General Wrede
allows his 10th division to rest and establish a supply depot at
Rohrbach. His 9th division
is escorting the survivors of 1st Austrian corps to Munich as
prisoners of war.
Both 8th
French corps and 2nd Austrian corps have heavy battle casualties,
and were expected to rest and recover.
However General Bertrand wants to increase the pressure of Wrede’s
victory. He orders his corps to attack
Withering. The result was a close
fought battle, which could easily have gone either way. Both corps were fragile due to casualties,
but it was the Austrians who broke. The
loss of a cavalry melee led to a rout, which quickly spread throughout the
corps.
The long
awaited decisive battle in the south proved to be less decisive than
expected. Both Oudinot and Charles were
present, with their reserves, for the battle at Wels. The result was a minor Austrian victory.
However the
Austrian’s had lost six of the nine battle fought during the campaign. 1st corps had ceased to exist and
2nd corps was in retreat. 3rd
corps, and the reserve, held Wels. But
they would soon face overwhelming odds.
As night fell
Archduke Charles received news that 2nd corps had lost at Withering
and was in retreat.
He ordered a
general retreat towards Vienna.
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