The Battle of Wasserburg was fought in April 1805 between the armies of the French Empire and the Russian Empire amid the War of the Third Coalition.
By January 1805, Emperor Napoleon I began to mobilize France's armies in response to Britain's formation of an anti-French "Third Coalition" including Austria, Russia, and the Two Sicilies. Napoleon bolstered his army with both regular and militia battalions from Paris before marching to relieve Bavaria, which experienced an invasion by Austrian general Karl Mack von Leiberich and Russian general Mikhail Kutuzov. Mack withdrew upon receiving reports that Napoleon and his Marshals Louis-Nicolas Davout and Michel Ney were marching into southern Germany, while Kutuzov defeated the Bavarian general Heinrich Schwarzenberg's army after it marched out of Munich to confront the Russian invaders.
As Kutuzov's army set up camp at Wasserburg am Inn in Upper Bavaria, Napoleon saw an opportunity to destroy the Russian army before turning to face the Austrians. Napoleon drew up his army on high ground, positioning National Guard and militia battalions on his flanks and experienced grenadiers, Old Guard soldiers, and fusiliers in the center. Chasseurs a cheval squadrons guarded the French army's flanks, while voltigeurs formed up in the French center. Kutuzov's army was a mixture of musketeers and grenadiers, including the grenadiers of the Pavlovsky Life Guards Regiment, with Cossacks in support.
The French left wing was held in reserve as the center and right were deployed to meet the Russian attack. The French right wing's cavalry repelled a charge of Cossacks while the cavalry on the French left charged around the Russian army and massacred the Russian artillerists. The Russian infantry was subjected to musketry from multiple sides, but their strict discipline prolonged the battle; they ultimately routed once Kutuzov was wounded and French cavalry descended on their cracking formations. The Russian army was destroyed in the ensuing pursuit, clearing Bavaria of hostile armies and enabling Napoleon to march on Vienna.
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