21.5. 1809 Battle of Aspern and Essling

It was the first battle in which Napoleon suffered defeat. The clash took place in and around the Austrian villages of Aspern and Essling. On 21 and 22 May 1809.

On the morning of 21 May, the Austrian lines appeared and remained standing in front of the Austrian villages of Aspern and Essling. Marshal Masséna, who had occupied both villages in the evening, wanted to have the loopholes in the houses breached and the approaches fortified. Fortunately, he passed over these wise measures. The Emperor made amends, but the enemy was approaching and there was no remedy. Napoleon had not had time to fortify Aspern and Essling, and so he sought a substitute at least in the strengthening of the named place by a bridgehead which he himself had marked out.

Had Marshal Lannes's corps and the Imperial Guards been in place as Napoleon expected, he would undoubtedly have given Archduke Charles no time to develop the troops in front of him, and would have attacked at once.

"With only three infantry and four cavalry divisions against a strong enemy, the Emperor could only go on the defensive at that moment. He therefore leaned the left flank of the three infantry divisions under Marshal Masséna on the village of Aspern. The right wing, consisting of Boude's division, leaned on the Danube at the great forest between the river and the village of Esslingen, which it also occupied. The three cavalry divisions and part of the artillery formed the centre under the command of Marshal Bessières and developed in the remaining uncovered space between the villages of Esslingen and Aspern," Marcellin de Marbot writes in his memoirs: A French Cavalry Officer's Recollections of the Napoleonic Campaigns.

Both villages could be protected quite effectively, although they were not surrounded by ramparts. They were built of brick and had dykes around them against the Danube floods. The church and cemetery in Aspern could be defended for a long time. Esslingen had a large courtyard with a massive stone granary as a citadel. These two points helped the French quite a lot.

The Austrian army went on the offensive at two o'clock in the afternoon and the battle developed rapidly. The artillery was terrible. The enemy forces were vastly outnumbered, and if they had broken through the ranks of the French cavalry, which alone formed the centre, they could easily have thrown Napoleon's troops into the Danube. Instead of marching the unwavering Austrians with the core of their forces up to the bridgehead, they wasted an entire day of battle attacking Aspen and Esslingen.

"No sooner had the enemy gained one of the villages than Napoleon used the reserves to retake it. This was repeated five or six times. Despite the fires that were spreading in the villages. The fighting lasted until ten o'clock in the evening. In the end the French remained masters of Aspern and Esslingen. The Austrians also made several unsuccessful attacks during the night and called in reinforcements," writes Marcellin de Marbot.

The latter situation looked better for Napoleon, but in the end he lost the whole battle. "It was the first battle in which Napoleon was ever defeated. Archduke Charles, however, squandered the opportunity and stood idly by with his troops. Napoleon brought reinforcements to Vienna from all parts of Europe and in the Battle of Wagram he inflicted the Austrian 5th and 6th. The historian Dušan Uhlíř writes in his book The Time of Congresses and Secret Societies.

Sources: Memoirs - Recollections of a French Cavalry Officer of the Napoleonic Campaigns, Dusan Uhlir: Time of Congresses and Secret Societies, http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/