Eckmuhl Campaign (4)

 

Large scale actions at Teugen and Langquaid, morning, Day 7

Day 7:

In readiness for an overwhelming concentric attack upon the Hohenzollern's isolated corps at Teugen, the French were once again anticipated by the Austrians seizing an early morning initiative. Rosenberg (I Corps) sortied from Regensburg to strike in flank Davout's formation - now commanded by General St-Hilaire - before their attack against Teugen could get fairly under way. 

Against such odds, the outcome was inevitable. St-Hilaire was driven southeastwards, away from Teugen, and even from the Eckmuhl road, almost as far as Geisling.

I Corps defeats what remains of Davout's command.

At the same time, as part of Archduke Charles's early dawning initiative, Ludwig's V Corps had marched up into the rear of Lannes's army corps at Langquaid. Faced with IV Corps in front and V Corps behind, Lannes's position was beginning to look desperate.


(An aside here: All that remained of Davout's command at this point was the commander, St-Hilaire, the flag - a formation signifier only, and not a fighting element - and the gun - without gunners. About to remove the formation from the table, I bethought myself that something - not a lot - would remain of the corps after the returns at the end of the day. So I kept the remnants on the table. The upshot will be related in due course.)

Teugen and Langquaid fall to the French.
St-Hilaire's exiguous remnant stands cut off 
and isolated.

Following up the success of I Corps attack from Regensburg, III Corps was able to break out from Teugen and reach the road junction that offered an escape route to Eckmuhl and south to Landshut.  

I and III Corps join forces south of Regensburg

All looking encouraging for the Austrian army, but for the actions about Langquaid. Assailed front and rear, Lannes fought a brilliant defensive action, throwing back both V Corps and IV Corps in turn. The former fell back to Pfaffenhausen, whilst IV Corps retreated to the Eckmuhl-Landshut road. 

At this point, though it seemed that the Austrians could scarcely achieve more than they had done in the theatre south of Regensburg, at least the road south to Landshut remained open, just the remnants of Davout's command presenting the possibility of any kind of hindrance.

Freising

Upon the Isar river, the Austrians had not yet given up hopes of recovering Freising, and hence control of the river crossings there. Prince Liechtenstein's Reserve Corps returning for a second attempt to retake the town, Feldmarschallleutnant Kienmayer was on the road from Landshut. to join the action. For their part, the French seemed to be undergoing a reshuffle, Massena pulling back west of the town, whilst Oudinot re-entered the place.

(Another aside: I confess, I'm a little puzzled myself what was happening at Freising - at a complete loss as to the reasons for the reshuffling of the French forces there. Possibly they wanted to make room for Napoleon and General Vandamme's Wurttemberg Corps. If so, that scheme hit a snag...)

Some mysterious shuffling about by French forces
at Freising, whilst VI Corps cavalry block the road from Au.

The situation at Freising looking dangerous for the Austrians, the isolated Cavalry Division from VI Corps suddenly appeared on the road in front of the Wurttembergers just as they were about to exit from Au. In a brilliant little operation, the unsupported light horse held the road closed all day from dawn until dusk, finally being driven off and scattered the following morning.

(Yet another aside: These little cavalry formations can sometime effect more than their scant numbers might suggest. The two figures, added to their arm of service, gave them 3 dice. Even with only half his corps present at Au - the rest of the column, and Napoleon, not yet up and back along the road - Vandamme had double the dice, and a fair chance of clearing the road at once. At the first clash, the horsemen bounced from the infantry squares (presumably). At the attempt to clear the road, Napoleon having brought up the rear half of the column, the Austrians lost half their cavalry, but as the Wurttembergers also lost a figure, the march south remained stalled for the afternoon.)

For the whole day, VI Corps cavalry fight a gallant
rearguard action in front of Au village.

The success of this operation went far to assist Prince Liechtenstein's second attempt to storm Freising. Surging across the river Ammen, I Reserve Corps broke into the town, surged through the streets, and threw Oudinot's Corps back down the river road. The second time Freising had changed hands was not to be the last. Napoleon had gathered too much strength in the locality for the town to be held indefinitely. However, on this day, he had cleared the road south from Au too late to affect the immediate situation.

Battle of Freising: Prince Liechtenstein and I Reserve Corps
live up to their elite status and carry the town.

Realising that to continue his westward march from Landshut would simply be to block the retreat I Reserve Corps, Kienmayer retraced the steps of II Reserve Corps to cross the river bridge at Landshut, leaving VI Corps to garrison the place.  The remnants of V Corps had meanwhile arrived at Pfaffenhausen, guarding against a possible French push from the Arnhofen or Langquaid area. 

But there was to be no push south towards Pfaffenhausen. Instead, three Army Corps marched eastwards along a broad front in pursuit of III and IV Austrian Corps. Lannes pushed eastwards from Langquaid to catch up with IV Corps just south of Eckmuhl.  Lefebvre led VII Corps through Teugen - the fourth time this village changed hands - ending the day not far short of the Regensburg-Eckmuhl road. Marching along the Danube river road, General Gudin's command had almost reached the Regensburg town walls when nightfall drew a halt to operations.    

As daylight faded with the going down of the sun, the only sound of battle could be discerned coming from the direction of Eckmuhl. They could hear the guns, the sounds of a late afternoon action. Marshal Lannes had caught up once again with Rosenburg's IV Corps.

In summary, then, the Austrians had achieved a morning victory over St-Hilaire and recaptured Freising in a brilliant forenoon assault. A small cavalry force had fought a gallant and successful rearguard action at Au, and III Corps had escaped the trap at Teugen.  Against those Austrian successes could be counted Lannes's brilliant victory that defeated IV and V Corps, and the French pursuit through Teugen. But one action remained to be decided before the Day Seven's end. Would Marshal Lannes cut the Eckmuhl-Landshut road - or could IV Corps hold open the way?

To be continued...