Battles fought in
Southern Germany
Campaign History
At
the start of February1813 Napoleon considered the Austrians to be allies, and
they had agreed to hold the Russian Army east of Berlin at the river Oder,
whilst he reorganized the French Army behind the river Rhine. He was unaware of the secret allied treaty
which agreed that the Prussia, Russia, Austria, England and Spain would all
declare war on France. He was also
unaware that the Austrians had concentrated their army at Linz on 20 January
1813.
On
10 February 1813 the Austrian army crossed the Bavarian border and occupied
Munich.
Napoleon
ordered Oudinot to concentrate the Bavarian and Baden armies and form the Third
French Army at Stuttgart. On 26
February 1813 they became operational and were determined to teach the
Austrians a lesson for their betrayal.
1 March 1813 – Augsburg
Campaign. Oudinot wins at first Augsburg, first
Donauworth and third Donauworth.
Schwartzenberg wins at second Donauworth
and first and second Augsburg.
The Austrians win the campaign.
19 March 1813 – Ulm
Campaign. Schwartzenberg wins both battles at Ulm and
Goppingen. Oudinot is forced to retreat
again.
27 March
1813 – Stuttgart Campaign. Oudinot wins the
first battle at Stuttgart. However the
Austrians win Ludwigsburg and second Stuttgart.
They also win the campaign.
5 April 1813 – Armistice. After a month of non-stop marching and
fighting both armies were in a poor shape.
Both needed time to regroup, resupply and reinforce. Napoleon offered a seven day truce and
Schwartzenberg eagerly accepted. The
terms of the truce was that the Austrian Army would retreat to Augsburg and the
French Army would hold Stuttgart.
Unknown to Napoleon the Austrians were about to move their main army
north to Prague to be closer to the Prussians and Russians.
12 April
1813 – Bamberg Campaign. Oudinot moved his army north to Darmstadt to counter the
Austrian move to Prague. Oudinot moved
to take Bamberg, but Schwartzenberg occupied it first. The French won at first Konigsfeld but were
defeated when the Austrians counter attacked and won second Konigsfeld. The Austrians won the campaign.
25 May
1813 – Erlangen Campaign. Oudinot is
determined to reverse the run of Austrian victories. Both armies advance to take and hold the
city of Erlangen. The Bavarians lost the
first battle at Weiden, but win the next one at Gremsdorf. However the Austrians also win all three
battles at Erlangen. Once more the
Austrians win the campaign.
1 August 1813 –
Nuremberg Campaign. Schwartzenberg opens the campaign with a
victory at Wendelstein. This is quickly followed by winning at
Schwabach and Kindling. Oudinot
withdraws his battered army, but is forced to fight a final major battle before
he can concentrate. Three battles are
fought over a wide area. The Bavarians
win at Fischbach, but lose at Nuremberg and Roth. Another decisive victory for the Austrian
Army.
3 October 1813 – Rosenheim Campaign. Oudinot opens the campaign with three
victories. First at Wassenberg, then
Rosenheim and again at Wassenberg.
Schwartzenberg regains the initiative at Rosenheim and again at the
first and second battles of Holzkirchen.
The seventh battle at Bad Tolz is a Bavarian victory. But they are outnumbered and must retreat
again. Yet another decisive victory for
the Austrian Army.
Reference
The
campaign diary contains comprehensive details of the whole campaign. The
labels on the right are an index to various parts of the campaign.
01
- introduction to the whole 1813 campaign
02
- the five campaign areas
30
- introduction to the campaign in Southern Germany
33
- daily diary for the campaign in Southern Germany
34
- battle reports of all battles fought in Southern Germany
