The strategic situation until July 5th (when Napoleon crossed from Lobau Island onto the eastern shore of the Danube; was as follows. Napoleon controlled all of Austria west of the Danube, including the Austrian capital of Vienna. He had concentrated in the Vienna area his major field forces; the Army of Germany and the Army of Italy. Opposite this concentration was the main Austrian Army under the Archduke Charles. This army had been defeated in the early 1809 Campaign losing Vienna as a consequence, but it had not been crushed and had been able to hand Napoleon a savage repulse at Aspern-Esseling upon his first attempt to cross the Danube. A second Austrian field army under Archduke John, defeated in Italy, is approaching Charles' army by a roundabout route through Hungary to the east. Napoleon is determined to crush Charles before John arrives. Or at least, if Charles refuses battle, Napoleon is determined to drive a wedge' between Charles and John. Charles is drawing his supplies and recruits from Bohemia and his main depots lie off the map to the northwest. If Napoleon can seize the Rossbach and the Danube, he will hold the central position between Charles and John, and be in a position to defeat either in detail. Napoleon is anxious for a conclusive victory. A prolonged war is not to his advantage, It can only bring unrest in Germany, complications with the Russians, further opportunity for the English, and a postponement of any conclusion in the Iberian Peninsula. The Austrians, too, want a decisive engagement. While they still hold Bohemia and Hungary and have strong forces in the field, their capital and their wealthiest provinces in Italy and Austria have fallen to the French. The German princes have not revolted against the French. And the Russians have shown no inclination to back what appears to be a losing horse. Charles decides to deliberately allow the French to cross the Danube and he withdraws his army from its fortifications in front of Lobau Island. He hopes to draw the French into a battle of annihilation on the Marchfield. Thus, the French find their extensive preparations for an assault crossing superfluous as they march over their pontoon bridges onto the Marchfield on the morning of July 5th
(Balance of Forces and Geography)
The initial set-up finds the French Army across the Danube in strength and deploying toward the Austrian positions on the heights behind the river plain. This corresponds to the historical deployment in the middle afternoon of July 5, 1809. A comparison of forces available to each Player shows that the French have a measurable superiority of force even when counting all possible Austrian reinforcements. Balancing this numerical superiority of the enormous strength of the Austrian Russbach position and certain terms of the victory Conditions which reward Austrian raids against the French rear area. Examining the Russbach, the Players will find that it has two lines of defense, the Russbach stream backed up by the escarpment of the heights themselves. Three bastions in the form of the towns of Wagram, Baumersdorf and Marksgrafneusiedl anchor the position while the approaches are covered by the towns of Aderklaa and Grossofen. The woods lying on both sides of the Russbach stream prevent artillery from bombarding defenders on the other side of the stream while the terrain effect of the stream prevents cavalry or artillery from crossing except at bridges. The ridges to the northwest behind Leopoldau and Gerasdorf, while of some hindrance to movement and benefit to the defense, are nowhere near the natural fortress that the Russbach is.
On the first day the French Player should seek to establish a position from which he can develop this attack on the Russbach. Practically speaking, this means occupying the towns of Aderklaa, Grosshofen, Glinzendorf and establishing a bridgehead of sorts across the Russbach stream around Glinzendorf or Leopoldsdorf. On his left flank, the French Player would be well advised to develop the situation to determine what in fact are the Austrian intentions are on that flank. This means attacking through Leopoldau north towards Gerasdorf engaging and pinning as many Austrian units as possible. The idea is to force the Austrian to fight to protect the entry hexes of his Third Turn reinforcements. If he does this in strength the French should find it easy to divide the Austrians into two forces; one holding the Russbach position, the other concentrated against the west map edge. However, if the Austrians abandon their entry hexes and move to concentrate on Wagram, the French should seal off the west edge and fight to prevent any additional Austrians from reaching the Russbach. One way or the other, the French Player must stabilize his left flank on the first day hopefully liquidating any Austrian presence there.
During the night, the French should concentrate for the assault on the Russbach. The main thrust will come from Glinzendorf and Leopoldsdorf, hooking up through Siebenbrunn. This has a twofold advantage. First, it isolates the east edge of entry hexes used by the possible second day Austrian reinforcements and it places the French on the easiest approach to the Russbach Heights. By no later than Turn Eleven or Twelve, the French should be assaulting the eastern edge of the Heights. This gives them time to get onto the Heights with sufficient points to win. While developing their right hook, the French should maintain constant pressure on Marksgrafsneusiedl attacking the Austrian garrison at 1-1 or better at every chance.
On the First Turn, the Austrian Player must decide what to do with his right flank (the units in the northwest corner of the map). It is too much to hope that the French will leave them alone, so the Austrian must make an immediate decision, to either advance and contest Leopoldau and Sussenbrunn, thus buying space and time to allow his Third Turn reinforcements to arrive or to run for Wagram. The Russbach position is so strong that the Austrian can afford to create a reserve from units behind Baumersdorf and Marksgrafneusiedl. He can use this reserve to pinch out French bridgeheads which inevitably will develop by Glinzendorf or Leopoldsdorf or he can use it to fight for Aderklaa and to link up with the right flank. In either event, he gains nothing by being passive. The worst mistake the Austrian can make is to sit back and let the French seize the complete initiative.
Despite the French superiority, they cannot be strong everywhere. If they mass to crush the Austrian right flank and simultaneously drive in strength toward Siebenbrunn, they cannot be strong in the center. Since the Siebenbrunn flanking maneuver must inevitably compromise the defense of the heights, the Austrian must either counter this move directly with strong forces or indirectly by driving on Raasdorf and threatening to reach Aspern, Essling or Gross Enzerdorf.
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