MARSHAL LOUIS N. DAVOUT AND THE ART OF COMMAND A ...

mauled by Davout during the past three days and felt he needed overwhelming superiority before he dared to attack. With Kollowrathrs forces he now had the superiority in numbers he needed. The force attacking Davout now consisted of over 41 battalions of infantry supported by artillery and cavalry. Charles issued his orders at 8:00 A.M. on 22 April with the attack to begin at noon. Davout realized that Napoleon could not possibly arrive until sometime after two o'clock. Therefore, he had to devise some sort of plan to hold the Austrians in check until that time. Again Davout analyzed the situation and was confident Charles would not attack until late in the morning. So Davout decided to hold Charles in place and keep his attention occupied forward in order to enable Napoleon to join the fight undetected from the south. He had to hide Napoleon's movement because Charles would certainly avoid battle if he knew he was about to be attacked by the entire French Army. Therefore Davout initiated the action with minor skirmishing along his entire front which now stretched from Schirling to Saalhaupt. He used his cavalry to maintain contact on his left and eliminate any likelihood of being outflanked in that area, thus he managed to keep the Austrians confused and cautious throughout the morning. As a result the Austrian's could not begin their main assault around 1:30 in the afternoon.