Editing War of the Third Coalition (section)

===Preliminaries===
The main body of the {{lang|fr|[[Grande Armée]]}} followed the remains of the Austrian army towards [[Vienna]]. Following the failure of the Austrian army at Ulm, a [[Russian Empire|Russian]] army under General Mikhail Kutuzov was also withdrawing east, and reached the [[Ill (Austria)|Ill river]] on 22 October, where it joined with Kienmayer's retreating corps. On 5 November, they held a successful rearguard action in [[Battle of Amstetten|Amstetten]]. On 7 November, the Russians arrived in [[St. Pölten]], and then moved across the Danube river the next day. Late on 9 November, they destroyed the bridges across the Danube, holding the last one, at Stein, near [[Krems an der Donau|Krems]], until the late afternoon.<ref>{{in lang|de}} Rainer Egger. ''Das Gefecht bei Dürnstein-Loiben 1805''. Wien: Bundesverlag, 1986.</ref>

[[File:Wachau Valley Durnstein.jpg|thumb|alt=the town of Dürenstein lies in the floodplain of the Danube river. The river passes through the valley, between two sets of mountains on each side. The Russians emerged from the feldspar cliffs and defiles of the mountains, to attack the French column arrayed in the vineyards.|The French occupied the vineyards in the floodplain, and were surrounded by Russian troops as they emerged from defiles of the mountains. Another column of Russians approached Dürenstein from the south.]]

The following day, Marshal [[Édouard Mortier, Duke of Trévise|Mortier]] ordered General [[Honoré Théodore Maxime Gazan de la Peyrière|Gazan]] to attack what they believed to be a Russian rear guard, at the village of Stein. This was a trap on the part of Kutuzov, laid for the sole purpose of convincing Mortier that he had retreated further toward Vienna, when he had actually crossed the Danube in force, and lay concealed behind the ridges above the village. In the ensuing [[Battle of Dürenstein]], three Russian columns circled around the First Division of the ''Corps Mortier'', and attacked Gazan from both the front and the rear. Not until Dupont's division arrived, after dark, was Gazan able to start to evacuate his soldiers to the other side of the Danube. Gazan lost close to 40 percent of his division. In addition, 47 officers and 895 men were captured, and he lost five guns, as well as the [[French Imperial Eagle|eagles]] of the 4th Infantry Regiment, and the eagle and [[Heraldic flag|guidon]] of the 4th Dragoons. The Russians also lost around 4,000, about 16 percent of their force, and two regimental colors.{{sfn|Smith|1998|p=213}} The Austrian Lt. Field Marshal [[Johann Heinrich von Schmitt]] was killed as the battle concluded, probably by Russian musketry in the confused melee.<ref>{{in lang|de}} Jens-Florian Ebert. "Heinrich von Schmitt". ''[http://www.napoleon-online.de/AU_Generale/index.html Die Österreichischen Generäle 1792–1815].'' [http://www.napoleon-online.de/ Napoleon Online: Portal zu Epoch] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000408223833/http://www.napoleon-online.de/ |date=8 April 2000 }}. Markus Stein, editor. Mannheim, Germany. 14 February 2010 version. Accessed 5 February 2010: {{in lang|de}} Egger, p. 29.</ref>

At the [[Battle of Schöngrabern]] (also known as the Battle of Hollabrunn) occurred a week after the battle at Dürenstein. On 16 November 1805. near Hollabrunn in [[Lower Austria]]. The Russian army of Kutuzov was retiring north of the [[Danube]] before the French army of Napoleon.

On 13 November 1805 Marshals [[Joachim Murat|Murat]] and [[Jean Lannes|Lannes]], commanding the French advance guard, had captured a bridge over the Danube at Vienna by falsely claiming that an [[armistice]] had been signed, and then rushing the bridge while the guards were distracted.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rothenberg |first=Gunther E. |title=The Napoleonic Wars |date=1999 |publisher=Cassell |isbn=978-0-304-35267-8 |series=The Cassell history of warfare |location=London |pages=88 |trans-title=}}</ref> Kutuzov needed to gain time in order to make contact near [[Brünn]] with reinforcements led by [[Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoeveden|Buxhowden]]. He ordered his rearguard under Major-General Prince [[Pyotr Bagration]] to delay the French.

After Hollabrun, the armies gathered on the plains to the east of [[Brno|Brünn]]. Napoleon could muster some 75,000 men and 157 guns for the impending battle, but about 7,000 troops under [[Louis-Nicolas Davout|Davout]] were still far to the south in the direction of Vienna.{{sfn|Uffindell|2003|p=19}} The Allies had about 73,000 soldiers, seventy percent of them Russian, and 318 guns. On 1 December, both sides occupied their main positions.