After the crossing of the Danube on 7 October at the battle of Donauwörth, the Grande Armée manoeuvred to the east of Ulm to cut off Karl Mack's force from Mikhail Kutuzov's Russian force to the east and Archduke John's Austrian force to the south. While Michel Ney and Jean Lannes re-crossed the Danube at the battle of Elchingen to cut off the line of advance to Moravia, Soult headed towards Memmingen to cut off the route to the Tyrol.

By 14 October Soult and his 25,440 men and 51 cannon were in place, setting up an artillery bombardment of the town and sending two letters to its governor, Karl Spangen. Spangen believed that the French would carry out their threat to bombard the city^[3] and surrendered himself and his 4,500 men and 9 cannon, for a loss of only 16 of Soult's men. After Memmingen was captured, Ulm was completely surrounded on its right bank. Soult's corps was able to stop all Austrian attempts to unite the armies of Ulm and Tyrol, dispersing an Austrian column between Leutkirch and Wurzbach on 19 October.^[3]

• Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905). Retrieved 17 July 2022.
• Gotteri, Nicole (2000). Le Maréchal Soult. Bernard Giovanangeli Éditeur. ISBN 2-909034-21-6.
• Smith, Digby (1998). The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill. ISBN 1-85367-276-9.

•   Media related to Battle of Memmingen at Wikimedia Commons