would shift the whole momentum back in the french favour.
To this end Napoleon sent forward Lannes,Murat and Soult totalling 53,000 men as a bait towards the main allied army at olmutz to occupy the pratzen plateau and the neighbouring town of austerlitz.The allies outnumbering this force nearly 2 to 1 would be doubtless tempted to attack.In such a case Napoleon would reinforce his army with davout and bernadotte's Corps by forced marches bringing up his actual battlefield strength to 75,000.Above all Napoleon intended to fight the battle on ground chosen by him and lure the allies into it.



(Czar Alexander)

Meanwhile the czar and his entourage had joined the army as well as the austrian emperor.Czar was surrounded by several young russian noblemen who espoused him as the saviour of Europe, were eager for action and convinced about the invincibility of russian arms.The dispersion and weakness of the french encouraged this party and the czar was increasingly influenced by them.He wanted to be the first to defeat napoleon in battle,while kutuzov and the austrian emperor advised caution this was eventually overruled.The prestige of russian arms and the emperor couldn't share the glory with the prussians.Thus an offensive was decided upon overuling kutuzov's protests who was relegated to a mouthpiece.The russian nobles were supported by some generals as well as the austrian chief of staff weyrother who were convinced of napoleon's weakness.Now with the offensive decided upon question was where?
Langeron proposed to march through the mountains and join with archduke ferdinand and attack napoleon's left flank from the north.This would also keep them close to the prussians.However this had several problems,a march through the mountains would be difficult and could be easily disrupted by the french.It would also take the whole allied army away from the main french body for several days while the redeployment was being conducted -ample time for napoleon to retreat and avoid destruction.(Napoleon had considered this possibility and sent a cavalry division as a recon force to alert of any such move)

 

[Nilgiri]

The second option was a head on assault on the french.This risked attacking the french on high ground and little prospect of decisive victory as even if defeated the french would only retreat back towards vienna.Finally the third option involved a sweeping attack on napoleon's right flank to sever his communications with vienna.This required no redeployment and on paper seemed the best option.Weyrother propounded this.However even before the allies had decided upon such a plan on 26th november napoleon by 21st november had been ready for such a possibility and was prepared to deal with such an eventuality.(expanded later)

ALLIED OFFENSIVE BEGINS:NAPOLEON'S DECEPTION

On 27th November the allied movement began as the allied army moved up came within viewing distance of the french army deployed on the pratzen heights.On the 28th the russian cavalry defeated the french cavalry (working as a screen) in a large skirmish at Wischau taking 500 prisoners.While the encounter had only been a skirmish it had an electric effect in allied headquarters where it was proclaimed as a great victory.Till now what had been hope that the french were too weak to risk a general battle now turned to conviction.To further bait the allies Napoleon sent his spymaster Savary as an emissary to ask for an armistice giving the impression of weakness.On the 30th the czar sent a young noble Dolguruki in return with rather insulting armistice terms which napoleon rejected.Napoleon had met Dolguruki on his outposts preventing dolguruki from getting any look at the french soldiers.In a brief interview Dolguruki was brash and arrogant,while napoleon displayed an uncharacterastic lack of nerve and confidence.On his return Dolguruki convinced of allied success,proclaimed 'The french army is on the eve of its doom'.




The final encouragement for the allies came when on that very day,incredibly the french abandoned the high ground of the pratzen heights violating general military wisdom and retreated.The elated allies followed swiftly and occupied the pratzen heights and proceeded to draw up plans for an attack on the french right.


“All these assorted deceptions had their effect. The young hotheads who were directing Russian affairs allowed their natural presumptions to run away with them. It was no longer merely a question of fighting the French army, but of turning its flank and overwhelming it.”
In reality the allies were being carefully lured into ground on which Napoleon intended to give battle.He had identified the area as far back as 21st november,pointing to his generals -


''Gentlemen,Examine this ground carefully.It shall be a battlefield and you shall all have a part to play upon it"

These were to soon prove prophetic words.Meanwhile couriers had already reached Bernadotte and Davout ordering them to rejoin the main body.Napoleon realized that he needed not a victory,but a Decisive victory,to reverse the strategic situation.

