Battle of Teugen - Hausen The Battle of Teugen - Hausen or the Battle of Thann was fought on 19 April 1809 between the French III Corps led by Marshal Louis - Nicolas Davout and the Austrian III Armeekorps commanded by Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern - Hechingen . The French won a hard - fought victory over their opponents when the Austrians withdrew that evening . The fighting occurred during the War of the Fifth Coalition , part of the Napoleonic Wars . The site of the battle is a wooded height approximately halfway between the villages of Teugn and Hausen in Lower Bavaria , part of modern - day Germany . Also on 19 April , clashes occurred at Arnhofen near Abensberg , Dünzling , Regensburg , and Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm . Together with the Battle of Teugen - Hausen , the fighting marked the first day of a four - day campaign which culminated in the French victory at the Battle of Eckmühl . Austria ' s invasion of the Kingdom of Bavaria caught Emperor Napoleon I of France ' s Franco - German army by surprise . Though the advance of Archduke Charles ' Austrian army was slow , mistakes by Napoleon ' s subordinate Marshal Louis Alexandre Berthier placed Davout ' s corps in great peril . As Davout withdrew southwest from Regensburg on the south bank of the Danube , Charles tried to intercept the French with three powerful attacking columns . The first Austrian column missed the French altogether , while Davout ' s cavalry held off the second column . The third column crashed head - on into one of Davout ' s infantry divisions in a meeting engagement . Generals of both armies led their troops with courage and skill as the troops fought over two ridges . French reinforcements finally pushed the Austrians off the southern ridge late in the afternoon and Charles ordered a retreat that night . This opened a clear path for Davout to join the main body of the French army on 20 April . Background . Austrian Plans . On 8 February 1809 , the Austrian Empire determined to make war on Napoleon . Led by Foreign Minister Johann Philipp Stadion , Count von Warthausen , the brilliant diplomat Klemens Wenzel , Prince von Metternich , and Empress Maria Ludovika , the war party pointed to the 1808 French disaster at the Battle of Bailén in Spain . However , Archduke Charles wished to put off the war in order to fully mobilize and find allies . Archduke Charles , appointed Generalissimo after the debacle of the War of the Third Coalition in 1805 , had tried for three years to improve the Austrian army . Historian David G . Chandler wrote , " Charles was the very best man available to Austria " to lead her army . He expanded the number of regular soldiers to 340 , 000 and created a large body of 240 , 000 landwehr troops . He upgraded the artillery corps , adopted the corps organization , and revised the infantry drillbook , incorporating more French - style tactical evolutions . Serious deficiencies remained , however , in Austrian staffwork , in the landwehr organization , and among the non - German nationalities . At the start , only 15 , 000 of the best landwehr formations were added to the field army while the rest were relegated to garrison duty or the reserves . The Habsburgs did not wish to arm the population for fear of an insurrection and therefore the landwehr was never fully utilized . In Hungary , the nobles and people were cool toward the war and contributed as little as possible . Archduke Charles and the Hofkriegsrat sent 50 , 000 in two corps to Italy under General der Kavallerie Archduke John and 40 , 000 more in one corps to Galicia under Feldmarschall - Leutnant Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria - Este . Charles massed the remaining regular army in Bohemia and along the Danube for the main effort . Charles ' 206 , 906 - strong " Hauptarmee " was organized into six army corps and two reserve corps . The I Armeekorps was led by General der Kavallerie Count Heinrich von Bellegarde and numbered 27 , 653 men . The II Armeekorps commanded by Feldzeugmeister Johann Kollowrat counted 28 , 168 soldiers . The III Armeekorps consisted of 29 , 360 troops under Feldmarschall - Leutnant Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern - Hechingen . The IV Armeekorps of Feldmarschall - Leutnant Prince Franz Seraph of Rosenberg - Orsini controlled 27 , 800 soldiers . The V Armeekorps was commanded by Feldmarschall - Leutnant Archduke Louis and numbered 32 , 266 men . The VI Armeekorps was made up of 35 , 693 troops under Feldmarschall - Leutnant Johann von Hiller . The I Reserve Armeekorps was directed by General of Cavalry Johann I Joseph , Prince of Liechtenstein and counted 18 , 063 men . The II Reserve Armeekorps was directed by Feldmarschall - Leutnant Michael von Kienmayer and controlled 7 , 975 soldiers . Originally , Archduke Charles deployed six corps in Bohemia with only two corps south of the Danube . This proved to be too ambitious for the Austrian high command , so four corps were transferred south of the Danube . Accordingly , the I and II Armeekorps remained in Bohemia ; the III , IV , and I Reserve Armeekorps formed a central mass under Charles ; and the V , VI , and II Reserve Armeekorps made up the southern flank guard . Operations . On 9 April 1809 , Archduke Charles gave notice to the French ambassador at Munich and Marshal François Joseph Lefebvre that Austrian and France were at war . The next morning , Charles ' army began crossing the Inn River in an invasion of the Kingdom of Bavaria . Only Lefebvre ' s VII Corps of three Bavarian divisions were available to oppose the Austrian onslaught . Fortunately for the Franco - Bavarians , it took six days for their enemies to reach the Isar River near Landshut . Napoleon did not expect the Austrians to declare war , but when it became obvious that war was imminent , he believed that hostilities would start after 15 April . From Paris , Napoleon ordered Marshal Louis Alexandre Berthier to form La Grande Armée d ' Allemagne ( The Grand Army of Germany ) from French and Allied units located on the Danube front . To Berthier he sent orders to concentrate at Regensburg if the Austrians invaded Bavaria after 15 April . If , however , his enemies attacked before the deadline , the army was to assemble farther west at Donauwörth . By misfortune , an order that Napoleon sent on 10 April did not arrive until the 16th . A second order , elaborating on the first order , arrived late on the 13th . Berthier was an excellent chief of staff to Napoleon , but as an army commander he was out of his element . In the confusion , he misinterpreted the out - of - sequence instructions and ordered a forward concentration at Regensburg . Berthier commanded Davout , who had been sensibly concentrating rearward , to collect his corps at Regensburg on the left wing . Meanwhile , the right wing of the Grande Armée was distant , with only a thin line of Bavarians holding the center . On the right wing , General Nicolas Oudinot ' s II Corps was ordered to move toward Regensburg , while Marshal André Masséna ' s IV Corps was directed to move from Ulm to Augsburg . On 16 April , the Austrians forced a crossing over the Isar at Landshut . Early the next morning , Napoleon reached the front to take over from his harried subordinate Berthier . He quickly ordered a new concentration near Ingolstadt . To this end , the emperor recalled Davout ' s III Corps from Regensburg on the south bank of the Danube . Lefebvre ' s Bavarians must hold the center until Davout got away . It was not until 18 April that Napoleon realized that 80 , 000 Austrians menaced Davout . He decided to send Masséna toward Landshut to threaten Archduke Charles ' rear in an attempt to take the pressure off Davout . Meanwhile , the emperor instructed Oudinot to support Lefebvre , and directed General of Division Dominique Vandamme ' s small Württemberg corps to march east from Ingolstadt . For his part , Archduke Charles was aware that he had a chance to destroy Davout ' s corps . Battle . Deployments . Archduke Charles hoped that 19 April would bring a great success . His orders for that morning were for the center of his army to attack Davout in an effort to trap the French III Corps against the Danube . By a stroke of luck Charles obtained a copy of Davout ' s marching orders for the 19th . By 5 : 00 AM , the Austrian commander issued the marching orders for the day from his headquarters in Rohr in Niederbayern . Charles directed three major columns to intercept the French . He sent the right and center columns northeast toward Langquaid . From there , the right column would pass near Eckmühl ( Eggmühl ) and turn north for Regensburg where it would rendezvous with General - Major Peter von Vécsey ' s II Armeekorps brigade . The center column would guide left in the direction of Dünzling . Charles instructed the left column to march via Bachel , Hausen , Teugn , and Bad Abbach . On the right marched General of Cavalry Johann I Joseph , Prince of Liechtenstein with the three heavy cavalry brigades of his I Reserve Armeekorps . Attached to this command was General - Major Andreas Schneller ' s II Reserve Armeekorps cuirassier brigade and Feldmarschall - Leutnant Karl Friedrich von Lindenau ' s V Armeekorps infantry division . In the center , Feldmarschall - Leutnant Prince Franz Seraph of Rosenberg - Orsini led the IV Armeekorps , followed by General - Major Prince Victor Rohan ' s division - sized 13 , 904 - man grenadier brigade belonging to the I Reserve Armeekorps . On the left , Feldmarschall - Leutnant Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern - Hechingen advanced with his III Armeekorps , minus two detachments of about 7 , 000 troops . Altogether , the archduke committed 65 , 000 soldiers to destroy the French III Corps . Liechtenstein ' s right column moved north on the main road to Regensburg . Rosenberg advanced toward the hamlet of Dünzling , while Hohenzollern ' s proposed route went through the villages of Haugen and Saal an der Donau . At Saal , the Feking stream emptied into the Danube , creating a potential bottleneck . If the Austrians held the Saal defile , Davout ' s escape route would be cut off . North of the Danube , General of Cavalry Count Heinrich von Bellegarde ' s I Armeekorps was still distant . Feldzeugmeister Johann Kollowrat ' s II Armeekorps assembled on the Danube ' s north bank , opposite Regensburg , which was defended by a small French garrison . South of III Armeekorps , Feldmarschall - Leutnant Archduke Louis ' V Armeekorps , minus Lindenau ' s division , had orders to contain Marshal Francois Joseph Lefebvre ' s Bavarian VII Corps near Abensberg . Feldmarschall - Leutnant Michael von Kienmayer ' s II Reserve Armeekorps , minus its cuirassier brigade , remained at Pfeffenhausen in support of Louis . Feldmarschall - Leutnant Johann von Hiller ' s VI Armeekorps was on the extreme left wing . Hiller posted Major Scheibler and 1 , 200 troops at Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm to look out for Marshal André Masséna ' s forces . At the beginning of the war , Feldmarschall - Leutnant Franz Jellacic ' s division was detached from Hiller in order to capture Munich and provide a link between Bavaria and the Tyrol . Hiller ordered Jellacic to rejoin him on 18 April , but the latter never arrived because Charles ordered him back to Munich . Jellacic ' s luckless command would continue its wanderings until being smashed at the Battle of Sankt Michael on 25 May . Archduke Charles ordered Hohenzollern to detach troops in order to provide a link between the III and V Armeekorps . Hohenzollern obeyed , sending General - Major Ludwig Thierry ' s brigade on this assignment , then he erred in sending a second 1 , 000 - man detachment under General - Major Josef Pfanzelter to link III Armeekorps and Thierry . After the two detachments , only 18 , 000 troops remained to carry out the III Armeekorps ' main mission . Davout sent the III Corps trains along the river road from Regensburg to Abensberg . General of Division Louis Friant ' s 2nd Division , General of Division Charles - Étienne Gudin de La Sablonnière ' s 3rd Division , and General of Division Raymond - Gaspard de Bonardi de Saint - Sulpice ' s 2nd Heavy Cavalry Division protected the wagon train . Flank protection was provided by General of Division Charles Antoine Morand ' s 1st Division , General of Division Louis Vincent Le Blond de Saint - Hilaire ' s 4th Division , and General of Division Louis - Pierre Montbrun ' s Light Cavalry Division . The corps commander also directed one battalion to make a night march in order to secure the all - important Saal defile . Regensburg was defended by Colonel Louis Coutard ' s 2 , 000 - strong 65th Line Infantry Regiment . Dünzling , Arnhofen , and other clashes . Johann Liechtenstein ' s blow on the right flank hit only air , as no French troops stood between him and Regensburg . Near Dünzling and Schneidert , Rosenberg bumped into Montbrun ' s cavalry , reinforced by two infantry battalions . With less than 4 , 000 troops , Montbrun conducted a brilliant delaying action against the IV Armeekorps all day , using the wooded terrain to good advantage . Rosenberg ' s corps was weakened early in the campaign by the