Richepanse in the Austrian rear

Richepanse takes Maitenbeth and reaches the main road behind Kollowrat. He leaves the 8th Line and the 1st Chasseurs to hold off Liechtenstein’s cavalry and turns the 48th Line west along the road into the Austrian rear. It overruns two Bavarian battalions under Wrede, and Weyrother is wounded. At 11:00 Decaen comes up in support of Drouet, who then joins Richepanse on the road, and Decaen turns east against Riesch and drives his columns back to the heights of Albaching.

Around noon Moreau orders Grenier’s divisions and Grouchy to attack. Ney swings south against Kollowrat and takes 1,000 prisoners and ten guns, and Grouchy attacks from the front. Hemmed in on three sides, Kollowrat’s column breaks up in flight, and Archduke John escapes on a fast horse. Latour retreats to Isen, and Kienmayer falls back with Schwarzenberg covering the withdrawal.

Moreau, with Grouchy and Ney, meets Richepanse at the end of the battle, painting by Henri Frédéric Schopin, 1836Wikimedia Commons, Henri Frédéric Schopin, Public domain (Bataille de Hohenlinden.jpg)

The Austrians and Bavarians lose about 4,600 killed and wounded and 8,950 captured, with 76 guns. The French admit 1,839 casualties, probably at least 3,000. Moreau pursues towards Vienna, and on 25 December Archduke Charles, who has replaced John, agrees to an armistice at Steyr with the French 80 km from Vienna.

Sources

James R. Arnold, Marengo & Hohenlinden: Napoleon’s Rise to Power (2005).
Gaston Bodart, Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1908).
Digby Smith, The Napoleonic Wars Data Book (1998).

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