Battle of Neuburg (1800)
Battle of Neuburg | |||||||
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Part of the War of the Second Coalition | |||||||
Control of Neuburg, situated on the southern shore of the Danube River, represented a strategic objective for both the French and the Habsburgs. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
France | Austria | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Claude Lecourbe |
Pál Kray | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
11,000 | 8,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
approximately 800 wounded or killed, 200 captured | 700 dead or wounded and 600 captured |
Austria
The Battle of Neuburg occurred on 27 June 1800 in the south
. After a series of reverses, several of the allies withdrew from the Coalition. By 1800, Napoleon's military victories in northern Italy challenged Habsburg supremacy there. French victories in the upper Danubian territories opened a route along that river to Vienna.In a series of battles in what is now southern Germany, the French pushed the combined Austrian and Coalition force back, first capturing
Background
By early 1799, the French Directory had become impatient with stalling tactics employed by Austria. The uprising in Naples raised further alarms, and recent gains in Switzerland suggested the timing was fortuitous to venture on another campaign in northern Italy and southwestern Germany.
Strategic importance of Danube Valley
The French war goal, to occupy Vienna and force the Habsburgs to accept and comply with peace terms established in 1798, required a double-pronged invasion through northern Italy, which First Consul Napoleon commanded, and through southern Germany, a campaign that fell to Moreau. To secure access into Bavaria and, eventually, to Vienna, the French needed to control the Danube riverway. This was not a new tactic: The stretch of river between Ulm and Neuburg had been the site of major battles of the
Preliminary to battle
After withdrawing from Biberach, Kray waited at Ulm for Moreau's assault, which did not come. Instead of striking directly at the well-fortified and supplied city, Moreau's first division, approaching Ulm from the south, suddenly veered to the east and struck at the smaller forces posted between Ulm and Donauwörth.
Orders of battle
French
The exact order of battle of French forces is not clear, but contemporary sources suggest the presence of a portion of General Claude Lecourbe's Corps of 28,368, including the forces of generals Laval, Molitor, Jardon, and Vandamme.[7] This is also confirmed in an extract of Moreau's dispatch to the French Minister of War, published in the London Chronicle, 10 June 1800. "The 6th Chasseurs, 13th Cavalry, 4th Hussars and 11th Chasseurs distinguished themselves in this affair. The rest of the division, and that of [Lecourbe], passed rapidly [along] the Danube...General Grenier was equally well prepared."[8] In addition, the presence (and death) of Théophile Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne, the First Grenadier of France, suggests that the grenadier company of the 46th Demi-brigade infantry de ligne was at least engaged.[9] In addition, General Espagne's 37th and 84th Regiments were engaged, as were grenadiers the 109th Regiment. Lecourbe mentions the 37th and the 109th several times in his own account of the battle,[10] so apparently they were heavily engaged: this would include the brigades of François Goullus and François Bontemps.[11]
Lecourbe's Division, Armée du Danube
Lecourbe's division was reformed in April 1800 while still in Switzerland. After the
- General of Division Dominique Vandamme, Generals of Brigade Jardon, Laval, Molitor:
- First Demi-Brigade de Légère [Note 1]
- 36th 83rd, 94th Demi-Brigades de Ligne
- 8th Hussar Regiment
- Total 9,963 infantry, 540 cavalry
- Generals of Brigade François Goullus and François Bontemps
- 10th Demi-Brigade de Légère
- 37th, 84th 109th Demi-Brigades de Ligne
- 36th 93rd, 94th Regiments de Ligne
- 9th Hussars
- Total 8,238 infantry, 464 cavalry
- General of Division Montrichard and General of Brigade Joseph Augustin Fournier
- 10th Demi-Brigade de Légère
- 38th, 67th Regiments de Ligne
- Total 6,998
- General of Division Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty
- Combined Grenadiers, 25th Cavalry, 11th Dragoons, 12th Chàsseurs
- Total 1,500 infantry, 1,280 cavalry
Austrian
The Austrian force included:[13]
- FZM Baron von Kray, Commanding
- Infanterie Regiments Wenkheim #35, Erbach # 42 (battalions each)
- Kür Regiment Lothringen #7, Hohenzollern # 8, Kinsky #12 (6 squadrons each)
- Dragoon Regiment Latour #11 (6 squadrons)
Total Austrian force: 8,000 men.[13]
Battle
On 26 June 1800, Kray's force held the remaining passages across the Danube between Neuburg and Inglostadt. On that morning, the divisions of Gudin and Montrichard marched toward the junction of the Danube and Lech rivers from Donauwörth. General Gudin's division followed a southward track toward Pöttmes and established a line north to Ehekirchen, approximately 5 kilometres (3 mi) (roughly along what is now road 2035). Montrichard's division, the 10th Demi-Brigade de Légère and the 38th and 67th Regiments de Ligne marched toward Neuburg, which he was instructed to occupy with his right wing connecting to Gudin's and covered the road between Augsburg and Neuburg. Gudin's division encountered some resistance before it could take possession of Pöttmes, but succeeded with several charges executed by the 6th and 8th Hussars, who also captured 100 horses from the Austrians. General Puthed, who commanded the brigade on General Gudin's left, took control of Ehekirchen with little opposition.[14]
General Montrichard's division approached Neuburg on the causeway that ran parallel to the river and took possession of the outskirts of the city with little problem. Kray's troops, joined with
From this point on, combat centered on the village of Unterhausen, 6 km (3.7 mi) west-south-west of Neuburg center. A few French platoons drove the Austrians from the forest located between the village and the Danube with a bayonet charge by the grenadiers of the 109th. As French reserves arrived, the Austrians counterattacked and retook the woods, the heights at Oberhausen, and the village. According to Lecourbe's account, the Austrians, "embolden by this first success, soon covered all the surrounding heights, on which they planted about twenty-five or thirty pieces of cannon."[14] At eight o'clock at night, after twelve hours of battle, companies of the 14th and 46th Regiments (French) moved along a small road on the right of the village, and another group proceeded on the left, enveloping the village. The subsequent simultaneous French attack at both flanks and the center convinced the Austrians that, despite the defensive barrages laid by their artillery in Oberhausen, the French had been massively reinforced. The attack on the village, executed without firing a shot, involved fierce hand-to-hand fighting in which the commander of the 46th Regiment and the First Grenadier of France, Latour D'Auvergne, were both killed.[14][Note 2]
Outside the village, the French 46th and 14th Light Infantry mingled in combat with the Austrian cavalry, yet managed to hold their own, presumably in squares. This melee continued until about 2200, when the Austrians withdrew from Unterhausen. Lecourbe ordered his troops not to pursue, as nightfall was on them.[14]
Aftermath
The battle had immediate implications. General
In the broader scheme, the series of battles beginning with the losses at
Notes and citations
Notes
- ^ The French Army designated two kinds of infantry: d'infanterie légère, or light infantry, to provide skirmishing cover for the troops that followed, principally d’infanterie de ligne, which fought in tight formations.
