2nd Army (Franco-German War)

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The German 2nd Army was a major unit in the Franco-German War of 1870/71 and consisted of Prussian and Saxon troops .

To the prehistory

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. On July 19, 1870, six days after the Ems dispatch , the French Emperor Napoleon III declared. Prussia launched the war and ordered mobilization. The North German Confederation under the leadership of Prussia and the southern German states of Bavaria , Württemberg , Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt allied with it mobilized. France began the Franco-German war on August 2 with an attack by six French divisions on German territory near Saarbrücken. While the German 3rd Army broke into the southern section of Alsace, the 1st Army marched south of Luxembourg to the Moselle, followed by the 2nd Army. Commander-in-chief of the 2nd Army was General of the Cavalry Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia , and Colonel Gustav von Stiehle acted as Chief of the General Staff . The 2nd Army numbered around 170,000 men, 21,900 horsemen and 546 guns. At the beginning of the war, the headquarters were in Mainz .

Outline on August 1, 1870

Commander in Chief Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia
General Gustav von Stiehle, Chief of the General Staff

III. Army Corps Lieutenant General Konstantin von Alvensleben

IV. Army Corps Infantry General Gustav von Alvensleben

IX. Army Corps General of the Infantry Gustav von Manstein

X. Army Corps Infantry General Konstantin Bernhard von Voigts-Rhetz

Saxon XII. Army Corps Crown Prince Albert of Saxony

Guard Corps Lieutenant General Prince August von Württemberg

Total strength of 2nd Army: 156 battalions, 148 squadrons and 91 batteries (546 guns)

History of the campaigns

Battle of Metz

Henry XVII. Prince Reuss (1839–1870) fell at Mars-la-Tour, after Johann Emil Hünten

At the beginning of August 1870, the German 1st and 2nd Armies attracted the French Rhine Army under Marshal François-Achille Bazaine and clashed with the enemy in several major battles in the area of ​​the fortress of Metz . Bazaine had orders to withdraw from Metz via Verdun to Châlons and to unite with other units under Mac-Mahon . The retreat began with a delay on August 15th via Gravelotte and from here in two columns via Doncourt and Etain or via Vionville , Mars-la-Tour and Fresnes. The march of the French to the west , which had already been planned on August 13, but was interrupted by the Battle of Colombey , began on the 15th, but the left wing (French 2nd and 6th Corps and Guard) on the southern road were only up to Rezonville , the right wing (French 3rd and 4th Corps) only partially reached Vernéville. Three divisions were still in the Moselle valley, so Bazaine ordered that on August 16 the further retreat should not take place until the afternoon in order to allow the 3rd and 4th Corps to follow suit. A stop had already been ordered for the morning of August 16 to replenish food and ammunition. The persecuting Prussian III. Corps (Alvensleben) had the order to cross the Moselle at Novéant and Champey . Here it was reinforced by the 6th Cavalry Division. At the same time, the Xth Army Corps (Voigts-Rhetz), which had already occupied Pont-à-Mousson and the left bank of the Moselle, was instructed to clear the Metz-Verdun road with the 5th Cavalry Division. The III. Corps was to advance through Gorze and Onville, and the X Corps would advance against the Metz-Verdun road through Thiaucourt. The other corps of the 2nd Army (Guards, XII., IV., II. And IX.), Some of which had also already crossed the Moselle, were to continue the march to the west to place the French on the Meuse. Here the high command assumed that the main body of the Rhine Army was already in full march to Verdun. But this was not the case. The III. Corps encountered three complete French corps on its advance towards Rezonville. In the following battle of Mars-la-Tour on August 16, the French Army on the Rhine was thrown back, followed by the decisive battle at Gravelotte on August 18 : the French had taken an excellent position and were waiting for the German troops on a steadily rising eastward Terrain. While the French 3rd and 4th Corps took up position in the center, the 2nd and 6th Corps on the wings to the south. The French Guard remained in reserve behind the southern wing. With the Germans in the center of the battle front was the Prussian IX. Prussian corps (Manstein) already in position. Likewise, the right wing with the 1st Army was already in position, here the VIII and VII Prussian corps were ready for battle. The frontal set battle was surrounded by the Prussian Guard Corps and the XII. (Saxon) corps decided victoriously to the north via St. Privat . After this defeat, Marshal Bazaine was forced to retreat to Metz and was trapped there with around 180,000 soldiers.

