Coming Soon to this Blog...

 It was some time ago that I posted the acount of Babensham.  The followup battle of Jettensbach was fought at the club meeting on 14 February, now six weeks ago, so it is high time I gave an account of it. Briefly, the Austrian rearguard of the retreat from Babensham was caught by the French late the following morning, and felt constrained to give battle.    The map is below, with the Austrians retreating eastward along the south bank of the Inn and the pursuing French coming from the south and west.

1805 Danube Campaign: Act I - Opening Moves (10 September - 15 October 1805)

The time has come that I can begin to tell the story of the campaign without giving away crucial military secrets.  At the time of writing we are still mid-campaign, so I will be rationing what I say and when.  Once it is all over I may go back and update posts giving more detail.  Or not.  In the meantime the account will trickle out in several parts.

Introduction (from the campaign handbook)

The War of the Third Coalition began with an Austrian assault in September 1805.  The Austrian plan was to attack the French possessions in northern Italy with the main army under Archduke Charles, while a secondary force under his nephew, Archduke Ferdinand (nominally, but really managed by the Chief of Staff, Karl Mack von Lieberich), was to cross Bavaria to invade France.  Its real purpose was to distract Napoleon from reinforcing Italy, not to prosecute the main war.  The main French force was far away, preparing at Boulogne for an invasion of England. 

Napoleon responded with shocking speed and force.  He ignored Italy, where in any case Charles had as yet made no move (having grave reservations about the safety of the army north of the Alps) and launched a counter-invasion of Germany.  The Bavarians, meanwhile, revealed a secret alliance with the French - not formally concluded, in fact, until some weeks after the Austrians crossed their borders - leaving Mack’s army in an embarrassingly exposed position.