Siege of Bonn (1703)

Siege of Bonn

Part of: War of the Spanish Succession

Siege of Bonn 1703

date	April 24 to May 15, 1703
place	Bonn
output	Allied victory

Parties to the conflict
France Spain Kurköln	Holy Roman Empire United Netherlands
Commander
Yves d'Alègre	Menno van Coehoorn Friedrich von Hessen-Kassel Franz Nikolaus Fagel
Troop strength
10 battalions of infantry (3600 men)	1 army corps with 40 battalions of infantry and 60 escadrons of cavalry

The siege of Bonn in 1703 was an event of the War of the Spanish Succession and was led by the troops of the Dutch general Menno van Coehoorn and his ally, the Hereditary Prince Friedrich von Hessen Kassel , later King of Sweden, who commanded the imperial troops and was supported by Lieutenant General Franz Nikolaus Fagel was supported. Bonn was a fortified city of the Electorate of Cologne .

prehistory

In May 1703, the Duke of Marlborough decided to take the city of Bonn, which the Elector of Cologne had given to the French. The Duke recognized the strategic importance of this base for the French - the only one they had on the Middle Rhine. He therefore pulled together a corps of 40 battalions of infantry and 60 escadrons of cavalry with 140 heavy siege guns and 50 heavy mortars . (The smaller-caliber field cannons are not listed.) The Bonn garrison consisted of six French, two Spanish and two Electoral Cologne battalions, commanded by the Marquis Yves d'Alègre .

The siege

On April 24th, the Prussian and Lüneburg cavalry began their reconnaissance against the city under the command of Lieutenant General Bulau. The next morning Baron Fagel appeared with the first infantry detachments. The field camp was set up in Graurheindorf and Kreutzberg. Immediately upon arrival, the village of Poppelsdorf was occupied by 200 men . General van Coehoorn appeared on April 26th and the day after the artillery, cavalry and infantry of Hessen-Kassel.

Upon seeing the armed forces appearing, the Marquis d'Alègre sent a letter to the Duke of Marlborough, reminding him that the year before an agreement had been concluded between the Electors of Cologne and the Palatinate that forbade the cities of Bonn and Düsseldorf bomb each other to protect public buildings, churches and palaces from damage. In the event of an attack on Bonn, the city of Neuburg would face reprisals. The Duke replied, however, that he could only give up if the besieged surrendered.

Marlborough set three lines of attack for its attack:

• the first on the so-called "Fort de Bourgogne" ( Beueler Schanze ) on the right bank of the Rhine by van Coehoorn, supported by the major general Freisheim (or Fiesheim), Erbesfeld (or Elberfeld) and the engineer de la Rocque
• the second from the north on the left bank of the Rhine by the Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Kassel, supported by the Prince of Anhalt-Dessau , Major General Karl Wilhelm von Anhalt-Zerbst , Major General Tettau and the engineer Hazard
• The third came from the south and was commanded by Lieutenant General Fagel, assisted by Major Generals de Dedem (or Dedem) and Saint-Paul. The engineer on site was Colonel Reinhard.

On May 3, the besiegers began to open the approach trenches. Already in the evening there were three attacks, but the troops of the Prince of Hessen-Kassel and General Dedem were repulsed by the shots of the defenders. On the evening of the following day van Coehoorn posted three batteries on the banks of the Rhine, one consisting of six cannons destroyed the floating bridge on the left bank of the Rhine, a second battery consisting of 30 cannons bombarded the walls of Fort Bourgogne, and the third battery, consisting of 12 cannons, was directed against the right flank of the fort. Eighteen mortars and 12 more guns had been placed near the third battery.

Towards evening on May 9, van Coehoorn ordered an attack on a breach in the fort's wall. 400 grenadiers, supported by four other battalions, began the attack. Immediately afterwards, the French commander de Rabutin ordered the evacuation of the crew, most of whom went by boat to the other side of the Rhine to Bonn. The Allies were then able to take the bridgehead.

On May 10, the attackers repositioned their artillery. 80 cannons, 40 mortars and 500 small mortars were brought into position in front of Bonn and began to break through. The approach trenches in the south were further advanced. After three days of bombardment, a gap was created in the ramparts through which 1,200 men from the regiments “Royal” and “La Couronne” with 400 riders were sent to a sortie . They attacked General Dedem's troops and were able to destroy some cannons and kill 200 to 250 men before they retreated behind the walls.

On May 13th, the troops of the Prince of Hesse-Kassel attacked the northern front of the fortress, supported by the artillery. Despite the massive resistance of the besieged, the attackers were able to reach the first and second Contrescarpe and keep them occupied. The bombardment continued the next day until the French commander decided on May 15 that afternoon to give up the fight.

