Wertingen

After Napoleon had crossed the Rhine and wheeled to the south, he crossed the Danube and positioned his Grand Army behind General Karl von Mack’s Austrians, concentrated around Ulm. In the opening clash of the Ulm Campaign, the French advance …

1805-10-08

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After Napoleon had crossed the Rhine and wheeled to the south, he crossed the Danube and positioned his Grand Army behind General Karl von Mack’s Austrians, concentrated around Ulm. In the opening clash of the Ulm Campaign, the French advance guard, under the command of Murat and Lannes, caught a small Austrian corps under Field Marshal Auffenburg unprepared and in an awkward location. So swift was Murat’s cavalry advance that several of Auffenberg’s Austrian battalions were overrun or captured before they could put up any defense. The Austrian Grenadiers formed square, halting the French cavalry onslaught for a time, until Oudinot’s infantry engaged and shattered the squares. Cut off from their base at Ulm, the survivors of Auffenberg’s corps melted away to the west. The magnitude of the Austrian defeat shook Mack’s confidence, and affected his decisions for the remainder of the campaign.

Wertingen, Germany

In the Battle of Wertingen Imperial French forces led by Marshals Joachim Murat and Jean Lannes attacked a small Austrian corps commanded by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz Xaver von Auffenberg. This action, the first battle of the Ulm Campaign, resulted in a clear French victory. Wertingen lies 28 kilometres (17 mi) northwest of Augsburg. The combat was fought during the War of the Third Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.

Wikipedia: Battle of Wertingen

French

Austrians

Third Coalition