Summary of Walking Austerlitz

This was our first trip with Midas Battlefield Tours. For a short tour of only four days we managed to fit a great deal in.

Again the weather was pretty dismal. However we regularly do hill walking in UK, so we are well used to walking in the rain. Mind in UK the mud was never quite as bad as it turned out to be at Austerlitz.

It was raining as we drove to Heathrow on 3 September 1998 to catch the flight to Vienna, and it continued to rain on and off for the whole holiday.

The group was surprisingly cheerful, and remained so in pretty challenging conditions.

Despite the weather we stuck to the programme, and walked large sections of the battlefield. Austerlitz is an easy battlefield to explore. Modern roads follow those to be found on period maps and battle diagrams.

The area was used as a Russian military training area during the Cold War, and no doubt that helped to keep it under developed. The Pratzen now has a huge monument, but provides an excellent viewpoint of the battlefield.

Another good viewpoint is Zuran Hill, the site of Napoleons command post during the early stages of the battle. The nearby Santon Hill is less good, as it overlooks an area not much fought over during the battle.

Telnitz and Sokolnitz are both well worth a visit, and unchanged enough to be able to follow the detailed descriptions of the battle readily available.

My particular favourite was The Post House. This was used by both sides as a battlefield headquarters, and is the centre of the reenactments which take place every year. It retains much of its original flavour, but has a very modern motel (with underground garage) added on.

Brunn and Austerlitz, plus an afternoon at the Vienna military museum, were an added bonus.

We enjoyed our visit so much, that it inspired us to return a few years later for a much more detailed walking holiday.

Austerlitz and Vienna

Our last day was always going to be a busy one. The timetable included a visit to Spilberk Castle, drive back to Vienna and visit the military museum before catching our late afternoon flight back to London. It was not helped by the fact that we had a very late night visiting a local wine cellar.

Spilberk Castle has a long history as a castle, barracks and most of all a prison. The guided tour pays particular attention to the dank cells with their large assortment of tools of torture. Most of it was wasted in our group who were suffering from the after effects of too much food and much too much wine.

As it was a relatively clear and sunny day Alan Rooney offered us a quick visit to Zurlan Hill after the Castle and before the drive back to Vienna. We had seen little during our first visit in the heavy rain, so we were happy to exchange an hour in Vienna for a second visit to Zurlan.

The photographs which follow were all taken from the memorial on the Zuran Hill and show the battlefield looking from right to left.

Above is looking right from Zurlan. Puntowitz is on the right and Girzikowlitz on the left. The hill in the centre distance is the Pratzen. St Hilaire led the right hand column of the French attack on the Pratzen over this ground

Looking slightly left of the previous photo this shows Pratzen Heights on the right, with Girzikowitz in the centre and Vinobradi behind. Vandalle led the left hand column over this area.

Looking slightly left again we find Vinobradi (centre right) just behind the village of Girzikowitz. Further left in the distance is Blaziowitz. This was the area of the cavalry battle.

Looking left from Zuran we see The Santon (wooded hill just behind the motorway and Wimpy service station) and the mountains of Moravia behind. This was the area of the French reserves and the Imperial Guard. It was also the extreme left of the French battle line.

With our sore heads and upset tummy’s it was a long two hour drive to Vienna in the less than comfortable mini van. We had last visited the impressive military museum about ten years earlier, and it had not changed much since then. Still the huge saloons and wide staircases. The Napoleon section is well worth a visit, though it was starting to look a little old fashioned.

The flight to London was delayed by one hour and we were very pleased to reach Salisbury at the end of a very enjoyable, if tiring, long weekend. It is hard to believe that it is possible to fit so much into such a short time. We had to rush parts, but we had seen enough to convince us that we would return for a much longer visit.