Battle of Eggmühl
Position of the French and Austrian forces on the morning of the battle
| date | April 22, 1809 |
|---|---|
| place | at Eggmühl |
| output | French victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 50,000 | 83,000 |
| losses | |
|
6,000 |
12,000 |
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Sacile - Teugn-Hausen - Vistula campaign - Raszyn - Abensberg - Landshut - Eggmühl - Regensburg - Neumarkt - Ebelsberg - Piave - Aspern - Sankt Michael - Stralsund - Bergisel - Raab / Győr - Graz - Wagram - Korneuburg - Stockerau - Gefrees - Hollabrunn - Schöngrabern - Znojmo - Walcheren
The Battle of Eggmühl took place on April 22nd, 1809 near Eggmühl , a village in what is now Upper Palatinate , south of Regensburg. The battle is one of a series of closely related skirmishes and battles that took place between April 19 and 23, 1809 in the area of the Abens, the Große Laaber, Landshut and Regensburg. Since these battles are all very closely related and mutually influencing each other, they are usually presented together in older literature as the "campaign near Regensburg" (→ main article battle near Regensburg ).
course
The battle of Abensberg on April 20 drove the left wing of the Austrian Army under Field Marshal Lieutenant Hiller back over the Kleine Laaber . That night the Austrians withdrew to Landshut. Here they attacked Napoléon Bonaparte from the north and Masséna from Freising the next day (April 21) and threw them back across the Isar with great losses . In the meantime, the Austrian generalissimo Archduke Karl had taken a position south of the Danube between (Bad) Abbach and Eggmühl and threatened to close the French troops (around 46,000 men) under Marshal Davout , who was in the area between Schierling and Dünzling , with four army corps bypass. At that time, part of the Bavarian troops under Marshal Lefebvre was under Davout's command. On the extreme left wing of the Austrian army on the Große Laaber, the IV. Austrian Army Corps (16,000 men) was posted under Prince Rosenberg , which was at the same time the fulcrum of the planned Austrian encirclement movement.
Shortly after noon on April 22nd, completely surprising for the Austrians, Emperor Napoleon appeared with 65,000 men on the Chaussee from Landshut south of Eggmühl. Together with the troops of Marshals Davout and Lefebvre, Napoleon had around 110,000 men. With him were the army corps of Marshals Lannes , Masséna and General Oudinot as well as part of the heavy cavalry reserve under Marshal Bessières , most of the Württembergians under General Vandamme , a large part of the Bavarian cavalry and part of the Bavarian division Wrede.
The village of Eggmühl, which was occupied by troops of the IV Austrian Army Corps, was captured by the French under heavy fire from Austrian batteries on the heights behind Eggmühl. Prince Rosenberg initially withdrew to the heights near Laichling and tried to block the advance of the French there for as long as possible. In the meantime the French advance guard, especially cavalry, marched on the large road in the rear of the Austrian army towards Regensburg. At Köfering and Obertraubling , however, they encountered Austrian reserves that had been waiting there since the morning and which finally halted their advance. By evening the Austrian army corps retreated along the whole line, covered by their rearguard fighting, to the heights south of Regensburg (about a line between Burgweinting and Pentling ). The fighting south of the city of Regensburg did not end until nightfall.
The following night, after storming Regensburg ( Battle of Regensburg ) , the Austrians retreated across the Danube and then through the Upper Palatinate to Bohemia.
On November 28, 1809, Emperor Napoleon elevated Marshal Davout to Prince of Eckmühl for his outstanding services . His daughter donated the Phare d'Eckmühl, named after this battle, on the Breton coast.
The Eckmühl district of the city of Oran in the former French Algeria was named after the Battle of Eggmühl .
The Battle of Eggmühl is also remembered at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. However, the stonemason twisted the letter with the name . Here it says: "Eckmulh".
Eggmühltag
From 2004 to 2009, a battle re-enactment with over 1000 participants, mainly from France, Austria and Germany, with historical uniforms and weapons was held annually in June by the reservists 'association of the Bundeswehr , the Bavarian Soldiers' Association , the Bundeswehr and the market Schierling to commemorate the historic event .
Remarks
- ↑ the name of the place was spelled “Eckmühl” at that time, which is why the (older and non-German-speaking) literature usually speaks of the “ Battle of Eckmühl ”, and for this reason Marshal Davout also became “Prince of Eckmühl "(And not from" Eggmühl ").
- ^ KK Generalstab (ed.): The campaign of 1809 in southern Germany. Vol. 1, ÖMZ 1862/63 (1865), p. 150.
- ↑ cf. the attached map showing the positions of the enemy armies in the early morning of April 22nd
- ^ Lossau: Characteristics of Napoleon's wars. Vol. 3, 1847, pp. 75-82.
- ^ Pelet: Kaiser Napoleon's campaign in Germany 1809. Vol. 2, 1824, p. 56ff; Völderndorff: War history of Bavaria under King Maximilian Joseph I. Vol. 2, 1826, p. 95ff.
- ^ Lossau: Characteristics of Napoleon's wars. Vol. 3, 1847, pp. 82-88.
- ↑ Jourquin, Dictionnaire des Maréchaux du Premier Empire (1976)
- ^ Title in French "prince d´Eckmühl"
- ↑ http://www.altegarde-hschbtl862.de/files/2009/AG_FlyerEggm.pdf