1st Army (Franco-German War)

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The German 1st Army was a major unit in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, it fought in Lorraine at the beginning of the war and later moved to the new theater of war in northern France.

prehistory

Commander in Chief General Karl Friedrich von Steinmetz
Major General Oskar von Sperling, Chief of the General Staff

After the German War and the founding of the North German Confederation , Bismarck concluded the protective and defensive alliances with the remaining southern German states , which provided for a joint approach in the event of a foreign conflict. When the Emser Depesche (July 13, 1870) and the subsequent French declaration of war had become inevitable, war broke out. While the German 3rd Army broke into the southern section of Alsace , the 1st Army marched south of Luxembourg to the Moselle, behind which the 2nd Army marched . The Commander-in-Chief of the 1st Army was General of the Infantry Karl Friedrich von Steinmetz , Major General Oskar von Sperling acted as Chief of the General Staff . After the arrival of the 1st Army Corps, the army numbered 75,000 men, 9,500 horsemen and 288 artillery pieces . At the beginning of the war, the headquarters were in Koblenz .

Outline on August 31, 1870

VII Army Corps under Infantry General Heinrich Adolf von Zastrow

VIII Army Corps under Infantry General August von Goeben

I. Army Corps under Cavalry General Edwin von Manteuffel

Total strength of the 1st Army: 75 battalions, 64 squadrons and 45 batteries

History of the campaigns

Introductory fights

At the beginning of the war, the 1st Army was made up of the VII and VIII Army Corps and the 1st and 3rd Cavalry Divisions, followed by the 1st Corps, with a total of 75 battalions, 64 squadrons and 45 batteries. The 1st Army was on the extreme right wing, General von Steinmetz would have preferred to open the campaign himself, but had to await the deployment of the 2nd Army under Prince Friedrich Karl according to instructions from the Army Command . On August 6, 1870, von Steinmetz ordered the attack on the Spicheren Heights without an order and thereby also relocated the 2nd Army’s route, which led to friction between the two army leaders. The second battle in which the 1st Army was involved again took place against the intentions of the Chief of Staff von Moltke . The Commander-in-Chief of the French Army on the Rhine, Marshal Bazaine , had withdrawn to protect the fortress of Metz because of the threat of being surrounded by strong German forces .

The German 1st Army under General Steinmetz and the 1st Army Corps advanced on Metz from the east. On the far right wing, the 3rd Cavalry Division under Graf von der Groeben reported that the French had cleared all terrain up to the Diedenhofen fortress and that no flank attacks were threatened from the north. On August 14, 1870, the French 6th Corps (Canrobert) and the bulk of the 2nd Corps (Frossard) had already crossed over to the left bank of the Moselle when General von Manteuffel decided on his own to launch an attack to protect the remaining French Corps on the right bank of the Moselle. Bazaine stopped the further passage to the west and accepted the battle of Colombey-Nouilly . Since the troops of the Prussian I. Army Corps were still lagging behind, the VII Corps (General von Zastrow) arriving south was supposed to initiate the first attack with the 13th Division. A few hours later, the 1st Army Corps intervened and captured Montoy with the 1st Division (Lieutenant General von Bentheim). While this stabilized the unequal battle on the heights of Colombey, the situation of the Prussian 2nd Division (General von Pritzelwitz) on the right wing around Nouilly remained questionable. The fight was decided at 6:45 p.m. when the 14th Division appeared at Colombey. At the same time, parts of the 2nd Army (from the IX Army Corps) had advanced energetically against the right flank of the French position near the village of Mercy le Haut from the south.

From August 15, the following Prussian II Army Corps under General von Fransecky also reached the French theater of war and on the afternoon of 18 intervened in the 1st Army sector.

  • 3rd Infantry Division: Major General Mathias Andreas Ernst von Hartmann
  • 4th Infantry Division: Lieutenant General Benno Hann von Weyhern

The 1st Army with the VII and VIII Army Corps played a large part in the Battle of Gravelotte , while the other troops subordinate to it kept watch over Metz on the right bank of the Moselle. As a result, Bazaine's army was trapped in the fortress of Metz on August 20 with around 180,000 men.

