Campaign Battle of Babensham

The Situation

Four days after the Russian victory at Ottenhoven, the Grande Armée is finally getting to grips with the army of Austria.  A strong push by Bernadotte, backed by Davout, has expanded to the East the Wasserburg bridgehead across the Inn, only to discover a solid line of Austrians stretching for miles to the South-East in the direction of the Chiemsee.  It has been raining for days, and will be an uphill fight.  The French have fought with mud on their boots before, though, and if the Austrians are willing to accept battle the French are more than willing to give it to them...

We played the battle in the extremely congenial location of Bundanoon, in the Southern Highlands of NSW, where the Bundanoon Hotel were kind enough to allow us the use of their private dining room.  Thanks, Gavin!  We hope that this will be only the first of many such meetings.  Robert led the Austrians, assisted by the (nominally Russian, in the campaign) John and Colin, while David and Michael handled the French.

The Battlefield

Like Ottenhoven, the battle takes place in the hilly, wooded and sparsely inhabited country between the Danube and the Alps.  The French have known for some days that there were Austrians out there.  What the French did not know was that they have been spending their time digging field fortifications, and loopholing and barricading the village of Babensham.  Babensham lies on the main road running from Wasserburg to the next downstream crossing point at Mühldorf, and the right flank of the Austrian battle line rests on it.

The Map

The Battle

On the previous day Marshal Soult, having withdrawn from the Russians at Ottenhoven, and feeling sorry for himself, had gone to some trouble manoeuvering against an apparent Austrian force on the West bank of the Inn, which looked isolated and easy pickings, but at the same time was threatening the rear of the crossing.  He hoped to surround and destroy it, but could not quite manage to close the trap.  As a result, the threat remained when the balloon went up and everybody started marching east to join the battle.  Davout, straddling the crossing, sent his cavalry commander Vialannes to form a screen in strength, ensuring that the reinforcing columns were not interfered with.  The result was anticlimactic, as the threat dissolved into an elusive screen of Austrian Cheveaux-Legers making off to the north.

Even with Vialannes out of the battle, though, the French were bringing a considerable force to bear.  At midday on the 27th, the rain cleared, and the Emperor gave the signal - en avant!.  Fifteen thousand men were on the field, and 36 guns, with another sixty thousand on the road and expected by nightfall.  Werneck's twenty thousand, with just 10 guns, would have a stiff fight of it, even with woods, hills and entrenchments in their favour.  Emperor Francis, though, having taken personal command of the army in Germany since the French crossing of the Inn, had every confidence in him, and in his colleague, FML Klenau, whom the emperor had instructed to bring another forty thousand reinforcements to the field with the utmost haste.

With three divisions initially on the field, and already dug in on the high ground, the Austrians would appear to be in a reasonably strong position to hold off three French divisions.  Although the setup conditions allowed them to start holding a frontage as short as two miles, the actual setup covered a front of almost five, although these did include the (hastily fortified) village of Babensham itself (held by a brigade of grenadiers) and a redoubt of eathworks on the crest of the ridge that dominated the battlefield and ran along its axis.  The ridge, in turn, rose to a dominant peak a half-mile north of the initial trench line.

Three Austrian generals crossed the Inn (Hoorah, Hoorah)

The French, meanwhile, set up for an immediate assault on the Austrian centre, ignoring for the time being the strongpoint of Babensham.  Since the Austrian front was not continuous, GdD Kellerman's brave brigade of light cavalry were able to outflank the trench line, risking flanking fire from the artillery and a possible charge from the cavalry that had, by that time, moved up to line the military crest.  One brigade was driven back, but the other charged home, reinforced by infantry advancing along the spine of the ridge into the teeth of the Austrian fortifications.

It was not a rout, but FML Auffenberg's infantry were driven back to the foot of the hill, albeit his Cheveaux-Leger and artillery maintained a precarious hold on its peak.  The French were now in command of the centre of the ridge, catching their breath for a fresh assault.  Just then, the rain set in again.

The first French assault goes in.  Van Marisy's brigade was thrown back by enfilading cannister,
but Brigadier Picard, at the head of the 2nd and 4th Hussars, carried the trench line.