This invariably meant having to outflank the allies,however he didn't have the numbers for such an operation.Thus he planned to let the allies outflank themselves.the weak french right wing was an invitation to such an attack.

'The cunning withdrawal of Soult from the good position of the Pratzen provided the enemy with the apparent opportunity of turning the French flank and interposing themselves between theGrande Arméeand Vienna. Thus, by apparently uncovering his own line of retreat, Napoleon led the Allies to expose their own. In fact, the French possessed a second center of operations in Brünn.The Allies, on the other hand, possessed no such secondary line of retreat; if their Wischau-Olmütz communications were severed their position would be extremely critical.'

Napoleon intended to bait the allied army into attacking his apparently weak right wing with the bulk of their strength aiming to cut him off from vienna.However reinforcements would arrive mid battle to shore up this front.As the allies weakened their centre by sending more and more troops from the pratzen heights to attack the french right.Hidden french forces would launch a devastating counterattack on the weakened allied centre on the pratzen heights,splitting the allied army in two,regaining the high ground and positioning themselves to be able to descend upon the bulk of the allied forces attacking the french right from the rear.In all the allies were walking into a gigantic ambush.
The Battle of austerlitz was now imminent.

NEXT: BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ.

@AUSTERLITZ As usual, I find myself transfixed while reading your pieces, and the anticipation of your namesake battle continues to build. Did the French use any kind of advanced intelligence gathering techniques for that era? I am always surprised by their precise attacks and bold maneuvers, and if all of this is done without knowledge of the situation, it sometimes comes across as reckless (with the outcome often determined by sheer luck favoring the French, it seems). I realize that a unified command under Napoleon will naturally function better than the coalition forces, but even so, it's extraordinary.

On a side note, any chance we will see your brilliant analysis applied to any of the 20th century conflicts at some point?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the encouragement.No advanced techniques,the light cavalry screen collected most information.The precise attacks and bold manuevering were entirely napoleon's own calculations at work and his intuition.Another reason behind the french strategic movements sucess was the battalion carre formation where each corps is usally within mutually supporting distance.This was devised by napoleon for that reason.The 2 reckless incidents-Haslach and durrentstein happened when a part of a corps went out of supporting distance for some reason.

Next one is german campaign of france-blitzkrieg 1940.

 

[Nilgiri]

BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ-I


ALLIED PLANS:The allied commanders led by Weyrother spent the better part of December 1 drawing up the plans for the attack next day.In the council of war ,kutuzov having long mentally resigned his command fell half asleep.Langeron complained Weyrother lectured the generals like a headmaster.Miloradovich and Dokhturov studied the plan carefully,Buxhowden,Przhebievsky listened without a word.The plan called for the bulk of the allied army to descend the pratzen heights in 5 seperate bodies(58,000).An advance guard under General Kienmayer,followed by 3 parallel columns under Przhebievsky,Langeron and Dokhturov and finally by the 4th Column under Miloradovich assault the feeble french right wing anchored behind the goldbach stream.Meanwhile the secondary attack by bagration on the french left flank would pin this down.Once the allies had broken through the french right they would sweep up the french centre and left from the rear ,cutting them off from vienna and annihilating the french army.The russian imperial guard(10,000) strong remained behind the pratzen heights in the centre as a final reserve.
However sound on paper,it had 2 flaws -Allied calculations counted on french numbers being around 50,000.This was what they could see from the pratzen .The bulk of the french army visible seemed concentrated on the left flank- on 'santon hill'.However unseen by the allied generals beyond the wooded reverse slope of the village of Puntowitz(see map) in the french centre stood 2 divisions of soult's IV corps.(16,000) ,this force which napoleon intended as his counterattack assault force remained hidden from allied eyes due to terrain and fog.Meanwhile On the evening of December 1 Bernadotte had already arrived and Davout too was close behind.Thus The allies in battle would not face 50,000 french but rather 73,000 dramatically changing the odds.
The other flaw in the allied plan was that it didn't recognize the independent will of the enemy -that napoleon could disrupt their plan with moves of his own and assumed him helpless.This assumed passivity was to be a fatal error when it came to an aggresive and dynamic commander like Bonaparte.



