Siege of Strasbourg
"The War: Fall of Strasbourg - French Prisoners Leave the City"
(from the Illustrated London News of October 15, 1870)
| date | August 15, 1870 to September 28, 1870 |
|---|---|
| place | Strasbourg , France |
| output | German victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 50,000 | 23,000 |
| losses | |
|
39 officers, 893 men |
2500 dead and wounded, ~ 17,000 prisoners of war (including 500 officers), 1500 dead and wounded residents |
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Franco-German War (1870–1871)
Weißenburg - Spichern - Wörth - Colombey - Strasbourg - Toul - Mars-la-Tour - Gravelotte - Metz - Beaumont - Noisseville - Sedan - Sceaux - Chevilly - Bellevue - Artenay - Châtillon - Châteaudun - Le Bourget - Coulmiers - Battle of Havana - Amiens - Beaune-la-Rolande - Villepion - Loigny and Poupry - Orléans - Villiers - Beaugency - Nuits - Hallue - Bapaume - Villersexel - Le Mans - Lisaine - Saint-Quentin - Buzenval - Paris - Belfort
The siege of Strasbourg was an episode of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. It resulted in the surrender of the French fortress on September 28, 1870.
background
After the Battle of Wörth , Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia ordered the Prussian General August von Werder to advance south towards Strasbourg . At that time, Strasbourg (next to the fortress of Metz ) was rated as the strongest French fortress or one of the most heavily defended cities. The attack on the fortress, which with its location and the relatively weak garrison did not represent an obstacle to German operations further north, was mainly aimed at reinforcing the German claim to ownership of the old imperial city and nipping any unrest in the region in the bud .
The besiegers
Werder's armed force initially consisted of 40,000 soldiers from Württemberg and Baden (later 10,000 men, mainly pioneers and artillery, were added), who stood on the other side of the Rhine exactly opposite Strasbourg. They belonged to the Baden Division ( Gustav von Beyer ), which also included the Baden Cavalry Brigade (Freiherr von La Roche-Starkenfels) with three Dragoon regiments. Later the Guards Landwehr Division ( Leopold von Loën ) and the first Landwehr Division ( Udo von Tresckow ) were added, to which two infantry regiments and one dragoon regiment and three reserve batteries were assigned.
The besieged
The fortress was under the command of the 68-year-old General Jean-Jacques Uhrich , who was both governor of the city and commander of the local territorial defense. The crew of the fortress initially numbered only about 7,000 men, their strength grew with the arrival of dispersed soldiers from the battle of Wörth and later levies to about 23,000, of which, however, a considerable number had only low combat strength. At first, the defenders had not seriously expected an attack and were poorly prepared, so the flooding of the trenches and the southern apron only began when the first German troops arrived. The fortress artillery, consisting of around 800 guns, was largely out of date and not up to the newer German guns. The fortifications themselves were also outdated, despite their strength, because, in contrast to more modern fortresses such as Metz or Paris, Strasbourg did not have detached forts that kept any attackers at bay so that the Germans could attack the city directly.
Bombardment at the beginning
As early as August 12th, the first units reached the area around Strasbourg and cut the city off from the outside world, the rail and telegraph connections were cut. The defenders had withdrawn into the fortress. On August 15, General von Werder took command of the siege troops . Werder knew the advantages of taking the city quickly and wanted to avoid a long siege. Instead, he chose to bomb the city himself to force the defenders to surrender. On August 23, the Werders guns opened fire on the city and caused severe damage, including historical landmarks such as Strasbourg Cathedral . The Bishop of Strasbourg asked Werder in vain to stop the fire, and the civilian population suggested that Werder pay 100,000 francs every day that he did not bomb the city. Uhrich, however, did not surrender, and it soon became clear to Werder that continued bombardment would use up too much ammunition and wreak havoc on the city that they wanted to conquer rather than destroy.
