1805-1807 VI Corps (Grande Armée)

battle of elchingen engraving johann lorenz rugendas (1775-1826). french infantry storm abbey while dragoons chase fleeing austrians.

under command of marshal michel ney, vi corps crossed rhine river near karlsruhe on evening of 24–25 september, 1805 @ start of war of third coalition. on 2 october, napoleon s advancing grande armée began wheel right, aiming danube river, ney s corps on right pivot. army reached danube near donauwörth , troops began cross south bank on 7 october. however, vi corps remained on north bank. on 9 october, ney s 3rd division under jean-pierre firmin malher defeated austrians @ battle of günzburg. 2 days later, pierre dupont de l etang s 1st division found facing 25,000 austrians in battle of haslach-jungingen. surprisingly, badly outnumbered french fended off enemies day. finally, discouraged austrians retreated. on 14 october ney fought johann sigismund riesch s small corps @ battle of elchingen. using louis henri loison s 2nd division, supported malher, ney crushed riesch s command heavy losses.

battle of jena, 14 october 1806

thereafter, dupont s division , jacques louis françois delaistre de tilly s vi corps cavalry assisted marshal joachim murat in destruction of franz von werneck s austrian corps. later, dupont s division detached corps , fought @ battle of dürrenstein on 11 november. other 2 divisions, ney marched tyrol 1 column repulsed @ scharnitz second column captured 900 austrians @ leutasch. both actions occurred on 4 november 1805.

the vi corps fought @ battle of jena on 14 october 1806 in war of fourth coalition. ney s troops engaged in siege of magdeburg beginning on 22 october. franz kasimir von kleist surrendered on 11 november 22,000 prussian soldiers, 800 officers, 20 generals, , 700 artillery pieces. on 25 december, marchand 6,000 men , 12 guns defeated 3,000 prussians , 8 guns @ soldau. corps arrived @ 7:15 pm on 8 february 1807 @ battle of eylau. ney s 17,000 men held off 63,000 russians in brilliant rear guard action in battle of guttstadt-deppen on 5 , 6 june. corps led successful counterattack @ battle of friedland on 14 june 1807.