Above u can see the 4 allied columns on the right and centre plus advance guard under Kienmayer(austrian) with Lichtenstein's(austrian) cavalry in support.The imperial guard at the back and bagration on the right.Kutuzov and the 2 emperors stayed with the centre on the pratzen heights.
On the french side,Soult's IV corps holds centre and right.The divisions of Vandamme and St hilaire are hidden behind Puntowitz.But the feeble detatchments from soult's third division under legrand holding the right wing -barely a few regiments are visible to the allies.The 2 infantry divisions of Bernadotte's I corps of Drouet and Rivaud are arriving.Oudinot's Grenadiers and the Imperial guard form the final reserve are stationed behind the left centre.The french left is fortified on santon hill.It is anchored by the 2 infantry divisions of Suchet and Cafarelli of Lannes V corps(plus integral light cavalry division of the corps under milhaud) and supported by Murat's whole cavalry reserve(Cavalry Divisions of Kellerman,Nansouty,D'Hautpol,Boye and Walther) facing Bagration.

As the allies finalized their preparations Napoleon spent the better part of December 1 monitoring enemy activity.His primary worry of Davout joining him on time was removed when the marshal visited him on the night,having ridden ahead of his force.He was assured that Leading elements of Davout's III corps would be available for action the next day,having made an epic 80 mile forced march from vienna by forced marching in just over 2 days.Napoleon's mood was calm and confident,after dining with his staff he was engaged in conversation discussing Egypt and Literature.After a brief rest,he had been informed that the austro-russian army had occupied the village of augezd opposite the french right flank(see map).On hearing this,Bonaparte reportedly rubbed his hands with glee boasting -

''In twenty four hours that army is mine''



(Plans and counterplan.Napoleon initially toyed with the idea of encircling bagration rather than the allied left-something depicted here but later dropped this alternate plan as it wouldn't be as decisive.Note-Kollowrath(austrian) shown here actually depicts the allied 4 column which was led by Kollowrath and Miloradovich and under kutuzov's direct command on the pratzen heights)

Napoleon then ordered the orders of the day of battle drafted to the troops -


''The positions which we occupy are formidable, and while the Russians march upon our batteries I shall attack their flanks.*
Soldiers, I shall in person direct all your battalions; I shall keep out of range if, with your accustomed bravery, you carry disorder and confusion into the ranks of the enemy; but if the victory is for a moment uncertain, you shall see your Emperor expose himself in the front rank….
Note that no man shall leave the ranks under the pretext of carrying off the wounded. Let every man be filled with the thought that it is vitally necessary to conquer these paid lackeys of England who so strongly hate our nation''-Napoleon's address to his troops.

Napoleon proceeded on foot to visit the camps of the various regiments on that night-the next day would also be the anniversary of his coronation as emperor.At some point a soldier lit a torch to light his way and this was taken up all the french soldiers ending in a dramatic torchlight procession with the cries of 'Vive'l' Empereur'.A moved napoleon declared it was the finest evening of his life.Meanwhile the allied officers watching these fires and commotion thought that the french were breaking camp in readiness to retreat.




BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ - ORDER OF BATTLE


ALLIED ARMY - 86,000 men and 278 guns.
SUPREME COMMANDER - CZAR ALEXANDER I
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF - MIKHAIL KUTUZOV
CHIEF OF STAFF -FRANZ WEYROTHER
COMMANDER OF THE LEFT WING(3 COLUMNS PLUS ADVANCE GUARD) - BUXHOWDEN
(Also present kaiser francis with schwarzenberg)



(Kienmeyer)
ADVANCE GUARD(KIENMAYER) - 3400 Infantry,3400 cavalry and 12 light guns.

1ST INFANTRY BRIGADE: Major-General Carneville
The Broder Infantry Regiment (one battalion)
1st Szekler Infantry Regiment (two battalions)
2nd Szekler Infantry Regiment (two battalions)
Pioneers (three companies)
1ST (MIXED) CAVALRY BRIGADE: Major-Generals
Stutterheim and Nostitz
The O'Reilly Regiment of Chevaulegers (eight squadrons)
Merveldt Uhlan Regiment (one troop of lancers)
Schwarzenberg Uhlan Regiment (two troops)
Hessen-Homburg Hussar Regiment (six squadrons)
2ND CAVALRY BRIGADE: Major-General Moritz Lichtenstein
Szekler Hussar Regiment (eight squadrons)
Sysoev Cossack Regiment (five squadrons)
Melentev Cossack Regiment (five squadrons)

2x6 Gun (6-Pounder) Horse artillery batteries.

