Siege of Graz
| date | June 13 to July 22, 1809 |
|---|---|
| place | Graz , Styria |
| output | Handover of city and citadel to the French |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Ignácz Gyulay |
|
| Troop strength | |
| for the battle of June 26th: 11,000 men. 23 guns |
for the battle of June 26: about 20,000 men |
| losses | |
|
about 450 men |
about 970 men |
Sacile - Teugn-Hausen - Vistula campaign - Raszyn - Abensberg - Landshut - Eggmühl - Regensburg - Neumarkt - Ebelsberg - Piave - Aspern - Sankt Michael - Stralsund - Bergisel - Raab / Győr - Graz - Wagram - Korneuburg - Stockerau - Gefrees - Hollabrunn - Schöngrabern - Znojmo - Walcheren
The fighting for Graz in 1809 was part of the Fifth Coalition War . The confrontation began on May 30th with the French entering the city without a fight, but it was not until June 13th, when the bombing of the Graz citadel, where a weak garrison had holed up, a siege of the Schlossberg took place . On June 25th, a brief relief operation followed for the garrison by parts of an Austrian corps under Ignaz Gyulai, which led to the battle in St. Leonhard on June 26th . In this battle, the French Broussier division successfully withstood the attacks on the Ruckerlberg and Rosenberg and forced the Austrians to retreat after reinforcements arrived. As a result of the armistice in Znojmo , the commandant of the garrison that was still standing, Major Hackher, had to lay down his arms on July 22nd and hand over the castle hill to the French.
prehistory
FML Ignaz Graf Gyulai , commander of the 9th Corps of the Austrian Army, advanced from Karlstadt towards Marburg in mid-May and strengthened himself with Croatian insurrection troops to 22,000 men. The retreat of the army from Inner Austria under Archduke Johann from Carinthia to Graz cleared the road via Friesach for the French Italian army pursuing him to Bruck an der Mur . French troops came as a result simultaneously from the south (MacDonald) and west (Grouchy) against Graz. On May 22nd, the severely weakened army of Johann with around 11,000 men had entered Graz. The Archduke immediately discussed the defense possibilities of the city with Major Hackher and waited for reinforcements from the Jellacic division. The army pursuing Johann under Viceroy Eugen reached Unzmarkt on May 24th and inflicted a heavy defeat on the Austrian Jellacic division in St. Michael on May 25th, the remnants of which arrived in Graz by May 27th and occupied the overcrowded sick camp. The V Corps of the Italian Army, led by Jacques Macdonald , which formed the right wing of the Viceroy's army, had meanwhile reached Laibach . He had received the order from Eugene to get in touch with XI, who was coming from Dalmatia . Corps under Marmont and then proceed northwards again towards Graz.
Siege of the Schlossberg
On May 11, FZM had appointed Wilhelm Freiherr von Kerpen , the military commander of Inner Austria, the leader of his engineering corps, Major Franz Xaver Hackher, to be in command of the Graz Schlossberg . The then completely walled Schlossberg towered about 120 meters in the center of the city and had good fortifications, which were now repaired immediately. The French Grouchy division had been brought up as the vanguard via Eibiswald towards Graz. On May 28, the lower Mur bridge was demolished and except for a narrow passage in front of the main bridge Murvorstadt barricaded. The victory of Archduke Charles at Aspern in Graz only became known on May 27th , but Johann had to decide to evacuate Graz on the 29th because of the enemy march. Via Gleisdorf and Szentgotthárd he led around 17,000 men to Hungary and arrived in Körmend on June 1 , where he brought in further reinforcements.
