Charles Joseph de Croix, comte de Clerfait

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Count Clerfayt

François Sébastian Charles Joseph de Croix Count of Clerfait and von Carbonne , also Clerfayt or Clairfait , (born  October 14, 1733 at Bruille Castle in Hainaut ( Austrian Netherlands ), † July 21, 1798 in Vienna ) was an Austrian field marshal .

Life

Clerfait distinguished himself as a young officer during the Seven Years' War in the battles of Prague (May 6, 1757) Hochkirch (October 14, 1758) and Legnica (15 August 1760) and became the beginning of the treaty of hubertusburg to colonel . During the War of the Bavarian Succession he was awarded the Maria Theresa Order and was promoted to major general in 1779 . From 1788 to 1789, as a field marshal lieutenant in the Turkish war , he secured the Slavonian military border and ousted the Turks led by Koca Yusuf Pascha from the Banat after the victorious battles at Mehadia and Zupanek in August 1789 . For this he also acquired the Grand Cross of the Order of Theresa. On June 26, 1790, his troops achieved a final victory in the already lost war at Kalafat, and on November 10, 1790 he was promoted to Feldzeugmeister .

At the beginning of the First Coalition War in the summer of 1792, he and General Beaulieu threw the French back from the Netherlands . Coming via Namur , he united his 11,000 men with the Prussian army under the Duke of Braunschweig . On August 23, Longwy surrendered after a short bombardment, and on September 2, the Verdun fortress was surrendered . Clerfait's troops seized the important post at Stenay on September 1st and, after the cannonade of Valmy, covered the retreat of the Prussians to Koblenz . From the end of September to the beginning of October he led his corps in forced marches from the Verdun area to Mons and proved himself in the battle of Jemappes . In November 1792, instead of Duke Albert von Sachsen-Teschen, who had been defeated by the French, he was given high command against Dumouriez in the Netherlands.

On March 1, 1793, he attacked the French at Aldenhoven , forced them to lift the siege of Maastricht and on March 18, he won the Battle of Neer winds . On October 15 and 16, 1793 he was defeated in the Battle of Wattignies against Jean-Baptiste Jourdan . In 1794 he repulsed several attacks by the French in Flanders , but was no longer able to stop the enemy after the battle of Fleurus , which Prince Coburg lost. Engaged in Coburg's place, he led the army back across the Rhine in order.

Tomb at the Hernals cemetery

In 1795, as Reichsfeldzeugmeister, he was given supreme command of the Austrian and Reichsarmies on the Middle and Lower Rhine. When Jourdan crossed the Rhine near Düsseldorf and Pichegru near Mannheim in the autumn , Clerfait threw himself on the former, hit him on October 10th near Höchst am Main and threw him back across the Rhine. Then he hurried to Mainz , which was enclosed by 70,000 French, conquered the Mainz lines , which were believed to be insurmountable, and drove the enemy back via Ingelheim against Bingen and via Oppenheim to Alzey . On November 10, 1795, Clerfait won the battle of Pfeddersheim again over Pichegru and advanced behind the Pfrimm section. After a month-long siege, Mannheim surrendered on November 22nd to General Latour , who capitulated the 10,000-strong French garrison under General Montaigu . Not prepared for a winter campaign, Clerfait concluded an armistice on December 21 and returned to Vienna in January 1796.

On the way there he took his quarters in the Gasthof Römischer Kaiser in Frankfurt am Main on January 5, 1796 . His victory at Höchst had saved the city from being conquered by French troops, which is why they gave him a ceremony in the municipal theater , at which a prologue composed especially for the occasion was performed by Johann Jakob Ihlée . The Senate under the leadership of Senior Mayor Adolph Carl von Humbracht made him an honorary citizen of Frankfurt on January 7, 1796 . For this honor, which the city bestowed only for the second time, Emperor Franz II had the Senate express his most gracious pleasure .

Because of disputes with Minister Thugut about the armistice and the charge of having taken far too little quick initiative, he did not regain command and joined the court war council , but died on July 21, 1798, by the city of Vienna Honorary grave (group OK, number 1) honored in the Hernalser Friedhof .

reception

Through the imperial resolution of Franz Joseph I of February 28, 1863, Clerfait was added to the list of the “most famous warlords and generals of Austria worthy of perpetual emulation” , in whose honor and memory there was also a life-size statue in the general hall of the then newly erected kk Hofwaffenmuseums (today: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien ) was built. The statue was created in 1867 by the sculptor Thomas Seidan (1830–1890) from Carrara marble and was dedicated by Emperor Franz Joseph himself.

In 1894 the Clerfaytgasse in Vienna- Hernals was named after him. In 1908, Clerfait was appointed "permanent owner of the Imperial and Royal Galician Infantry Regiment No. 9".

literature

Web links

Commons : Charles Joseph de Croix, comte de Clerfait  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Army History Museum Vienna. The museum and its representative rooms . Kiesel Verlag, Salzburg 1981, ISBN 3-7023-0113-5 , p. 36 f.
personal data
SURNAME Clerfait, Charles Joseph de Croix comte de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Clerfayt, Charles Joseph de Croix de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian field marshal
DATE OF BIRTH October 14, 1733
PLACE OF BIRTH Bruille Castle, Hainaut County
DATE OF DEATH July 21, 1798
Place of death Vienna