FIRST COLUMN (DOKHTUROV) -13,240 infantry, 250 cavalry, 40 light and 24 heavy guns.

1ST (MIXED) INFANTRY BRIGADE: Major-General Lewis
7th Jaeger Regiment (one battalion)
New Ingermanland Infantry Regiment (three battalions)
Yaroslav Infantry Regiment (two battalions)
2ND INFANTRY BRIGADE: Major-General Urusov
Vladimir Infantry Regiment (three battalions)
Bryansk Infantry Regiment (three battalions)
Vyatka Infantry Regiment (three battalions)
Moscow Infantry Regiment (three battalions)
Kiev Grenadier Regiment (three battalions)
Pioneers (one company)
ATTACHED CAVALRY:
Denisov Cossack Regiment (part: two and a half squadrons present)

4x10 gun(Medium and light) artillery batteries.
2x12 gun (Heavy 12 pdr) artillery batteries.

 

[Nilgiri]

(Buxhowden)
SECOND COLUMN (LANGERON) - 11,250 infantry ,300 cavalry,30 light guns.

1ST INFANTRY BRIGADE: Major-General Olsuvev
8th Jaeger Regiment (two battalions)
Viborg Infantry Regiment (two battalions)
Perm Infantry Regiment (three battalions)
Kursk Infantry Regiment (three battalions)
2ND INFANTRY BRIGADE: Major-General I. S. M. Kaminsky
Ryazan Infantry Regiment (three battalions)
Fanagoria Grenadier Regiment (three battalions)
Pioneers (one company)
ATTACHED CAVALRY:
St Petersburg Dragoon Regiment (two squadrons)
Isayev Cossack Regiment (one squadron)
3x10 gun(medium and light) artillery batteries.

THIRD COLUMN(PRZBYSWSKI) - 7700 Infantry,30 light guns.

1ST (AUSTRIAN) INFANTRY LIGHT BRIGADE:
Major-General Müller
7th Jaeger Regiment (two battalions)
8th Jaeger Regiment (one battalion)
2ND (MIXED) INFANTRY BRIGADE: Major-General Selekhov
Galicia Infantry Regiment (three battalions)
Butyrsk Infantry Regiment (three battalions
Podolia Infantry Regiment (three battalions)
Narva Infantry Regiment (three battalions)
Pioneers (one company)

3x10 gun (medium and light) artillery batteries.
FOURTH COLUMN(MILORADOVICH & KOLLOWRAT) - 16,000 men,52 light and 24 heavy guns.

ADVANCE GUARD: Lieutenant-Colonel Monakhtin
Novgorod Infantry Regiment (part: two battalions)
Apsheron Infantry Regiment (part: one battalion)
Archduke John Dragoon Regiment (two squadrons)
1ST INFANTRY BRIGADE: Major-General Wodniansky
Novgorod Infantry Regiment (part: one battalion)
Apsheron Infantry Regiment (part: two battalions)
Little Russia Grenadier Regiment (three battalions)
Smolensk Infantry Regiment (three battalions)
2ND (AUSTRIAN) INFANTRY BRIGADE: Major-General Rottermund
Salzburg Infantry Regiment (six battalions)
Kaunitz Infantry Regiment (one battalion)
Auersperg Infantry Regiment (one battalion)

3RD (AUSTRIAN) INFANTRY BRIGADE: Major-General Jurczik
Kaiser Infantry Regiment (one battalion)
Czartoryski Infantry Regiment (one battalion)
Reuss-Gratz Infantry Regiment (one battalion)
Württemberg Infantry Regiment (one battalion)
Beaulieu Infantry Regiment (one battalion)
Kerpen Infantry Regiment (one battalion)
Lindenau Infantry Regiment (one battalion)
Vienna Jaeger (two companies)
Pioneers (two companies)

