The allied left breaks

By 2 p.m. the allied army is split, and Napoleon turns south against its left wing, still fighting at Sokolnitz and Telnitz. Saint-Hilaire’s division comes down from the Pratzen while Davout’s men attack from the Goldbach, and the allied troops at Sokolnitz break. Kienmayer and Langeron get away as fast as they can, and Buxhoeveden leaves the field too. Przybyszewski’s men, under canister fire since morning and out of cartridges, fall back.

General Rapp brings captured standards and prisoners to Napoleon at Austerlitz, painting by François Gérard, 1810Wikimedia Commons, François Gérard, Public domain (La bataille d'Austerlitz. 2 decembre 1805 (François Gérard).jpg)

Part of the beaten left wing, now under Dokhturov, escapes south across the frozen Satschan ponds, covered by Kienmayer’s O’Reilly light cavalry. Napoleon has guns brought up on the heights at Augezd, and by his account their fire breaks the ice and many men and guns go down. When the ponds are drained a few days later, only two or three bodies and some 150 dead horses are found. By nightfall Dokhturov gathers the survivors near Neudorf.

The allies lose 27,000 to 36,000 men, 15,000 to 16,000 of them killed or wounded and 12,000 to 20,000 captured, with 186 guns and 45 standards. The French lose about 9,000, of whom 1,288 to 1,537 die.

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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