Battle of Dürnstein
The Battle of Dürnstein (also known as the Battle of Loiben ) was a battle of the Third Coalition War of the Napoleonic Wars . It took place on November 11, 1805 (three weeks after the Battle of Ulm and three weeks before the Battle of Austerlitz ) in Loiben (today part of Dürnstein in the Wachau ).
| date | November 11, 1805 |
|---|---|
| place | Dürnstein , Lower Austria |
| output | Allied victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 18,000 used: 12,000 |
24,000 |
| losses | |
|
4,000 dead and |
2,500 dead |
Cape Finisterre - Wertingen - Günzburg - Haslach-Jungingen - Elchingen - Ulm - Trafalgar - Caldiero - Ried - Lambach - Bodenbühl - Steyr - Amstetten - Mariazell - St. Pölten - Cape Ortegal - Dürnstein - Schöngrabern - Wischau (Vyškov) - Austerlitz
After the battle of Ulm
After the battle of Ulm, most of the French troops marched south of the Danube towards Vienna. They wanted to put the Allied troops in battle before they arrived in Vienna and before they were united with the 2nd and 3rd Russian Armies. A few corps secured the advance against the Italian army. The newly established Mortier corps was supposed to cover the left flank.
When General Mack surrendered in Ulm on October 17, 1805 , it practically meant the end of the Austrian army in Germany. Only a few troops were able to escape: Franz Jelačić was able to withdraw with his corps to Vorarlberg . Archduke Ferdinand-Karl moved to Bohemia with twelve cavalry squadrons . Field Marshal Lieutenant Kienmayer withdrew with his corps via Munich into the Innviertel in order to unite with the Russians there.
The first Russian army under General Michail Illarionowitsch Kutuzov reached Braunau from October 12 to 22 . In addition to their 46,000 men, there was the retreating Kienmayer Corps. Since an attack was not possible and the position on the Inn was not tenable, the retreat began on October 25th. On November 4th, the Enns line was also given up. On November 5th, a successful battle of retreat took place in Amstetten . On the 7th, the Russians arrived in St. Pölten . On the 9th, Kutuzov crossed the Steiner Bridge , which was immediately destroyed. Holding the bridgehead in Mautern was out of the question.
The Mortier Corps
On November 6th, Marshal Mortier became the commandant of the corps named after him. This consisted of:
- Gazan Division (2nd Division of V Corps)
- Division Dupont (1st Division of the VI Corps)
- Division Dumonceau (Batavian Division = 3rd Division of the II Corps)
- Dragoon Division Small
- Danube flotilla of 14 ships under the command of frigate captain Lostange.
At that time, the Gazan division was in Urfahr , where it had crossed the Linz bridge over the Danube . The Dupont division and the Dumonceau division were in Passau . The Dragoon Division operated independently from the corps.
On November 9, most of Gazan's division was in Marbach an der Donau . The Klein Dragoon Division swiveled north towards Zwettl , only one regiment under Colonel Watier remained under Mortier's command. The Dupont and Dumonceau divisions followed about a day apart. Mortier, who was advancing with Gazan, learned of the Russian Danube crossing on November 9th.
To accelerate the advance, the artillery and parts of the crew were loaded onto ships on November 10 and brought to Spitz an der Donau . The Gazan division reached Weißenkirchen on the evening of the 10th. The advance guard under General Graindorge reached Dürnstein and met Russians there. Assuming it was just their rearguard, Mortier decided to attack without waiting for the other divisions.
topography
The Danube valley between Linz and Krems is characterized by narrow valleys. In particular, the Wachau between Melk and Krems is a narrow breakthrough valley.
The battlefield lies in a basin bounded by two narrow passages at Dürnstein and Rothenhof, it is surrounded by steep mountains on one side and the Danube on the other. In 1805 the road from Dürnstein ran through the middle of the valley without touching the two Loiben. The valley was planted with vineyards. These were lined with stone walls, which were an obstacle for carts and artillery. The paths were already iced over.
Eve of battle
The French vanguard reached Dürnstein at noon on November 10th. She succeeded in driving the Russian outposts standing here as far as Stein an der Donau . They took Förthof and were able to move into the vineyards above Stein. After a counterattack, however, they had to retreat to Rothenhof. But the whole Loibner plain was in their hands.
