Assaye - Wellington's Auerstadt?

First of all - I have only a vague idea about Assaye - due to the podcasts.

Auerstedt I do know better, did not only read about it - but visited the terrain of those battles at the Saale several times.

Auerstedt was a by product of the operational art of war by Napoléon, it happend by chance. Napoléon perceived the Prussian main army in front of him or more in the West. However it was Davout who encountered the retreating Prussian main army under Brunswick - at a completely different spot that Boney had anticipated, otherwise he would not have risked the annihilation of one corps.

The Prussian cic - Brunswick, was mortally wounded quite early in the battle and then the Prussian King had to take over who was out of his wits. Instead of advising the Prussian King, Brunswick chief of staff, Scharnhort took command of the division of von Schmettau who was wounded as well. So the Prussian main army was a ship without a captain and by that a very poor opponent despite that the soldiers did fight bravely.

The outcome was very much foreseeable.

But without Jena and the anticipation that the main battle would happen there, Auerstedt would not have occurred at all.

I cannot imagine that Assaye did happen under the same circumstances.

@Hans - Karl Weiß Yes you're correct about how the battles came about. They did come about differently, but there are military and geographical parallels with the situations the two generals find themselves in, and they both produce similar results.

Both battles are even fought with rivers compromising their lines of retreat. Also in both battles the opposing forces don't or can't outflank their smaller opponents; in Wellington's case it's because of the two rivers on his flanks, in Davout's it's the poor leadership of the Prussian army.

I therefore think that I do have a good case here.

@Daniel Ross

Both battles are even fought with rivers comprising their lines of retreat. 

Not on the Prussian side, the French had to face the defile at Kösen as well, in case Davout would have been beaten - he would be in a precarious position.

Out of 5 Prussian infantry divisions only 3 were fully engaged, the Prussian Army conducted an orderly retreat at Auerstedt. The Prussian King, did want to re units with the "corps" of Hohenlohe and Rüchel and he retreated initially direction of Weimar but found his line of retreat cut by Bernadotte (always completely overlooked due to the usual Bernadotte bashing).

@john fortune Yes, and it's worth noting that Wellington was facing sepoy trained infantry who were definitely a match for his own EIC sepoys.