Battle of Memmingen

Battle of Memmingen
	Part of the War of the Third Coalition
	; Jean de Dieu Soult, maréchal-duc de Dalmatie
Date	14 October 1805
Location	Memmingen, modern-day Germany47°59′16″N 10°10′52″E / 47.98778°N 10.18111°E
Result	French victory
Belligerents
France	Austrian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Nicolas Soult	Karl Spangen
Strength
20,000	6,000
Casualties and losses
16 killed or wounded	4,500 prisoners

War of the Third Coalition:
Ulm Campaign

50km
30miles

Ulm

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

current battle

Napoleon in command

Napoleon not in command

The Battle of Memmingen was a battle at Memmingen during the 1805 German campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. It occurred on 14 October that year and culminated in the surrender of Karl Spangen to Nicolas Soult's 4th Army Corps.^[2]

Course

After the crossing of the Danube on 7 October at the battle of Donauwörth, the Grande Armée manoeuvred to the east of Ulm to cut off Karl Mack's force from Mikhail Kutuzov's Russian force to the east and Archduke John's Austrian force to the south. While Michel Ney and Jean Lannes re-crossed the Danube at the battle of Elchingen to cut off the line of advance to Moravia, Soult headed towards Memmingen to cut off the route to the Tyrol.

By 14 October Soult and his 25,440 men and 51 cannon were in place, setting up an artillery bombardment of the town and sending two letters to its governor, Karl Spangen. Spangen believed that the French would carry out their threat to bombard the city^[3] and surrendered himself and his 4,500 men and 9 cannon, for a loss of only 16 of Soult's men. After Memmingen was captured, Ulm was completely surrounded on its right bank. Soult's corps was able to stop all Austrian attempts to unite the armies of Ulm and Tyrol, dispersing an Austrian column between Leutkirch and Wurzbach on 19 October.^[3]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Bodart 1908, p. 364.
^ Smith 1998.
^ ^a ^b Gotteri 2000, p. 180-181.

References

Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905). Retrieved 17 July 2022.
Gotteri, Nicole (2000). Le Maréchal Soult. Bernard Giovanangeli Éditeur. ISBN 2-909034-21-6.
Smith, Digby (1998). The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill. ISBN 1-85367-276-9.

External links

Media related to Battle of Memmingen at Wikimedia Commons

[FOOTNOTEBodart1908364-1] Bodart 1908, p. 364.

[FOOTNOTESmith1998-2] Smith 1998.

[FOOTNOTEGotteri2000180-181-3] Gotteri 2000, p. 180-181.

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