In the battle of Mosskirch the Austrians lost in killed, wounded, and
prisoners, about five thousand men; the French, about three thousand.
In this battle both sides fought fiercely, but neither gained a decided
success. Nevertheless, Kray saw the necessity of retreating; for St.
Cyr, who had taken no part in the battle, was now about to join Moreau;
and Ste. Suzanne was pushing rapidly forward towards Mosskirch by way
of Tuttlingen. In other words, Kray, with less than fifty thousand
men, could not expect to hold his own in a second battle at Mosskirch
against the united French corps.
Kray crossed the Danube at Sigmaringen, and, being joined by the two
corps of his right wing, retired towards Ulm by way of Rietlingen
and Biberach. He was followed by Moreau. Lecourbe marched by way of
Memmingen, St. Cyr by way of Biberach, and Ste. Suzanne descended
the Danube towards Ulm. At Biberach Kray attempted to make a stand,
in order to save the Austrian magazines there, but was defeated
with considerable loss. Lecourbe also defeated an Austrian garrison
occupying Memmingen, and captured the place.
On the 11th of May Kray continued his retreat on Ulm, which, through
the foresight of the Archduke Charles in the preceding year, had been
converted into a strongly intrenched camp. At Ulm Kray sought and found
safety for his army. Here he collected the shattered remains of his
defeated forces, and for several weeks made a successful stand against
Moreau. Here, eyeing each other with suspicion, these two armies
remained for a time, each ready to take advantage of any false movement
of the other, while more stirring operations and greater deeds were
happening in the valley of the Po.
It is difficult to estimate accurately the losses sustained by the
contending armies in these operations. Probably the loss of the
Austrians was about twenty thousand men; that of the French, about
fifteen thousand. At the opening of hostilities, Kray's forces, not
counting the left wing under the Prince de Reuss, since it took no part
in the active operations, numbered ninety-five thousand men. At Ulm
Kray had seventy-five thousand. On the other hand, Moreau had crossed
the Rhine with one hundred and four thousand soldiers, and had reached
Ulm with nearly ninety thousand; but he was about to send fifteen
thousand men into Italy, which would leave the opposing armies about
equal in numbers.
The time had arrived for the commander of the Army of the Rhine to
carry out the agreement entered into between himself and the First
Consul. In fact, since the battle of Engen, Bonaparte had awaited
anxiously for Moreau to start the promised re-enforcements towards
Italy. Fearing that Moreau might still delay in the matter, the First
Consul had sent Carnot, the French minister of war, to Moreau's
headquarters, in order to make the necessary arrangements, and to
insist that the troops should be detached and ordered forward at the
earliest possible moment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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