Battle of Teugn-Hausen
Battle of Teugn-Hausen
| date | April 19, 1809 |
|---|---|
| place | Teugn , Bavaria |
| output | French victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
| Troop strength | |
| 35,300 men | 39,600 men |
| losses | |
|
5,346 men |
4,460 men |
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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 Teugn-Hausen (Thann and Hausen) took place on April 19, 1809 during the Fifth Coalition War . Troops of the French Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout and the Austrian army under Archduke Karl took part in the battle . The battle was the prelude to a five-day campaign that ended with the French storming of Regensburg on April 23rd.
prehistory
In the early morning hours of April 10, 1809, Archduke Karl crossed the Inn and marched into Bavaria , while Archduke Johann was crossing the Italian border with his Austrian Italian army. This simultaneous offensive marked the beginning of the Fifth Coalition War. The main aim of the Austrians was to reclaim the territories lost after the war of 1805 and to drive the French out of Central Europe, while a large part of the French army was bound beyond the Pyrenees by the war in Spain.
Although war had been looming since the beginning of the year, Emperor Napoleon did not expect the Austrians to declare war so early. That is why there were some setbacks for the French in the first weeks of the campaign. As soon as Napoleon received the news that the Austrian army had already invaded Bavaria and Italy, he hurried over from Paris and on April 16 took command of the "Army of Germany" himself, which had been the major-général since the beginning of April of the Army (Chief of Staff), Marshal Berthier , had been led. Since a large part of the Imperial French Army was at war in Spain in the spring of 1809, the troops that Napoleon had gathered in southern Germany consisted to a considerable extent of troops from the states of the Rhine Confederation.
In the meantime the Austrians continued their advance through Bavaria and drove the Bavarian army back across the Isar to the Abens. The (3rd) Army Corps under Marshal Davout, which bivouacked with more than 60,000 men in the Upper Palatinate near Regensburg , was surprised by the Austrian attack and the subsequent advance almost as far as the Danube, so that it was almost isolated from the French main army on the Lech was.
On April 16, Archduke John inflicted a defeat in the Battle of Sacile on the French "Italian Army" under the Viceroy of Italy .
The battle
When Archduke Karl learned that Marshal Davout was isolated near Regensburg, he wanted to beat him separately from the French army. With your back to the river, defeat would end in the complete disintegration of Davout's army. The Austrian Generalissimo did not want to miss this opportunity to destroy one of the French army corps on the Danube and commissioned three of his corps to defeat Marshal Davout. They then marched in three separate columns towards Regensburg.
In the meantime, however, Davout had already received the order from Napoleon to march to Neustadt an der Donau in order to unite with the main French army. Davout therefore let his troops march westwards along the Danube in the early morning of April 19, trying to reach Bavaria and other French units.
Warned in good time by patrols, Marshal Davout positioned himself with two of his five divisions on the wooded ridge between the villages of Teugn and Hausen (the Kühberg) and had the village of Hausen in front of it occupied. His other divisions and the baggage marched on towards Abensberg. At around 11 a.m., the III. Austrian corps under Lieutenant Field Marshal Prince von Hohenzollern-Hechingens on the divisions of Davouts posted on the ridge, where they first encountered the division of General Comte Saint Hilaires. After a short time the Austrians conquered the village. Their attempt to storm the ridge, however, also failed after the third attempt, as hardly any artillery could be used to support the attack in the dense forest. Almost at the same time, the 4th Austrian Army Corps under Field Marshal Lieutenant Prince Rosenberg encountered General Montbrun's reinforced cavalry division near Dünzling , which the Austrians threw back after a long battle.
Since this battle was still going on, Archduke Karl hesitated when Prince Hohenzollern asked for support to send the reserve grenadiers stationed nearby . The dense forest not only hindered communication between the individual units, but also made it difficult to find out where the enemy units were. When the Archduke received the news, he was reluctant to use his reserves without further information. As a result, the Archduke missed the opportunity to defeat Davout's two divisions. Not until evening did he send him additional troops from the IV Army Corps to attack Davout, but Davout had meanwhile had one of his divisions, which were on their way to the evening, called back.
Davout's superior military ability, the good quality of his troops and the favor of his strong position meant that the third attempt by the Austrian troops on the heights was unsuccessful, although in some places they had even advanced as far as the edge of the forest north of the ridge. Gradually the French pushed the III. Army Corps back towards Hausen. The battle ended at 6 p.m. when a heavy thunderstorm prevented any action. Both sides lost about 3,000 men each.
Just because Marshal Davout managed to maintain his position near Hausen, he enabled his 3rd Corps to re-establish contact with the Bavarian troops under Lefebvre near Abensberg. Hence the “Battle of Thann” is celebrated as a great victory in French literature. This also secured the connection to the main French army, which was marching in from the west. The battle of Teugn-Hausen was a missed opportunity for Archduke Karl to weaken Napoleon's army already at the beginning of the 1809 campaign.
