Pages

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Eggmühl - A Battlefield Walk


April 21-22 marks the 211th anniversary of the battle of Eggmühl.  To commemorate this event, I dipped into past travel photos to refresh the memories from my visit.   

I visited Eggmühl as a half-day trip out of Regensburg (see A Stroll Around Regensburg) during our two week visit to Bavaria and the Tirol in May 2018.  Oh, the days of travel.  I remember them fondly.  Two trips have been cancelled thus far this Spring: one to Texas and one to Switzerland.  

Not interested in an early morning battlefield exploration and claiming she wanted to find a laundromat to wash some clothes, I left Nancy at the hotel and departed for Eggmühl on an early morning train.  While I do not remember the train timetable, I recall the trip being no more than 20 minutes from Regensburg train station to Eggmühl.  The train station itself is unattended with the town fire station backing up to the track.  
Not far from the station is the Lion Monument commemorating the 1809 battle.  Flanking both sides of the park are a series of placades describing both the operational aspects of the campaign and battle details.
 The informational markers include some useful maps to help me find my bearings.
The train station and Lion Monument sit on high ground with the village of Eggmühl below in what was once the lowland water meadows.  Before I dropped down onto the road to Eggmühl, I surveyed my surroundings.  To the northwest, the white steeple of Unterlaichling can be seen beyond the treeline in the distance.  On the 22nd, St. Hilaire's division, led by the 10th Legere, attacked Austrian positions defending in Unterlaichling.
Unterlaichling in the distance
To the west, the spire of the church of Schierling can be seen.  Due to urban growth, the view to Eggmühl was obscured from my vantage point.  For a glimpse of Eggmühl, I would need to walk in a northeasterly direction along a narrow road through a minor industrial area. 
Schierling in the distance
The Vorberg
Bettelberg in the distance
On the way to the village I crossed over the bridge spanning the Gross Laaber.  While a modern bridge has replaced the 1809 bridge, it was this important crossing at which the Peterwardein Grenz put up a stiff resistance to early French attacks.  The grenz repulsed the first two assaults by Württemberg light infantry.  The third assault by the König Jägers successfully pushed the Austrians out.  Many of the remaining grenz were surrounded and captured in Eggmühl.
Gross Laaber looking east
Gross Laaber looking west
The Gross Laaber may not appear as a huge obstacle but the soft ground surrounding the stream and the muddy bottom likely presented a formidable barrier to attacking troops.

Having passed over the bridge, the road curves to the east and enters Eggmühl.  First into view is the church adjoining the imposing Schloss.  With onion-shaped spire, the church presents typical Bavarian architecture.
Schloss Eggmühl is now a retirement home.  From the outside, the chateau still dominates the landscape.  A steep earthen berm surrounds the southern approaches to the chateau.  The building, itself, is built upon a brick foundation rising above the water meadow.  
Schloss Eggmühl
The last building of note in the village is the inn.  While closed on my early morning visit, the building seems to house a restaurant and souvenir shop.  Adorned with murals, the inn definitely has the feel of a tourist destination. 
Eggmühl Inn
One end of the inn has the mural below marking this important event.  The painting depicts the meeting of Davout and Napoleon at the chateau.
With my walk of Eggmühl complete, I retraced my steps back to the train station.  On the way back, I paid a second visit to the Lion Monument before heading to the train platform.  
Lion Monument
After boarding the train, I selected a seat on the left side of the carriage so that I could focus on the expansive views of the rolling hills of the Vorberg and Bettleberg as they receded into the distance.  Back into Regensburg before noon and hungry, I had a chance to pick over the remaining morsels on the hotel's breakfast buffet.  This was a good day out.

57 comments:

  1. Very nice Jonathan I do like exploring and visiting battlefields. Perhaps when I have a bit more time a tour through Germany, Austria Bavaria ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We share much common, Matt! I think you would enjoy a tour of Bavaria and the Tirol very much.

      Delete
  2. Nice post Jonathon and I bet you enjoyed it too, reminiscing about the fun half day you had wondering an old battlefield in central Europe - that's the whole point of trips like this after all, so we can relive them over and over in our memories!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Keith! Yes, I enjoyed the battlefield visit very much. Too bad I didn't secure a bike while there. I could have explored much more of the battlefield.

      As long as memory and digital photos hold out, these memories never fade.

      Delete
  3. A great report sir - and some epic photographs.

    ReplyDelete
  4. An excellent way to spend the morning! Weather looks perfect for a battlefield tour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The morning weather and trek were perfect, for sure!

