Battle of Regensberg (6 April 1809):
In this battle the Bavarians under Wrede make their stand at Regensberg awaiting re-enforcement from Oudinot and Davout. The Austrian under Archduke Charles attacked with the Corps of Hessen Homburg, Hiller and Rosenberg.
The battle began with the Bavarians in possession of Regensberg with their light cavalry thrown forward into the open cultivation near the road to Austria. Hohenzollern appeared on the first turn but his progress was hampered by the constant threat of the Bavarian cavalry. Eventually he advanced ignoring them at which time they attacked and destroyed IR 56. They were in turn counter attacked by the rest of the division but managed to extricate themselves with heavy losses.
About the time the cavalry skirmish finished Rosenberg arrived at point E and Oudinot at point F. Oudinot moved rapidly across the Danube to engage the re-enforcements. Just about the time he did Hiller arrived at point A and proceeded towards the Danube. Oudinots cavalry turned to face them and second division was thrown back across the river to hold onto the vital Munich road.
At this time Rosenberg and Hohenzollern managed to concentrate on the Bavarians and the second French division together with a hard fight in the town that drove the Bavarian into the suburbs and a grinding battle with the French that cost them half of their strength.
North of the Danube Vincent and Vukkasovich attacked the French cavalry under Colbert costing them the HesseHomburg Hussars but destroying the 7th and 20th Chasseurs in the process. The remaining cavalry retired behind their respective cavalry to reform.
The infantry of Hiller and the French first corps met near Stadtshamhof with the superior Austrian numbers taking a heavy toll on the French. The French 9th Hussars took the divisional artillery of Kottulinskys division but were chased back towards Austria in the process.
The day ended with the French in possession of half of Regensberg and of the road to Munich. By the morning of the 7th the town was empty and the Imperial forces gone. There were no pursuit losses. However there were some units that could not be recovered. The Archduke Charles Legion 2 dispersed after the battle and none of the lost units were recovered. On the French side the 6th and 7th Bavarian infantry had to be amalgamated due to desertion and losses as did the 2nd and 4th Legere Brigades. The survivors of the 2nd and 4th Ligne brigades were rounded up and reformed and the survivors of the 20th Chasseurs formed 2 squadrons under the command of the 9th hussars. And sadly France lost a general of Division - Colbert commander of the cavalry.
Total losses
French: 6 infantry, 2 cavalry
Austrian: 2 infantry, 1 artillery, 1 cavalry
The French, having been handed a setback at Regensberg. fell hack to Munich to await Napoleon and the rest of the Army. The Austrians settled back hoping to gain time for the flank actions to take effect.
Both Austrian wing armies proceeded to advance in Italy and Poland. In Italy the Austrians under Archduke John caught the Italian and French forces under Prince Eugene (Jean-Francois Lozier) at the village of Feltre on 12 April 1809.
Battle of Feltre (12 April 1809):
In this battle the Austrians under Archduke John intercept the French under Eugene on their way to the Piave river.
The Austrians won a decisive victory. The French were pushed back into the mountains at point A and retired across the border into Venetia. The Austrians attacked with the corps of Guilay to the south pinning the French against the Alps while Stoichevich pushed a wedge between Feltre and the road to the Piave. Strong pressure from the grenadiers of Reichenbergs division broke the French defending the approach to Feltre as Colloredo broke into the town.
Battle losses
Austrian: 3 infantry (1 grenadier, 1 grenz, 1 infantry)
French: 3 guns, 5 infantry
French pursuit losses: 1 cavalry 1 infantry
The action shifted now to the Polish theatre of operations where the impetuous Kienmayer, refusing to await reenforcements, attacked towards Warsaw. Both armies met at Jedlinsk, southern Poland.
Battle of Jedlinsk (12 April 1809):
In this battle the Austrian Reserve under Kienmayer meet the advancing army of the Duchy of Warsaw under Prince Poniatowski in the south of Poland north of Radom at the town of Jedlinsk
The battle opened with the Austrians setting up a strong defensive line between Wsola and the marsh beside it. The Poles opted to keep their infantry division guarding Jedlinsk and sent their cavalry forward to attempt to penetrate the Austrian defenders.
