6 April 1813 –
Southern Germany – Day 7
The Austrian supply situation is still critical
In the north the Bavarians retreat to Falkenberg
In the centre the Austrians attack Marktl
In the south both armies face each other over the river Inn
Battle of Marktl
at end of move 10
This is another battle where the winner has lost more
casualties than the loser
This time the winner is the Bavarians
The Austrians attack, and must take the town to win the
battle
In the north they are too weak to attack, both sides
exchange artillery fire
The Austrian gunners lose 10% casualties, but continue to
fire
In the centre the Austrian reserve take part of the wood
However the Bavarian garrison advance
This forces the Austrian reserve to abandon the attack on
the woods
The battle is decided in the south between 11th
Bavarian and 3rd Austrian corps
Supported by the reserve they rout the artillery and
infantry north of the woods
They also take the northern part of the woods
But they lose the cavalry melee, and their hussar brigade
rout
The Bavarian reserve moves forward from the town
This forces the Austrian reserve to redeploy to meet them
The Bavarian cavalry prevent 3rd corps
infantry attacking the woods
At nightfall the11th Bavarian corps retreat to avoid
further casualties
12th corps and the reserve also withdraw
But they still hold the town and can claim a victory
Comments
The Austrians should have won this battle.
The Bavarians held strong defensive positions in the
woods either side of the road
However there was a large gap in the centre
This allowed 3rd corps artillery to deploy
within short range of the woods
It also allowed the Austrian reserve of two elite
brigades to support 3rd corps
The Bavarians has two infantry brigades in the town
There were brought forward and forced the Austrian
reserve to redeploy
11th corps cavalry then charged and routed 3rd
Austrian hussars
These actions forced 3rd Austrian corps
infantry to halt and form square
11th Bavarian corps broke contact and
retreated to the town
12th Baden corps, and the Bavarian reserve,
did the same
At nightfall they had taken up a strong position either
side of the town
The Bavarians lost 2100 casualties to the Austrian 300 casualties
But they were still strong enough to rally and prevent
the loss of the town
Despite much heavier casualties the Bavarians easily won
the battle.
Although they had to retreat, the ended in a very strong
position.
It would take a determined Austrian attack to dislodge
them
A strange result, and a frustrating one for me as the
Austrian commander.
Particularly as the Austrians were now almost out of
supply
Should they now retreat and resupply
Or risk everything on another attempt to take Marktl?