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Neither side outscouted, and both moved forwards under cover of the early dawn. As the mist cleared, the Austrians saw that the French had stolen a march on them:  with a powerful force (the 2ieme battalion; half the zouaves, lancers and cuirassiers; and all the artillery) already in position on the Austrian right flank. All that the Austrians had posted to cover that flank were a squadron each of dragoons and uhlans; two companies of Jaegers; and two sections of artillery.

In the centre, the Austrians had made a powerful thrust straight for the village, with a column of all their non-Jaeger infantry. Opposite them were the rest of the French:  although the rest of the zouaves and half the 1ere battalion were faced to protect their right flank.

The battle opened with the Austrian artillery on their right flank bombarding the outflanking 2ieme battalion. Although casualties were minimal, the 2ieme were definitely not in the mood for fighting, and routed immediately! This effectively halted the French thrust on this flank, especially as the Austrians sent their cavalry over the river to capture a section of French guns now unmanned due to skirmish fire from Jaegers.

In the centre, both sides still advanced towards the village, with the French repositioning their right flank protection force to begin advancing on the relatively weak Austrian left flank.

The Austrians decided to try to take advantage of their success on the right flank, and charged half their cavalry into the French force that was shaken from seeing the 2ieme rout, whilst moving up with their Jaegers, Unfortunately, the Austrians were a bit too carried away with themselves to weigh up the odds realistically (the French still had four guns; 240 cavalry and 360 zouaves present), and their cavalry, although it sent some more French routing, was reasonably easily dispersed. The French then followed up with their own cavalry:  succeeding in driving back the rest of the Austrians and even managing to get into a position where, later in the battle, they would threaten the Austrian right flank.

In the centre, the Austrians charged for the village with the grenadiers, but these usually noble individuals turned tail and routed at the first sign of trouble. Both sides now deployed into line. The French right flank force was still trying to get into a position to threaten the Austrian left:  now totally exposed as the covering cavalry had been dispersed by zouave skirmishers.

Meanwhile, the French on the Austrian right had crossed the river, although downstream of their original intended crossing point, and had deployed their zouaves and remaining artillery into a position from which they had dispersed the remaining Austrian jaegers and were now threatening the Austrians efforts in the centre. Both sides sent a battalion of infantry to reinforce this flank: with the Austrian 2nd battalion arriving first and charging away the zouaves, artillery and the reinforcing French 3ieme battalion.

At this point the battle ended. The Austrains were in a very powerful position:  deployed into a line that effectively formed a semi-circle across the centre/front of the battlefield. They were also in the process of deploying captured French guns against their former masters. The French, however, were still relatively unscathed (as opposed to the definitely ‘scathed’ Austrians!):  but needed to consolidate before attacking again.

Casualties

The French lost 140 line infantry; 40 zouaves and all the Imperial Guard. Their artillery were also lost, and a SubGeneral lightly wounded.

The Austrians lost 60 grenadiers; 180 fusiliers; 280 Jaegers; 180 Uhlans; 100 dragoons and had their cavalry SubGeneral heavily wounded. A total of around 800 men! Two of their three sections of artillery also routed off the table, along with the rest of the Jaegers; Uhlans and Dragoons.

Results

The battle was declared a draw:  although the Austrians had a slightly better position on the field, they had sustained around four times as many casualties as the French.

Analysis

As the Austrian commander, it must be said that the French commander read the ground perfectly and deserved to win the battle on the strength of his original deployment alone. It was only some appalling dice rolls on his part, and by expending large amounts of Austrians (hence the one-sided casualty figures) that the Austrian position was retrieved at all. Had this been “real”, I would have been tempted to withdraw immediately the mist cleared!

The battle went backwards and forwards but ended with both sides regrouping for the next series of attacks. Had battle continued, the outcome was by no means certain:  the Austrians had the superior position, and had disposed of the French artillery; but were down five units already, compared to the single French unit casualty. The Austrians could only have won if they had taken advantage very quickly of their superior field position:  if the French had been allowed to regain their balance, then a French victory would have been more likely.