Turns 9 - 11
As the French artillery bombardment reaches its peak, General of Brigade Viallanes commits his cavalry to the attack. Both the 2nd and 12th Chasseurs charge into the Austrian infantry squares, but the stalwart courage of the Austrians manages to hold. This forces the French light cavalry to withdraw and reform before they can try again.
French Cavalry Charge the Austrian Squares
Not allowing their fire to slacken, the French artillery continues to fire on the Austrian rear-guard. General of Division Bisson orders that some of the French batteries turn their fire towards the town of Donauworth and any available targets in that area. The only target that the French gunners can see are the troopers of the Austrian #5 Chevau-léger regiment guarding the approaches to the Danube River bridge. The results are devastating as accurate cannon fire beings to drop solid shot rounds into the midst of the Austrian cavalry, forcing several squadrons to fall back and reform.
French Artillery Begins to Devastate the Austrian Rear-Guard
Bisson also makes sure that his infantry is maintaining the assault on the Austrian rear-guard, both volley fire and the harassing fire of French Skirmishers plague the retiring Austrians throughout every backwards step.
French Infantry Continue to Fire on the Retreating Grenadiers
Bisson even ensures that one of his battalions chases after the lone Austrian grenadier battalion that managed to break an entire French infantry brigade.
A Lone French Battalion Chases the Retreating Austrian Grenadier that Escaped
Austrian Grenadiers Attempt to Make Their Escape
On the French right, General of Division Friant issues orders to General of Brigade Eppler to have his brigade break off their planned assault on Donauworth and to sweep the plains in front of the town. Normally Eppler would have taken his order from his Divisional commander Bisson, but Eppler can see that such a maneuver would cut the Austrian rear-guard from their line of retreat. Eppler makes sure that the order is passed on to the battalions of the 51st and 61st Line regiments and he leads his brigade on this new line of advance.
Austrian Grenadiers May be Forced to Run Another Gauntlet Before the Can Escape
In Donauworth, the French assault continues. General of Brigade Grandeau continues to lead his brigade in their head long assault through the town. Having just successfully taken the northern part of the town, the brigade moves to push the Austrians out of the southern portion. In spite of the momentum that the French assault has gained the Austrian defenders put up a strong defensive line that manages to check the assault of Grandeau’s brigade. Undaunted, the French reform and prepare to try again.
French Infantry Clashes with the Austrian Defenders on the Streets of Donauworth
While the Austrian defenders of Donauworth prepare for the next assault, the French manage to strike a major blow against the Austrian rear-guard. Unable to stand the enfilade fire from the French artillery and the constant French infantry fire, the Austrian grenadier brigade breaks and flees the field in spite of any attempt made by General-Major Hardegg to rally his command. This leaves a devastating hole in the Austrian defenses.
French Infantry Clashes with the Austrian Defenders on the Streets of Donauworth
The Last of Austrian the Rear-Guard
News of this set back causes Jellačić to order that any unit near the bridge should begin crossing immediately. The Austrian retreat across the bridge, which had been an organized withdrawal up to this point, starts to turn in to hectic dash for the crossing as commanders seek to save their commands from being trapped on the wrong side of the river. (At this point it was a close run thing in terms of the game objectives, the French had routed 2 brigade and the Austrians had saved 2 brigades. Both sides were neck and neck for achieving their victory conditions.)
The breaking point finally comes in Donauworth itself. Leading his men in a renewed assault, General of Brigade Grandeau battalions finally break the defenders causing the 1st Brigade of the Austrian 2nd Infantry Division to break and run for the Danube River brigade. At this point all organized Austrian resistance north of the Danube river collapses. Thankfully for the Austrians most of the French cavalry was too exhausted to give immediate pursuit and there was still an open path for the fleeing Austrian troops to take to reach the southern side of the Danube.
Rear-Guard at Donauworth Results
This rear-guard action ends as a victory for the French, but it is a narrow run thing. In this battle the Austrian forces were more prepared and better equipped to face an attack from a foe who was not their superior in men and material (unlike von Wernecks command). Jellačić’s Divisional commanders proved this on multiple occasions by halting and throwing back the French attackers.
French Results
Marshal Davout committed his entire Corps to the engagement (total of 3x infantry divisions, 1 cavalry division, and his artillery reserve). Earlier in the engagement the 3rd Infantry Division was routed from the field and most of the 2nd Infantry Division was routed while fighting during the Austrian rear-guard action. Additionally parts of Davout’s cavalry were routed and casualties were taken across most of the engaged regiments that were still on the field.
The total result then is about 47% losses for the French in this engagement. Marshal Davout will have an opportunity to reconstitute a portion of these losses in the coming hours and days after the battle as stragglers and routed units reform. However, for the time being Davout’s ability to continue the pursuit of the Austrians is in doubt, much depends on how quickly he can regather and organize his Corps post battle.
Austrian Results
Similar to the French, the Austrian under Fieldmarshal-Lieutenant Franjo Jellačić committed their entire force to the battle and subsequent rear-guard action (2 infantry divisions, 1 cavalry division, and the artillery reserve). Unlike von Werneck, Jellačić had fought the earlier parts of the battle more cautiously enabling him to have a stronger force with which to meet the French pursuit. The Austrians generals under Jellačić also showed good tactical ingenuity when engaging the French and managed to land several serious blows against a much stronger opponent.
