Some 9600 hectares (37 square miles) of green space between Vienna and Bratislava makes up the Nationalpark Donau-Auen. Almost one-quarter of that space lies within Vienna’s borders as the Lobau. It’s in this space I’m looking for signs of Napoleon’s French army in 1809 when they crossed the Danube and fought Austrian troops at Aspern-Essling (May) and Wagram (July).
The light dotted line marks the city limits for Vienna. I visited the Upper Lobau of Nationalpark Donau-Auen up against the city’s eastern border; I’ve marked 7 points of interest in this screen capture of Organic Maps.
Using the ROYGBV sequence (increasing wavelength): Red, Übergang der Franzosen 1809; Orange, Pulvermagazin der Franzosen 1809; Yellow, Friedhof der Franzosen 1809; Green, Napoleonstraße 1809; Blue, Napoleons Hauptquartier 1809; and Violet, Brückenkopf der Franzosen 1809.The 2 grey pins are the last stop for bus 26A (upper right) and a stop for bus 92B (lower left).
Guide to walk to look around the Lobau. I’ll go much farther than this suggestion.
A source for many buzzing mosquitoes
Übergang der Franzosen 1809
French crossing (the Danube)
Übergangsstelle der französischen Armee 1809
Pulvermagazin der Franzosen 1809
French gunpowder magazine
Pulvermagazin der Franzosen 1809
Friedhof der Franzosen 1809
French military cemetery
About 3000 were buried in the area during the Battle of Aspern-Esslingen in May 1809.
Friedhof der Franzosen 1809
Top half: Obere Lobau / Upper Lobau. Red dot marks the present spot.
Napoleonstraße 1809
Napoleon’s Road
Napoleonstraße 1809. Some 75-thousand troops would march on this road north to Aspern, from Napoleon’s headquarters.
Napoleons Hauptquartier 1809
Napoleon’s headquarters
Napoleons Hauptquartier 1809. Some 75-thousand soldiers were assembled after crossing the Danube in May 1809. These troops would soon head north on “Napoleon’s Road”.
Brückenkopf der Franzosen 1809
Bridge head for the French
In front of ÖMV Lager Lobau.
Brückenkopf der Franzosen 1809. While the Austrians kept trying to destroy the makeshift woodframe pontoons, 75-thousand French soldiers successfully crossed over the Danube near this location.
I made all photos above with an iPhone15 on 5 Jul 2024 (and collected multiple mozzie bites). This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
Fotoeins Fotografie 
Please leave your comments below