Wertingen

8 October, 1805

The opening clash of the 1805 Campaign saw an isolated Austrian force under Field Marshal Auffenberg surprised by the advance guard of the French Grande Armee.

Under Marshals Joachim Murat and Jean Lannes, the 12,000-strong French force - including some 4000 cavalry - caught the Austrians on the hop and were among them before many could form defensive squares.

Several battalions disintegrated immediately and by the end of the action fewer than half of the original 5500 men in Auffenberg's III Corps escaped. Almost 3000 were captured, while only 400 were killed or wounded.

The French lost fewer than 200 men.