detachment of Feldmarschall - Leutnant Joseph von Dedovich ' s division to besiege Passau . On 19 April Rosenberg marshaled 16 infantry battalions and 15 cavalry squadrons . At 9 : 00 AM near Schneidert , three kilometers east of Haugen , General - Major Karl Wilhelm von Stutterheim ' s IV Armeekorps advance guard brigade brushed against the 12th and 21st Line Infantry of Gudin ' s division as they marched west . Continuing to the northeast , Rosenberg began to " fritter away " forces to guard his flanks and rear . He left one battalion and one squadron with the grenadiers , one battalion and four squadrons to hold Schneidert , five battalions to guard his line of march , and one battalion to hold a hill at Moosholzen . After holding the Austrians near Moosholzen and Dünzling until evening , Montbrun fell back northwest to Peising near Abbach . Montbrun reported 233 total casualties while inflicting much heavier losses on his opponents . The Austrians lost 116 killed , 452 wounded , 357 captured , and 159 missing for a total of 1 , 084 . As the link between Archduke Louis and Hohenzollern , Thierry had his reinforced brigade on the road at 6 : 00 am . When he reached high ground near Abensberg , he saw Bavarian troops massing nearby and soon became embroiled in a skirmish with them near the village of Arnhofen , northeast of Abensberg . In this contest , the Bavarian light cavalry mauled Thierry ' s four squadrons of attached dragoons . Elements of Crown Prince Louis ' 1st Bavarian Division and General Karl Philipp von Wrede ' s 2nd Bavarian Division were involved . The Bavarians admitted 13 killed , 201 wounded , and 13 captured out of 7 , 600 troops engaged , while claiming to have captured one cannon and 400 Austrian prisoners . Thierry withdrew his brigade southeast to Offenstetten . At Regensburg , the 65th Regiment evacuated the fortified bridgehead on the north bank of the Danube and withdrew into the suburb of Stadt - am - Hof . Under an artillery barrage , Kollowrat launched an assault against the town which burst through a gate and into the streets . However , the French defenders ambushed the Austrian column and drove it out of the suburb . After an all - day fight , the French held Stadt - am - Hof and Regensberg , but ran dangerously low on small - arms ammunition . Coutard begged Davout for a resupply but it would never arrive . A hastily organized convoy was captured by Austrian cavalry the following morning . Far to the southwest at Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm , General Nicolas Oudinot fell on Scheibler ' s isolated VI Armeekorps detachment with the leading formations of his II Corps . Attacking with an infantry division and Pierre Colbert ' s cavalry brigade , the French routed the Austrians and took 200 prisoners . Teugn and Hausen . Sometime after 9 : 00 am , Saint - Hilaire ' s advance elements blundered into the III Armeekorps marching column at Hausen . Feldmarschall - Leutnant Vukassovich quickly deployed two battalions of light infantry , the " Peterwardeiner " Grenz and the " Archduke Charles " Legion , and flushed the French from the village , chasing them north . By the time the French commanders reacted , Vukassovich installed General - Major Moritz Liechtenstein ' s brigade on a wooded ridge approximately half - way between Hausen and Teugn . ( Half of Pfanzelter ' s brigade of Vukassovich was detached . ) He was joined there by Feldmarschall - Leutnant Franz Joseph , Marquis de Lusignan and the brigade of General - Major Nikolaus Kayser . ( Lusignan ' s other brigade , Thierry ' s was detached to the left . ) To gain time for Saint - Hilaire ' s division to deploy out of marching column , Davout hurled the 2 , 000 troops of the 3rd Line Infantry Regiment at Vukassovich and Lusignan ' s 6 , 000 soldiers and 12 cannon . The entire 3rd Line deployed into skirmish formation and swarmed uphill . Its attack failed to dislodge the Austrians , but it allowed time for the 57th Line Infantry Regiment ( called " the Terrible " ) to organize a second assault . The 57th Line ' s charge carried the first ridge , but stalled before a second ridge . In the teeth of intense musketry and cannon fire , the highly trained French infantry deployed into line and returned fire . By this time the 3rd Line had reformed behind the 57th and took position on its right . Farther to the right , the 10th Light Infantry surged forward against the Austrian