2x6 (12pdr) artillery batteries.
1x12(12pdr) artillery battery
2x10(medium) artillery batteries.
4x6 (light/medium) artillery batteries.
CAVALRY COLUMN (LICHTENSTEIN):5300 Cavalry ,24 light guns

1ST (AUSTRIAN) CAVALRY BRIGADE: Major-General Caramelli
Nassau Cuirassier Regiment (six squadrons)
Lothringen Cuirassier Regiment (six squadrons)
2ND (AUSTRIAN) CAVALRY BRIGADE: Major-General Weber
Kaiser Cuirassier Regiment (eight squadrons)
3RD (MIXED) CAVALRY BRIGADE: Major-General Gladkov
Grand Duke Constantine Uhlan Regiment (ten squadrons)
Gordeev Cossack Regiment (five squadrons)
Isayev Cossack Regiment (four squadrons)
Denisov Cossack Regiment (part: two and a half squadrons)
4TH CAVALRY BRIGADE: General-Adjutant F. P. Uvarov
Chernigov Dragoon Regiment (five squadrons)
Kharkov Dragoon Regiment (five squadrons)
Elisabetgrad Hussar Regiment (ten squadrons)



(Kutuzov)
RIGHT WING(BAGRATION) : 9200 infantry,4500 cavalry,42 guns

INFANTRY FORMATIONS:
5th Jaeger Regiment (three battalions)
6th Jaeger Regiment (three battalions)
Arkhangelgorod Regiment (three battalions)
Old Ingermanland Infantry Regiment (three battalions)
Pskov Infantry Regiment (3 battalions)
CAVALRY FORMATIONS:
The Empress Cuirassier Regiment (five squadrons)
Tver Dragoon Regiment (five squadrons) St Petersburg Dragoon Regiment (three squadrons)
Pavlograd Hussar Regiment (ten squadrons)
Mariupol Hussar Regiment (ten squadrons)
Kiselev Cossack Regiment (five squadrons)
Malakhov Cossack Regiment (five squadrons)
Khaznenkov Cossack Regiment (five squadrons)

2x10(medium) artillery batteries.
1x10(6-pdr) horse artillery battery
2x6(6-pdr) horse artillery battery.
RUSSIAN IMPERIAL GUARD(GRAND DUKE CONSTANTINE) - 6700 Infantry,3700 Cavalry,40 Guns.

INFANTRY OF THE GUARD:
Ismailovsky Regiment of Life Guards (two battalions)
Semenovsky Regiment of Life Guards (two battalions)
Preobrazhensky Regiment of Life Guards (two battalions)
Guard Jaeger Battalion (light infantry)
Guard Grenadier Regiment (three battalions)
CAVALRY OF THE GUARD:
Chevalier Guard Cuirassier Regiment (five squadrons)
The Garde du Corps Cuirassier Regiment (five squadrons)
Lifeguard Hussar Regiment (five squadrons)
Lifeguard Cossack Regiment (two squadrons)
Pioneers of the Guard (one company)


LA GRANDE ARMEE-73,000 men and 139 guns.
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF -NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
CHIEF OF STAFF -ALEXANDER BERTHIER


(Lannes)
V CORPS(LANNES)-12,700 men,20 guns

1ST DIVISION: General of Division Auguste Caffarelli
13éme Regiment d'lnfanterie Légère
17éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
30éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
51éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
61éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
3RD DIVISION: General of Division Gabriel Suchet
17éme Regiment d'lnfanterie Légère
34éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
40éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
64éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
88éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
LIGHT CAVALRY DIVISION: General of Brigade Francois Trelliard
9éme Regiment de Hussards
10éme Regiment de Hussards
13éme Chasseurs a Cheval
21éme Chasseurs a Cheval

CORPS ARTILLERY -20 GUNS(mostly 12-pdrs)

CAVALRY RESERVE(MURAT)- 7400 Cavalry,36 guns.


