Battle of Amstetten

Battle of Amstetten

Part of: Third Coalition War

date	November 5, 1805
place	Amstetten , Lower Austria
output	French victory

Parties to the conflict
France	Russia Austria
Commander
Joachim Murat Jean Lannes	Michael Kienmayer Pyotr Bagration
Troop strength
about 10,000 men	6,700 men
losses
Less than 1,000 dead and wounded	Russia: 300 dead and wounded, 700 prisoners Austria: 1,000 dead, wounded or prisoners

The Battle of Amstetten (also a skirmish near Amstetten ) was a skirmish of the Third Coalition War of the Napoleonic Wars , in which on November 5, 1805, the rearguard of the retreating troops of the Austro-Russian coalition under the command of General Kutuzov left the French troops under the marshals Joachim Murat and Jean Lannes near Amstetten .

prehistory

The battle of Amstetten took place immediately after the surrender of the Austrian troops in Ulm , from where the route to Vienna was open to the Grande Armée . The French and Bavarian troops followed the retreating Austrian units under Kienmayer , who had united with Russian troops at Braunau, into the Austrian Danube region and fought several rearguard battles.

course

After the French troops were able to capture several Russians while crossing the Enns line in the Battle of Steyr , they came across Russian infantry and cavalry, the Russian ones , coming from Oed , between Zeillern , Ludwigsdorf and Boxhofen , just under three kilometers from Amstetten General Bagration had positioned against the French here on the heights on both sides of the Reichsstrasse to Vienna. The Russian artillery was also firing along the road. Murat led a first cavalry escort in two squadrons against three Austrian cavalry regiments, but was repulsed. The French raised two cannons on the so-called Sturmhöhe and set fire to the road and the edge of the forest near Oed. A cannonball broke through the wall of the Reitschberg chapel in the Reitzberg KG and got stuck in the opposite wall, where it can still be seen today. Then grenadiers led by Oudinot beat the Russian troops back to Amstetten, while Murat continued the attack with the hurrying troops from Lannes. The battle ended at dusk with the retreat of the Austro-Russian troops.

Effects

Despite the not insignificant losses on both sides, the Austro-Russian coalition managed to briefly hold up the rapidly advancing troops of the Grande Armée and thus continue the retreat. On November 11, 1805, the battle of Dürnstein was the next battle.

literature

• Franz Schneidawind : The war in the year 1805 on the mainland of Europe. Schmid'sche Buchhandlung, Augsburg 1848
• Alois Moriggl: The campaign of 1805 and its consequences for Austria in general and for Tyrol in particular. Wagner'sche Buchhandlung, Innsbruck 1861

Individual evidence

1. ^ Anton Distelberger, Mysterious Mostviertel, S155-156.