German 3rd Army (Franco-German War)

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The 3rd Army was a short-term army formation in the Franco-German War . It was composed of Prussian and South German units, making it the first all-German army unit in German history.

prehistory

After the German War and the founding of the North German Confederation , Bismarck concluded the protective and defensive alliances with the remaining southern German states , which provided for a joint approach in the event of a foreign conflict. When the Ems dispatch and the subsequent French declaration of war made armed forces inevitable, the 3rd Army was formed to complement the Prussian 1st and 2nd Army . Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia became the commander, and General Leonhard von Blumenthal was appointed Chief of the General Staff . The 3rd Army counted after the union with the VI. Corps 153 battalions (15,500 men), 134 squadrons (19,800 riders) and 96 batteries (576 guns), the headquarters were in Mannheim .

Outline on August 1, 1870

Supreme Commander Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia
Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal, Chief of the General Staff

The 3rd Army was composed as follows:

Prussian 5th Army Corps under Lieutenant General Hugo Ewald von Kirchbach

Prussian XI. Army Corps under Lieutenant General Julius von Bose

I. Bavarian Army Corps under Ludwig von der Tann-Rathsamhausen

II. Bavarian Army Corps under Jakob von Hartmann

Württemberg-Baden Corps under Lieutenant General August von Werder

From the beginning of September 1870 came the VI. Corps, which had remained as a reserve in Silesia at the beginning of the war , as a safeguard for Austria's possible entry into the war.

Prussian VI. Corps under General of the Cavalry Wilhelm von Tümpling

Total strength of 3rd Army (including VI. AK): 153 battalions , 134 squadrons and 96 batteries (576 guns )

Campaigns

Battles near Weißenburg, Wörth and Beaumont

Deployment of the German armies on July 31, 1870

The 3rd Army launched the attack through the border crossing into Alsace. The I. Bavarian Corps, the V. and XI. Corps and the Württemberg division stood between Germersheim and Landau , and the 2nd Bavarian Corps at Bergzabern was slightly advanced in the Bavarian Palatinate . Only the Baden division was held back on the right bank of the Rhine near Rastatt in order to be able to react quickly to a possible invasion from Strasbourg on Baden soil. In the Battle of Weissenburg on August 4, 1870, 22 battalions were involved on the German side and 11 battalions on the French side. The Germans owed their victory in this battle to their numerical superiority and the fact that the French corps leader General Douay was apparently not prepared for a fight. Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia continued the advance in a south-westerly direction and moved his headquarters to Sulz.

Panorama of the Battle of Wörth

The commander of the main French army, Marshal MacMahon had occupied on August 5 with the 1st Corps, a division of the 7th corps and a cavalry division on the west, raised edge of the valley of the river Sauer a strong position that is different from Froschweiler over Reichshofen moved to Görsdorf. At 7 o'clock the battle at Wörth began . At around 8 o'clock, General von Kirchbach , the commanding general of the Prussian V Corps, ordered the battle to end. However, he had to take it up again in the following hour, because meanwhile the Bavarian II Corps on the far right wing near Langensulzbach was echoing a strong thunder of cannons. Kirchbach then had the 9th Division under Lieutenant General von Sandrart intervene in the battle near Wörth. The Prussian XI. Corps had already started fighting on the left wing. At 1:00 p.m., Crown Prince Friedrich personally took charge of the battlefield. At about 1.30 p.m. the Prussian V Corps stormed the western edge of the Sauer valley between Wörth and Fröschweiler, while at the same time the Württemberg cavalry appeared on the left wing and the Prussian XI. Army corps developed to attack the Niederwald. The whole edge of the Niederwald gradually fell into German hands. General von Bose had the entire artillery drawn up on the left bank of the Sauer to support the attack of the V Army Corps on Fröschweiler. General von Bose was seriously wounded for the second time, his chief of staff lost a horse, and Major General von Schkopp took over at short notice to continue the battle . At around 3:15 p.m., the Prussians advanced from the south and east against Fröschweiler and stormed it. Only when the double encirclement became apparent did the French Marshal Mac-Mahon order the retreat via Niederbronn on Zabern. The Germans had lost 10,642 men at Wörth.

