Battle of Ebelsberg - Commentary

Commentary

Petre called Hiller's generalship, "as feeble as it could possibly be" and that his troops were "miserably handled", noting that he should have crushed Claparède's division or ejected it from the town when the French were at a two-to-one disadvantage. Petre believed that during the rear guard action, the Austrians actually outnumbered Coëhorn, Marulaz, and Piré. Robert M. Epstein called Hiller's counterattacks, "piecemeal and badly coordinated". He noted the large number of Austrian guns available (70) and their effective use to inflict losses on the French and to set fire to the town. Epstein wrote that the French ignored the lesson and carelessly went into the battle at Aspern-Essling against an opponent who was capable of handling large numbers of cannons to good effect. Napoleon indirectly criticized Masséna when he privately wrote to Lannes the next day, "As soon as I knew that they had had the stupidity to attack by force this famous position, and the only redoubtable one on the Traun which it was necessary to take, I feared some misfortune." Arnold believed that Masséna's order to assault the town was "far worse than ill advised". He asserted that this blunder, which sent hundreds of soldiers to a pointless death, showed how far the marshal's abilities had declined from their peak.