Battle of Stockach ( 1800 ) The Battle of Stockach and Engen was fought on 3 May 1800 between the army of the First French Republic under Jean Victor Marie Moreau and the army of Habsburg Austria led by Pál Kray . The fighting near Engen resulted in a stalemate with heavy losses on both sides . However , while the two main armies were engaged at Engen , Claude Lecourbe captured Stockach from its Austrian defenders under the Joseph , Prince of Lorraine - Vaudemont . The loss of his main supply base at Stockach compelled Kray to order a retreat . Stockach is located near the northwestern end of Lake Constance while Engen is west of Stockach . The action occurred during the War of the Second Coalition , part of the French Revolutionary Wars . Background . At the beginning of 1800 , the armies of France and Austria faced each other across the Rhine . Feldzeugmeister Pál Kray led approximately 120 , 000 troops . Beside his regular Austrian soldiers , he led 12 , 000 men from the Electorate of Bavaria , 6 , 000 troops from the Duchy of Württemberg , 5 , 000 soldiers of low quality from the Archbishopric of Mainz , and 7 , 000 militiamen from the County of Tyrol . Of these , 25 , 000 men were deployed east of Lake Constance ( Bodensee ) to protect the Voralberg . Kray posted his main body of 95 , 000 soldiers in the L - shaped angle where the Rhine changes direction from a westward flow along the northern border of Switzerland to a northward flow along the eastern border of France . Unwisely , Kray set up his main magazine at Stockach , only a day ' s march from French - held Switzerland . General of Division Jean Victor Marie Moreau commanded a well - equipped army of 137 , 000 French troops . Of these , 108 , 000 troops were available for field operations while the other 29 , 000 watched the Swiss border and held the Rhine fortresses . First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte offered a plan of operations based on outflanking the Austrians by a push from Switzerland , but Moreau declined to follow it . Rather , Moreau planned to cross the Rhine near Basel where the river swung to the north . A French column would distract Kray from Moreau ' s true intentions by crossing the Rhine from the west . Bonaparte wanted Claude Lecourbe ' s corps to be detached to Italy after the initial battles , but Moreau had other plans . Forces . At the beginning of March , Bonaparte ordered Moreau to form his army into all - arms army corps . Accordingly , by 20 March 1800 , there were four corps , with the last one serving as an army reserve . The Right Wing was led by Lecourbe and included four divisions . These were General of Division Dominique Vandamme ' s 9 , 632 infantry and 540 cavalry , General of Division Joseph Hélie Désiré Perruquet de Montrichard ' s 6 , 998 infantry , General of Division Jean Thomas Guillaume Lorge ' s 8 , 238 infantry and 464 cavalry , and General of Division Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty ' s 1 , 500 grenadiers and 1 , 280 cavalry . The Center was led by General of Division Laurent Gouvion Saint - Cyr and comprised four divisions . These were General of Division Michel Ney ' s 7 , 270 infantry and 569 cavalry , General of Division Louis Baraguey d ' Hilliers ' 8 , 340 infantry and 542 cavalry , General of Division Jean Victor Tharreau ' s 8 , 326 infantry and 611 cavalry , and General of Brigade Nicolas Emault de Rignac Des Bruslys ' 2 , 474 light infantry and 1 , 616 cavalry . The Left Wing was commanded by General of Division Gilles Joseph Martin Brunteau Saint - Suzanne and consisted of four divisions . These units were General of Division Claude Sylvestre Colaud ' s 2 , 740 infantry and 981 cavalry , General of Division Joseph Souham ' s 4 , 687 infantry and 1 , 394 cavalry , General of Division Claude Juste Alexandre Legrand ' s 5 , 286 infantry and 1 , 094 cavalry , and General of Division Henri François Delaborde ' s 2 , 573 infantry and 286 cavalry . Moreau personally directed the Reserve which was made up of three infantry and one cavalry divisions . These were General of Division Antoine Guillaume Delmas de la Coste ' s 8 , 635 infantry and 1 , 031 cavalry , General of Division Antoine Richepanse ' s 6 , 848 infantry and 1 , 187 cavalry , General of Division Charles Leclerc ' s 6 , 035 infantry and 963 cavalry , and General of Division Jean - Joseph Ange d ' Hautpoul ' s 1 , 504 heavy cavalry . There were additional troops under Moreau ' s overall leadership . These included General of Division Louis - Antoine - Choin de Montchoisy ' s 7 , 715 infantry and 519 cavalry , detached to hold Switzerland . Fortresses in Alsace and along the Rhine were defended by forces under Generals of Division François Xavier Jacob Freytag , 2 , 935 infantry ; Joseph Gilot , 750 cavalry ; Alexandre Paul Guerin de Joyeuse de Chateauneuf - Randon , 3 , 430 infantry and 485 cavalry ; Antoine Laroche Dubouscat , 3 , 001 infantry and 91 cavalry ; and Jean François Leval , 5 , 640 infantry and 426 cavalry .