Part III: The Austrians Press the Attack

Perhaps it was the steady stream of Habsburg prisoners trudging from Jungingen back towards Haslach that finally alerted Mack that his cavalry were needed to support his infantry attacks. Perhaps it was faulty staff work, or the inability of the regimental colonels to work together, that delayed the cavalry from supporting their infantry brothers-in-arms. Whatever the reason, the Austrian horse finally got moving to the north of Jungingen after the infantry of the left-hand columns had been used up.

Swinging around the village, Kuirassier Regiment Erzherzog Albert #3, Kuirassier Regiment Mack #6 and Chevaulegers-Regiment Latour #4 thundered towards the bluecoated soldiers. It was on this flank that Colonel Barrois and the 1st Battalion of the 96th Ligne had been shifted, leaving the 2nd Battalion of the 96th Ligne to guard the flank south of the 9th Legere fighting around Jungingen. The 1st Battalion of the 96th was formed in square when the Chevaulegers Regiment Latour #4 charged, led by General Mack himself.

While the Austrian horse did not break Colonel Barrois' 1st Battalion, a French bullet found Mack, wounding the Austrian commander-in-chief, and forcing his retirement from the field. After the repulse of the Latours, the Austrian cavalry battery was brought into play against the 1st Battalion of the 96th, and the compact French battalion suffered heavily from the discharges of canister.

The general movements by so many Austrian horse prompted a response from Dupont. He ordered up General Sahuc and his dragoons, instructing them to charge and relieve the pressure on the 96th. General de brigade Louis-Michel-Antoine Sahuc was one of the oldest officers in the Grande Armee. The 50-year-old general had served in the cavalry all his life, passing into semi-retirement following the 1800 campaign. With the establishment of the Empire in May 1804, Sahuc returned to the active roster and was named brigade commander of the 15th and 17th Dragoons.

As the bugles blew and the dragoons moved out across the fields and meadows between the Grossen Gehr and Kleinen Gehr, Sahuc put the 15th Dragoons in the first line with the 17th Dragoons deployed in echelon behind the 15th. As the French cavalry emerged from the area between the woods, they were charged by Kuirassier-Regiment Erzherzog Albert #3 and Kuirassier-Regiment Mack #6. The two Austrian heavy regiments, under the orders of Schwarzenberg, enveloped the 15th, causing the French to withdraw.

Following up their victory, the Austrian cavalry then overturned the 17th Dragoons, forcing them to also retire. Both French regiments withdrew to the southwestern edge of the Grossen Gehr, quickly reformed and galloped back to renew the struggle.

This time, Sahuc formed the brigade in squadrons abreast and were met by the countercharge of the Austrian heavies. Neither side gave way during these movements and soon opponents crashed into each other in a desperate struggle. Greencoated French dragoons intermingled with whitecoated Austrian kuirassiers in a deadly contest of swordplay and carbine fire. The Chevaulegers-Regiment Latour #4 soon added their weight to the contest by charging into this melee.

Thwarted in their earlier attempts to break Barrois' infantry, the Latours took out their frustrations when they swarmed over the flank of the 15th Dragoons. It was the squadron under Waldenburg Schillingsfurst that broke the French cavalry's flank. As the cohesion of the dragoon regiment began coming apart, Schillingsfurst grabbed one of the eagles and its attached standard of the 15th, receiving a bullet from a French carbine as he snatched the prize; he died three days later in Ulm. The charge of the Latour Chevaulegers was too much for the Frenchmen. The 15th Dragoons were driven off in "wild confusion."

The Lost Eagles and the Legere

Meanwhile, the 17th Dragoons were suffering key officer casualties. Their colonel, Saint-Dizier, had commanded the regiment for 11 years-at that time the second longest tenure by any colonel in the Grande Armee. He had molded the 17th into a rugged outfit, well-trained and stinging from their earlier repulse from a foe who had possessed a superior frontage. They were determined to exact revenge and appeared to have just broken the Mack kuirassiers when Saint-Dizier suddenly slumped from his saddle, killed by an Austrian bullet. Also falling dead was lieutenant Abel, while chef d'escadron Dautrecourt was wounded.

