LVI. 1809. Siegenburg, under Wrede. Had the Austrian corps been CHAP. concentrated, they might successfully have combated this aggregate of allied troops, whose total strength did not exceed sixty-five thousand men ; but, unfortunately, they were so much dispersed as to be incapable of opposing any effective resistance to the enemy. Hiller, with twenty thousand, was in march from Mainburg to Rottenburg; the Archduke Louis, with ten thousand, guarded Siegenburg, with its bridge over the Abens; the Prince of Reuss and Bianchi, with fourteen thousand, lay in the rear of Kirchdorf, and behind Biburg; General Thierry, with five thousand, at Offensteller; Kienmayer, with six 1 Stut. 92, thousand, at Ludmannsdorf. Thus, above fifty thousand 96. Jom. ii. were in front of the French; but scattered over a space several leagues broad, and without any centre or plan of x. 141. operations.1 168, 169. Pel. ii. 12, 18. Thiers, Abensberg. Not expecting an attack on that day, they were 35. leisurely performing the various movements assigned to Combats of them, with a view to the concentration of their troops for the morrow, when they were simultaneously attacked at all points by the enemy, who passed at once from cautious defensive to furious offensive operations. They made, in consequence, but a feeble resistance; or rather, they were attacked at so many different points, and so much in detail, that no one general could take upon himself the responsibility of halting to give battle. The day was a sort of running fight, in many detached places, rather than a regular engagement. It proved, however, very disastrous to the Austrians. Thierry, whose troops had not recovered the rout of the preceding day, assailed by Lannes with greatly superior forces, was thrown back the Bavarian banners, protected by France, resisted Austria; now we are on the march for Vienna, where we shall punish her for the mischief which she has always done to your forefathers. Austria intended to have partitioned your country into baronies, and divided you among her regiments. Bavarians, this war is the last which you will have to sustain against your enemies: attack them with the bayonet, and annihilate them."-THIBAUDEAU, vii. 230, 231. LVI. 1809. CHAP. in confusion upon Hiller's troops at Rottenburg, who, coming up in haste from Mainburg, instead of arresting, increased the general disorder, and the whole were driven across the bridge of the Laber, which Lannes traversed with bayonets fixed and colours flying. The Prince of Reuss and Bianchi, attacked in front by Lefebvre, with his Bavarians, and in flank by Vandamme with the Würtembergers, deemed themselves fortunate in being able to escape to Pfeffenhausen, where they joined Kienmayer's reserve, without any serious loss; whither they were immediately followed by the Archduke Louis, who had been driven from the bridge of Siegenburg, closely pursued by Wrede and the Bavarians, who, on this occasion, emulated the vigour and rapidity of the French troops. The Austrians were not routed at any point, and no 99. Pel. ii. artillery was taken; nevertheless, they had to lament the 12, 23, Thib. loss of eight thousand men ; the Archduke's communicaJom ii. 168, tions with Landshut were thrown open to the enemy; x: 144, 147. they had been deprived of the advantages of the initiative; 150, 153. and, what is of incalculable importance, had been unsuccessful in the first considerable action of the campaign.1 1 Stut. 92, vii. 232. 169. Thiers, Koch, vi. 36. sued to by Napoleon. April 21. Atlas, Napoleon was not slow in following up the important Hiller pur- blow thus struck in the outset of operations. His great Landshut object was to throw himself upon the Archduke's communications; and the success thus gained against the covering corps of Prince Louis, by opening up the great road to Landshut, rendered that undertaking an easy task. To cover the movement, and distract the Archduke's attention, Davoust received orders to threaten the enemy on the side of Ratisbon, where the bulk of their forces was assembled ; but the serious operations were conducted by the Emperor in person, against the retiring columns of Hiller, Kienmayer, and the Archduke Louis. Uniting their shattered troops, these generals had fallen back from * Hiller was originally ordered to move from Mainburg to Siegenburg to support the Archduke Louis, but seeing the rout of Thierry on the Austrian right, he marched on Rottenburg to try and arrest the disaster there. LVI. 1809. Rottenberg and Pfaffenhausen, in the direction of Land- CHAP. shut, in the hopes of preserving that important passage in the rear, with the immense stores of baggage and ammunition which it contained, from the attacks of the enemy. Thither, however, they were instantly followed by Napoleon, who, putting himself on horseback at daybreak on the 21st, moved every disposable bayonet and sabre in the direction of Landshut; while Massena, on his right, still further in advance, manœuvred in such a way, between Pfaffenhofen and Mosburg, as to render a retreat upon Landshut a matter of absolute necessity to the Austrians, Stut. 100; to prevent their communications being instantly cut off. 3, 5, 37. At the same time Davoust, on the left, was to engage the 154, 155. attention of the Archduke Charles so completely as to 150. prevent him from rendering any effectual assistance.1 1 Koch, vi. Thiers, x. 37. These movements, admirably combined, and executed with uncommon vigour and precision, proved completely His defeat successful. The rearguard of the Archduke Louis, warmly