Memorial to the battle of the Walserfeld
The monument to the battle of the Walserfeld was erected on behalf of the municipality of Wals-Siezenheim by the master stonemason Bernhard Hasenöhrl in 2000 near Gois .
The memorial commemorates the battle of the Walserfeld , in which between December 12 and 14, 1800 around 60,000 soldiers from Napoleonic France and 43,000 men from Imperial Austrian troops faced each other. The French troops were commanded by General Jean-Victor Moreau , the Austrian troops by the completely inexperienced 18-year-old Archduke Johann of Austria . Although the Austrians had an advantage in the battle, they had to withdraw, and ultimately the French won and marched into the neutral archbishopric of Salzburg . A total of 22,000 dead, wounded and missing were to be mourned, approx. 10,000 on the French and 12,000 on the Austrian side. This was the largest military conflict on Salzburg soil. Even today you can still find relics from this war in the fields of the Walserfeld.
The monument itself is intended as a triptych : In the middle there is a bishop's staff made of Untersberg marble , which symbolizes the archbishopric of Salzburg. This penetrates between two stone wedges, which are reminiscent of the two hostile armies; the left one is made of Wachau marble and represents the imperial army of Austria, the right one is made of French Napoleon Notre Dame marble and represents the French troops. The inscription is in German and French and reads: "1800 violence destroyed - memory teaches - peace unites 2000". In front of the memorial the event is commemorated again on a stone and reference is made to the erection of the memorial in 2000.
literature
- Kurt A. Mitterer: Salzburg anno 1800. The forgotten battle on the Walser fields. Österreichischer Miliz -Verlag, Salzburg 1999. ISBN 3-901185-18-6 .
Web links
- Commemoration ceremony for the Battle of Walserfeld in December 2008
- Historic Landwehrschützen Wals memorial
Coordinates: 47 ° 56 '50.4 " N , 12 ° 58' 14.7" E