Battle of Memmingen

The Battle of Memmingen was a battle at Memmingen during the 1805 German campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. It occurred on 14 October that year and culminated in the surrender of Karl Spangen to Nicolas Soult's 4th Army Corps.^[2]

Battle of Memmingen
Part of the War of the Third Coalition
Jean de Dieu Soult, maréchal-duc de Dalmatie
Date 14 October 1805 Location Memmingen, modern-day Germany 47°59′16″N 10°10′52″E Result French victory[1]
Belligerents
France	Austrian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Nicolas Soult	Karl Spangen
Strength
20,000[1]	6,000[1]
Casualties and losses
16 killed or wounded	4,500 prisoners

War of the Third Coalition:
Ulm Campaign

50km
30miles

Ulm

7

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  current battle

  Napoleon in command

  Napoleon not in command

Course

After the crossing of the Danube on 7 October at the battle of Donauwörth, the Grande Armée manoeuvred to the east of Ulm to cut off Karl Mack's force from Mikhail Kutuzov's Russian force to the east and Archduke John's Austrian force to the south. While Michel Ney and Jean Lannes re-crossed the Danube at the battle of Elchingen to cut off the line of advance to Moravia, Soult headed towards Memmingen to cut off the route to the Tyrol.

By 14 October Soult and his 25,440 men and 51 cannon were in place, setting up an artillery bombardment of the town and sending two letters to its governor, Karl Spangen. Spangen believed that the French would carry out their threat to bombard the city^[3] and surrendered himself and his 4,500 men and 9 cannon, for a loss of only 16 of Soult's men. After Memmingen was captured, Ulm was completely surrounded on its right bank. Soult's corps was able to stop all Austrian attempts to unite the armies of Ulm and Tyrol, dispersing an Austrian column between Leutkirch and Wurzbach on 19 October.^[3]