Formations involved
French troops
- 3rd Corps d'Armée (Army Corps) under Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout
- about 35,000 men
- Reserve artillery of the Army Corps
- 2 batteries (12 pounders)
- 2nd Division (Général de Division Friant)
- 33ème Régiment d'Infanterie de Ligne
- 108ème Régiments d'Infanterie de Ligne
- 111ème Régiments d'Infanterie de Ligne
- 48ème Régiment d'Infanterie de Ligne
- Artillery of the division
- 4th Division (Général Saint Hilaire)
- 3ème Régiment d'Infanterie de Ligne
- 57ème Régiment d'Infanterie de Ligne
- 10ème Régiment d'Infanterie Légère
- 72ème Régiment d'Infanterie de Ligne
- 105ème Régiment d'Infanterie de Ligne
- Artillery of the division
- 3rd Division (Général Gudin)
- 7ème Régiment d'Infanterie Légère
- 21ème Regiment d'Infanterie Légère
- 25ème Régiment d'Infanterie de Ligne
- 85ème Régiment d'Infanterie de Ligne
- Artillery of the division
Austrian troops
- III. Army corps under Field Marshal Lieutenant Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver von Hohenzollern-Hechingen
- approx. 18,000 men
- Reserve artillery
- 3 batteries of position artillery
- 1 heavy artillery battery (6 pounders)
- Division of the Vanguard (General Vukassović)
- Archduke Karl Legion (one battalion)
- Peterwardein Border Regiment (one battalion)
- Archduke Ferdinand's hussar regiment
- Battery of the cavalry artillery
- Division "Lusignan", ( General Marquis de Lusignan )
- IR 7 (Karl Schröder)
- IR 56 (Wenzel Colloredo)
- Divisional artillery
- Division "St. Julien ", (General Count St. Julien)
- IR 12 (Manfredini)
- IR 23 (Grand Duke of Würzburg)
- IR 20 (Kaunitz)
- IR 38 (Württemberg)
- Divisional artillery
- 6 grenadier battalions of the I. Reserve Corps stood as reserves at the height near Grub (they were not deployed)
Web links
- War report from 1809. Teugn parish ( memento from January 17, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ).
Remarks
- ↑ In older sources, often referred to as the "Battle of Thann" or "Battle of Thann and Hausen" (today's name of Thann is Herrnwahlthann).
- ^ Pelet: Emperor Napoleon's campaign in Germany 1809. Vol. 2, 1824, p. 296ff; KK Generalstab (ed.): The campaign of 1809 in southern Germany. Vol. 1, ÖMZ 1862/63 (1865), p. 233.
- ↑ the III. and IV. Army Corps and the I. Reserve Corps with a total of about 55,000 men (KK Generalstab (ed.): The campaign of the year 1809 in Southern Germany. Vol. 1, ÖMZ 1862/63 (1865), p. 212.)
- ^ Lossau: Characteristics of Napoleon's wars. bd. 3, 1847, pp. 28-38.
- ^ Schneidawind : Carl, Archduke of Austria. Vol. 2, 1840, p. 107.
- ^ Schneidawind: Carl, Archduke of Austria. Vol. 2, 1840, p. 106.
- ↑ since it was known at the Austrian headquarters that Marshal Davout was actually stronger than the troops in front of Hausen and Dünzling, they feared their sudden arrival at another point
- ^ Lossau: Characteristics of Napoleon's wars. Vol. 3, 1847, p. 50; Schneidawind: Carl, Archduke of Austria. Vol. 2, 1840, p. 108; Smola: The life of Prince Friedrich zu Hohenzollern-Hechingen. 1845, pp. 159-164.
- ↑ so the usual name of the battle in French literature, although at Thann (Herrnwahlthann) no fights took place at that time
- ↑ the reinforced cavalry division under General Montbrun took part in the battle of Dünzling; the remaining troops of the army corps marched on to Abensberg
- ↑ Numbering within the army corps
- ^ KK Generalstab (ed.): The campaign of 1809 in southern Germany. Vol. 1, ÖMZ 1862/63 (1865), p. 240f.
- ^ "Position artillery" was the name for heavy field artillery in the Austrian army at that time (from 12 pounders upwards); it corresponds roughly to the Prussian "heavy foot artillery" of that time
- ↑ the "divisions of the vanguard" had a different composition than the normal army divisions. There were usually mixed divisions of hunters and cavalry, which is why they are sometimes called "light division".
- ↑ a detachment of the division remained under General Pfanzelter at Bachl
- ↑ 3 pounder cannons; corresponds to the mounted artillery in Prussia
- ↑ The Thierry Brigade stayed with Abensberg
- ↑ in brackets the name of the so-called regiment owner (at that time actually only an honorary title)