peror. attacked on different occasions during the night, was thrown back in disorder in the morning on Furth and Arth, by roads already choked with baggage waggons and all the immense matériel of the Austrian grand army. Their confusion became altogether inextricable when they approached the valley of the Iser and the environs of Landshut, which are traversed only by two chaussées, passing for a considerable distance on the western side through low swamps, altogether impassable for artillery or chariots. To strengthen the rearguard while the retiring columns were defiling through these perilous straits, Hiller* ordered general Vincent to hold firm with the cavalry at their entrance. But at that very moment Napoleon, accompanied by a powerful train of artillery, and the cuirassiers of Nansouty, arrived on the ground, and instantly, under cover of a tremendous fire of cannon, the French horse advanced to the charge. * Hiller, in virtue of seniority, had now assumed the command of the corps of the Archduke Louis and Kienmayer. VOL. VIII. 2 U LVI. 1809. CHAP. Vincent's dragoons were unable to withstand the shock; horse, foot, and cannon were thrown together in wild disorder on the chaussées, and a vast quantity of artillery and baggage abandoned by the Austrians, who crowded in utter disorder into Landshut. But even behind its ramparts they were no longer in safety; for on the same morning Massena had gained possession of the bridge of Mosburg, and was rapidly advancing, agreeably to his orders, down the right, or eastern bank of the Iser. Alarmed by his approach, the Austrians put the torch to the long wooden bridge which leads into the town, and kept up a heavy fire upon it from the neighbouring houses and churches. General Mouton, however, at the head of the French grenadiers, advanced through a shower of balls, amidst the flames to the portcullis, which was speedily demolished, and the heroic assailants burst into the town. Hiller now only fought to gain time to draw off his artillery and chariots; but such was the rapidity of Massena's advance, whose dense columns soon covered the opposite side of the river, and had reached to within a mile of the town, that a large part of them required to be sacrificed. The 109. Pel. Austrian general at length, after having made a most gallant resistance, drew off towards the Inn in the direction of Oetting, where he crossed on the following day, 232, 233. having lost nearly six thousand men, twenty-five pieces of cannon, six hundred ammunition waggons, a pontoon 151, 153. train, and an enormous quantity of baggage, in this disastrous affair. 1 * 1 Stut. 101, ii. 35, 49. Jom. iii. 170, 171. Thib. vii. Koch, vi. 156, 160. Thiers, x. The task assigned to Davoust, while Napoleon was in this manner destroying the left wing of the Imperialists, A singular trait of heroism occurred on this occasion on the part of an Austrian grenadier, which is recorded with generous eulogy by the French historian Pelet. Two companies of Austrian grenadiers of Teuchmeister were closely pursued by the French cavalry, and on the point of being surrounded. A grenadier ran to an ammunition waggon and set it on fire; he was instantly blown up with it: but the explosion, and the admiration which the gallant action inspired in the pursuers, arrested the pursuit, and saved his comrades. STUTTERHEIM, 108; PELET, ii. 48. LVI. 1809. 38. of Davoust Archduke the centre. and laying bare their vital line of communications to Landshut and the Inn, was to occupy the attention of the Archduke Charles, who with the whole centre of the army had diverged to Ratisbon, in order to make him- Operations self master of the important bridge at that place, and and the open up a communication with the two corps of Klenau Charles in and Bellegarde on the opposite side of the Danube. Rightly judging that the best way to impose upon his adversary, and inspire him with a mistaken idea of his own strength, was to assume the offensive, the French marshal, early on the morning of the 21st, commenced an attack in the woody country which lies on the banks of the Laber, and after a warm contest drove Hohenzollern's Austrians across that river. Though their positions were strong and their forces numerous, yet Hohenzollern was so much deceived by the vivacity of the French attack, and by the idea that two divisions of their army would never have ventured, unsupported, to hazard an assault upon the dense masses of his own and Rosenberg's corps, that he never doubted that it was only a part of a general movement to pierce the Austrian centre, and that he would soon have Napoleon thundering on his flank. Rosenberg's corps, accordingly, at noon fell back, and took up a new position on the left bank of the Laber, between that river and Laichling; and Hohenzollern having descended the right bank of the river to Eckmuhl, and recrossed there with the greater part of his men, forty thousand Austrian foot and five thousand horse were in two hours collected there, where they were soon assailed by thirty-five thousand French and Bava- 1 Stut. 109, rians, under Davoust and Lefebvre, whom the Emperor, 115. Pel. ii. after the victory of Abensberg, had detached to assist in 49,57. Jom. that quarter, while he himself followed up his decisive Thib. vii. successes against Hiller at Landshut.' The action was voust's Report. Pelet, warmly contested till nightfall, when both parties main-416. tained their positions; and though each had to lament 153, 157. the loss of three thousand men killed and wounded, ii. 172, 173. 233. Da Thiers, x. |