THE SPECIAL CAMPAIGN SERIES: FROM BOULOGNE TO AUSTERLITZ: Napoleons Campaign of 1805

Part of the acclaimed "Special Campaign" series of works intended for serious professional students of military history, each volume is interspersed with strategical and tactical comments and illustrated by numerous sketches. The United Kingdom, the Austrian Empire, Sweden and the Russian Empire formed the Third Coalition to overthrow the French Empire. When Bavaria sided with Napoleon, the Austrians, 72,000 strong under Mack, prematurely invaded while the Russians were still marching through Poland. Napoleon had 177,000 troops of the Grande Armée at Boulogne, ready to invade England. They marched south on 27 August and by 24 September were ready to cross the Rhine from Mannheim to Strasbourg. After crossing the Rhine, the greater part of the French army made a gigantic right wheel so that its corps reached the Danube simultaneously, facing south. On 7 October, Mack learned that Napoleon planned to cross the Danube and march around his right flank so as to cut him off from the Russians, who were marching via Vienna. He accordingly changed front, placing his left at Ulm and his right at Rain, but the French went on and crossed the Danube at Neuburg, Donauwِrth and Ingolstadt. Unable to stop the French avalanche, Michael von Kienmayers Austrian corps abandoned its positions along the river and fled to Munich. On 8 October 1805, Franz Auffenbergs division was cut to pieces by Joachim Murats Cavalry Corps and Jean Lannes V Corps at the Battle of Wertingen. The following day, Mack attempted to cross the Danube and move north. He was defeated in the Battle of Günzburg by Jean-Pierre Firmin Malhers division of Michel Neys VI Corps which was still operating on the north bank. During the action, the French seized a bridgehead on the south bank. After first withdrawing to Ulm, Mack tried to break out to the north. His army was blocked by Pierre Dupont de lEtangs VI Corps division and some cavalry in the Battle of Haslach-Jungingen on 11 October. By the 11th, Napoleons corps were spread out in a wide net to snare Macks army. Nicolas Soults IV Corps reached Landsberg am Lech and turned east to cut off Mack from Tyrol. Jean-Baptiste Bernadottes I Corps and Louis Nicolas Davouts III Corps converged on Munich. Auguste Marmonts II Corps was at Augsburg. Murat, Ney, Lannes and the Imperial Guard began closing in on Ulm. Mack ordered the corps of Franz von Werneck to march north-east, while Johann Sigismund Riesch covered its right flank at Elchingen. The Austrian commander sent Franz Jellacics corps south towards Tyrol and held the remainder of his army at Ulm. On 14 October, Ney crushed Rieschs small corps at the Battle of Elchingen and chased its survivors back into Ulm. Murat detected Wernecks force and raced in pursuit with his cavalry. Over the next few days, Wernecks corps was overwhelmed in a series of actions at Langenau, Herbrechtingen, Nِrdlingen and Neresheim. On 18 October he surrendered the remainder of his troops. Only Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este and a few other generals escaped to Bohemia with about 1,200 cavalry. Meanwhile, Soult secured the surrender of 4,600 Austrians at Memmingen and swung north to box in Mack from the south. Jellacic slipped past Soult and escaped to the south only to be hunted down and captured in the Capitulation of Dornbirn in mid-November by Pierre Augereaus late-arriving VII Corps. By 16 October, Napoleon had surrounded Macks entire army at Ulm, and three days later Mack surrendered with 25,000 men, 18 generals, 65 guns and 40 standards. Print size 21x29.7 cm to accommodate the oversized maps.