Major Hacker remained in the meantime with 17 officers and 896 soldiers as a garrison in Graz and holed up on the Schlossberg. On the evening of May 29th, Johann's last withdrawing troops had passed the Mur , the passage to the Murvorstadt was closed and the main bridge was partially dismantled. At 8 p.m. Hackher received the final instructions from FML Johann Frimont . After the withdrawal, he was supposed to occupy the city gates and delay his surrender as long as possible in order to give Johann's army a head start. The Austrian outposts, which had advanced as far as Wildon and Ehrenhausen , withdrew when the French marched on Graz; the advance guard of Grouchy's division arrived in Eggenberg, west of Graz , on the morning of May 30th . A member of parliament called on Hackher to surrender the city immediately, and four guns were threateningly positioned on the western bank of the Mur. Grouchy threatened to open fire at 3 p.m. if he hadn't surrendered by then. Hackher then agreed to hand over the city without a fight, but insisted on the occupation of the Schlossberg. Grouchy agreed, Hackher had given Johann's troops almost twelve hours' lead through his negotiations. The V Corps under General MacDonald had meanwhile fully arrived, and around 5 p.m. the French made their joint entry into the city via the cleared Mur bridges. The bulk of the division occupying the city were on the main square, on the Glacis, in Geidorf and on Jakominiplatz. The rest remained in the Mur suburb on the other bank of the Mur, including the Lamarque and Pully divisions . General Jean-Baptiste Broussier became commandant of the field and took up quarters at the Iron Gate in the Königsbrunn house. Grouchy's troops marched off to Bruck on June 1st to unite with Eugen's main power and advance on Wiener Neustadt . On June 9th, MacDonald also withdrew with most of his corps towards Gleisdorf , only the Broussier brigade remained in Graz as a crew with around 5000 men.
On June 13th, at the stroke of 12 noon, the French under Colonel Jean Hugues Gambin began to open fire against the undefeated Schlossberg. The small calibers could not cause any great damage to the high fortifications. Hackher, for his part, had used his gunfire extremely sparingly in order to save his bullets for the anticipated enemy infantry attacks. On the 15th the fire lasted until ten o'clock in the morning; then a parliamentarian demanded the renewed handover of the square, which Hackher refused again. On the 17th, Broussier stormed for the first time, and the bombardment continued into the night. Hackher had his garrison put on half the ration in order to be able to last with his supplies until the end of June. On the 18th, Broussier reacted as a precaution to an additional threat from the south. He became aware of the arrival of Austrian troops in Wildon, the French now also set up a battery on the eastern bank of the Mur, built the Mur Bridge during the night and prepared three bridge fields for removal. Hackher had a boarding of the bridge shot back together the following day. At the same time, the bombardment of the Schlossberg continued violently on the 19th day and night and on the 20th to 1pm in the afternoon. Hacker's losses since June 13 have been 7 dead and 14 wounded; After seven infantry attacks the French had lost about 300 men, mostly lightly wounded.
Overview of the overall situation
Archduke Johann, who was subordinate to General Johann Gabriel von Chasteler , joined the Gyulais corps on June 9 and secured against Warasdin in the east . FML Ignaz Gyulai was numerically superior in terms of armed forces to his opponent Marmont approaching from Dalmatia and had orders to stop him at the drift line . He tried to prevent its union with Eugen's troops, which Archduke Johann was persecuting to Hungary. Gyulai and his 22,000 men advanced south into the Carniola and relocated Marmont, whose corps had marched from Ljubljana, near Marburg. On June 15, the Gyulai corps and the Splenyi brigade were at Ehrenhausen , the Kalnassy brigade reached Zellnitz and the division under FML Anton von Zach watched the enemy in front of Cilli. Marmont set out from Ljubljana on June 20 and marched via Cilli to Windisch-Feistritz . He did not want to attack Gyulai in Marburg and bypassed him to the west with a march over Völkermarkt . There he went over the Drau and then advanced through the Lavant valley over the Pack towards Voitsberg . At Lavamünd he left a detachment advanced towards Marburg to fake his presence to Gyulai. Gyulai had already been informed about the deception maneuver by his enlightening cavalry on June 23, but remained inactive, but meanwhile wanted to try to supply the Graz Schlossberg with supplies. On June 21, 1809, the French under Broussier withdrew from Graz against Wildon to take action against Gyulai. Major Hackher used the trigger immediately to occupy the city gates. He brought new food up the mountain and supplemented himself with shooting needs, which was quickly accomplished with the most zealous help of the citizens.
