A Victory Lost

The Austrians poured onto the battlefield in three columns, from north to south: Ulm’s line infantry division supported by an integrated regiment of chevaulégèrs, an elite grenadier division, and Vincent’s hussar brigade followed by a second line infantry division. Hohenlohe commanded the first two columns while Hiller commanded the latter two. The French pushed to the river quickly to get a foothold on the eastern bank as quickly as possible. The southern column, elements of Vandamme’s corps, made it and swung out to the south, deploying against Hiller. Lannes more northernly route caused him to be bottled up in the twists of the river and outlying marsh. However, aggressive use of his light cavalry threw back the overanxious Austrians who had advanced too far without deploying, this bought Lannes about an hour to ready for their attack. Perhaps unsurprisingly, despite his grenadier division practically marching behind Vandamme’s lead division, Hohenlohe turned it north against Lannes instead of enveloping Vandamme. This might have been the decision that made the battle. From this point on the two wings fought effectively seperately.

The game ran 15 turns and lasted just over 2.5 hours.

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Hiller was cautious about pushing Vandamme after his hussars were horribly rebuffed charging the French infantry head-on. When he finally assaulted, Vandamme had positioned Saint Germain’s cuirassier division to outflank the Austrian assault and the Austrian division collapsed. Meanwhile, Hohenlohe pressed Lannes at the river line, the river was low and fordable but the terrible terrain benefitted the French light troops who put up a strong defense and Hohenlohe was forced to withdraw.