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

Danube at Ratisbon. He was well aware that this was not the correct disposition for his forces, and was attempting to hurry his movement to concentrate at Ingolstadt. Davout, as well as Napoleon, realized that the Ingolstadt position was important at this point. Charles had attacked prior to the French concentration at Ratisbon. Although the Austrian movement was ponderously slow they would still reach Ratisbon before the French could hope to concentrate at that location. So Davout's movement to Ingolstadt was correct in that it allowed the French to concentrate before coming in contact with the Austrians. However, as Berthier did not have Davout's operational vision he dispersed rather than concentrated the French forces in the face of 200,000 advancing Austrians. So why did Berthier oppose Davout and commit a tactical blunder by dispersing the army? The answer lies in both the problems of the French command structure and Berthier's obscured operational vision. Napoleon was attempting to control the concentration of the French forces from Paris. He was issuing orders to the armies in the field through Berthier who was in Strassbourg. The only way to pass orders was by courier on horseback or through the semaphore telegraph, (the French had installed a visual telegraph system from Paris forward to Strassbourg). On a clear day a message could be