"Haslach-Jungingen 1805 " Topic

"Battle of the Unfortunate Ones
Haslach-Jungingen is one of those little noticed battles taking place, as it did, in the noise and shadow of the Austerlitz campaign. It is part of a set of small battles (military historians call them "combats" or "engagements" since they don't seem to rank up there with the Borodinos or Gettysburgs) that took place at the beginning of Napoleon's 1805 campaign. I have already covered two of them, Wertingen and Durnstein. There were several. But Haslach-Jungingen is nonetheless an interesting study since it starkly contrasts the old, 18th century style of tactics and leadership with the new, 19th century, integrated command doctrine introduced by Napoleon. It is also one of those "what if" battles that might be interesting to refight as a wargame, assuming the Austrian player is not so much a fool and the French one not so shrewd.

In this battle (or "combat" or "tiff") a small, isolated force of French held their own against five times their number for more than six hours and withdrew in good order with 4,000 Austrian prisoners. In some ways, the performance was a rehearsal of another battle, Durnstein, a few weeks later against the Russians, with some of the same troops.

This initial stage of the War of the Third Coalition was the debut of Napoleon's newly created Grande Armée, which had been in intense training for almost two years at its camp in Boulogne on the Channel Coast, in preparation for what, then, had been the inevitable invasion of England. It' troops, its commanders, its equipment, and its spirit were at their highest level they would ever be again. Nothing like it had been seen in the world since Frederick the Great's army two generations before. So it must have been gratifying to these soldiers, to say the least, to see all that training and theory pay off in the opening rounds of this campaign…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

an impressive battle field again, showing Dupont one of the best French generals at his best.
In Hasslach there are still one or two houses with marks of cannon balls.
Without Dupont – no Ulm

Really enjoyed the read, its nice to get some of the background to the larger campaign battles.

Glad you enjoyed it boys!. (smile)

You are totally right my friend Von Winterfeldt.

Sad ending for Dupont in America.

Amicalement
Armand

Thank you, Armand, for linking people to articles on my blog. Started it mostly to amuse myself but it is doubly gratifying to see it has developed a fan base, who comment on it, reference it, and even those who have designed games based on some of my articles. That keeps me going.

Jeff Berry

No mention my friend.

Please, keep doing your excellent work!! (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Beloved Leader

A great site and it is very refreshing and enjoyable to see the lesser known actions, and, shall we say, the lesser successful commanders being portrayed. I think your site will be very popular.

But perhaps Mack should be considered 'the unbelievable' rather than unfortunate?

And also very interesting to see that Dupont showed some daring and military skill in this action, something he lacked completely at Bailen in 1808.

Tango01

Well done for bringing up this site. I will certainly be looking into it more carefully when I force myself to have a break from a trying to catch up with reading all the new Nap books I've bought (there are so many on offer this year), and other Nap commitments.

A votre service mon cher ami!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand