A Detailed Account of the Battle of Austerlitz

by Karl von Stutterheim

As soon as the column arrived in Aujest, the French rushed like a torrent down upon the village, in which a sharp fire of musketry at first took place, but which was of short duration, before they gained possession of the village. It was the division of Vandamme, which had formed the extreme right, on the heights of Pratzen, and which, in proportion as the French crowned that height, had gradually moved upon the chapel, above Aujest. The general of infantry, Buxhoevden, with a few Battalions, succeeded in passing through the village, and rejoined the army near Austerlitz; some confusion took place, and 4,000 men were taken prisoners in or about Aujest: they also lost their artillery. Many of the fugitives betook themselves to the lake, which was frozen over, but not sufficiently so to prevent many from perishing in it. The enemy, who in the mean time had received his artillery, vigorously plied the fugitives with it, who afterwards passed through Satschan, and in the evening succeeded in regaining the rear-guard of the army, on the heights of Neuhof. After the French had occupied Aujest, the centre and rear of the first column, which was so very strong, fell back under the orders of Lieut.-general Dochtorow, upon the plain between Tellnitz and the lake. This infantry was collected, but not in good order. Lieut.-general Dochtorow succeeded for a moment in re-establishing order, after which he considered only how to effect his retreat. This was very difficult in the execution, and could only be effected across a very narrow dike between the lakes, on which it was not possible to march more than two men in front. There was also reason to apprehend that the French passing by Aujest and Satschan, round the lake, would thus cut off the dike, the only retreat now left to the Russians, which would have made it impossible to save this last wreck of the left wing of the allied army. Lieut.-general Kienmayer, with the hussars of Hesse Hombourg, was sent over in advance, for the purpose of securing this retreat, and posted himself upon the heights between Satschan and Ottnitz, in order to observe this point. Meanwhile, the Austrian cavalry continued to support General Dochtorow, and for that purpose advanced into the plain, between Aujest and Sokolnitz. The generals who commanded O'Reilly's light cavalry and the Szeckler hussars, advanced to the attack of two French regiments of dragoons, who approached from Sokolnitz, but seeing that the Russian infantry was supported, the latter marched by their left, upon the height near Aujest, and posted themselves at the head of the division of Vandamme. The conclusion of this battle was very remarkable, since the French troops of the right wing were turning their backs upon Austerlitz to attack the remains of the left of the allies; to do which, the French were now quitting the same heights, whence the allies had marched in the morning, to attack them. When the first column had advanced, the lake was the point of appuy to the right of the French; at this moment it was the appuy to their left, while the Russians had their right upon it.

It was now about two o'clock in the afternoon; the action was decided and finished along the rest of the line, when the division of Vandamme advanced to complete it. In rear of Tellnitz, between that village and Menitz, was a hill of considerable elevation, the right of which was on the lake. To this hill the Russian infantry retired, still under the protection of the Austrian cavalry, which was every instant mowed down by discharges of grape-shot. The village of Tellnitz, which has already been described as surrounded by ditches, presented the means of defence, which were taken advantage of; and to give time to the rest of the column to file off, a regiment of Russian infantry, under Major General Lewis, was posted behind these ditches, where it was attacked, but defended itself with resolution. From that time, General Dochtorow continued his retreat. The cavalry occupied the hill that has been mentioned, in order to save a great part of this column, which was again in the greatest possible confusion. The French got possession of Tellnitz (in which a great many Russian stragglers were taken prisoners), and bringing the light artillery of the guards down to the edge of the lake, for the purpose of driving the Austrian cavalry from their post on the hill, they opened a fire on the flank of O'Reilly's light cavalry, and destroyed a great part of it. Yet nothing could prevent this brave regiment from continuing to cover the retreat of the Russians with the greatest intrepidity.

Colonel Degenfeldt posted his light artillery, which commanded that of the French, with so much judgment as to damp the ardour of their fire. The Colonel of the Szeckler hussars was desperately wounded in the head with a grape-shot.

