Johann Nepomuk von Nostitz-Rieneck
Johann Nepomuk von Nostitz-Rieneck commanded a cavalry division in the army of the Austrian Empire during the Napoleonic Wars.
Johann Nepomuk von Nostitz-Rieneck
The Battle of Dürenstein or the Battle of Krems, on 11 November 1805, was an engagement in the Napoleonic Wars during the War of the Third Coalition. Dürenstein, Austria, is located in the Wachau valley, on the river Danube, 73 kilometers (45 mi) upstream from Vienna, Austria. The river makes a crescent-shaped curve between Dürnstein and nearby Krems an der Donau, and the battle was fought in the flood plain between the river and the mountains.
Marshal Mortier at the battle of Durenstein in 1805, Auguste Sandoz
Gen. Mack and his staff surrender the Ulm fortress. Painting by René Théodore Berthon
Dürenstein, far left, lies on the end of the mountain promontory that extends to the river bank. The Danube river (flowing left to right) curves around the promontory, passes the Loiben plain (with Oberloiben and Rossatz to the left and Unterloiben to the right) to Stein and Krems, on the far right. The bridge across the river at Krems had been destroyed. The curve of the river around the promontory meant the French, in Dürenstein, did not have a direct line of sight from one end of the battlefield to the other. The battle occurred on this plain, between Dürenstein and Krems.
The French occupied the vineyards in the floodplain and were surrounded by Russian troops emerging from the defiles of the mountains. Another column of Russians approached Dürenstein from the south.