Formal siege
Instead of a bombardment, Werder decided to do a real siege. Batteries and trenches were dug, and the Germans methodically approached the main wall, taking one work at a time. The German siege artillery, which in addition to heavy mortars used breech- loading guns with rifled barrel, dismantled the fortifications at an unprecedented speed. The attack was directed against the north-western parts of the city around the stone gate (Porte de Pierre) and the bastions 11 and 12 with their outer works, the lunettes 52, 53 and 54 as well as the Ravelin 50. The work made slow progress at times due to the onset of rainy weather. Although the shelling of the German batteries was now directed against the fortifications, the parts of the city near the attacked works were nevertheless badly affected and many houses were damaged or destroyed. The French limited themselves to passive defense and isolated weak failures, many plants and defense facilities could not be manned or used due to the lack of strength of the crew. So was z. B. the extensive mining system around the fortress was not used due to a lack of trained miners and could be occupied by the attackers without resistance. In addition to the attack on the Steintorvorstadt, the citadel facing the Rhine was also shot at from the other side of the river by Baden batteries and was significantly damaged in the process, but there was no real attack.
A Swiss delegation arrived on September 11th to evacuate children, women, the elderly and the sick. This delegation also brought news of the French defeat in the Battle of Sedan to the city, which shattered hopes of relief . Thereupon the republic was proclaimed also in Strasbourg. On September 19, the remaining civilians in the city urged General Uhrich to hand over Strasbourg to the Germans. He refused because he still believed that a successful defense was possible. On the same day, however, the attackers succeeded in taking bezels 52 and 53, which led the French commander to reconsider his defense options. The following week brought rapid progress for the besiegers, who now quickly made their way to the main wall. By September 26th, the Germans had made passable breaches in the walls of bastions 11 and 12, which made a storm attack on the city itself possible. On September 27th Uhrich finally entered into surrender negotiations because the fortress could no longer be held and the general wanted to avoid bloody street fighting. Strasbourg surrendered the following day, and General von Werder made his entry into the city on September 30th. General von Mertens became the new town commander.
During the siege, the Museum of Fine Arts was destroyed by fire on August 24, 1870, and the city library with its unique collection of medieval manuscripts (best known the Hortus Deliciarum ), rare books from the Renaissance period and Roman artifacts. Another 500 houses were completely destroyed. The roof structure of the Strasbourg cathedral was damaged and one of the ornate windows was destroyed.
aftermath
The fall of Strasbourg released the forces tied up in the siege of Werder, brought Alsace firmly into the hands of the German troops and enabled further operations in eastern France . From the troops deployed in front of Strasbourg, the XIV Army Corps was newly formed, which began the siege of Belfort on November 3, 1870 .
Commemoration
The monument to the fallen in the siege of Strasbourg in 1870 in Strasbourg is in the shape of a grave and is made of white Vosges sandstone. The design comes from the urban planning inspector Roederer. It was inaugurated in 1874. The Strasbourg monument, created in 1895 by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi , stands on Centralbahnplatz in Basel . It commemorates the Swiss support given to the people of Strasbourg during the siege.
Monument in Strasbourg
Monument in Basel
literature
- Ralf Bernd Herden: Siege of Strasbourg 1870 . Book-on-Demand , Norderstedt 2007, ISBN 978-3-8334-5147-8 .
- Carl Bleibtreu : Siege of Strasbourg August 15 to September 28, 1870 . Reprint 1910/2009 Verlag Rockstuhl , Bad Langensalza, ISBN 978-3-86777-074-3 .
- Theodor Fontane : The war against France 1870/71 - Volume 1. Verlag Rockstuhl , Bad Langensalza Reprint 2004/2009 (1st edition: Berlin 1873), ISBN 978-3-937135-25-0 .
- Justus Scheibert : The war between France and Germany in the years 1870/71. 2nd Edition. Berlin 1891.
Web links
- Website of the University of Stuttgart with chronological sequence (PDF file; 27 kB)
Individual evidence
- ^ Sebastian Wemhoff: Urban history culture between continuity and change: The example of Strasbourg 1871 to 1988 (= history culture and historical learning . Volume 18 ). LIT, Berlin / Münster 2019, ISBN 978-3-643-14359-4 , pp. 175 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).