The Russian infantry, fatigued and exhausted, retired very slowly, and the cavalry had a long time to support their post; at length, however, this famous dike, the only remaining retreat to the wreck of the first column of the allies, and which had justly been the subject of so much uneasiness, was happily passed; still, however, the French (who occupied the hill, before in possession of the cavalry, as soon as they quitted it) continued to fire on them, with their artillery, till they were completely out of reach. Having passed the dike, the two Austrian Generals, who protected General Dochtorow's retreat, halted on the heights in front of Neuhoff, and tried to restore order in the Russian Battalions, which yet formed a corps of at least 8,000 men. It was then about four o'clock, and already began to grow dark. The retreat was then continued by Boschowitz; the troops marched the whole night, under a heavy fall of rain, which completed the destruction of the roads; the remaining artillery sunk in the sloughs, and were abandoned. The Austrian cavalry formed the rear guard, without being pursued by the French, who halted on the dike. The regiment of O'Reilly brought off its artillery.

The French army took up the position occupied by the allied army the preceding night; the latter, after the greatest exertion on the part of the two Emperors to remedy the general confusion on the field of battle, retired in the evening completely behind Austerlitz, into the position of Hodiegitz. But the very considerable loss it had sustained in killed and wounded, and the number of those who were prisoners, or missing; more especially of the first, second, third, and fourth columns, made this army, on its arrival in rear of Austerlitz, in a very feeble state; at least, as far as regards its disposeable force. The Austrian cavalry, commanded by General Prince Hohenlohe, (who was sent to replace Prince John de Liechtenstein that same night, on the latter being charged with a mission to the Emperor Napoleon:) this cavalry, alone, had some detachments in front of Austerlitz, and formed the rear guard of the army. Thus closed this ever-memorable day.

Should any errors of detail have crept into the foregoing narrative, those military men who have been engaged in actual service will know how to make allowances for them; they will know, from experience, how difficult it is to procure exact information, as to the minute particulars of a great battle. Two persons rarely see the same object in a similar point of view. But, as to the general arrangement, the plans, and the principal movements, their execution, and their result, my pen has been strictly guided by the love of truth, an accurate knowledge of what was done, and the utmost impartiality.

It will not have escaped the observation of the experienced soldier, that it is principally to the following causes that the loss of this battle is to be attributed. To the want of correctness in the information possessed by the allies, as to the enemy's army; to the bad plan of attack, supposing the enemy to have been entrenched in a position which he did not occupy; to the movements executed the day before the attack, and in sight of the enemy, in order to gain the right flank of the French; to the great interval between the columns when they quitted the heights of Pratzen; and to their want of communication with each other. To these causes may be attributed the first misfortunes of the Austro-Russian army. But, in spite of these capital errors, it would still have been possible to restore the fortune of the day, in favour of the allies, if the second and third columns had thought less of the primary disposition, and attended more to the enemy, who, by the boldness of his manœuvre, completely overthrew the basis on which the plan of attack was founded: or, if the first column (which possessed the means of doing so), instead of retiring by Aujest, as before mentioned, had marched to the assistance of the two former, and, together with them (or at least with what remained of them) had moved upon the heights, of which the French had as yet but a precarious possession, so long as the left of the allies was unbroken, and their extreme right, which made only feeble demonstrations, continued at Posorsitz.

No computation has been made in this work, as to the loss of the two armies, at the battle of Austerlitz. It is impossible for any one, though actually bearing a part in the action, to calculate with any degree of accuracy the number of killed and wounded on each side.

The carnage made on the 2nd December was very great. The few Austrian troops there yet remained were not collected on one point; but, as we have seen, conducted themselves every where with constancy and animation. The sixth Battalions of the regiments of Wurtemberg and Reuss-Graitz were the only corps that were in confusion at the time when the fourth column was defeated. The Russians, at the commencement, fought with intrepidity, and the guards and Hulans distinguished themselves for their courage. The French infantry manœuvred with coolness and precision, fought with courage, and executed its bold movements with admirable concert. After having made some efforts, without effect, the Russian Battalions began to waver; confusion and, finally, complete defeat were the consequences of the imprudent conduct of the second and third columns.

The fourth column of the allies abandoned a part of its artillery. The first, second, and third columns, lost the whole of theirs, with the exception of General Kienmayer's corps, which saved its cannon. The guns were entangled in the sloughs, as before mentioned, and the Russian horses, which are more calculated for speed than for draft, could not drag them out of the deep clay, into which they had sunk. The number of the Russian prisoners may be computed at 15,000 men; while their killed and wounded must have been very considerable; in addition to which, as always happens on such occasions, they had a great number of soldiers missing.