Editing Battle of Wagram (section)

=== The evening attacks ===
{{cquote|Ground I may recover, time never.|20|20|Napoleon}}
After the successful crossing of the Danube and deployment of his army on the Marchfeld plain, Napoleon achieved his primary goal for the day. Nevertheless, towards 18:00, either because he was dissatisfied with the result of the first engagements or because he was fearing that the enemy might retreat under the cover of darkness, the Emperor began issuing orders for an immediate attack.{{sfn|Rothenberg|1995|pp=166–167}} Never a man to lose time, Napoleon probably noted that the sun was still high on the sky, that the Austrian right wing was placed noticeably far away from the main body, and that there was still no sign of the arrival of Archduke John's army from the east.<ref name=Nau46>Naulet 46.</ref> This attack was also meant to probe the strength and resolution of the enemy, as the Emperor did not know exactly what forces lay before him. The attack was to take place against the Russbach line on a wide front, between Wagram and Markgrafneusiedl, with Bernadotte, Eugène, Oudinot and Davout all ordered forward. Nevertheless, the French troops were all very tired and the most difficult tasks were assigned to some of the weakest troops available, namely elements of the Corps of Bernadotte and Oudinot.{{sfn|Castle|1990|p=61}}{{sfn|Rothenberg|1995|pp=166–167}} Additionally, with the Emperor ordering an immediate attack, the General Staff failed to transmit the orders to the respective commanders in due time, which resulted in a failure to launch synchronized actions.<ref name=Nau46/>

An artillery bombardment, between 19:00 and 19:30 opened up the French attack, with Oudinot launching a part of his II Corps against the Austrian II Korps under Prince Hohenzollern. The Austrian defenders were prepared for the attack: Hohenzollern had deployed his men in two lines, with a heavy [[skirmisher]] screen and was occupying a naturally strong position, which had been reinforced with earthworks. The Austrian Korps had also deployed its powerful artillery of 68 pieces. Nevertheless, the French crossed the Russbach stream, spearheaded by [[Bernard Georges François Frère|Frère]]'s division, which managed to reach the outskirts of the small village of Baumersdorf. This village, consisting of no more than 30 wooden houses and a bridge, soon caught fire from the French artillery bombardment, but the Austrian defenders from [[Ignaz Hardegg|Hardegg]]'s brigade{{sfn|Rothenberg|1995|pp=166–167}} (8th ''Jäger'' regiment and a battalion of Volunteers from the ''Erzherzog Karl Legion'') stood their ground, despite the flames. Unable to storm the position with Frère's division, Oudinot launched a flanking attack to the right of the village, with some of his best troops: the 57th Line regiment (styled "the Terrible") and the 10th Light regiment, both from [[Charles Louis Dieudonné Grandjean|Grandjean]]'s division. The 57th Line valiantly assaulted the village from the east and occupied its first houses, where they had to stop. Meanwhile, the 10th Light crossed the Russbach downstream and, after passing through the boggy terrain below the escarpment, began to make its way up the slope. As the 10th Light was coming up towards the village, they were at first greeted with intense artillery fire and then Buresch's brigade released some heavy musketry upon them. This disordered the ranks of the French regiment, which began to waver and the last straw came when they saw Prince Hohenzollern personally leading the 500 cavalrymen from the ''Vincent Chevaulegers'' regiment against them: the 10th Light panicked and fled, taking the 57th Line with them. After a disorderly retreat, the two regiments stopped and reformed when they met the steady ranks of the Imperial Guard, towards [[Raasdorf]].{{sfn|Rothenberg|1995|pp=166–167}}{{sfn|Castle|1990|p=62}}<ref name=Nau47>Naulet 47.</ref> By now, it was past 20:00, night was falling and Oudinot had been repulsed with significant losses.{{sfn|Rothenberg|1995|pp=166–167}}

