Battlefields. Michael Rayner
FINAL STAGES OF THE BATTLE
By 14:00 French army headquarters had moved to the Chapel of St Anthony, where Napoleon issued fresh orders for the final stages of the battle. Bernadotte was ordered to hold the Pratzen feature, and the Guard, Oudinot and Soult were to envelop the enemy left (Buxhöwden’s force), defeat of which was nothing less than a rout. Many eminent historians claim that Napoleon ordered the frozen ‘ponds’ near the village of Satchen to be shelled, thus drowning many of the fleeing Allies. However, when drained on Napoleon’s orders between 8 and 12 December 1805, the bodies of only two Russians were found. Nevertheless the Allies suffered casualties amounting to about 15,000 killed and wounded and 12,000 prisoners, as well as 180 guns and 50 colours. French losses were reported as 1305 killed, 6940 wounded and 573 captured.
TOURING THE BATTLEFIELD TODAY
Today, the battlefield of Austerlitz is relatively unspoiled. The recommended map is the 1:30,000 SLAVKOV – Austerlitz, bitva tri cisarú ISBN 80-85302-03-9 published by Geodézie Brnõ, 1991. On the site of Napoleon’s tactical headquarters stands a memorial installed in 1930 and bearing an engraved sketch map of the battle. It is, of course, the ideal viewpoint from which to view the area, and is easy to find, just off the old Olmutz road (Route 403, Olomoucke Strasse) about 9km (6 miles) east of Brnõ (Brünn). One can appreciate how the low mist hid Soult’s troops along the Goldbach in the early hours, while allowing observation of the enemy on the Pratzen plateau beyond. One can walk up the Santon hill and see the remains of the defensive earthworks. On the hill south of the village of Pratzen is the Peace Monument and a small museum.
BATTLE NAME
The battle of Austerlitz took place short of the village of that name. It is said that on the eve of the battle the emperors of Austria and Russia had slept at the chateau of Austerlitz, and when Napoleon drove them from this, he wished to heighten his triumph by giving that name to the battle.
At Sokolnitz, the castle mentioned in many accounts was no more than a large country house, which was destroyed at an early stage of the battle. The present house was built some years afterwards. Nearby, however, is a huge granary similar to the one which formed the defensive bastion at Essling during the battle of 1809.
Near the village of Zatcany (Satchen) the flat fields around the Litava river (now controlled) were once the famous Satchen Ponds.
No tour of the site would be complete without a visit to Schloss Kaunitz, where Napoleon’s headquarters moved after the battle.
AUSTERLITZ TIMELINE
| 25 September | Grande Armée crosses the Rhine. |
| Mid-October | Most of Archduke Ferdinand’s army surrounded at Ulm. |
| 20 October | General Mack obliged to surrender. |
| 10 November | Kutuzov’s army crosses the Danube unopposed to the north bank after reaching the River Inn and withdrawing eastward along the Danube. |
| 13 November | The French enter Vienna and bluff their way across the one remaining bridge to the north bank. |
| 17 November | Napoleon heads north to join the advance guard. |
| 18 November | Arsenal at Brünn (Brnõ) captured by Napoleon |
| 28 November | Marshal Soult’s advance guard is attacked just east of the village of Austerlitz and, following Napoleon’s orders, falls back to a position west of the Goldbach |
| 1 December | Chaotic attempt by allied staff to deploy during the night. |
| 2 December | Shortly before dawn, battle begins. |
| 08:00 | Sunrise reveals large numbers of Russian troops moving southward across the centre of the battlefield. Soult estimates it would take his men 20 minutes to reach the Pratzen feature. |
| 09:00 | ‘The Sun of Austerlitz’ burns through the mist. |
| 09:30 | The French central attack going well, with St Hilaire’s division on the Pratzen hill and Vandamme’s on the Vinhorady feature. The Russian Imperial Guard makes a spirited cavalry counterattack, but arrive winded. General Rapp restores the position, with two squadrons of Chasseurs and the Mamelukes of Napoleon’s guard. |
| 14:00 | French army headquarters has moved to the Chapel of St Anthony. Napoleon issues fresh orders for the final stages of the battle. Bernadotte is ordered to hold the Pratzen feature, and the guard, Oudinot and Soult to envelop the enemy left (Buxhöwden’s force), resulting in a rout. |
The Battle of Jena, watercolour on paper by Jean Antoine Simeon Fort, showing the large scale of Napoleonic battles, with massed formations of infantry in the middle distance.
JENA AND AUERSTÄDT 1806
By Michael Hannon
The events of Tuesday 14 October 1806 are among the most memorable and extraordinary in all the annals of military history: ‘Napoleon won a battle he could not lose, while Davout won a battle he could not win,’ to quote military historian Major General J.F.C. Fuller. The story of these battles really begins in 1805, when the French I Corps of Marshal Bernadotte had marched without permission through the Prussian province of Ansbach, on its way to take part in the Battle of Ulm, which resulted in the surrender of most of the Austrian army under General Mack. The Prussian Foreign Minister, Karl von Haugwitz, (who believed Prussia should remain neutral, and was thus not a particularly good choice of messenger with an ultimatum), was dispatched to find Napoleon and threaten retaliation. At Brnõ (Brünn) the Emperor had given him an audience, but declined to negotiate, being too busy with preparations for the crushing French victory at Austerlitz on 2 December. Von Haugwitz was invited to go on to Vienna, where he would meet his French opposite number, Talleyrand. By the time Napoleon returned to Vienna in December, all von Haugwitz could do was to offer congratulations on the victory. However, one of the terms of the Treaty of Schönbrunn, which established peace between Austria and France, was that Prussia would be mollified by the acquisition of the state of Hannover.
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