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

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of Davout and the French ~rniy lay in his ability to convince Napoleon to move north with the remainder of the army. At 11:OO P. M. Davout sent a final, desperate message to Napoleon; I will hold my positions, I hope, but the troops aretoo overcome with exhaustion to ever dream ofattacking positions with three times the artillery andtroops that I have. 2General Henri Pire of Davout's staff carried this message to the Emperor. The combination of the note and Pire's insistence, finally convinced Napoleon that he needed to move north to support Davout. At 2:30 in the morning on 22 April Napoleon spurred into action. He responded to Davout, "1 will be at Eckmuehl and attack the enemy vigorously at threeo'clock. . I will arriye with 40,000His next-correspondence was to Berthier detailing out his plan forthe movement and subsequent attack. Napoleon followedthis with a quick order to Marshal Lannes: "The Duke ofAuerstaedt is at grips with the enemy. You are to marchon Eckmuehl and attack the enemy on all sides.!l4 Thisseries of correspondences dispatched at three o'clock inthe morning set the entire army in motion toward Eckmuehltwenty miles to the riorth.Had Davout not persisted in his communications to the Emperor he most likely would have been defeated at Eckmuehl. He had held Charles at bay for three days fighting numerous pitched engagements. His troops were 92
eginning to feel the fatigue of constant battle. These were the same regiments that fought at Teugen-Hausen, Peising, and Laichling and they were about to fight again at Eckmuehl. Charles, on the other hand, was receiving fresh reinforcements from Kollowrath and Bellegarde who had not yet fought a major action. Davout still had to contend with the fact that it would take time for the army to move north from Landshut. Therefore, he needed a plan to hold back the Austrians until Napoleon could arrive. As Davout was developing his plan and the Emperor was approaching from the south, Charles too was formulating his plan of operations for the morning. This time Charles was not going to be left standing while Davout took the initiative. Charles still maintained the advantage with 70,000 Austrians facing only 35,000 French. Also, he had 20,000 more men joining him from the north. At ten in the evening on the twenty-first Charles decided he would attack in the morning. He knew Napoleon was at Landshut and he concluded that Davout was totally isolated. Charles planned to advance with three corps on Davout's left flank around Peising and Abach (see Appendix A, Figure 6). At 6:00 A.M. Kolowrath arrived with 19,000 infantry and an additional 2,000 sabers. This not only increased Charles' strength, it boosted his morale. He was now ready to initiate the attack. Charles had been
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ABSTRACT MARSHAL LOUIS N. DAVOUT AN
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ?&%slsAPPROVALPAG
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CHAPTER 1 BUT WHAT ARE WE TO UNDERS
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the study of simple strategy and ta
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This fact becomes even more obvious
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the grand tactic. Operational warfa
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Burgundian countryside. He was born
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In1803 Davout was given command of
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then launch a major offensive into
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This attack'then ensured victory fo
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would actually go to war. However,
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Bluecher made four unsuccessful att
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fight entirely on his own. The batt
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title until two years after the bat
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Without hesitation Davout pushed fo
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most of his marshals, generals, the
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CHAPTER 3 THE AUSTRIANS ARE OUR WOR
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Finally, with Davout's information
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Austrian influence in Germany and I
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organization, always slow to act. M
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course of action. They now had a be
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elieved Prince Eugene and Marshal A
Page 47 and 48: 22 March Davout had sent a message
Page 49 and 50: were designated VII Corps and consi
Page 51 and 52: and intelligence at the strategic l
Page 53 and 54: across the Danube. The Austrians al
Page 55 and 56: transmitted from Napoleon to Berthi
Page 57 and 58: Normally, the message dispatched by
Page 59 and 60: me that the best maneuver would be
Page 61 and 62: Berthier chose to overlook this cor
Page 63 and 64: Landshut were only one corps and no
Page 65 and 66: destroy him. On the eighteenth Char
Page 67 and 68: critical for the French. Napoleon r
Page 69 and 70: Throughout these ten days before th
Page 71 and 72: CHAPTER 5 YOU ONLY HAVE A CURTAIN O
Page 73 and 74: Gudin to support the movement of hi
Page 75 and 76: well. They bought Davout the necess
Page 77 and 78: The remainder of the Austrians then
Page 79 and 80: His tactical leadership was at its
Page 81 and 82: Napoleon's vision of the battlefiel
Page 83 and 84: against the French. His troops succ
Page 85 and 86: to surrender at 5:00 P.M. Now Charl
Page 87 and 88: pursuit on two parallel roads leadi
Page 89 and 90: important part in Davout's decision
Page 91 and 92: orders and directions. While Davout
Page 93 and 94: Corps. He received no reply from th
Page 95 and 96: convinced he was being attacked by
Page 97: CHAPTER 6 THE DUKE OF AUERSTAEDT IS
Page 101 and 102: Just as the Austrians began to move
Page 103 and 104: effect, Davoutfs forces became the
Page 105 and 106: The French carabiniers fired a volZ
Page 107 and 108: Charles would lose his desire to st
Page 109 and 110: The ~re'nch prevailed over the Aust
Page 111 and 112: CHAPTER 7 IN BATTLE MEN ARE NOTHING
Page 113 and 114: counter orders did nothing but conf
Page 115 and 116: doctrine, and most importantly the
Page 117 and 118: The art of war on land is an art of
Page 119 and 120: Maintaining this vision or coup d'o
Page 121 and 122: internal fears rather than obstinac
Page 123 and 124: who never made a mistake. The key i
Page 125 and 126: too seemed only to be small diversi
Page 127 and 128: helped to provide definition to the
Page 129 and 130: Figure 1.Theater of Operations.
Page 131 and 132: INITIALACTIONSABOUT 1500Counteratta
Page 133 and 134: Figure 5.Davout's Running Fight on
Page 135 and 136: N1- 'LABER RIVER' SCHlERLlNGLANNESI
Page 137 and 138: Reserve Division: Demont' (3,215) 2
Page 139 and 140: APPENDIX C ORDER OF BATTLE CHANGES
Page 141 and 142: ll~avidG. Chandler, The Cam~aians o
Page 143 and 144: 3~hisis noted in Napoleon's corresp
Page 145 and 146: 20~his is from correspondence numbe
Page 147 and 148: WORKS CITED Primarv Sources Bonapar
Page 149 and 150:
Arnold, James R. Crisis on The Danu
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ackground material and specifics on
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secondary source but all informatio
Page 155 and 156:
INITIAL DISTRIBUTION LIST 1. , Comb
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STATEMENT A: Approved for public re
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