Armée du Rhin

Armée du Rhin ( German Rhine Army ) was the name of a December 14, 1791 by order of the French King Louis XVI. established army and later the designation of a French army in the Franco-Prussian War 1870/71 and during the occupation of the Rhineland after the First World War . The latter was called Armée française du Rhin to distinguish it from the other allied armies in Germany.

Rhine Army of the French Revolution

As the Revolutionary Army of the First French Republic , it took part in the battles against the coalition forces of the European powers.

Rhine Army 1870/71

In addition, the designation "Rhine Army" was the title for a French army in the Franco-German War of 1870/71. At the beginning of the war, the term “Rhine Army” was used for the entire French army in action. After the siege of Metz at the latest, only the troops enclosed in Metz were referred to as the “Rhine Army”.

Strategic goal at the start of the war

The strategic goal of the French army was the attack into Germany, for example a crossing over the Rhine between Germersheim and Mainz with a subsequent advance in the direction of Frankfurt and Würzburg . So Napoléon III wanted . not only to carry the war to Germany, but also to separate the troops of the North German Confederation from the South German units and keep them out of the war with Prussia. With quick initial success, he also hoped for Austria and Denmark to enter the war, and possibly Russia , even if there were no corresponding contracts.

Composition and strength of the army

When the war broke out, the French army consisted of the I. to VI. Corps and the Guard . Overall, the Rhine Army had a nominal strength of around 300 battalions, each with a nominal strength of around 1,000 men. Due to problems with mobilization and deployment, however, some units were not available or not fully available. The I. and V. Corps under Marshal Mac-Mahon formed the so-called Alsace Army . However, when the fighting broke out, only the 1st Corps was in Alsace, the 5th Corps had first been marched towards Saarbrücken and then withdrawn to the fortress of Bitche. This corps was therefore not used in the first battles.

The first offensive deployment at the beginning of August 1870 was as follows: I. Corps in northern Alsace (headquarters in Frœschwiller ), II. Corps in Spichern , III. Corps at Saint-Avold , IV Corps at Thionville , and V Corps in Bitche and as a reserve the Guard on the way from Nancy to Saint-Avold and the VI. Corps at Châlons , on the way to Nancy from August 3rd.

Overview of the associations

Unit and commanders
I. Corps	MacMahon
II Corps	Frossard
III. corps	Bazaine
IV Corps	Ladmirault
V. Corps	Failly
VI. corps	Canrobert
VII Corps	Félix Douay
Guard	Bourbaki

War effort

On July 28, 1870, Napoléon III took over. in Metz (→ Metz Fortress ) personally in command of the Rhine Army, which he had to hand over to Marshal François-Achille Bazaine again on August 13 due to illness . However, the march to the border was very slow. According to Friedrich Engels' reports , the equipment was incomplete and the troops were partly not ready for action, so that large parts of the army could not leave the installation area around Metz at all.

After the first defeats at Weißenburg on August 4th, Spichern and Wörth on August 6th, the army was in retreat. Three corps under Mac-Mahon went in the direction of Nancy, while the other units either still stood at Metz or withdrew here.

The troops of Mac-Mahon went back via Châlons and were called Armée de Châlons from there .

Enclosure in Metz

A retreat from Metz via Verdun in the direction of Châlons , planned for mid-August , did not take place, the Rhine Army was defeated with a total of 180,000 men in the battles at Colombey , Mars-la-Tour / Vionville and Gravelotte and was finally surrounded during the siege of Metz .

There are no major attempts to break out, and after a short siege, the only aim of outages is to steal additional provisions. The troops finally capitulated on October 27, 1870. This date also marks the end of the Rhine Army.

swell

Friedrich Engels: About the war. I to V, transcription of texts from The Pall Mall Gazette
Geoffrey Wawro: The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France in 1870–1871. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-61743-7 .

Remarks

↑ The French professional army would have been ready for action faster than the Prussian conscription army. However, the Prussians came before the French attack.
↑ The VII. Corps gathered at Belfort , only one division was able to intervene in the battle at Wörth , the rest remained in Belfort as a garrison
↑ According to Engels in [1] , the French officers did not even have detailed maps of France, but the Prussians had such maps. This meant that the French were on the retreat in their own country without adequate local knowledge

[1] The French professional army would have been ready for action faster than the Prussian conscription army. However, the Prussians came before the French attack.

[2] The VII. Corps gathered at Belfort , only one division was able to intervene in the battle at Wörth , the rest remained in Belfort as a garrison

[3] According to Engels in [1] , the French officers did not even have detailed maps of France, but the Prussians had such maps. This meant that the French were on the retreat in their own country without adequate local knowledge