Battle of Feistritz

Battle of Feistritz (1813)
Part of the War of the Sixth Coalition
View from Schloss Hollenburg toward the south bank of the Drava at Kirschentheuer. The Austrian grenadiers crossed a bridge at this location to reinforce Vécsey. Feistritz is located 7 kilometers to the right (west).
Date 6 September 1813 Location Feistritz im Rosental, Austria Result French victory
Belligerents
French Empire	Austrian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Paul Grenier	August von Vécsey
Units involved
Army of Italy	Army of Inner Austria
Strength
15,186, 28 guns	3,300, 8 guns
Casualties and losses
360	913

The Battle of Feistritz (6 September 1813) saw an Imperial French corps led by Paul Grenier attack an Austrian brigade under August von Vécsey. After putting up a stout resistance, the outnumbered Austrians were defeated and forced to retreat. The clash occurred during the War of the Sixth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Feistritz im Rosental is located on the Drau River near the southern border of Austria, about 16 kilometres (10 mi) southwest of Klagenfurt.

When hostilities commenced between the Austrian Empire and Imperial France, Johann von Hiller led an Austrian army to attack the Illyrian Provinces. The Austrians made rapid gains in the south, but in Carinthia, Hiller's first bridgehead across the Drava River at Villach was eliminated by the Franco-Italian army of Eugène de Beauharnais, the viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy. When the Austrian general established a second bridgehead at Feistritz, Eugène sent Grenier to wipe it out. The minor victory only delayed the inevitable, and within a few weeks Eugène was compelled to abandon Illyria and fall back to the borders of the Kingdom of Italy.

In 1812, the best French and Italian units from the French Army of Italy were assigned to the IV Corps for the French invasion of Russia. The troops fought well under the command of Eugène de Beauharnais but only about 3,000 soldiers survived the campaign. To rebuild his army in Germany for the 1813 campaign, Emperor Napoleon transferred four more divisions from the garrison of Italy to join the newly established IV and XII Corps. The emperor then gave his stepson Eugène permission to organize a new army out of French and Italian draftees to defend the Kingdom of Italy. By May 1813, the new army began forming around the French 46th, 47th, and 48th Divisions, the Italian 49th Division, and one cavalry division. In fact, only 13,000 French conscripts joined the army and the so-called French divisions were largely recruited from areas of Italy that had been annexed by France. Since military equipment was scarce, some soldiers were sent to the front dressed in police uniforms. Nevertheless, the army continued to expand and Eugène eventually renumbered his divisions 1 through 6, with the Italian Royal Guard kept as a discrete unit.

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