Battle of Haslach-Jungingen
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Battle of Haslach-Jungingen | |||||||
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Part of the War of the Third Coalition | |||||||
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Combatants | |||||||
First French Empire | Austrian Empire | ||||||
Commanders | |||||||
Pierre Dupont de l'Etang | Karl Mack von Lieberich | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
<6,000 | 25,000 | ||||||
Casualties | |||||||
1,000 killed or wounded | 400 killed, 1,100 wounded, 4,000 captured |
War of the Third Coalition |
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Cape Finisterre – Wertingen – Haslach-Jungingen – Elchingen – Ulm – Trafalgar – Caldiero – Amstetten – Cape Ortegal – Dürenstein – Schöngrabern – Austerlitz |
The Battle of Haslach-Jungingen, fought on 11 October 1805 at Ulm-Jungingen north of Ulm at the Danube, was part of the War of the Third Coalition, which was a part of the greater Napoleonic Wars.
Major General Pierre Dupont de l'Etang led his French division to Ulm in the belief that the Austrian garrisoned there were part of a rearguard, not a large army.
Instead Dupont found Karl Mack von Lieberich in command of 25,000 Austrian troops, nearly half of them cavalry. Dupont felt that retreat would lead to an Austrian pursuit and the destruction of his division, so he chose instead to attack the numerically superior Austrians.
As the battle progressed, Field Marshal Mack came to believe that the French troops he was now facing were part of an advance guard, not an isolated group, which prevented him from committing all of his reserves.
This blunder allowed Dupont to hold off the Austrians long enough for nightfall to come, at which point he withdrew with 4,000 Austrian prisoners and rejoined VI Corps under the command of Marshal Michel Ney who now knew the position of the Austrian forces.