battle of Aspern-Essling

Aspern-Essling, battle of (1809). At Aspern-Essling, 5 miles (8 km) east of Vienna, Austrian forces under the command of Archduke Charles inflicted the first major defeat suffered by Napoleon. The latter was unaware the Austrians were so close, on the north side of the Danube, and began pushing his forces across. The Austrians had an observation post on the Bisamberg heights, which gave them a rare advantage: perfect intelligence of the location, movements, and even intentions of the enemy. They therefore caught Napoleon at his most vulnerable, with a third of his force across the river. Between 1300 and 1800 on 21 May 1809 five Austrian corps attacked the French bridgehead established on the north side of the Danube. The villages of Aspern and Essling on the left and right of the bridgehead received the brunt of the attack. As the Austrians attacked with 95, 800 men and 264 guns, the French tried to pour forces into the bridgehead. They increased their strength from 23, 000 and 50 guns at the start to 31, 400 and 90 guns at the end of the day, but a combination of the river current and Austrian attacks destroyed the bridge. Overnight they repaired it and managed to build their force up to 70, 000 and 144 guns on the second day, 22 May.

At the end of the first day both villages were still in French hands. With the bridge repaired, fighting resumed at 05.00, by which time the French had about 50, 000 troops across. At 07.00 the French, enjoying the advantage of interior lines, attacked the middle of the Austrian forces. Then the bridge was damaged again and Davout's III Corps was stuck on the south side of the Danube. Realizing his situation was untenable, Napoleon withdrew across the bridge under cover of darkness. Although the French withdrew successfully—remarkable, under the circumstances—they lost up to 30, 000 (some sources say as many as 37, 000) men to the Austrians' 20, 000 out of a smaller total force.

— Christopher Bellamy