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Battle of Landshut (1809)

1809 battle of the War of the Fifth Coalition

Summary

1809 battle of the War of the Fifth Coalition

Field	Value
conflict	Battle of Landshut
partof	the War of the Fifth Coalition
image	File:Louis Hersent-Crossing the bridge at Landshut.jpg
caption	General Mouton leads the grenadier companies of the 17th line regiment across the bridge at Landshut
date	21 April 1809
place	Landshut, Bavaria
coordinates
result	French victory
combatant1	{{plainlist
combatant2	Austrian Empire
commander1	{{plainlist
commander2	Austrian Empire Johann von Hiller
units1	France Lannes Corps
Kingdom of Bavaria 2nd Division
Württemberg Württemberg Division
units2	Austrian Empire 6th Corps
strength1	57,000–60,000
strength2	36,000–42,000
casualties1	Less than 1,000 killed or wounded
casualties2
38 cannon, 500 wagons, 1 pontoon
map_type	Europe
map_relief	1
map_size	300

First French Empire Kingdom of Bavaria Württemberg

France Napoleon I
France Jean Lannes
France André Masséna Kingdom of Bavaria 2nd Division Württemberg Württemberg Division 38 cannon, 500 wagons, 1 pontoon

| mark-coord1 = | mark-title1 = Battle of Sacile from 15 to 16 April 1809

| mark-coord2 = | mark-title2 = Battle of Teugen-Hausen on 19 April 1809 | label-color2 = maroon | shape-color2 = maroon

| mark-coord3 = | mark-title3 = Battle of Abensberg on 20 April 1809

| mark-coord4 = | mark-title4 = Battle of Landshut (1809) on 21 April 1809 | label-color4 = black | shape-color4 = black

| mark-coord5 = | mark-title5 = Battle of Eckmühl from 21 to 22 April 1809 | label-color5 = maroon | shape-color5 = maroon

| mark-coord6 = | mark-title6 = Battle of Ratisbon on 23 April 1809 | label-color6 = maroon | shape-color6 = maroon

| mark-coord7 = | mark-title7 = Battle of Neumarkt-Sankt Veit on 24 April 1809

| mark-coord8 = | mark-title8 = Battle of Caldiero (1809) from 27 to 30 April 1809

| mark-coord9 = | mark-title9 = Battle of Ebelsberg on 3 May 1809 Battle of Linz-Urfahr on 17 May 1809

| mark-coord10 = | mark-title10 = Battle of Piave River (1809) on 8 May 1809

| mark-coord11 = | mark-title11 = Battle of Wörgl on 13 May 1809

| mark-coord12 = | mark-title12 = Battle of Tarvis (1809) from 15 May to 18 May 1809

| mark-coord15 = | mark-title15 = Battle of Sankt Michael on 25 May 1809

| mark-coord16 = | mark-title16 = Battle of Raab on 14 June 1809

| mark-coord17 = | mark-title17 = Battle of Graz from 24 to 26 June 1809

| mark-coord19 = | mark-title19 = Combat of Korneuburg on 7 July 1809

| mark-coord20 = | mark-title20 = Combat of Stockerau on 8 July 1809

| mark-coord21 = | mark-title21 = Battle of Hollabrunn (1809) on 9 July 1809 Combat of Schöngrabern on 10 July 1809

| mark-coord22 = | mark-title22 = Armistice of Znaim from 10–11 July 1809 | label-color22 = maroon | shape-color22 = maroon The Battle of Landshut took place on 21 April 1809 between the French, Württembergers (VIII Corps) and Bavarians (VII Corps) under Napoleon which numbered about 60,000 strong, and 40,000 Austrians under the General Johann von Hiller. The Austrians, though outnumbered, fought hard until Napoleon arrived, when the battle subsequently became a clear French victory. This battle was preceded by the first battle of Landshut (16 April 1809) between Archduke Louis's vanguard under Joseph Radetzky and Bernhard Deroy's Bavarian III Division, in which the Austrians forced the Bavarians to retreat, with little loss on both sides.

Prelude

There were two engagements at Landshut. The first occurred on 16 April when the van under Radetzky (from Louis' V Corps) pushed a defending Bavarian division out of the town and the river defensive position by outflanking it, – with the help of Louis' large-calibre artillery and having a reserve in the form of Louis' entire corps as support. Five days later, after the French victory at Abensberg, the left wing of the Austrian army (36,000 men) withdrew on Landshut (this force was once more led by Hiller). Napoleon believed that this was the main Austrian army and ordered Lannes to pursue the enemy. Lannes' troops caught up with Hiller on the twenty-first. Hiller had decided to defend Landshut to allow his baggage train to withdraw. At Landshut the Isar river was spanned by two bridges with a small island in the center. Hiller had positioned cavalry outposts to the north of the town. His main force was deployed in Landshut and to the south on higher ground. Early in the morning Hiller was informed that a French force (57,000 men) had crossed the Isar upstream at Moosburg. Masséna led this force.

The battle

Hiller realized that he would be unable to hold his position for long, as Masséna was trying to block him from escaping. At this point his cavalry were forced back by Lannes's troops and the Austrians were pushed back into Landshut. The French now quickly seized the northern bridge over the river, and the Austrians withdrew into the main part of the town to defend the southern bridge. The Austrians tried to set fire to this second bridge, but owing to the rainfall over the previous days, this was only partially successful. However the Austrians did manage to close the gates at the end of the bridge. The French were now faced with attacking across the smoldering bridge. Napoleon ordered his aide General Georges Mouton (later comte de Lobau) to assume command of the attacking grenadiers of the 17th Line. In the face of heavy Austrian fire from all sides, Mouton ordered his men to attack without firing their muskets. The grenadiers reached the gateway and broke it down, allowing Bavarian troops to quickly reinforce the breach.

The fighting now continued in the streets of Landshut itself. However the French had crossed a bridge immediately to the west of the town and were now entering Landshut from the south.

Consequences

Many of the defenders were captured, but Hiller was able to retreat with the bulk of his force toward Neumarkt am Wallersee. Landshut finally fell to the French just after noon. The Austrian force had suffered around 10,000 casualties as well as losing 30 cannons, but more importantly they had lost many caissons, a pontoon train, and thousands of supply wagons. The victorious French forces spent much of the afternoon ransacking these supplies.

The other part of the Austrian army was attacked at the Battle of Eckmühl.

Notes

References

Rickard, J.. (18 October 2010). "Engagement at Landshut, 16 April 1809".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

battles-of-the-war-of-the-fifth-coalition-involving-austria battles-commanded-by-napoleon battles-of-the-napoleonic-wars-involving-bavaria battles-of-the-napoleonic-wars-involving-württemberg 1809-in-the-confederation-of-the-rhine landshut april-1809 battles-inscribed-on-the-arc-de-triomphe attacks-on-buildings-and-structures-in-germany attacks-on-bridges

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