The two Lancer units chose to attack d'Aspres division as it had no cavalry or artillery support and launched it self at the assault columns of the Brezenski, Scovaud and Kirchenbetter grenadiers. All formed square except the Kirchenbetters who routed after a vigorous fight. Despite the safety of their square the Brezenskis also routed leaving the Scovauds to fight it out with the 2nd lancers while the first lancers broke through to the Puteani grenadiers who managed to halt their advance eventually causing enough casualties to disperse them.
The fight between the 2nd Lancers and the Scovauds continued for almost 2 more hours with the 1st Lancers finally retiring when Kamiski was pulled off his horse and killed in the Austrian square just as the Scovauds were dispersed. In the meantime the Wurttemburg dragoons overran the Polish horse artillery.
Upon hearing of the death of his lieutenant Kominski, Poniatowski then threw the weight of the Polish infantry forward in order to break the shaken Austrian infantry. D'Aspre quit the field, afraid of the consequences of leaving his remaining units to fight in their weakened state. Unsupported and facing fresh troops Clarg and Kienmayer followed behind leaving the Poles in charge of the field. Col. Kosinski, Poniatowskis Aide de camp, was promoted to general of brigade on the spot and given command of the remaining cavalry.
Losses
Austrians: 3 grenadiers
Poles: 1 Lancer, 1 Horse Artillery
In the main theater of operations the French under Napoleon had finally consolidated and advanced on the main Austrian army under Charles. Archduke Charles, not wanting to be trapped, continued to fall back to Vienna keeping the Danube between himself and the French Army. The first major battle occurred when the French forced the Danube at Mautern on 4 May 1809. This battle ended in a minor French victory allowing them to get most of their forces across the river. Two days later, on 6 May 1809, the Austrians struck again winning a major victory and forcing the French to retreat.
Battles of Mautern (4 & 6 May 1809):
The Battle of Mautern (4 May) was an Austrian attack on the French as they complete a crossing of the Danube at Krems.
The battle began at 7 AM on the 4th with the corps of Oudinot and Wrede across the Danube. Oudinot set up in the woods on the Mautern-Traismauer road and Wrede covered the bridge to Herzogenburg. The Austrians threw the bulk of their army at Oudinot leaving only Hohenzollern to deal with the bridge crossing.
Hohenzollern attacked the bridge rapidly and initially made good advances across it managing to bring his artillery up only to be pushed back by the hot fire of the Bavarian Erbpirnz regiment across the bridge. This cost the Bavarians the Erbprinzes as they followed up and were destroyed on the other side but secured the road to allow Davout and Nansouty to concentrate on the woods where Oudinot was in trouble. Nansouty arrived just as Oudinot had begun to withdraw back towards the main army his losses being too heavy. He charged into the Austrian light cavalry with the 3e curraisiers breaking through and attacking Archduke Charles himself. Although initially surprised the staff officers of the HQ fought with great vigour and drove the French heavy cavalry back into the waiting infantry of Rosenberg who finished them off. Davout had setup several lines of his elite troops by this point and began too push Hiller and Rosenberg in the woods with little damage to either side. Bellegarde attempted to finish off Oudinots corps but a stotice defense cost the Austrians heavy casualties.
By 3 PM with both armies spent in the woods the Austrians withdrew on Herzogenburg and the French consolidate their positions at Mautern.
Losses
Austrian: 1 Light Cavalry, 6 Infantry
French: 5 Infantry including the Erbprinz regiment and 2 Heavy Cavalry
Mautern day 2:
The French began the battle attempting to hold the river crossing between Mautern and Herzogdenberg with Davout deployed near Mautern, the Bavarians in the woods near the crossing and Oudinot across the river. The Austrians sent Hiller and Bellegarde to deal with Oudinot and left the task of fighting the Bavarians and breaking through to the larger Korps of Hohenzollern and Rosenberg. The battle began at noon and rapidly turned into an attempt to dislodge the Bavarians from the wood, Davouts forces being ignored all together.