After the contact with the enemy was lost, the 4th Cavalry Division under Prince Albrecht of Prussia took over the reconnaissance up to the Saar. On August 19, the 3rd Army was ordered to stop at the Meuse for the time being in order to allow the units of the newly formed German Meuse Army under Crown Prince Albert of Saxony to unlock. After the knowledge that strong French forces were gathering at Châlons , the order was issued to the 3rd Army to advance to Châlons; the Maas Army was to advance further north towards Paris at the same time . By August 24, 1870, the German army had received reinforcements of 150,000 men, not only compensating for the losses of the first few weeks. In addition to the purely numerical reinforcement to compensate for losses suffered, there was also the VI. Corps under General von Tümpling to the 3rd Army. This corps had remained in Silesia until August 6 as a reserve for a possible conflict with Austria. The French Châlons army, which had gathered near Châlons, began to march to Reims on August 23 with the intention of going on via Montmédy and then along the Belgian border to the Rhine army, which was enclosed near Metz. It was not until August 26 that both armies began to swing to the right and move in the direction of the Châlons army. As a result of the battle, Moltke ordered the V and XI. Corps to push between Sedan and the border with Belgium. At the same time, the 3rd Army now blocked the French retreat in the direction of Mézieres . On August 25th the German XI. Army Corps (Gersdorff) south of Vitry an der Marne and had to follow the V Army Corps to turn right to the north in the direction of Sainte-Menehould . The aim of the German 3rd Army was now to push the French Mac-Mahon Army to the Belgian border.

Deployment sketch for the Battle of Sedan

The advance on Damvillers and the securing of the Meuse crossings at Dun and Stenay were ordered for August 27 ; the advance took place largely without contact with the enemy. The Battle of Beaumont followed on August 30th, and the two German armies were slowly closing the gap between them. They met near Beaumont, where the French V Corps camped exhausted after the previous day's fighting and a night of marching through. At the same time and completely surprisingly, the French were attacked by two German corps (IV. And I. Bay.) Out of the movement. The French were clasped between the IV Corps as the left wing of Prince Albert's Maas Army and the I. Bavarian Corps as the right wing of the 3rd Army. After some time, the French troops were able to initiate a counterattack, which, however, was rejected. On the German side, the entire artillery of the IV. Army Corps intervened, which in the further course of parts of the artillery of the Saxon XII. as well as the Bavarian Army Corps received support. The Prussian Guard Corps advanced as far as Beaumont; Fierce fighting developed, which lasted until nightfall and as a result of which the French troops were pushed back into the valley of the Meuse. Without the opportunity to organize for the defense, the French were driven back and left 5,700 dead and wounded, 1,800 prisoners and the loss of most of their equipment. The losses of the German troops amounted to 3,400 men.

The decisive battle of Sedan

General Reille brings the armistice offer

On August 31, the XI. Army Corps occupied Donchery on the Meuse and controlled the right bank of the Meuse and the railway line to Mezieres. Because he underestimated the strength and speed of the German units, Mac-Mahon believed at Sedan that he could muster his army in order to reorganize it and replenish its supplies. The Battle of Sedan began on the morning of September 1st . Initially, parts of the Bavarian I. Corps crossed the Meuse at 4 a.m. and infiltrated Bazeilles . The XI. Corps reached Floing and established itself there. The V Army Corps sealed off the road leading out of Illy and began the attack on the strategically important Calvary. When the mountain was conquered, Sedan was surrounded all around. The storming of Fond de Givonne brought the French lines to collapse, the troops withdrew in disorder to the old fortress Sedan. It was still possible for the new Commander-in-Chief, General Wimpffen , to use the remnants of his troops that were still operational from the fortress to launch a final concentrated attack on Balan and to push back the German and Bavarian troops here. With a counterattack by the Bavarians and the IV Corps it was possible to recapture Balan. Since the French officers refused to follow him any further, Wimpffen ordered on the instructions of the present Napoleon III. retreat to the fortress. However, the joint efforts of Bismarck and Moltke succeeded by 1:00 a.m. to explain to Wimpffen the futility of the further fight, whereupon the ceasefire was extended to 9:00 a.m. so that a French council of war could decide on the decision - whether to be a prisoner of war or to continue fighting could be. This council of war took place on September 2 from 7:00 a.m. and ended with the acceptance of the surrender: The emperor, 39 generals, 2,830 officers and 83,000 soldiers were taken prisoner of war. After the victory at Sedan, the Bavarian I. Corps under von der Tann stayed with Sedan for the time being in order to supervise the removal of the prisoners.