The next day the terms of surrender were negotiated and written down. Then the garrison, consisting of 3,600 French, Spanish and Electoral Cologne soldiers, withdrew to Luxembourg fortress with full military honors .

Conditions of surrender and the march of the garrison troops

The surrender was signed by the Duke of Marlborough and the Marquis d'Alègre and contained 11 articles, the two most important of which are:

" Art I. The French and Spanish garrisons move out, with weapons and luggage, bullets and cartridges, beating kettledrums and drums and blowing trumpets. Flags and standards are rolled out. In the bandeliers there are powder and lead for twelve shots. The cavalry on horseback with sabers drawn, the dragoons also mounted, rifles raised, with all their equipment. Also two six-pound guns and two twelve-pound guns (or smaller caliber), powder and bullets for twelve rounds for each gun. "

" Art III. That the aforementioned garrison will take the shortest route to Luxembourg. An escort will accompany the troops as far as Luxembourg. You will discuss with her the cities, villages and communities in which you will stay overnight. The escort will receive bread from them for up to four days at a time, and hostages will be placed who can return with certainty after the escort has returned. "

The march back of the garrison troops from Bonn to Luxembourg took place across the Eifel in stages of almost twenty to thirty kilometers a day. A rest day was taken every three to four days. The first day of the march led from Bonn to “Oberdreisz” (probably Oberdrees ) and “Niederdreisz” ( Niederdrees , today both part of Rheinbach ), the second day of the march to “Munstereuyffeldt” ( Münstereifel ), where we stopped on the third day. The fourth day of the march led to “Schmidem” (probably Schmidtheim ), on the fifth day of the march they marched to “Holstein” and “Neindorf” (probably Olzheim and Neuendorf (Eifel) ). On the sixth day of the march we went to “Bronsfeldt” and “Lunebak” (probably Bronsfeld and Lünebach ), where we stopped again on the seventh day. On the eighth day they marched to “Jouken” and “Carlsosen” (probably Jucken and Karlshausen ), on the ninth to Vianden , here with another rest day. On the eleventh day it went to "Etelbourg" (probably Ettelbrück is meant) and on the twelfth day to Luxembourg.

literature

• Charles Sevin marquis de Quincy : Histoire militaire du règne de Louis le Grand, Roy de France. 7 volumes. Denis Mariette / Jean-Baptiste Delespine / Jean-Baptiste Coignard, Paris 1726 (Volume 1: Gallica , Google Books ; Volume 2: Gallica , Google Books ; Volume 3: Google Books , full text at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek ; Volume 4: Gallica , Google Books ; Volume 5: Gallica , Google Books ; Volume 6: Gallica , Google Books ; Volume 7: Gallica , Google Books ). New edition: Creative Media Partners, LLC, 2018, ISBN 978-0-274-81136-6 .
• Nicolas Madget, François Hugues Du Tems: Histoire de Jean Churchill, duc de Marlborough. 3 volumes. Imprimerie impériale, Paris 1808 ( Volume 1 in Google Books ; Volume 2 in Google Books; Volume 3 in Google Books). New edition Volume 1: Nabu Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1-246-27390-8 ; Volume 2: Wentworth Press, 2018, ISBN 978-0-341-21428-1 ; Volume 3: Nabu Press, 2012, ISBN 978-1-274-42375-7 .
• Lieutenant général François-Eugène de Vault: Mémoires militaires relatifs à la guerre d'Espagne sous Louis XIV.Volume 1: Imprimerie Royale, Paris 1835 ( full text in the Google book search). Volume 2: Imprimerie Royale, Paris 1836 ( full text in the Google book search).
• James Carmichael-Smyth: Histoire abrégée des guerres dont les Pays-Bas et particulièrement la Belgique ont été le théâtre. F. Oudart, Liège 1843 ( full text in the Internet Archive ; full text in the Google book search). New edition: Forgotten Books, 2018, ISBN 978-1-391-64440-0 .
• Louis Prosper Gachard : Histoire de la Belgique au commencement du XVIII ^e siècle. Librairie européenne C. Muquardt, Brussels 1880 ( digitized on Gallica ).

Footnotes

1. ↑ Madget, Hugues Du Tems, 1808, p. 192.
2. ↑ Guillaume de Lamberty: Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire du XVIII siècle. Pierre Mortier, Amsterdam 1725, p. 434 ff. ( Limited preview in the Google book search).
3. ↑ French names of German place names should always be viewed critically, especially if they come from the distant past, as in this case. Cities often have purely French names (Aix-en-chapelle = Aachen), or the spelling is not so precise - especially if there are problems with the umlauts that do not exist in French and that are sometimes used and sometimes not, which is why there are occasional misunderstandings.