      Delete
  5. Cool pics! Gives you a good feel for the place.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great side trip and pictures. I made the trip from Ingolstadt to Regensburg by bus on tour with the Band way back in 1974, but unfortunately they took the direct route along the Danube (which was still very scenic). The kind of mural painted on the Inn seems fairly common for these kinds of sites in Germany; there is a similar one at Maxen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you enjoyed them, Peter! I spotted the Lion Monument from the train from Munich to Regensburg. Being so close, I knew I wanted to return for a more on the ground recce.

      I did see a lot of murals like these on buildings in other Bavarian and Tirolean towns. I have one photo of a gigantic mural of David and Goliath. It must be several stories tall.

      Delete
  7. Good view of an interesting morning trip!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Solid and enlightening post, Jonathan. I refought the Wurttemberg assault crossing g of the Gross Laaber and the assault upon the Schloss using Norms Eagles and Quatre Bras and the CCN scenario. It was a ton of fun. IIRC, the Wurttemberg troops took a number of turns before they could get across the creek and marshy bank.

    Great report.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good! Some of the photos may be helpful in putting your battle report into context.

      Delete
  9. https://soundofficerscall.blogspot.com/2017/10/battle-of-eckmuhl-day-2-wurttemberger.html?m=1

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the memory jog on this battle report! That was a good one.

      Delete
  10. I love days like that, and you had great weather for it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you for the modern travelogue Jonathan.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love battlefield walks. Something I hardly ever get to do.
    Even this; a field I never heard about, is cool to explore with you. Thanks for sharing 😀

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you enjoyed the quick walk around Eggmühl! If you were an aficionado of Napoleon's 1809 campaign, you would know this one.

      Delete
  13. Excellent overview, nothing like seeing the ground to understand why events played out sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nothing like seeing the ground for yourself, no doubt. Things that make less sense in a book make much more sense when staring at the field of battle.

      Delete
  14. Always interesting to see the lay of the land on a battlefield, particularly giving substance to what a particular water way meant in terms of an obstacle or defensive feature.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Battlefield topography is of great interest to me too, Norm. While the Gross Laaber is not very wide, the banks are steep, the surrounding ground marshy, and the streambed muddy. I appreciate how this could have hampered the French and Wurttemberg attacks.

      Delete
  15. The 1809 campaign tops my list and your post and pics brings the Eckmuhl battlefield into better perspective. Interestingly enough I was in Bavaria and Salzburg May 2018 so we were inadvertently in the same neighbourhood!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The 1809 campaign is a favorite of mine too. Nancy and I were in Salzburg for four nights on the same trip. If only we knew...

      Delete
  16. Wow: takes me back (particularly the onion domed church). I was stationed just north of Regensburg (in Amberg) and my unit unit was responsible for patrolling the Czech border all the way to the tri-zonal point where Germany, Austria, and Czech meet, so I've transited the area many times. Thanks for posting!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad the photos evoked memories of your time stationed there! How long were you stationed in the region and when?

      Delete
    2. Hi Jonathan: I was stationed there for 3 years. I was in the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (this was the "front line: of the Cold War then, 1981-84 (citing that timeframe makes me feel ancient enough to be contemporary with the events of the 1809 campaign).

      Delete
    3. Very interesting, Ed! Are you familiar with any of the old SPI "Central Front" games? These games cover exactly this front and for this timeframe. If so, I would be enjoy reading your thoughts on these games.

      Delete
  17. What a great trip! Thank You for a background and photos!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Enjoyed that report, looks lovely, I have left travelling Europe for my twilight years, oh wait...

    ReplyDelete
  19. thanks Jonathan - this part of the world has always been my favourite.

    ReplyDelete
  20. What a treat! I'm working on some terrain for this campaign and have been reading around it,lovely weather for your morning jaunt!
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Excellent! Good to see this may tie into one of your current projects. The morning weather was very pleasant.

      Delete
  21. Thanks for sharing Jonathan, glad to see pictures of this area!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Some lovely 'photos and seeing the terrain really helps you understand a battle. The stream although not large, does look like a fairly formidable obstacle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Walking the ground provides a much more informative experience than studying a map. The stream must have presented an obstacle since the Wurttemburgers had difficulty crossing in the face of light opposition.

      Delete
  23. Great post Jonathan. I loved my visit to the Franco-Prussian fields a couple of years ago a d had plans for a few more, but it is hard to imagine how in this current environment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Mark! I don’t foresee a return anytime soon. We had a return trip to Switzerland planned in two weeks which was cancelled.

      Delete
    2. Us too. We were booked for Canada in August. Her indoors is still hopeful, but I can’t see it.

      Delete
  24. Very cool! We were in Vienna and Salzburg in August 2018. Awsome places

    ReplyDelete
  25. I love battlefield walks and yours are my favourite. It's very exciting especially as you visit battlefields which are not really much known. Many thanks for your fine work here!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Nice visit, and thank You for sharing it.

    ReplyDelete