Defense of Metz, by Alphonse de Neuville

Siege of Metz

The 1st and 2nd armies stayed behind before Metz and took over the observation of the French army on the Rhine, which was enclosed in the Moselle fortress. General von Steinmetz, previously an independent army commander, now came under the supreme command of the younger prince, a circumstance that the old warriors deeply opposed. Marshal Bazaine's plan was to break through the enemy enclosure on the right bank of the Moselle with his entire army, to cross the Moselle at Diedenhofen and to unite with the army under Marshal Mac-Mahon in the direction of Sedan . During the siege of Metz , General von Manteuffel held supreme command on the east bank of the Moselle, the 1st Corps camped to the right and left of the Seille between Servigny and Rupigny on the heights of Pouilly and, together with the 2nd Army Corps to the south, protected the stores by Remilly and Pont-à-Mousson . A strong attempt at Bazaine's breakthrough at the Battle of Noiseville on August 31 and September 1 failed. In order to eliminate the quarrels in the high command, General Steinmetz was appointed governor general of Posen and sidelined on September 16 at the will of the king . Until further notice, the Army High Command of the 1st and 2nd Armies was united in the hands of Prince Friedrich Karl. A part of the staff of the 1st Army remained under the command of General von Manteuffel in order to be able to obtain a commanding authority for other operations as a precaution after the fall of the fortress Metz.

Fight on the Somme, advance into Normandy

General of the cavalry Edwin von Manteuffel

After the surrender of Metz at the end of October 1870, the freed 1st Army (VIII. And parts of the 1st Corps) under General von Manteuffel was moved to the Somme to secure the siege of Paris against the newly established French Northern Army .

After several smaller meetings of reconnaissance units, the main battle began on November 27 near the village of Villers-Bretonneux , east of Amiens. In the Battle of Amiens , the newly established French Northern Army under General Jean Joseph Farre and the troops of the VIII Corps under General von Goeben fought each other . The retreating French managed to withdraw into the protection of the fortress Arras , but no further pursuit took place. On November 28th, the VIII. Corps under General von Goeben occupied the city of Amiens, the next day the citadel surrendered . After the 1st Army had crossed all of Normandy , there were again stronger French troop rallies in the hinterland under General Louis Faidherbe . As a result, the 15th Division marched up via Breteuil to Montdidier and occupied the lost Amiens again. Between December 3 and 6 the advance of the 1st Division to Rouen took place almost without a fight . The 1st Army was used in the Battle of the Hallue on December 23 and 24, 1870 , the 15th Division encountered Allonville and the 16th Division attacked Bethencourt via Villers-Bocage . The French Northern Army consisted of the XXII. and XXIII. Corps, together about 43,000 men with 80 guns. The Prussian formations were about 22,000 strong, consisting of the VIIIth Army Corps (15th and 16th Divisions), a brigade of the 2nd Division, the 3rd Cavalry Division and other departments. After Faidherbe broke off the fighting on December 25 and retreated, the Barnekow Division and the 3rd Reserve Division besieged the fortress Péronne . After the suppression of new French forces at Amiens and the fall of Mezieres on January 1, 1871, the VIII. Corps was concentrated at Bapaume . At Arras, General Faidherbe had gathered strong forces again and attacked unsuccessfully on January 3 at the Battle of Bapaume . Then Péronne, who had been trapped by the 16th Division (Barnekow) since December 26, capitulated.

General Faidherbe at the Battle of Bapaume

After Manteuffel had been appointed to lead the Southern Army, General von Goeben took over command of the 1st Army on January 9, 1871. The French Northern Army under General Faidherbe was thrown head-on by the VIII Corps on January 19 in the battle of Saint-Quentin in the hard struggle east of the city and was finally forced to retreat. In the 1st Corps, the reinforcements by the 1st Division played a significant role. On January 28, the hostilities were ended by the armistice of Versailles, until January 29, the VIII. Corps with the 16th Division to Bray-sur-Somme , behind the 3rd Reserve Division to Chaulnes and the 15th Division advanced to Acheux-Villers-Bocage.

literature

  • J. Scheibert: The war between France and Germany 1870–1871. based on the large general staff publishing house of W. Paulis successor (H. Jerosch), Berlin 1895.
  • The Franco-German War 1870–71. Edited by the War History Atelung of the Great General Staff, ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1872.
  • A. von Schell: The operations of the 1st Army under General von Steinmetz: from the beginning of the war to the capitulation of Metz. Mittler, 1872, digitized from Google Books

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Scheibert: The war between France and Germany 1870–1871. Verlag von W. Paulis Nachhaben, Berlin 1895, p. 299.
  2. ^ Julius von Pflug-Hartung: War and Victory 1870–71. Berlin 1895, p. 53.