The troops camped in Oberloiben, from the Danube to the Höhereckerberg. A reserve stayed at the Wadstein (behind Dürnstein). Mortier moved into quarters in Dürnstein, where there was also a hospital. Vanguards were on the Pfaffenberg and Rothenhof.
The advancing division Dupont was in Marbach an der Donau , the division Dumoncau just behind.
Allies
On November 6th, Lieutenant Field Marshal von Schmitt joined the staff of General Kutuzov as a confidante of Emperor Franz II . Schmitt, who was already retired, was called back from his pension after the disaster in Ulm. Worth mentioning, since the battle is probably decisive, is his cartographic knowledge, which he acquired while surveying Bohemia .
After the preliminary skirmishes on November 10, Kutuzov held a council of war that evening, which was attended by the Russian generals, Austrian generals Schmitt, Hohenlohe and Nostitz, and Krems district chief Stiebar because of his local knowledge. At Schmitt's suggestion, it was decided to tie up the Gazan division by a frontal attack on the Loiben plain and at the same time cut off its retreat and connection to the advancing divisions by bypassing it via Scheibenhof .
Battle plan
- General Miloradowitsch was to attack with 6 battalions, 2 squadrons and 4 guns from Stein in the direction of Loiben and thus bind the enemy in the plain.
- General Dochturow was to leave Krems after midnight with 16 battalions, 2 squadrons and 2 artillery pieces and march via Egelsee to Scheibenhof. From there a column was to march on Dürnstein and a second to Weißenkirchen .
- Brigadier General Stryk was to march with 5 battalions to Egelsee and from there to fall on the flank of the French.
- Brigadier General Bagration was to watch the road to Zwettl with 11 battalions and 20 squadrons.
- General Essen remained in stone with 7 battalions and 11 squadrons as a reserve.
- The artillery posted between Krems and Stein was to be used against the flotilla.
- Field Marshal Lieutenant Schmitt accompanied the column of Dochtorow.
Course of the battle
Fight in the plane
At 7:00 a.m., Miloradowitsch attacked in the direction of Rothenhof. Since there were only weak outposts in Rothenhof and Unterloiben, his troops made rapid progress. The left wing reached Unterloiben at 8:00 a.m., where four cannons were posted. The right wing made slower progress through the vineyards, and the French had holed up on the Loibenberg and were able to hold it. However, the Allies managed to take Oberloiben.
At 11.00 a.m., Mortier started the counterattack with all available forces, except for a small reserve in Dürnstein. Upper and lower loaves were quickly taken. The position of the Allies below the Loibenberg could hold out longer, but they too had to withdraw.
An hour later the French were standing in Förthof at the gates of Stein and began to take up positions in the vineyards above the town. However, they were pushed back by Stryk, who was behind schedule.
At 1 p.m., the Allies began a new advance. At around 4 p.m. the French were on the Höhereckberg - Danube line.
Operations of the bypass column
The column of Dochturow marched under the leadership of the local hunter Andreas Bayer to Egelsee, where they did not arrive until around 5 o'clock because the paths were too narrow. They divided into three columns to continue their march, but the departure was delayed.
General Gerhardt marched off for Scheibenhof at around 8 a.m. After inquiries about the situation and some skirmishes, he was only able to support Miloradowitsch at 3 p.m. in the attack by attacking the French flank.
Dochturow marched at 10 a.m. via Scheibenhof and the Pfaffental to the Danube near Wadstein. At 3:30 p.m. the column turned in the direction of Dürnstein, which was taken. The main group was bound by fighting with the Dupont division. Reinforced by parts of the Schmitt group, it was possible to throw back the French, who set up a front on the hill behind the Heudürrgraben.
The Schmitt group marched at about the same time as Dochturow over the Renner cross to Resch (today Dürnsteiner Waldhütten). As the hour progressed, a descent was made through the Heudürrgraben, where one got between the fronts at around 5 p.m. The falling darkness added to the confusion, resulting in heavy casualties. Schmitt also fell.
At 7:00 p.m. the French withdrew to Weißenkirchen. There they took up positions at the Achleiten vineyard.
End of the fighting on the Loibner level
In his position on the Höhereckberg at 4 p.m. Mortier was hoping for reinforcement from Dupont's division.
After Dürnstein was taken by the Allies, his retreat was cut off. A counter-attack failed. When Mortier learned of the threat from General Gerhardt vom Neudeck, the encirclement threatened.
The only way out was to retreat across the Danube, with the Danube flotilla lying between Dürnstein and Oberloiben.
