2 December 1805, late morning
The Guards and the northern flank
The Tsar’s brother, Grand Duke Constantine, leads the Russian Imperial Guard against Vandamme’s division near the Staré Vinohrady. A battalion of the 4th Line is broken and loses its eagle, the only French standard lost that day. Napoleon sends in the heavy cavalry of his own Guard, and with both sides feeding in more horsemen the fight hangs in the balance.
The cavalry of the Russian Guard takes the eagle of the French 4th Line, painting by Bogdan Willewalde, 1884Wikimedia Commons, Bogdan Willewalde, Public domain (Willewalde - Czar's Guard capture 4th line regiment's standard at Austerlitz.jpg)
Drouet’s division of Bernadotte’s corps deploys on the flank of the fight and lets the French cavalry rally behind its lines, and the horse artillery of the Guard fires into the Russian cavalry and infantry. The Russian Guard breaks and is pursued for about 400 m. Kutuzov is badly wounded, and his son-in-law Ferdinand von Tiesenhausen is killed.
In the north Liechtenstein’s heavy cavalry attacks Kellermann’s light horse, which falls back behind Caffarelli’s infantry division. Caffarelli’s men stop the charges, and Murat sends in the cuirassier divisions of Nansouty and d’Hautpoul, who win the long mêlée. Lannes’s V Corps then drives Bagration off the field along the road to Olmütz. Lannes wants to pursue, but Murat, who commands this part of the field, is against it.
Sources
- David G. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon (1966).
- Ian Castle, Austerlitz 1805: The Fate of Empires (2002).
- Scott Bowden, Napoleon and Austerlitz (1997).
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