After Gyulai did not advance further on Marburg, on the other hand Marmont did not arrive there, Broussier withdrew to Graz after an outpost battle. On the afternoon of June 22nd, French advance detachments forced Hackher's crew to retreat to the Schlossberg again by 9 p.m. At about 2.30 a.m., the Broussier division arrived back in full in Graz and retreated via St. Leonhard and the Graben , across the Weinzöttel Bridge north of the city to Gösting and Eggenberg. Broussier set up camp near Gösting on June 24th, when he learned that Marmont's vanguard had already arrived in Voitsberg. At about 1.30 p.m. he marched off to the more southerly Kalsdorf and waited there in vain for the union with Marmont until 5 p.m. He continued his march to Lieboch , where Marmont, in turn, waited for his rearguard, the Montrichard division, to arrive . In Lieboch, Broussiers merged with the Clausel division . After meeting with Marmont, Broussier received the order to reoccupy Graz immediately, because the report that Gyulai's troops had reached Graz had now been confirmed by scouts. On June 25th, Gyulai was able to get through to the garrison and provide them with essential supplies.
The meeting at St. Leonhard on June 26, 1809
In the following battle, the defenders of the castle hill played only a minor role because it took place east of the city walls. The Splenyi brigade advanced by Gyulai on the western bank of the Mur met French outposts in Kalsdorf on the 24th and remained inactive there until the 27th during the following battle. The Gros Gyulais crossed the Mur at Wildon on June 25 and advanced via Fernitz to Hausmannstätten . The Munkacsy Brigade was brought forward to Graz, brought the garrison the most necessary supplements, and on the evening of the 25th moved into the outpost on Rosenberg. Broussier appointed the already proven 84th Line Regiment under Colonel Gambin as vanguard to Graz. Gambin reached Broussier's advance guard with 1200 men unhindered through the trench on the Rosenberg, where they pushed back the Austrian outposts on St. Leonhard, in the evening the opponents lay quietly opposite one another. Broussier stood alone in Graz on the morning of June 26 and could not have withstood a vigorous attack by Gyuali, who had about 15,000 men on hand. Gyulai showed no will to attack the separated French departments. At dawn the French decided to attack and threw the Munkacsy brigade back onto the Ruckerlberg by 10 a.m., whereby 300 Croatians were taken prisoner.
The French occupied St. Leonhard and the Ruckerlberg without any resistance worth mentioning, and the Munkacsy brigade, which later attacked, was pushed back onto the great glacis of Graz. Broussier's troops, about 5,000 men, were well entrenched in the walled Leonhard cemetery and on the Ruckerlberg. Nevertheless, the Austrian division leader FML Zach thought the moment was suitable for negotiations and sent a parliamentarian to the opponent at noon. This indicated a complete change, with the request to surrender. The French, who were in a good position, paid no heed to the request, which was constantly being reinforced via Gösting and the Geidorfer Graben.
Marmont Vorhut arrived in Gösting around 1 p.m., and Gyulai had also drawn his armed forces closer to him. The Austrians now had to decide to attack quickly. The Kalnassy brigade led a bypass column under Captain Anzels behind the Lustbühel through the Ragnitztal in the rear of the French position. The Hungarian bypass column captured the French battery at "Schanzl", and the French artillery at "Ziegelstad" could also be silenced. This attack succeeded, but did not change anything in the deteriorating overall situation. The Broussier division, reinforced with three battalions of Neapolitans, was now complete with 11,000 men and 23 artillery pieces, and further reinforcements over the Weinzöttel Bridge in the late afternoon turned the situation completely in favor of the French. Gyulai immediately left his headquarters in the Hallerschlössel on the western Ruckerlberg, withdrew his brigades from the fight and ordered an immediate retreat to the southeast. The Grazers, who were left alone, later judged his panic-like retreat in an extremely mocking manner by naming Gyulai as the Duke of Ruckerlberg for his services in battle .
