Having defeated Archduke Charles at Abensberg-Eckmuhl at the end of April 1809, Napoleon pursued the Austrian left wing down the Danube towards Vienna. On 3rd May, Massena's advance-guard caught up with Hiller's troops at Ebelsberg, near Linz. Some of the most horrific fighting of the campaign took place there as the French fought their way across the river Traun bridge into the town and then engaged in hand-to-hand fighting in the streets, as many buildings caught light. Two days later, Henri Beyle on Darn 's staff described the scene in his diary: "As we marched over the Traun bridge, about thirty dead soldiers and horses still lay on the bridge. Many more had been thrown into the river, which is extremely wide.

In the middle of it, about 400 feet downstream, a horse stood upright and staring. A strange sight. Ebelsberg was burned out; the streets through which we moved were edged with the dead, mostly French and almost all burned away. In several places, the corpses were piled in heaps. The way through became ever narrower and ultimately, under and in front of the gate, our wagons had to drive over charred bodies. Some houses were still burning. In one house it seemed as though a dead soldier with an angry expression was plunging forward. I confess that this shocking sight struck me deeply. I could hardly look at it. Since then, I know what horror is. Those who know will confirm that the scene at Ebelsberg was a thousand times more ghastly than the other battlefields, where one can certainly sec men with all kinds of maiming, but not such gruesome corpses with noses burned away, but still with recognisable faces."

From: `Das Gefect bei Ebelsberg am 3.Mai 1809' by R.W. Litschel, No. 9 in the Militarhistorische Schriftenreihe series.