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The Battle of Linz-Urfahr〔Smith, 305. Smith named the action.〕 on 17 May 1809 saw soldiers from the Austrian Empire fighting against troops from two of Emperor Napoleon's allies, the Kingdom of Württemberg and the Kingdom of Saxony. An Austrian corps led by Feldzeugmeister Johann Kollowrat attacked General of Division Dominique Vandamme's Württembergers who held a fortified bridgehead on the north bank of the Danube opposite the city of Linz. As the combat got underway, Saxons led by Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte began reinforcing the defenders. This prompted Kollowrat to order a retreat, which was followed up by Napoleon's German allies. The Austrian commander-in-chief, Generalissimo Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen detached Kollowrat's III Armeekorps from the main army to guard Bohemia. Later, Charles directed his subordinate to threaten Napoleon's long and vulnerable supply line which followed the Danube valley. Accordingly, Kollowrat descended upon the Linz bridgehead, but the presence of a strong defending force thwarted his plans. The action was fought during the War of the Fifth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Urfahr is part of the modern city of Linz, on the north bank of the Danube. ==Background== After his defeat at the Battle of Eckmühl on 21 and 22 April 1809, Archduke Charles withdrew to the north bank of the Danube with 92,000 troops. Of these, the I Armeekorps numbered 28,000, the II counted 20,000, the III had 13,000, the IV included 15,000, the I Reserve mustered 12,000, and General-major Josef Mayer's V Armeekorps brigade had 4,000.〔Petre, 209〕 Charles regrouped his army at Cham, which is just west of the Bohemian frontier. Convinced that his army was demoralized by its defeat, Charles gave up any thought of counterattacking Napoleon. Instead, he intended to retreat from Cham to Vienna via České Budějovice (Budweis). For his part, Napoleon made up his mind to plunge forward on the south bank toward Austria's capital, Vienna. Consequently, the French emperor called off the brief pursuit by Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout's III Corps and allowed Charles an untroubled retreat.〔Petre, 211-212〕 At the outbreak of the war, Napoleon ordered Bernadotte to march the Saxon army, known as the IX Corps, to the Danube at Regensburg (Ratisbon). Because this left the Kingdom of Saxony unprotected, Bernadotte evacuated the Saxon royal family and the military stores from Saxony's capital Dresden. By 20 April the Saxon troops were at Gera on the way south.〔Petre, 211〕 Jérôme Bonaparte was ordered to march his Kingdom of Westphalia army, named the X Corps, to hold Saxony.〔Petre, 225〕 With the Saxon army at large, Archduke Charles worried that Bohemia might be overrun and decided to leave one army corps to defend the province. For this task, he chose the III Armeekorps with its 23 battalions and 15 squadrons. To this were added 23 badly-organized battalions of Bohemian landwehr. Kollowrat was appointed to lead the III Armeekorps, while Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen exchanged his old corps for Kollowrat's former II Armeekorps.〔Petre, 213〕 On the south bank of the Danube, Napoleon's forces relentlessly pressed back the outnumbered Austrian left wing of Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann von Hiller, which consisted of the V, VI, and II Reserve Armeekorps.〔Petre, 217〕 After brutal fighting at the Battle of Ebelsberg on 3 May,〔Arnold, 7-15〕 the Franco-Allied army appeared before Vienna. After a perfunctory resistance, Archduke Maximilian of Austria–Este abandoned the Austrian capital which was handed over to the French early on 13 May.〔Petre, 256-257〕 On 4 May, Vandamme and his VIII Corps reached Linz. He found General-major Joseph von Richter and an Austrian landwehr brigade opposite Linz on the Danube's north bank. Earlier in the campaign, this unit had assisted in the blockade of the Bavarian garrison of Passau. After Passau was relieved, Richter fell back on the north bank to Linz. Aggressively, Vandamme lined up his artillery on the south bank and began to bombard Richter's men. Under cover of the cannonading, the Württembergers crossed over in boats and attacked. Richter's poorly trained landwehr were overrun and most were captured.〔Petre, 247〕 On the 6th, Bernadotte's Saxons reached Rötz near Cham in their march around the west side of Bohemia. Napoleon wanted the IX Corps to be at Passau on the 9th, with the possibility of being ordered from there to Linz.〔 On 7 May, Archduke Charles left Budweis with his main army. He ordered Kollowrat to move from Plzeň (Pilsen) and guard his southern flank.〔Petre, 214-215〕 On the 8th, the Austrian army commander ordered Kollowrat to menace the French supply line near Linz.〔Petre, 266-267〕 Charles reunited with Hiller's wing on the north bank of the Danube on 16 May.〔Petre, 216〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Linz-Urfahr」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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