Neckar Corps (1849)

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The Neckar Corps was a major unit of the Army of the German Confederation . It consisted of contingents from different individual states and was used to suppress the Baden revolution .

history

prehistory

On May 11, 1849, the occupation of the Baden fortress of Rastatt mutinied, which all Baden troops joined within two days. Grand Duke Leopold fled with his family and government to the federal fortress of Mainz and asked Prussia for help. A Provisional Government was formed in the Bavarian Palatinate on May 17, 1849 . On June 4, 1849, Bavaria asked Prussia for military support “to restore peace and order in the Palatinate”.

Lineup

On June 10, 1849 u. a. Contingents from the following states combined in the Neckar Corps :

Prussia and Bavaria each provided only one battalion as they still had their own corps in action:

In addition, small contingents from the city of Frankfurt and the principalities of Hohenzollern and Lichtenstein were called up.

After defeating the revolutionaries, the corps was disbanded on August 28, 1849.

Participation in skirmishes and combat operations

The Neckar Corps formed the left wing of the Federal Army . This began on June 13, 1849 with their intervention . The plan was to occupy the Palatinate with a corps and to cross the Rhine and then to include the revolutionaries between the Rhine and Neckar with all their might .

The Neckar Corps was to take Hirschhorn and Weinheim on June 15 . After a battle near Käfertal (Mannheim) , the federal army withdrew to a line Viernheim - Heddesheim - Großsachsen - Beerfelden . Then the I. Corps advanced rapidly on the left bank of the Rhine ( Ludwigshafen was conquered on June 15 , after successful resistance by the revolutionaries near Mannheim crossed the Rhine at Germersheim on June 20 ), the advance of the other forces was delayed. The Neckar Corps advanced along the Bergstrasse via Laudenbach and Hemsbach (both battles) to the Neckar . At Ladenburg it only crossed the Neckar after fierce fighting, in which the revolutionaries were initially able to recapture the city and thus covered the retreat of the revolutionary army under General Mieroslawski , occupied Heidelberg and advanced south through the Odenwald (battle near Hirschhorn ) through the northern Black Forest before.

Württemberg troops in action in Gernsbach

The revolutionary army could not take advantage of its victory at Waghäusel . On June 22nd, Mieroslawski gave the order to retreat to Mittelbaden and a line of defense along the Murg . After the lost battle near Muggensturm , part of the revolutionary army holed up in the Rastatt fortress , the other part withdrew to the Black Forest. The Neckar Corps followed through the Alb valley . The last fighting broke out at Kuppenheim and Gernsbach . At the battle in Gernsbach on 29./30. June the commander of the federal army, General Eduard von Peucker was wounded. The corps pursued the remnants of the revolutionary troops to Constance , where they crossed the border to Switzerland on July 12 and asked for asylum .

After three weeks of siege, Ernst von Biedenfeld (formerly commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 3rd Baden Infantry Regiment) handed Rastatt over to the Prussian troops on July 23rd.

organization

Association membership

The corps formed together with the I. (General von Hirschfeld) and II. (Actually VII. Army Corps under Lieutenant General Karl von der Groeben ) Prussian Corps the Federal Army under Crown Prince ("Kartätschenprinz") Wilhelm .

structure

Belonged to the corps

Combined Württemberg Regiment (1st Battalion of the 8th Infantry Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the 4th Infantry Regiment ),
Grand Ducal Hessian 2nd Infantry Regiment ,
two companies of hunters of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg ,
two squadrons of Hessian Chevauxlegers ,
a pioneer detachment
six guns
  • Gros (Major General Schäffer-Bernstein), initially in Bensheim
1st brigade
2nd brigade
  • Reserve (Major General von Bechtold), initially in Auerbach
ducal Nassau combined infantry regiment (with battalion "Hohenzollern-Liechtenstein"),
a battalion of the Prussian fusilier regiment "General-Feldmarschall Graf Moltke" (Silesian) No. 38 ,
a battalion of the Hessian 3rd Infantry Regiment,
the battalion of the Frankfurt line infantry,
two squadrons of Hessian Chevauxlegers,
two squadrons of the Grand Ducal Mecklenburg dragoons,
six guns.
  • Side detachment, initially in the Odenwald
a battalion,
a squadron,
two guns.

Corps strength total 19½ battalions, 9 squadrons , 22 artillery pieces , 400 officers , 17,939 men.

commander

Prussian Lieutenant General Eduard von Peucker , Adjutant Prussian Major Ferdinand du Hall

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ The whole contingent from Mecklenburg was under the command of Colonel Clamor August Ferdinand von Witzleben.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see Harder, p. 68 and Daniel Staroste: Diary about the events in the Palatinate and Baden in 1849: a memory book for contemporaries and for all who took part in the suppression of that uprising , Volume 2, Potsdam 1852, p 279-280 Internet Archive
  2. ↑ West Franconian Corps of the Bavarian army under Lt. Gen. Karl Theodor von Thurn und Taxis and two Army Corps under the command of the Prince of Prussia standing operation army
  3. ↑ Harder, p. 68