FIRST HEAVY CAVALRY DIVISION: General of Division Etienne Nansouty
1ér Regiment de Carabiniers a Cheval
2éme Regiment de Carabiniers a Cheval
2éme Regiment de Cuirassiers
3éme Regiment de Cuirassiers
9éme Regiment de Cuirassiers
12éme Regiment de Cuirassiers
SECOND HEAVY CAVALRY DIVISION: General of Division Jean d'Hautpoul
1ér Regiment de Cuirassiers
5éme Regiment de Cuirassiers
10éme Regiment de Cuirassiers
11éme Regiment de Cuirassiers
SECOND DRAGOON DIVISION: General of Division Henri Walther
3éme Regiment de Dragons
5éme Regiment de Dragons
10éme Regiment de Dragons
11éme Regiment de Dragons
13éme Regiment de Dragons
22éme Regiment de Dragons
THIRD DRAGOON DIVISION: General of Division Antoine Beaumont
5éme Regiment de Dragons
8éme Regiment de Dragons
12éme Regiment de Dragons
16éme Regiment de Dragons
21éme Regiment de Dragons
LIGHT CAVALRY DIVISION: General of Division Francois Kellermann
2éme Regiment de Hussards
4éme Regiment de Hussards
5éme Regiment de Hussards
5éme Regiment de Chasseurs a Cheval
LIGHT CAVALRY BRIGADE: General of Brigade Edouard Milhaud
16éme Regiment de Chasseurs a Cheval
22éme Regiment de Chasseursa Cheval
Attached Artillery: 36 guns in companies of artillerie a cheval(horse artillery)



(Soult)
IV CORPS(SOULT)- 23,600 men,35 guns

1ST DIVISION: General of Division Louis de Saint-Hilaire
10éme Regiment d'lnfanterie Légère
14éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
36éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
2ND DIVISION: General of Division Dominique Vandamme
24éme Regiment d'lnfanterie Légère
4éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
28éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
43éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
46éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
55éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
57éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
3RD DIVISION: General of Division Claude Legrand
26éme Regiment d'lnfanterie Légère
3éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
18éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
75éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
Tirailleurs du Po (Italian light infantry)
Tirailleurs Corses (Corsican light infantry)
LIGHT CAVALRY DIVISION: General of Brigade Pierre Margaron
5éme Regiment de Hussards(Hussars)
11éme Regiment de Chasseurs a Cheval
26éme Regiment de Chasseurs a Cheval
CORPS ARTILLERY: 35 guns (mostly 12pdrs)

I CORPS(BERNADOTTE)-13,000 men,24 guns

ADVANCE GUARD: 27éme Regiment d'lnfanterie Légère (light infantry)
1ST DIVISION: General of Division Olivier Rivaud
8éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne (line infantry)
45éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
54éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
2ND DIVISION: General of Division Jean Baptiste Drouet
94éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
95éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
(I corps cavalry division under kellerman attatched to murat's cavalry)
CORPS ARTILLERY: 24 guns



(Davout)
III CORPS(DAVOUT) - 4500 men,12 guns(part that arrived)

2ND DIVISION: General of Division Louis Friant
15éme Regiment d'lnfanterie Légère
33éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
48éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
108éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
111éme Regiment d'lnfanterie de Ligne
4TH DRAGOON DIVISION: General Bourcier
15éme Regiment des Dragons (dragoons)
17éme Regiment des Dragons
18éme Regiment des Dragons
19éme Regiment des Dragons
27éme Regiment des Dragons
CORPS ARTILLERY: 12 guns(nine 12pdrs)

RESERVE GRENADIER DIVISION(OUDINOT)- 5700 men.
(A provisional formation formed from detatched grenadier companies of several regiments on garrison duty)

FRENCH IMPERIAL GUARD(BESSIERES) - 5500 men,24 guns.

INFANTRY OF THE GUARD:
1st and 2nd Battalions Grenadiers a Pied (foot grenadiers)
1st and 2nd Battalions Chasseurs a Pied (light infantry)
The Grenadiers of the Royal Italian Guard
CAVALRY OF THE GUARD:
Grenadiers a Cheval (horse grenadiers)
Chasseurs a Cheval (light cavalry)
Les Mamelukes (brigaded with the Chasseurs a Cheval
Gendarmerie d'Elite
ARTILLERY OF THE GUARD:
Light Artillery of the Guard
Artillery Train of the Guard
NEXT:BATTLE BEGINS.