Battle of Amstetten

Battle of Amstetten
Part of the War of the Third Coalition
Date November 5, 1805 Location Amstetten, Lower Austria Result French victory
Belligerents
First French Empire	Austrian Empire Russian Empire
Commanders
Marshal Murat, Jean Lannes	Kienmayer, Pyotr Bagration
Strength
Around 10,000 soldiers	6,700 soldiers
Casualties and losses
Under 1,000 total	Russian Empire: 300 killed or wounded <700 prisoners Austrian Empire: 1,000 killed, wounded, or prisoners

The Battle of Amstetten was a minor engagement during the War of the Third Coalition between the First French Empire and the alliance of the Austria and Russia. It occurred on November 5, 1805 when the Austrians retreating from Vienna fought a rear-guard action against Marshal Murat's cavarly and a portion of Jean Lannes' corps. The Russian troops were led by Pyotr Bagration. Prior to the main action, Murat led a reckless charge with his cavalry escort of two squadrons against three Austrian cavalry regiments. He was overwhelmed and forced to fall back, but the pursuing Austrians were halted by canister shot from the French horse artillery. Murat waited for the balance of his column to arrive with Lannes. Lannes was ordered to move against positions held by Bagration and proceeded to attack. The Russian Jagers were forced to fall back and a further attack upon Amsetten routed another grez battalion. The total number of troops on the allied side was around 6,700. The Austro-Russian forces were defeated with heavy casualties. One thousand Austrian soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured. Three hundred Russian soldiers were killed or wounded, and fewer than seven hundred were captured. This was intended to be a delaying action and thus succeeded as the entire day was spent moving the allies out of their positions.

References

• George Bruce. Harbottle's Dictionary of Battles. (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1981) (ISBN 0-442-22336-6).
• Napoleon and Austerlitz; Scott Bowden; Emperor's Press; Chicago, 1997; (ISBN 0-9626655-7-6)

External links

• Napoleonic wargame site featuring an article with orders of battle and a map[1].

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