Oudinot softened up the Austrian advance well with continual artillery fire and once having made his mark ordered the 9th Hussards to attempt to find a crossing in order to help Wrede. No crossing was found and 3 regiments of Grenzers shot the hapless hussards from their saddles. An attempt at a crossing on the road was made but this was repulsed by the Austrian artillery. At this point Oudinot attempted to withdraw north to support from closer to the Danube.
This gave Rosenberg and Hohenzollern the time they needed and by 3 PM they had caused sufficient Bavarian casualties to check their advance and had driven Davouts guns back. The Bavarians fought a hard battle in the woods but the Austrian numbers took their toll and they began to fall back on Davout. By 5 PM the constant artillery bombardment of Oudinot forced him to cut his losses and retire across the Danube screened by his heavy cavalry, just in time in turned out as Hiller was almost spent himself. Wrede and Davout fell back towards Linz with the Emperor and Oudinot returned along the advance route of the army.
Losses:
French: 6 Infantry, 2 artillery
Austrian: 5 Infantry
Switching back to the Polish front the Austrian reserves finally arrived on 13 May. With the additional forces Kienmayer went on the attack and utterly destroyed the Polish forces arrayed against him. With this victory he secured the northern flank and conquered Poland for the Austrian Empire.
Battle of Kurow (13 May 1809):
The Austrians started the battle attacking vigorously towards what appeared to be the main army of the Poles at Markusz6w while scouting two large dust clouds on their flanks. The flanks turned out to be just scouting lancers so the attack was redoubled from all directions by the advancing Austrians.
The newly formed reserve division was hit first by the regulars and the Jaegers, falling back in disorder while the Austrian grenadiers slowly worked their way through the regulars. Eventually the Austrian numbers took their toll and gaps in the Polish lines were exploited by multiple Austrian regiments. By the end of the day the army of Poland was a tattered ruin. Poniatowski vowed to raise a new army and continue the war.
Losses:
Polish: General Pietrowski, 1 Battery, 1 Cavalry, 8 Infantry
Austrian:1 Grenadiers, 1 Jaegers
The final battle of the campaign was fought south of Vienna as a follow up to the Mautern battles. Austrian forces fell back towards Vienna as Napoleon gathered his remaining strength for one final thrust to end the war. The French forces consisted of the Guard Corps and 4 line Corps while the Austrian force consisted of 4 line Corps and the Hungarian Insurrection Corps (my favourite). The French attempted a sweeping flanking manoeuvre with the Guard while the Line Corps kept the main Austrian line pinned. The deciding factor was the unexpected Hungarian Insurrection that fell on the French exposed right flank and caused two French Corps to retreat. By the time the Guard completed their manoeuvre the French were spent on the field. With his army falling back from Vienna and dispatches arriving giving news of defeats in Italy and Poland Napoleon had no choice but to offer an armistice. The Austrians gladly accepted and retained sizeable land areas in Northern Italy and Galacia.
As a fitting end to the campaign Jean Vachon (Napoleon) reached under the table and produced a vintage bottle of French champaign that he had saved for an anticipated victory toast. Being the honorable gentleman that he is he presented a toast to the Austrian command on a well fought victory.
The tabletop battles were fought using two sets of rules, "Napoleonic - Principles of War" (for the smaller battles) and "Horse, Foot and Guns" (for the multi-corps fights). Overall an excellent campaign and a fun way to spend the fall + winter months here in Canada. If you are looking for an easy way to run a campaign and dread the book keeping then the narrative method is for you. The campaign web site is located at: http://orignaux.net/napoleonic/1809/
1809 Napoleonic Campaign [Canadian style]
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© Copyright 2002 Hal Thinglum
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