- ^ Sources are unclear about the name of the commander of the 46th prior to the battle; in July 1800, Moreau appointed Louis-François Lanchantin as commander; he was promoted to colonel in 1804. See (in French) A. Lievyns, Jean Maurice Verdot, Pierre Bégat, Fastes de la Légion-d'honneur, biographie de tous les décorés accompagnée de l'histoire législative et réglementaire de l'ordre . Paris: Bureau de l'administration, 1847, p. 545. See also Tony Broughton, FINS, French Infantry Regiments and the Colonels who Led Them: 1791 to 1815 Part V: 41e - 50e Regiments. Napoleon Series.org. Accessed 17 November 2014.
Citations
- ^ Timothy Blanning. The French Revolutionary Wars, New York, Oxford University Press. p. 200.
- ^ James R. Arnold, Marengo & Hohenlinden. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen & Sword, 2005, pp. 197–199.
- ^ Andrew Beattie, The Danube: A Cultural History. Oxford University Press, 2010, pp. 29–33.
- ^ David Eggenberger, "Höchstädt II", An Encyclopedia of Battles, Dover Publications, 2014, p. 193.
- ^ Willem Lodewyk Van-Es, The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte ...: With a Concise History of the Events W. Day, 1810 – France, pp. 31–35.
- ^ Digby Smith, Smith, Napoleonic Wars Databook. London: Greenhill Press, 1998, p. 178.
- ^ Smith, p. 177.
- ^ Van Es,Life of Napoleon... Extract of a letter from Gen. Moreau to the Minister of War, Neresheim, June 20.
- ^ Mathieu Dumas, Memoirs of his own time: including the revolution, the empire, and the restoration, Volume 2, Lee and Blanchard, 1839, p. 105.
- ^ J. Macgowan, The Field of Mars, 1801, un-numbered pages. Battlefields listed alphabetically.
- ^ a b Smith, 177–178.
- OCLC 46896676, p. 144.
- ^ a b Smith, pp. 187–88.
- ^ a b c d e f The Field of Mars
- ^ Marceau, p. 105.
- ^ Arnold, pp. 205, 213.
- ^ Gaspard Baron Gourgaud, editor, Memoirs of the History of France during the reign of Napoleon I, Oxford, 18233, pp 1–23.
Sources
- Arnold, James R. Marengo & Hohenlinden. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen & Sword, 2005. ISBN 978-0967098500
- Beattie, Andrew. The Danube: A Cultural History. Oxford University Press, 2010. ISBN 9780199768356
- Blanning, Timothy. The French Revolutionary Wars, New York, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0340569115
- Broughton, Tony. FINS, French Infantry Regiments and the Colonels who Led Them: 1791 to 1815 Part V: 41e - 50e Regiments. Napoleon Series.org. Accessed 17 November 2014.
- Dumas, Mathieu, Memoirs of his own time: including the revolution, the empire, and the restoration, Volume 2, Lee and Blanchard, 1839. OCLC 733090540
- Eggenberger, David. "Höchstädt II", An Encyclopedia of Battles, Dover Publications, 2014. OCLC 564339074
- Gaspard, Baron Gourgaud, editor, Memoirs of the History of France during the reign of Napoleon I, Oxford, 1823. OCLC 191763
- (in French) Lievyns, A., Jean Maurice Verdot, Pierre Bégat, Fastes de la Légion-d'honneur, biographie de tous les décorés accompagnée de l'histoire législative et réglementaire de l'ordre . Paris: Bureau de l'administration, 1847. OCLC 3903245
- Macgowan, J. The Field of Mars,: Being an Alphabetical Digestion of the Principal Naval and Military Engagements, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America ... from the Ninth Century to the Peace of 1801 G. and J. Robinson, 1801, un-numbered pages. Battlefields listed alphabetically. No oclc number available for this edition.
- ISBN 1-85367-276-9.
- Thiers, Marie Joseph L. Adolphe, J. Stapleton trans. Thiers' History of the consulate, and empire of Napoleon, London : Houlston & Stoneman, [1845?], OCLC 46896676.
- Van-Es, Willem Lodewyk, The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte ...: With a Concise History of the Events W. Day, 1810. OCLC 15446266