With their flank support running away and their colonel down, the 17th Dragoons withdrew. Fortunately for Sahuc, the retrograde movement was conducted without being pursued by the Austrians. Afforded a respite, Sahuc soon rallied the 15th, and ordered both regiments to advance again to support the French infantry that remained in and around Jungingen.

This move, however, was not opposed by the Austrian cavalry. After the 15th Dragoons had been routed, followed by the withdrawal of the 17th Dragoons, Schwarzenberg's regiments spread out over the neighboring plain, rather than pursuing their defeated foe. Passing to the north of the Grossen Gehr, the Austrian cavalry rode far away from the French forces around Jungingen as well as those stationed in front of Haslach.

As the Austrian horse rode toward Albeck, they took themselves out of the battle. Upon reaching Albeck, the Austrian cavalry came upon the baggage train of Dupont's division, as well as that of Baraguay's foot dragoons. Sabering the drivers and ransacking these vehicles, the disorderly Austrian cavalry spent the next hour plundering for meaningless trophies. It was almost 6:00 P.M. when General Baraguay d'Hilliers, together with his staff and 60 other cavalry that he had collected around Albeck, charged and dispersed the looting Austrian horse.

While the French enjoyed-for the most part-great success at Jungingen, they were hard pressed in front of Haslach. It will be remembered that instead of putting Haslach to use as part of a strong point defensive scheme on the French left, Dupont stationed General de brigade Marchand and Colonel Darricau with the two battalions of the 32nd Ligne in front of Haslach, supported by the 1st Hussars under Colonel Rouvillois and all the division's guns--a force of less than 2,000 combatants and eight pieces of ordnance. General de brigade Jean-Gabriel Marchand had learned his trade as an infantryman while serving under Joubert and Massena in the Armee d'Italie. He had displayed considerable talent leading the 17th demi-brigade legere and 11th demi-brigade de bataille during Napoleon's epic 1796 and 1797 Italian campaigns. When the Channel camps were formed in 1803, Marchand was selected shortly thereafter to report to Ney at Montreuil. Taking command of the 2nd brigade under Dupont, Marchand had spent over one and one-half years with his soldiers. He knew his men well and what could be expected of them. As he stood with the 32nd Ligne of that brigade in front of Haslach on 11 October, Marchand passed the word that French elan would win the day. Although heavily outnumbered, the regiment readied itself to charge the whitecoated horde that was descending upon them.

Arrayed against these French was the Austrian right column under Werneck and Riesch. Finally getting their regiments underway, the Austrian generals launched an attack three hours after the fighting erupted at Jungingen. Without regard to superior numbers or frontage, Werneck and Riesch used the subtlety of a bludgeon to attack the French in front of Haslach. Forming the units of the column in standard checkerboard fashion with a depth of two battalions, Werneck's and Riesch's command from right to left consisted of KolowratKrakowsky IR#36, Karl Riese IR#15, ReussPlauen IR#17 and Stuart IR#18. Without leaving any of these battalions in reserve, the Austrian commanders hurled the weight of their entire column at the French.

As the Austrians came on, the French 1st Hussars attempted to disrupt the enemy's right flank. The light cavalrymen charged foot artillery company poured a devastating fire into Reuss-Plauen IR#17, the crushing canister discharges from the howitzers staggering the Austrian advance. Meanwhile, General de brigade Marchand and Colonel Darricau rushed forward with the 32nd Ligne, supported by the section of horse artillery. Galloping ahead of the infantry, the 8-pounders unlimbered on the flank of the Austrians and sprayed the whitecoats with canister as the French infantry charged their front.

The combination of this one-two punch was too much for the men of Karl Riese IR#15. The Austrian regiment recoiled, losing two 6-pounder battalion guns to the 32nd Ligne.

Following the repulse of this attack, Dupont recalled his troops from outlying Jungingen. They were to quit the defense of that town and make their way to rejoin the rest of the division. However, before Decouchy's converged elites, the 9th Legere and 96th Ligne could rejoin Marchand and the 32nd Ligne in front of Haslach, the Austrians attacked again.

Undaunted by their initial repulse at the hands of Marchand and the 32nd, the Habsburg officers had quickly reformed the ranks of Karl Riese IR#15 and Reuss-Plauen IR#17 for another attack that got underway about 5:30 P.M. This time the Austrian generals made better use of their superior frontage and flanked the French line to the west of Haslach. Rather than have his units enveloped, Marchand had no choice but to conduct a fighting withdrawal while Colonel Rouvillois' 1st Hussars launched charge after repeated charge to help relieve pressure on the infantry and artillery. Slowly falling back along the Ulm-Heidenheim Road, the French contested every inch of ground until dusk, shortly before 7:00 P.M.

