Battle of Teugen-Hausen

Battle of Teugen-Hausen
Battle of Teugen-Hausen
Date 19 April 1809[1] Location Teugn, Bavaria 48°53′N 12°01′E / 48.88°N 12.01°E / 48.88; 12.01 Result French victory[1]
Belligerents
Austrian Empire	French Empire Kingdom of Bavaria
Commanders and leaders
Friedrich von Hohenzollern Franz von Rosenberg Ludwig Thierry	Napoleon Louis Davout Louis Montbrun François Lefebvre
Units involved
III Armeekorps	III Corps
Strength
Teugen-Hausen: 18,000[2] Dünzling: 12,300[3] Arnhofen: 5,000[3]	Teugen-Hausen: 28,000[4] Dünzling: 4,000[3] Arnhofen: 7,600[3]
Casualties and losses
Teugen-Hausen: 3,862[4] Dünzling: 1,084[3] Arnhofen: 400[3] Total: 4,970[5]	Teugen-Hausen: 4,000[4] Dünzling: 233[3] Arnhofen: 227[3] Total: 2,400–4,400 (likely 3,600)[5]
class=notpageimage| Location within Europe

War of the Fifth Coalition

200km
125miles

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Aspern

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  current battle

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The Battle of Teugen-Hausen or the Battle of Thann was an engagement that occurred during the War of the Fifth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle 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. When the Austrians withdrew that evening, the French won a hard-fought victory over their opponents. 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 April 19, 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, culminating 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's 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, 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 April 20.