No matter this fact, it remains a cold reality that having your army pinned against a river is never a good thing. The arrival of the French artillery midway through the rear-guard action created a terrible situation where the Austrians were taking artillery fire that they could not respond to in kind. The final total post battle was that most of Jellačić’s 2nd Infantry Division was routed from the field, a large part of the 1st Infantry Division was mauled fighting the French around the farmstead, the Austrian artillery was routed, and his cavalry is in bad shape.
The initial figures is that 88% of Jellačić’s Corps is no longer fit for action after this battle. Again this number will change in the coming days as Jellačić and his commanders rally broken units and reform their battalions. No matter what happens though, the Austrians have suffered a devastating blow at the hands of the French.
Overall Battle Result
Campaign Map
This is the analysis of the entire battle of The Battle of Donauworth & Heidenheim.
Both sides entered the battle with roughly equal forces in terms of infantry, artillery, and cavalry. Both sides had fairly equal number of reinforcements on route as well, though a factor that would have played a major role in the later stages of the battle was that General Mack was supposed to bring with him two full divisions of infantry and a division of heavy cavalry. This force would have shown up on the southern end of the battlefield, thereby uniting the entire Austrian III Corps. To meet the threat with equal numbers, Napoleon would have had to pull troops from Davout’s Corps, potentially creating a weakness on that area of the battlefield (especially with how hard and skillfully the Austrians under Jellačić fought as we saw in the main engagement and the rear-guard action).
The turning point of the battle was really down to the missing General Mack. With nearly a third of the Austrian forces on the northern side of the Danube under his direct super vision, General Mack’s failure to appear turned an even fight into an up hill struggle for the Austrians. Credit can be given the Austrian generals for making a good fight of the situation, but an earlier retreat may have been the better part of valor in this case.
For the French, the largest issue came in the form of their cavalry commanders. While some of these issues can be attributed to odd command structure choices (in the case of General de Brigade Viallanes) others are not so easily dismissed. General of Division d'Hautpoul’s failure to commit his heavy cavalry when ordered to in both the main battle and rear-guard action put extreme pressure on Marmont’s infantry and light cavalry to take up the slack (with the light cavalry coming off worse, even though they made a good show of it).
The high commands of both sides will now have to determine what do post battle. It is quite certain that both von Werneck and Jellačić will continue their withdrawal on the southern side of the Danube as they attempt to reform their Corps. General Mack will no doubt be forced to fall back as well, possibly all the way to the positions held by the Prince of Schwarzenberg (who is currently sitting in the area of Ravensburg and Lindau). The more difficult route would be for Mack to try and link up with von Werneck and Jellačić, this has its perils as the French will most likely try and mount a pursuit. The more daring choice for General Mack would be to fight his way through to Schwarzenberg via Stgmarignen. This would of course take some bold maneuvering as Mack would effectively allow himself to be cut off from supply and he would be forced to engage parts of Marshal Bernadotte’s I Corps to reach Schwarzenberg. This move would be highly unlikely for the cautious Mack.
For Napoleon his best bet would be to try and get part of his army (either Marmont’s or Davout’s Corps) in between Mack and his retreating commanders. This might be possible in the case of Marmont, whose Corps now controls a river crossing that leads directly to Weissenhorn (this along the line of retreat that General Mack will have to take upon crossing the Danube if he chooses to to try and link up with von Werneck and Jellačić or take the safer route to Schwarzenberg). However, this is also the route that is currently being taken by the retreating von Werneck. Which means that the total strength that the Austrians could bring to an engagement around Weissenhorn could be rather significant depending on how well von Werneck can bring his forces back into some semblance of order and how well Napoleon can maneuver his own forces into the battle. Only time will tell.
Game Stuff
The next step is to go back to the campaign map. Before I begin taking any more turns on the big map, I am planning on achieving two goals.
- I want to update my written rules for the campaign map and integration with the rule sets I am using for the battles. There are a lot of hand written notes on how to handle things and I want to firm up some of the things I have not been using or not been using well before continuing with the campaign.
- The biggest addition to the rules will be the reconstitution mechanic. It is going to be a die roll of some sort, I just have to work out a simple way to make it work.
In terms of miniatures, I have most of the major elements of both sides in 6mm and 28mm at this time, so I am basically set when it comes to playing the battles of this campaign. The only units that I cannot represent in their actual uniforms are the Bavarians of the French I Corps and an Austrian Uhlan regiment in the Austrian II Corps. I have everything else, I just need to paint them when it comes to the 6mm figures. I plan on fixing the Bavarian issue soon as Victrix Limited just released a plastic box set of Bavarian infantry and Perry has Bavarians as well. Not sure what to do about the Uhlans.
I also have updates for my orders of battle, but those will probably not come into effect until I play the BIG 1805 campaign and there is a lot I still need to do for that campaign. The largest work has to come in the form of the campaign guide thingy that I am writing and assembling the rather large pile of plastic Russian infantry I have. Hopefully the Perry Twins will release their plastic Russian cavalry before I finish all of that so that I can have Russian cavalry for the 1805 Campaign. I do plan on finishing this test campaign first.
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