left flank where they forced an Austrian battery to retire to the rear . The new attack faltered and fell back to the first ridge when it ran into a strong position on the second ridge . By this time both sides had received reinforcements . On the French side , the last two units of Saint - Hilaire ' s division , the 72nd and 105th Line Infantry Regiments deployed near Teugn . For the Austrians , General - Major Alois Liechtenstein brought up the first brigade of Feldmarschall - Leutnant Franz Xaver Saint - Julien ' s division . Hohenzollern launched a frontal attack on the 57th Line . At the same time he sent half of Alois Liechtenstein ' s brigade through the woods to envelop the French left flank . Davout ' s Chief of staff General of Division Jean Dominique Compans alertly sent the 72nd Line to stop the flanking move . The French caught the Austrians just as they began to deploy from column into line and hustled them back into the trees . Lusignan , Saint - Julien , and Alois Liechtenstein called for another effort . One of Vukassovich ' s hussar regiments swept out of the woods , heading for the 57th Line ' s flank . The left battalion of the 57th formed square and drove off the horsemen . With their generals displaying front - line leadership , the Austrian attack roared out of the woods and fell on the French troops lining the first ridge . The push collapsed in the face of converging musketry from the defenders ' concave line and a thrust against its left flank by the 3rd Line . Alois Liechtenstein bravely led the " Würzburg " Infantry Regiment # 23 in another charge , this time against one French flank . This thrust finally succeeded in shoving the French off the first ridge , though Liechtenstein fell badly wounded . A lull ensued in which Davout personally rallied Saint - Hilaire ' s exhausted survivors . Davout ' s artillery arrived about 3 : 00 pm , having been delayed by a staff blunder . Backed by artillery support for the first time , the tired French infantry retook the first ridge . An artillery colonel scouted the woods on the Austrian right flank and found a promising position to post his guns . When he reported his discovery to Saint - Hilaire , the two improvised a new attack . Saint - Hilaire waved his men forward in a new frontal attack while a horse artillery battery slipped into position unnoticed by the Austrians . The advance guard of Friant ' s division soon appeared , aiming for the Austrian right flank . Suddenly , the French unmasked their hidden battery , opening a destructive enfilade fire . The shocked Austrians rapidly lost ground . About this time , the last of Saint - Julien ' s brigades under General - Major Josef Bieber put in an appearance . A counterattack by one of Bieber ' s regiments halted the French pursuit , though Moritz Liechtenstein was wounded . At 5 : 00 pm a violent thunderstorm swept across the area , ending the battle . Results . According to historian James R . Arnold , the Austrians admitted 527 killed , 2 , 470 wounded , and 466 captured , for a total of 3 , 463 . The French reported 2 , 345 casualties , mostly in Saint - Hilaire ' s division . Digby Smith puts Austrian casualties at 3 , 862 and French losses at about 4 , 000 . Francis Loraine Petre gives Austrian casualties as 3 , 846 and French losses as 4 , 376 . The latter total includes French losses at Dünzling . Austrian general officers suffered unusually heavy lossses , attesting to " front - line leadership that heretofore had been rare . " The brothers Alois and Moritz Liechtenstein , Bieber , and Lusignan were all wounded . Lusignan sustained a dangerous head wound which forced his permanent retirement from military service . After receiving an unfavorable report of the battle from Hohenzollern , Archduke Charles ordered him to retreat . This act conceded the victory to Davout , since this gave the French Marshal a clear line of communication with his Bavarian allies . At 10 pm on the 19th , Lefebvre sent the important information to Napoleon that he could see Davout ' s campfires near Teugn . To the Emperor , this meant that the III Corps had escaped entrapment . The Battle of Abensberg was fought the next day . Historical note . Napoleon ' s name for the battle of the 19th was " Thann " . Francis Loraine Petre remarked , " The ' battle of Hausen - Teugen ' would have been more appropriate . " Herrnwahlthann or Thann is two kilometers southwest of Haugen .