General Gazan and a small part of the cavalry, having held the position on the Höhereckberg to the end, were able to escape under cover of darkness over the castle ruins, which had not been occupied by the Russians, to Scheibenhof and from there to Spitz. A larger group of French had to lay down their arms.
losses
The battle took particularly high blood tolls on the Gazan division, of its 6,000 men only 1,000 were able to escape to the right bank of the Danube. Approx. 900 men were taken prisoner, so 4,000 men are likely to have died. The French losses on the Wadstein were lower. They are given as 21 dead and 85 wounded. However, the French must have tried to show the casualty figures lower than they actually were in order not to endanger the morale of the troops.
The Russian loss information was even more imprecise. Their total loss can be assumed to be 4,000 men, 1,500 of them wounded.
The affected localities suffered heavy losses, particularly Ober- and Unterloiben, but also Dürnstein, Stein and Krems. The two Loibs were plundered by the French, but above all by the Russians. Krems and Stein had to bear the burden of billeting and housing the wounded.
Assessment of the battle and effects on the campaign
After joining Dupont's division in Weißenkirchen the night after the battle, Mortier crossed the Danube near Spitz on November 12 and moved into quarters in Oberarnsdorf . When Napoleon received news of the battle in St. Pölten , he interrupted the advance on Vienna until he had clarity about the situation.
The Gazan and Dupont divisions were relocated to Vienna on November 18. The Dumonceau division was supposed to secure the Wachau. The Mortier corps existed until the beginning of December. On December 9, Mortiers succeeded Lannes in taking over the V Corps until it was dissolved.
After the battle, Kutuzov was able to grant his troops, overtired by weeks of marches, a day of rest on November 12th. But holding the position was out of the question. The French division Klein was in Zwettl , Tulln and the Danube island Trübensee were in French hands. On November 13, the army therefore set out for Znojmo.
Even if the bulletin of the Great Army of November 12 and 14, 1805 spoke of a French victory, French representations soon spoke of a defeat by Mortier. For the Allies, the battle was the only success of the campaign, because they held the field and crushed a French division.
Even if the defeat of Dürnstein did not result in permanent disadvantages for Napoleon, the bulletins issued show that every means was tried to cover up the defeat. On November 14th, Napoleon ordered the particularly badly wounded Russians to be brought from Krems to Vienna in order to convince the city of the severe Russian defeat.
General Kutuzov was awarded the Grand Cross of the Military Maria Theresa Order on November 14, 1805 .
General Gazan received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor .
Aftermath, trivia
The memory of the bloody battle lives on in the Wachau to this day. Walled cannon balls can be seen at numerous houses in Unterloiben. There is a memorial plaque at the church of St. Quirin . Furthermore, a number of names of places (Franzosengraben, Russengrab) remind of the war events.
In 1811, a memorial was erected in Krems' city park to the fallen Lieutenant Field Marshal Heinrich von Schmitt, whose grave was never found.
A memorial was erected to the district chief Freiherr von Stiebar in the courtyard of the Krems district administration.
In the Krems Wine Town Museum there are some finds from the battle.
A memorial based on a design by building officer Friedrich Schachner from Vienna was erected on the battlefield. It was built on the outermost ledge of the Höhereckberg, the last position of General Gazan. In the substructure there is a chapel and an ossuary . In the upper part, which has the shape of a cartridge, Mortier, Kutusow, Schmitt and the hunter Bayer are shown in reliefs. Inscriptions in German, French and Russian remind of the fighting. It was opened on June 27, 1905.
In Dürnstein there is an inscription for the hunter Bayer and for the Gazan and Dupont divisions. At the Arc de Triomphe in Paris , “Durrenstein” is recorded as a French victory. In Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" the events of Dürnstein are included in the narrative about the 1805 campaign.
Numerous legends in the Wachau deal with the events of the Napoleonic Wars and the Battle of Dürnstein. So z. B. "The French take revenge". No source could be found for the myth that the Danube was only colored blue by the French uniforms.
literature
- Erwin Alzinger (Ed.): Contemporary reports on the Battle of Dürnstein 1805 , City of Dürnstein 2005.
- Rainer Egger : The battle near Dürnstein-Loiben. 1805 (= Military History Series . H. 3). 2nd edition, Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1978.
- Wilhelm von Kotzebue: Attempt to describe the battle near Dürnstein on November 11, 1805, together with a plan of this battle . Königsberg, 1807 [1]