Clearing this initial obstacle had taken two hours, and the tide then appeared to turn with the arrival of the rest of the Austrian army - a strong column under FMLs Riesch and Gottesheim hastening in march column down from the North behind the main ridge, a division under d'Aspre reinforcing Hohenzollern in the south, and two more under Klenau and Roussel coming up the Wasserberg road from the west, all under the cover of a blinding rain-storm that hit in the middle of the afternoon.

No sooner than Klenau had deployed into line to threaten the French left flank, though, than his own flank was turned!  The vanguard of the French III Corps, under GdD Bisson, had been marching undetected along the same road less than a mile behind Klenau's men, and now slammed straight into their rear, collapsing the newly-formed Austrian right into a knot of confusion.  More than one brigade broke, and the whole of III Corps followed up and deployed to a solid line of blue by 5:00pm.  The tables were now turned on the Austrians with a vengeance!

Davout's III Corps (in line along the table edge) rolling the flank and rear of Roussel (on the road) and
Klenau (in line perpendicular to the table edge, poised to threaten the French reserves further south)

Meanwhile, up on the ridge, all was not going well for the French.  Van Marisy's light cavalry brigade, still recovering from artillery fire during the earlier assault on the trenches, was hit by a counter-charge down from the hilltop by the Latour Cheveaux-Legers, over a thousand strong.  The Chasseurs broke, and fled the field.  At the same time, Hohenzollern's men in the South-East, now backed by d'Aspre, revealed themselves advancing through the woods up the east face of the ridge, threatening to bring to nothing the intitial French thrust up it.

Rivaud's division of Bernadotte's I Corps holds the trench line, while Drouet's hastily cobbles together a
defence on a perpendicular line against the threat of Hohenzollern's massed column from the East.  Red
dice indicate casualties and disorder ("fatigue"), while the black dice indicate demoralisation of
Kellerman's division at the loss of their comrades of van Marisy's brigade

With the approach of nightfall, the Austrians of Klenau's and Roussel's columns recovered well from their unpleasant surprise, falling back to form a sound line with its right anchored on the village of Babensham.

Austrians on the road (facing the camera) with their right in Babensham.
Opposed to them on the left, most of III and IV Corps of the Grande Armée

There was one more triumph for France before darkness fell.  Against the strongpoint of Babensham, defended by two thousand Imperial grenadiers, was flung no fewer than five brigades of infantry, supported by 24 guns.  There could be only one outcome - the village changed hands, and as darkness fell and the rain eased the Austrians used its cover to fall back to fresh positions to resume the fight in the morning.

View from the north at nightfall.  Babensham in the red circle, with the ejected grenadiers
just this side of the village.  Note that the column of Riesch/Gottesheim, on the eastern road
(to the left) has not moved since it rushed up to the foot of the central hill four hours ago.

Overnight the Austrian army fell back to a line with its left anchored on the central peak and its right on the woods to the north, its centre stiffened by secondary trenches prepared earlier against just such an eventuality.  The rain held off overnight, allowing both sides to snatch a few hours of fitful sleep only a half-mile apart, but as dawn broke it started again, dampening spirits and campfires.

Neither army had quit the field, though, so there were two more fierce engagements before hostilities dribbled to a close for the day.  In the South-East, Mayer's brigade of grenadiers had threatened the right anchor point of the French line, guarding a defile between woods that led up onto the ridge.  At dawn the French counterattacked, swarming down the hill with clouds of tirailleurs followed by columns of line infantry, interspersed with dozens of guns.  The Austrians were driven back, and the flank secured.

On the French left, a great push was made.  Light infantry were able to infiltrate past the end of the Austrian line through the woods, and the end of the line was turned.

Austrian steadiness began to falter, but the army still did not break.  It fell back in good order, step by step, through the afternoon, in the face of now-desultory French attacks.  At dusk, a rearguard was left to impede French pursuit, while the bulk of the force escaped northward in the darkness.

Which would normally be the end of the battle, but on the very next operational pulse the first French action was for Drouet's division, which had passed the night of the 28th at the northern end of the battlefield, to launch itself in pursuit of the Austrian rearguard.  It caught up with them in the early afternoon of the 29th, and a little to Drouet's surprise the Austrians did not continue to flee, but stood to give battle.

To be continued...