With nightfall, the fighting came to an end at Haslach-Jungingen. Dupont collected his heroic, exhausted survivors and withdrew in good order northward to Albeck. As Dupont quit the field, he took with him all his guns, plus two of the enemy's, and more than 4,000 Austrian prisoners of war. Most of the captives had been taken in and around Jungingen by "I'lncomparable" 9th legere.

In addition, the Austrians suffered another 400 killed while more than 1,100 wounded were received into the Austrian hospitals in Ulm the following day. Mack's 23,000-man force had been butchered. In five short hours, no less than 5,500 Austrian combatants--a loss of 24%--had been put out of action by only 5,279 members of the Grande Armee.

The price for this victory amounted to 784 Frenchmen from units of the 6th Corps, plus 105 dragoons and an unknown number of artillery train personnel that were cut down by the marauding Austrian cavalry. Within Dupont's infantry, the 9th legere lost 138 including eight wounded officers; the 32nd Ligne lost 180, of which two were wounded officers; meanwhile, the 96th Ligne suffered 322 killed, wounded and captured. Therefore, Dupont's infantry lost 640 officers and other ranks-a casualty rate of 15.5% of the 4,105 who entered the battle.

The 1st Hussars suffered badly. In making repeated charges against infantry prepared to meet their advance, the light horsemen lost 144 troopers out of the 383 that entered the battle, representing a loss of 37.5%. The 15th and 17th Dragoons suffered 105 casualties from their total force of 600, or a casualty rate of 17.5%. Also lost to the Austrian cavalry were 23 wagons along with one precious eagle with attached standard from the 15th Dragoons. Allowing for the felled dragoons as well as the train drivers who had been dispatched by the Austrian horse, Dupont's force of 5,275 lost approximately 1,000 men at Haslach-Jungingen for a casualty rate of almost 19%.

In comparing losses, for every man the French had put out of action they inflicted more than five casualties on the Austrians! This feat becomes especially remarkable when one considers that Dupont's force was outnumbered by a margin of more than four-to-one. It is entirely plausible that had Ney been able to secure Murat's permission and move the entirety of the 6th Corps over to the north bank to join up with Dupont on 10 October, Mack's army would have been completely annihilated on the 11th.

As it was, the French victory at Haslach-Jungingen serves as a vivid illustration as to how deadly effective the Napoleonic strong point defensive scheme could work. This was especially true when highly-trained French units were pitted against a foe that did not coordinate all its combat arms.

Aftermath

Despite his remarkable victory, Dupont was unnerved by the closely fought combat at Haslach-Jungingen. For the next two days, whenever he saw an Austrian patrol, the French general seemed inclined to move his division in the opposite direction. However, with orders to march to the assistance of the rest of Ney's 6th Corps at Elchingen on 14 October, Dupont took part in that victory, as well as proving instrumental in the French triumph at Durenstein on 11 November.

Haslach-Jungingen proved to be a prelude to the final disaster awaiting Mack's isolated army. Beaten at every engagement since the beginning of the campaign, cut off from Vienna and nearly surrounded, Mack capitulated at Ulm on 20 October, 1805. This stunning victory would be overshadowed by Napoleon's decisive win over Kutuzov at the more famous Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December, 1805.

Order of Battle: Haslach-Jungingen

Comparison of Forces

About the Author

Scott Bowden is a Fellow in La Societe Napoleonienne International and the author of several books on Napoleonic History, including Armies on the Danube (1980 and 1989), Armies at Waterloo (1983), and Napoleon's Grande Armee of 1813 (1990). These works, along with the upcoming Napoleon and Austerlitz previewed here, are the result of voluminous archival research and interpretation, and provide a wealth of previously unpublished information about the armies and leaders of the Napoleonic Wars.

Bowden used much of the information and insight of this reasearch to design a set of rules for wargaming with miniatures. Empire has been published in five editions since its initial release in 1975, and has won two HG Wells awards, including the prestigious Hall of Fame.

Notes on Sources Used

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