[[File:Battle of Wagram 5 July 1809 evening.png|thumb|right|400px|The evening attack on 5 July included offensive actions from the French "Army of Italy" (short: Ar. It.), II, III and IX Corps, against the Austrian 1st, II and IV Corps. The intervention of the Austrian Grenadier Reserve and Cavalry Reserve was not necessary.]]
While Oudinot was engaged with Hohenzollern at Baumersdorf, to the west, ''Général de Division'' [[Jacques MacDonald]], commander of the V Corps of the "Army of Italy" launched his men in an assault on the Wagram plateau. With the village of Baumersdorf in flames and a gentle breeze blowing from the east, the advance of the French troops was masked by heavy smoke. [[Pierre Louis Dupas|Dupas]]'s division, temporarily attached to the "Army of Italy", spearheaded this attack and, as chance would have it, happened to get between the Austrian 1st and II Korps and was thus free to advance unmolested on Deutsch-Wagram from the east. Attacking Dedovich's division at Deutsch-Wagram, Dupas's small Franco-Saxon division was soon supported by [[Jean Maximilien Lamarque|Lamarque]]'s division, personally led by MacDonald, with the divisions of [[Jean-Mathieu Seras|Seras]], [[Pierre François Joseph Durutte|Durutte]] and [[Louis Michel Antoine Sahuc|Sahuc]], all from [[Paul Grenier]]'s VI Corps, also coming up in support. Seeing the French advance, the Austrian artillerymen panicked and abandoned their guns, with the infantry regiments 35 and 47 (''Vogelsang'') also retreating in some disorder. ''General der Kavallerie'' Bellegarde intervened in person, maneuvering to refuse his flank to the enemy, with the French advance also faltering, due to heavy smoke. With visibility reduced, the French mistook the white uniforms of their Saxon allies from the Schützen and Grenadier battalions, believing them to be Austrians and promptly [[Friendly fire|firing]] at them, which triggered a precipitated retreat of these men. With Archduke Charles now personally present to reestablish order, the morale of the Austrians soared and a vigorous joint attack by infantry regiment 42 (''Erbach''), joined by Hohenzollern's ''Vincent Chevaulegers'' and ''Hessen-Homburg'' [[Hussar]]s repulsed the French attackers, pushing them beyond the Russbach and to their initial positions. Bellegarde's good maneuver and Archduke Charles's inspired intervention ensured a totally successful counterattack, and avoided what could have developed into a dangerous situation for the Austrian army. Opposite to them, both the Saxons, who had suffered high casualties, and the French troops were retreating in complete disorder and halted only near Raasdorf.{{sfn|Rothenberg|1995|pp=167–169}}{{sfn|Castle|1990|pp=62–64}}<ref>Naulet 47–50.</ref>

To the west, ''Maréchal'' Bernadotte, in command of the Saxon IX Corps, was preparing his own assault, planning to attack the Austrians at Deutsch-Wagram from the west. This attack was delayed, as Bernadotte had to wait for the arrival of Zezschwitz's division, but at around 21:00 the Saxons moved towards the village. As Lecoq's Saxon brigade approached the position, they were instantly met with sustained musketry fire from the Austrian defenders, two battalions of infantry regiment 17 (''Reuss-Plauen'') and the 2nd ''Jäger'' regiment, but the Saxons pushed on and entered the village. Once they reached the vicinity of the village church, the Saxons were steadily met by the third battalion of infantry regiment 17 and the attack at once broke down, with the attackers forced to take shelter in the buildings nearby. Moments later, Zeschau's Saxon brigade, with Prince Maximilian's regiment attached to it, came in support, but these troops had been much disordered when crossing the Russbach, and upon entering the smoke filled streets of the village, they too lost impetus. With visibility much reduced by smoke, the situation at Deutsch-Wagram soon turned into chaos as all the troops inside spoke German and all, except the Austrian ''Jägers'', wore white uniforms. There were thus several instances in which Saxon troops fired at each other and their situation took a turn for the worse towards 22:30, when ''Generalmajor'' Hartizsch brought fresh Saxon troops against the position. Hartizsch was not informed that friendly troops were already in the village and, as he was coming up for the attack, he saw a large number of white-coats moving out of the position. The commander at once ordered his men to fire and minutes of friendly fire and hand-to-hand combat ensued before it became obvious that these men were actually Saxons too. This fortuitous event had a significant impact on the attack, as the Saxons in the village now thought themselves surrounded and at once broke and retreated in disorder.{{sfn|Castle|1990|p=65}} The Saxon troops of the IX Corps were now completely demoralised and any attempts to rally and reform them at Aderklaa towards 23:00 failed.{{sfn|Rothenberg|1995|p=169}}<ref>Naulet 51.</ref>

A final French attack was launched by Davout's III Corps, on the French right. Just like Bernadotte's, this action began later than expected, towards 21:00, with Davout's men tired after a day of marching and fighting. The French objective in this sector was to attack the naturally strong position at Markgrafneusiedl, which had been reinforced with earthworks and was defended by the rested troops of ''Feldmarschalleutnant'' Rosenberg of the Austrian IV Army Korps. After a short artillery bombardment, Davout sent the divisions of [[Louis Friant|Friant]] and [[Charles Antoine Morand|Morand]] across the Russbach stream, in a flanking attack from the east, while his other two divisions, under [[Charles-Étienne Gudin de La Sablonnière|Gudin]] and [[Jacques Pierre Louis Puthod|Puthod]] were ordered to attack frontally, through the village of Grosshofen. Davout also sent a part of his cavalry to open the way for the infantry attack but the Austrian cavalry under [[Johann Nepomuk, Count Nostitz-Rieneck|Nostitz]] promptly repulsed the French horse. Realising the futility of his action, Davout called off his infantry attack towards 22:00, leaving only his artillery to exchange fire with the Austrian gunners.<ref name=Nau47/>{{sfn|Castle|1990|p=65}} Davout's initiative to call off his attack early on triggered subsequent, perhaps unwarranted, criticism from Napoleon.{{sfn|Rothenberg|1995|pp=170–171}}