Siege of Paris

In the main headquarters in Versailles, the Crown Prince and Blumenthal standing on the left, the King and Moltke sitting, Roon and Bismarck on the right, painting by Anton von Werner

In Paris, under pressure from the population, on September 4, 1870, the Empire was eliminated and the Third Republic proclaimed. The German armies of the Crown Princes of Prussia and Saxony, which had become free at Sedan, immediately marched on to Paris in order to end the war by quickly taking the French capital. The VI. Army corps under General von Tümpling was already in Reims as the vanguard . General Trochu had been appointed Governor General and Head of Defense of Paris by Napoleon . The French 13th Corps under General Vinoy had escaped the Sedan catastrophe and defended the southern front of the city between Créteil via Sceaux to Meudon with its core troops . On September 10, the bulk of the German 3rd Army had reached the Dormans - Sézanne line . Corps crossed the Marne at Château-Thierry . On September 16, the army of the Saxon Crown Prince Albert of Saxony was at Nanteuil , the 5th Cavalry Division had reached Beaumont and the 6th Cavalry Division Saint-Denis, the German headquarters had been moved to Meaux. The 2nd Bavarian Corps under General von Hartmann , subordinated to the 3rd Army, crossed the Seine at Corbeil , the railway line between Paris and Orléans was interrupted. The 3rd Army, deploying south of Paris, was attacked by Vinoy's troops near Villeneuve Saint Georges on September 18 to protect the supply camp there, but they were pushed back by artillery fire from the Prussian 5th Army Corps. General Hugo von Kirchbach occupied Versailles on September 19 after the battle at Sceaux . The Bavarian II Corps, closing in on the same height, reached Longjumeau and set up on the southern front in the following days on the plateau of Bicetre, in the east near Villers the VI occupied. Corps both banks of the Seine. The approaching Württemberg field division under General von Obernitz secured the Marne crossings at Lagny and Gounay in the east . The army of Crown Prince Albert of Saxony closed off Paris in the north and east, and the troops of the Crown Prince of Prussia in the south and west. The dividing line between the two armies, which enclosed Paris with a total of six corps, formed the north and south banks of the Seine.

French troops bivouac at Le Bourget, December 21, 1870

General Moltke made no move to attack the city, it had already become clear shortly after the beginning of the siege of Paris that the residents were to be worn down by hunger. General Trochu allowed Vinoy to set up a sortie from the southern front against the Germans. General Vinoy attacked on September 30th at Chevilly with 20,000 soldiers, but was taken by VI. 3rd Army Corps repulsed. On October 13, the II. Bavarian Corps was expelled from Châtillon. However, the French had to retreat due to Bavarian and Prussian artillery fire and a German counterattack. Between October 10 and 16, the German enclosure line received considerable reinforcements. The 17th Division, which became free after the fall of the fortress of Toul, was pushed in between the Bavarians and the V Corps at Meudon, and the Guard Landwehr Division (Generals von Löen) relieved from Strasbourg moved into the front at St. Germain .

General Carrey de Bellemare commanded the defense in the northern section of the city at Saint-Denis . On October 29, he attacked the Prussian guard at Le Bourget without having received an order and took the place. General Rudolph von Budritzki's 2nd Guard Division had little interest in regaining their positions in the village. Nevertheless, Crown Prince Albert ordered the place to be taken. In the battle of Le Bourget , the Prussian troops succeeded in retaking it and taking around 1,200 French prisoners. On January 19, 1871, around 90,000 men in three columns under the command of Trochus started a final attempt to break through at Buzenval near the Prussian headquarters west of Paris. The Germans easily repulsed the attack from the fort on Mont Valérien . This attempt to break out claimed over 4,000 victims on the French side, while the Germans had only 600 dead. Trochu resigned as military governor and handed General Vinoy command of the still 146,000-strong garrison. Minister Favre appeared in person in Versailles on January 24th and negotiated the terms of the armistice with Bismarck. On January 26th, the bombardment was stopped, on January 28th, 1871 the armistice was signed, which came into force for Paris on the 29th.

literature

  • David Wetzel: Duel of the Giants. Bismarck, Napoleon III. and the causes of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 . Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2005, ISBN 3-506-71791-X .
  • Illustrated history of the Franco-Prussian War 1870–1871 . Melchior, Wolfenbüttel 2006, ISBN 978-3-939791-06-5 .
  • Martin Feller: The poet in politics: Victor Hugo and the Franco-German war of 1870/71 . Phil. Diss., Marburg 1988.
  • Andreas Metzing: War memorials in France (1871–1914). Studies on the collective memory of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 . Dissertation, University of Freiburg 1995 ( full text, PDF ).
  • Florian Kühnhauser: 1870/71, war memories of a soldier of the royal Bavarian infantry body regiment . ISBN 3-934785-02-6
  • Franz Kühnlich: The German soldiers in the war of 1870/71 . (1995), ISBN 3-631-48839-4
  • Wilhelm von Hahnke: The operations of the III. Army: According to the files of the III. Army . Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, 1873, digitized from Google Books

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Justus Scheibert : The war between France and Germany, W. Paulis successor, Berlin 1895, p. 303
  2. ^ Julius von Pflug-Hartung: War and Victory 1870–71, Berlin 1895, p. 55