Battle of Wattignies

Battle of Wattignies

Part of: First Coalition War

Lazare Carnot at the Battle of Wattignies

date	October 15. bis 16th October 1793
place	Wattignies
output	French victory

Parties to the conflict
France	Austria United Netherlands
Commander
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan Lazare Carnot	Friedrich von Sachsen-Coburg Heinrich von Bellegarde Charles de Clerfait
Troop strength
about 44,000	about 23,000
losses
3000	2500

The Battle of Wattignies took place as part of the first coalition war on October 15 and 16, 1793 between French and Austrian troops. It ended in a French victory.

prehistory

A 118,000-strong coalition army under the supreme command of the Duke of York and Field Marshal Friedrich Josias von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld marched along the border of the Austrian Netherlands in the summer of 1793 . The siege of Condé ended on July 12, while the siege of Valenciennes ended on July 28.

In the Paris Welfare Committee , Lazare Carnot, the new “Victory Organizer”, took over responsibility for military affairs on August 4th. The introduction of his doctrine Levée en masse revolutionized the French army.

On September 8, 1793, the coalition troops under Wilhelm von Freytag were defeated in the battle of Hondschoote against Jean-Nicolas Houchard . The Allies then had to give up the siege of Dunkirk . However, the French could not take advantage of the victory. On September 13, the siege of Le Quesnoy was ended and 4,000 French were captured. The day before, Houchard defeated the Dutch under the Hereditary Prince of Orange in the Battle of Menin . The French counterattack failed, however, when Houchard himself was defeated on September 15 at Courtrai by the Austrian Lieutenant Field Marshal de Beaulieu , whereupon Menin was lost again. The French commander in chief was arrested on September 23, thrown in prison and guillotine on November 17 . From September 9, General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan briefly led the de Ardennes army , and on September 22 he was appointed the new commander-in-chief of the 104,000-strong Northern Army.

The allied Austrians and Dutch under the Duke of Saxe-Coburg began the siege of Maubeuge fortress on September 30th , which was held by General Jacques Ferrand. The avant-garde of Jourdan's army, which was rushing to relief, stood between Avesnes and Landrecies on October 13th . The allies took up positions opposite the French from Berlaimont , their right wing leaning against the Sambre , the left leaning on Wattignies.

March

Lazare Carnot

On October 14th, the French troops stood south of the Maubeuge fortress. The strength of the French Northern Army was 44,270 men, of which 37,900 were infantry and 6,370 horsemen. The day before the battle, Jourdan discussed the attack on the enemy positions with Carnot. Jourdan wanted to attack the center and a wing of the Austrian army. Because of the numerical superiority, Carnot pleaded for a frontal attack on the entire 20 km long front. On the morning of October 15, Jourdan deployed the following units to attack:

• Fromentin's division with 7,357 men, 1,495 of whom were horsemen
• Division Cordellier-Delanoue with 6,866 men, including 668 riders
• Balland division with 13,294 soldiers, 1,440 of them horsemen
• Duquesnoy division with 10,906 men, including 1,960 riders
• Beauregard division with 5,853 soldiers, 837 of them horsemen

The Austrian corps of FML Bellegarde formed the right wing of the coalition with 5,000 men (3 battalions and 16 squadrons) that touched the Sambre. The Austrian Corps Clerfayt with 9,200 soldiers (10 battalions and 12 squadrons) formed the center near Berlaimont along a west-east line of villages. His division commanders were FML Graf von Kinsky and Lilien . General Terzi formed the left wing at Wattignies with 4,000 men (3 battalions and 12 squadrons). The far left formed a brigade under General Hadik von Futak with 2,100 soldiers. Further to the east near Beaumont, the brigade under Major General Benjowsky was detached with 4,000 soldiers (3 battalions and 12 squadrons).

To the east of Maubeuge, the corps under Baillet von Latour had established itself between Marpent and Jeumont in front of the fortress and maintained the siege under the command of Feldzeugmeister Wenzel Joseph von Colloredo . The division of the FML Seckendorf covered the Sambre section at Merbes-le-Château further east.

battle

On October 15, 44,000 French were in the attack with double superiority against 23,000 Austrians. Jourdan's columns marched against the allies from right to left. Beauregard on Solre-le-Château, Duquesnoy on the main road from Avesnes, Balland remained as a reserve in Avesnelles, Cordellier stood at La Capelle and Fromentin in Dompierre-sur-Helpe. Duquesnoy and Beauregard had orders to attack Wattignies, while the division under Fromentins advanced against the Austrian right flank. The Austrians under Count von Clerfait , who were in the focus of the attack, managed to repel the French attacking in individual columns.

On October 16, the battle was renewed to bring about the decision. General Fromentin on the left flank and Balland's division in the middle stormed the Austrian positions all day. Bellegarde and Clerfait held up again successfully in the main positions.

Jourdan concentrated on it at Wattignies 16,000 soldiers against the village line between Dimont, Dimechaux and Choisies for a breakthrough. The attacking troops were supported on the right by the renewed advance of Duquesnoy's division and on the left by the column under Fromentin. The Beauregard Division attacked Obrechies, where FML Hadik successfully defended with 2 battalions and 8 squadrons. The French lost 5 cannons here and were pushed back on Solre-le-Château. The Brigade Gratien sent forward by General Duquesnoy's was thrown back by Austrian cavalry. In the east of the battlefield, the French under General Élie at Beaumont were thrown back by FML Benjowski. Elie managed to rearrange his soldiers and to hold a new position at Boussu-lez-Walcourt.

Ultimately, the Austrians had to vacate their positions against a double superiority.

consequences

The losses on both sides were small. The French lost little more than the Allies, the latter being 43 officers and 2,436 men. Jourdan, who had lost 27 cannons, did not cross the Sambre despite his victory, but instead strengthened his defensive position on the river. But he drew a division of the Ardennes Army between Maubeuge and Philippeville to Beaumont and intended to go back on the offensive the following day on the left wing.

The Austrian commander-in-chief Josias von Sachsen-Coburg had to fear a failure of the strong French garrison of the fortress Maubeuge at any time, he finally lifted the siege and withdrew over the Sambre to Hautmont . As a result, the English had to withdraw from Flanders under the Duke of York.

literature

• Franz-Josef Schütz: Battle of Wattiginies . In: Gerhard Taddey (Hrsg.): Lexicon of German history . People, events, institutions. From the turn of the times to the end of the 2nd World War. 2nd, revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-520-80002-0 .
• August von Witzleben: Prince Friedrich Josias von Coburg-Saalfeld, Duke of Saxony , Publishing House of the Royal Secret Ober-Hofbuchdr. Decker, Berlin 1859, Volume 2, 1859, pp. 309-330