Siege of Metz

Surrender of Metz, October 27, 1870

From August 20th, Bazaine and his troops were surrounded by the 2nd Army (left bank of the Moselle) and the 1st Army (right bank of the Moselle). A newly emerging Maas Army , consisting of the Guards and IV Army Corps, the 5th and 6th Cavalry Divisions and the Saxon Army Corps with a total of 70,028 men, 16,247 horses and 288 guns, was detached from the siege army in front of Metz and regrouped to the west in support of 3rd Army. Prince Friedrich Karl, who took over his headquarters in Corny, took over the command of the siege troops: The I and VII Corps were on the right of the Moselle, the II in the Moselle valley south of Metz, the VIII, IX, III. and X. on the left bank, the 3rd Reserve Division under General von Kummer in the valley north of Metz. Bazaine tried unsuccessfully to break the siege ring on August 31 by attacking Noisseville . On the night of October 1 and 2, Bazaine had infantry under Marshal Canrobert advance northward from Woippy into the fields between the lines. The French attack on Failly and Rupigny was not only repulsed, but after the full intervention of the 18th Division under General von Wrangel, it was even thrown back over the Chieulles stream. Another failure was directed against Ladonchamps, Ste.-Agathe, St.-Remy and Bellevue. The Germans (parts of the III. Army Corps) had to withdraw from the outermost line, the places Ladonchamps and Ste.-Agathe, but were able to maintain the fortified second line. In the course of the struggle, the Prussians succeeded in driving the French back to their original positions. The last attack by the Rhine Army began on October 7, 1870 near the villages of Bellevue, St.-Remy, Grandes Tapes and Petites Tapes. The aim of the Battle of Bellevue was no longer to break out with the union with other associations, but to procure food. The siege of Metz lasted until October 27, 1870, due to the lack of reinforcements and supplies, Bazaine was forced to capitulate with around 150,000 men.

Loire campaign

Friedrich Karl before Orleans

The 2nd Army was freed and marched off to the Loire , where a new strong French army had formed under General Louis d'Aurelle de Paladines . Their goal was to tear open the siege ring of Paris , which in the meantime was surrounded by the German 3rd Army . On November 10th, the 2nd Army with the II., III., IX. and X Corps the line from Troyes to Chaumont. Prince Friedrich Karl now operated closely with the army division of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg ( I. Royal Bay Corps , two Prussian infantry and cavalry divisions). Major fighting broke out on the Loire at the end of November. The German units of the 2nd Army brought in from Metz had arrived in the area south of Paris and the Grand Duke's army group had returned from Le Mans. After a meeting at Ladon and Maizières on November 24th, a new French advance on Paris emerged. The advance of the French took place with the individual divisions side by side from a width of 80 km. This advance was stopped on the French right wing on November 28, 1870 in the battle of Beaune-la-Rolande . After a success in the battle at Villepion on December 1, the center of the Loire Army suffered a serious defeat on December 2 in the battle of Loigny and Poupry and had to retreat towards Orléans . In the Battle of Orléans on December 3 and 4, 1870, the Loire Army was again decisively defeated under de Paladines. The Prussian IX. When the night of December 4th fell, the Corps no longer expected that the capture of Orléans would still be possible that day. Therefore, the Commander-in-Chief Prince Friedrich Karl, who was with the corps, ordered the fighting to be stopped. Soon afterwards, however, the first units of the III. Corps in the city already vacated by the enemy. When they withdrew from Orléans, however, the French army was split in two. Three French corps (15th, 18th and 20th) were now under the command of Bourbaki and withdrew in a south-easterly direction towards Bourges .

Pursuit battles after Le Mans

The German advance reached Vendôme on December 17th , where it was interrupted until January 6th, 1871. After the Battle of Orléans, the strategic initiative on the Loire rests only with the Prussians. The split off French 16th, 17th and 21st Corps formed the so-called Second Loire Army under the command of General Chanzy , which retreated westwards towards Le Mans in a long series of retreat battles , in particular the Battle of Beaugency . Chanzy's army was once again decisively defeated at the beginning of the Battle of Le Mans (January 6-12) and pursued almost as far as the Atlantic coast. After the losses of almost 80,000 men in this battle, half of them deserters, the Loire Army was no longer a threat to the German troops for the rest of the war. For the Germans, the threat of the siege of Paris from the south was lifted.

literature

  • Justus Scheibert : The war between France and Germany 1870–1871 - based on the large general staff publishing house by W. Paulis successor (H. Jerosch), Berlin 1895
  • The Franco-German War 1870–71. Edited by the War History Department of the Great General Staff, ES Mittler und Sohn, Berlin 1872
  • Colmar Freiherr von haben Goltz: The operations of the 2nd Army 1870 - From the beginning of the war to the capitulation of Metz , ES Mittler and Son, Berlin 1873

Single references

  1. ↑ Scheibert: The War between France and Germany 1870–1871, p. 300
  2. ↑ Julius von Pflug-Hartung: War and Victory 1870–71, Berlin 1895, p. 54