Editing Battle of Wagram (section)

=== Preliminaries ===
{{cquote|The battle here at Marchfeld will decide the fate of our dynasty [...] I request that you march out here at once and join my left wing.|20|20|[[Archduke Charles, duke of Teschen|Archduke Charles]], writing to his younger brother, [[Archduke John of Austria|Archduke John]], commander of a secondary Austrian army.{{sfn|Rothenberg|1995|p=152}}}}
[[File:Napoleon crossing the bridge to Lobau island.jpg|thumb|Napoleon Crossing the Bridge to Lobau Island.]]

The [[Austrian high command]] was well aware of the French preparations on Lobau island and thus understood that the French attack would come from there. Archduke Charles was however unsure about where the French would cross and, together with his staff reckoned that the crossing would most likely be made from the north of the island, making landfall roughly at the same location as at the Battle of Aspern-Essling. Working on this hypothesis, Charles had a chain of 16 defensive redoubts built, essentially between [[Aspern]] and [[Groß-Enzersdorf]]. Strangely, he did not extend the earthworks southeast, along the riverline, which meant that the line could be outflanked. Moreover, the redoubts did not provide all-round protection and an Austrian observer noted that only [[Ottoman Empire|Turks]] would throw up such poor earthworks. Charles's belief that Napoleon would cross north of Lobau seemed to be confirmed on 2 July, when he received news that French forces began to cross the river there.{{sfn|Rothenberg|1995|pp=146–150}} The Austrian commander thought that the battle scenario he had prepared for – a repetition of the battle fought at the end of May – was about to materialise, so he promptly moved his entire force to face the enemy. However, it soon became obvious that the French force was only a small detachment, sent forward to secure a bridgehead.<ref name=Nau35>Naulet 35.</ref>

On 3 July, Archduke Charles finally decided not to fight the enemy near the Danube and retreated to the higher ground overlooking the [[Marchfeld]]. This was a major decision, as it meant that the earlier plan to man the 16 redoubts next to the Danube and fight the enemy there was abandoned. Instead, Archduke Charles occupied both the Bisamberg heights and the Wagram plateau behind the Russbach river, covering the retreat routes to [[Bohemia]] and [[Moravia]] respectively, thus occupying a sound strategic position. Although the army was not strong enough to occupy both positions and no earthworks were provided for the new position, it was thought that, given that the two heights were placed at an angle to one another, any enemy force attacking would find itself placed between two pincers.<ref>Lorraine Petre 341.</ref> There was perhaps further justification for this choice on a tactical level: the broken and wooded terrain in the immediate proximity of the Danube was adapted to fighting in open order formations, which were insufficiently mastered by his men, and at which the French were adept. This was, without a doubt, one of the bitter lessons that the Austrians learned at Aspern and Essling. But above all, the cautious Archduke Charles was unwilling to take the risk of committing his forces in such an advanced position, knowing that he would have a hard time extricating them, should retreat have become necessary. He also planned not to face the enemy on the flat plains of the Marchfeld, an ideal cavalry terrain, where the numerically superior French horse would quickly gain the upper hand.{{sfn|Rothenberg|1995|p=151}} The two influential staff officers, Wimpffen and [[Philipp von Grünne|Grünne]], had been actively advocating for this position for weeks and this time Charles finally acquiesced to their point of view.{{sfn|Chandler|1998|p=709}}