The loss of the Austrians was limited with 161 dead, 444 wounded and 361 missing. The French lost about 460 men, of which Colonel Gambin's 84th Line Regiment, which was the main fighting force, lost 31 dead, 192 wounded and 40 prisoners. Gyulai went back to Gnas via Hausmannstätten and St. Georgen . Only a small section remained on the western bank of the Mur between Ehrenhausen and Wildon to investigate. The persecution of Gyulai was carried out fairly casually by Marmont, which later earned him bitter reproaches from Napoleon . After the victory, General Marmont took up residence in Lesliehof, today's Joanneum . Marmont's troops marched over the Semmering to the Danube on July 2nd and arrived in the Lobau in time to reinforce Napoleon . The meeting on the 26th had thus become a failure for the Austrians, correctly maneuvered Marmont's troops could have been held in Styria and would have been absent from the decisive battle at Wagram .
End of the siege
The French occupied the city again on June 27 at around 5 p.m. Hackher withdrew his troops again to the Schlossberg. The blockade of the fortress began again, on the 29th the French tried unsuccessfully to blow up a mine below the rock from the cellar of the Palais Saurau in Sporgasse. After the defeat of Wagram, the armistice of Znojmo followed on July 12th , which also forced the surrender of the castle hill without a fight. French columns flooded Styria again, on July 21, 1809 the enemy - this time a division of Württemberg - advanced as an occupation in Graz. The commanding General Vandamme demanded that Hackher surrender the fortress immediately. On July 22nd, the Archduke Johann received the written order, after which Hackher finally had to surrender. In the peace treaty of Schönbrunn in October, the demolition of the fortress was agreed; on November 15, 1809, the demolitions began. The citizens of Graz bought the clock tower and bell tower from destruction by the French miners for 2987 guilders and 11 cruisers. On January 4th, 1810, the French troops finally withdrew and left a largely devastated castle hill.
Aftermath
Major Hackher was subsequently promoted to the rank of baron in 1812 and promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1813 . His valiant defense in May and June 1809 against the Napoleonic troops earned him the Knight's Cross of the Military Maria Theresa Order on July 31, 1809 . He later reported about this fight:
"The French had fired at the sparsely manned and poorly armed fortress from three, later two positions in the Grabenvorstadt and Geidorf and tried to conquer it in a total of seven infantry attacks."
The original of the lion monument on the Schlossberg bastion, the Hackher lion , was confiscated during the Second World War as a "voluntary metal donation" by the city and melted down in 1943. Today's replica sculpture by Wilhelm Gösser was erected in 1966. The Graz Garrison Museum on the Schlossberg was opened in 1981 as a branch of the city museum, it contains, among other things, exhibits from the battles of 1809.
literature
- Christoph Tepperberg : The struggles for the Graz Schlossberg from the military historical series Volume 58, Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1987
- Franz Holler : The storm on the citadel - The siege of Graz under Napoleon in 1809. Weishaupt Verlag 2001
- Joseph Freiherr von Hormayr : The army of Inner-Austria under the orders of Archduke Johann in the war of 1809 in Italy, Tyrol and Hungary, FA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1848
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The casualty figures only concern the battle on June 26th.
- ↑ Note: His brother Albert Gyulay also led the 8th Corps of Archduke John's army in Hungary.
- ↑ Dienes / Board Bacher: exhibition brochure of the Graz Garnisonmuseum, 1989, p. 37
- ↑ Christoph Tepperberg: The battles for the Grazer Schlossberg p. 46.
- ↑ Note: today the grounds of the Graz regional hospital .