Austrian Campaign I - The Armies of 1809
S. Henry Dwan
Publisher: Independently published (September 14, 2023
Paperback: 112 pages
ISBN: 9798861435222
Since their last defeat at the hands of the Napoleonic empire in 1805, Austria had invested heavily in reorganising and retraining their army in readiness for another opportunity to challenge French dominance in Europe. The year 1809 seemed to offer exactly the right set of circumstances to achieve victory while their enemy’s attention was drawn elsewhere. With Napoleonic armies embroiled in war in the Iberian Peninsula, Austria began a series of aggressive moves in the hope that all of Germany would rise up and emulate the Spanish populace in a ‘war of liberation’.
With public assurances of direct military assistance from Britain, and a not so public assurance of neutrality from Russia, Austria hoped firstly to enlist Prussia and then the rest of Germany in an attempt to free central Europe from French influence. On 10th April, Austrian troops invaded Bavaria in co-ordination with a Tyrolean insurrection. Soon after, an invasion of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and the Kingdom of Italy began.
Caught largely unprepared for the scale of the aggression, the Napoleonic forces were initially pushed back and Austria was encouraged by these early successes. A series of clashes took place along the Danube in the Landshut-Ratisbon region with the Franco-Bavarian troops gradually losing ground until Napoleon arrived in person on 17th April and began to reorganise his forces for a counter offensive. More clashes between the two manoeuvring armies took place as French forces started to gain the upper hand with the notable victory at Abensburg followed up by another victory at Landshut on 21st April. Further French victories would follow as spring turned into summer and Vienna was taken. All was going well until the reverse at Aspern-Essling during the crossing of the Danube.
However, the hoped for German uprising failed to materialise and likewise, British assistance was far too late in coming. Left alone, Austria would suffer a decisive defeat at Wagram before suing for peace. Forced into a subsequent alliance and bound to provide troops for Napoleonic conquest, Austria would bide her time until the next opportunity to challenge France presented itself four years later.
This twenty-first volume in the Orders of Battle series covers the forces of Napoleon’s empire based in Germany at the commencement of hostilities. And the numerous Austrian ‘Armeekorps’ tasked with the invasion of Bavaria. The early spring actions at Landshut, Teugn-Hausen, Regensburg-Stadtamhof, Schneidhart-Dunzling and Arnhofen are covered with the culmination of the second and more important engagement at Landshut. As with previous volumes in the series, an outline of the armies and a brief synopsis of the actions are included along with a detailed representation of the corps, regiments, squadrons and artillery batteries present at each action. Use has been made of numerous available orders of battle to ensure accuracy by cross referencing and drawing the best elements of each to produce the most complete record. Extensive research has also been made of the uniforms worn and the flag standards carried by the individual regiments to give an accurate visual interpretation of the way each unit would have appeared on the battlefield. A scale of 1:10 has been used to help visualise a precise image of the actual size of each unit. Finally, the text describing the units, their strength and commanders completes what is hoped to be the most informative record available.