page_title: Battle of Günzburg
section_title: Operations
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Günzburg / Background / Operations
caption_attribution_description: English: Marshal Michel Ney, duc d'Elchingen, prince de la Moskova
context_page_description: The Battle of Günzburg on 9 October 1805 saw General of Division Jean-Pierre Firmin Malher's French division attempt to seize a crossing over the Danube River at Günzburg in the face of a Habsburg Austrian army led by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Karl Mack von Lieberich. Malher's division managed to capture a bridge and hold it against Austrian counterattacks. The battle occurred during the War of the Third Coalition, part of the larger Napoleonic Wars.
  After Mack's Austrian army invaded Bavaria, it found itself the target of a powerful offensive by the army of Emperor Napoleon I of France. When Napoleon's corps threatened to envelop Mack's army, the Austrian general unwisely held his ground near the city of Ulm. As the French armies blocked the Austrian retreat routes to the east, Mack attempted to move his army to the south bank of the Danube. After receiving orders to seize the Danube bridges, Marshal Michel Ney sent Malher to capture the crossing at Günzburg. Malher's main attack on two bridges failed in the face of a vigorous Austrian defense.
context_section_description: On 8 September, the army of Archduke Ferdinand invaded the Electorate of Bavaria, with a plan to defend the line of the Lech River. The Bavarian army acted according to its secret treaty with France and marched north to the Main River. Mack changed the plan on 12 September and insisted that the army continue to advance farther west to the Iller River. Ferdinand and the army chief of staff General-major Anton Mayer von Heldensfeld both opposed the move and appealed to the emperor. Francis, however, upheld his favorite Mack and dismissed Mayer from his position. Relations between the archduke and Mack deteriorated to the point where the two communicated only in writing.
  On 24 September, Napoleon's corps began crossing the Rhine. Lannes corps and part of Murat's cavalry advanced directly east into the Black Forest to trick the Austrians into believing it to be the main attack. But the real attack was coming from the northwest, and on 2 October the line of corps acted like "a door swinging on its hinges" as the corps angled south, aiming for Ingolstadt and Donauwörth on the Danube.
  By 7 October, Napoleon's corps had reached the Danube and secured crossing points. When he became aware of the French threat, Mack made the questionable decision to stand at Ulm. To oppose the French, Mack organized his army into four corps under Feldmarschall-Leutnant Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg with 28 infantry battalions and 30 cavalry squadrons, Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz von Werneck with 30 battalions and 24 squadrons, Feldmarschall-Leutnant Michael von Kienmayer with 19 battalions and 34 squadrons, and Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz Jellacic with 15,000 in 16 battalions, six Jäger companies, and six squadrons. Schwarzenberg massed at Ulm, Werneck defended Günzburg, and Kienmayer held Ingolstadt. Meanwhile, Jellacic's troops held a line farther south near Biberach an der Riß where they were watching the Black Forest. Mack apparently made no preparations to defend the line of the Danube. Instead, he planned to strike at Napoleon's lines of communication stretching back to France.
  The French easily penetrated Kienmayer's outnumbered cordon defense of the Danube at Donauwörth. After a series of minor clashes, Kienmayer retreated southwest toward Munich via Aichach. Lannes, Murat, and Soult crossed the Danube near Donauworth. On 8 October, Lannes and Murat marched southwest and collided with Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz Xavier von Auffenberg's division in the Battle of Wertingen. The French crushed Auffenberg's isolated force and forced it back toward Ulm. On this day, Soult marched toward Aichach and Davout reached the Danube at Neuburg an der Donau, while Bernadotte and Marmont arrived at Ingolstadt. Ney marched to Donauwörth, but he never crossed the Danube and instead moved west to Giengen while following orders to proceed to Ulm. Napoleon judged that Mack would try to retreat through Augsburg or Landsberg am Lech and sent his corps to block those routes. He rejected the idea that the Austrians would cross to the Danube's north bank and attack his supply lines. In fact, that what exactly what Mack was contemplating.
caption: Marshal Michel Ney ordered Malher to attack.
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