Battle at Airolo
Battle near Airolo (by Jakob Ziegler)
| date | November 17, 1847 |
|---|---|
| place | Airolo in the canton of Ticino |
| output | Victory of the Sonderbund |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Gene. JU from Salis-Soglio |
|
| Troop strength | |
| 3000 | |
| losses | |
|
3 killed |
4 killed |
The battle near Airolo on November 17, 1847 was an armed conflict between the federal troops and units of the Sonderbund during the Sonderbund War of 1847. It was the Sonderbund's only military victory in this war, but had no significant influence on the further course of the war. The skirmish ultimately led to a stalemate on the southern front; the special alliance tactical victory could not be used.
prehistory
Already on November 3rd, one day before the official execution decision of the daily statute , the enforcement of the dissolution of the Sonderbund decided in July, a group of 400 men of the Uri Landwehr and a division of artillerymen from Lucerne made an advance from the Urserental on the undefended Gotthard Pass , to this and to occupy the Leventina invade. The federal general Henri Dufour rejected an occupation of this symbolic passport before. This advance decided by the War Council as the first act of war, and on the part of the Sonderbund as a defense alliance, was strategically very important for its seven members, as it was the safe and only connection over the Furka Pass to the geographically isolated canton of Valais - and ultimately also the spatial proximity to the special alliance exclave , the canton Friborg - guaranteed, and conversely to separate the likewise isolated liberal canton Ticino from federal territory. In addition, a victory in Ticino would have opened up the supply routes from Lombardy, which was under Austrian rule, for necessary food and military equipment.
This first offensive was stopped after initial successes at Biasca , when an officer and a soldier from Uri were killed by Ticino defenders on November 4th . These two first deaths in the Sonderbund War occurred on this front.
This incident severely damaged the position of the Sonderbund as a defense alliance at home and abroad, especially with regard to a possible intervention by the (Catholic) neighboring countries in favor of the Sonderbund, which at that time was quite possible. Probably for this reason, General Johann Ulrich von Salis-Soglio spoke out against this offensive and the two that followed, contrary to the opinion of the council of war under Constantin Siegwart-Müller . On the same day, the federal execution decision was finally made, which basically was the unofficial declaration of war to the Sonderbund and thus the decision on civil war .
On November 11th, the Catholic newspaper announced that Austrian troops were on their way to the Ticino border. In the following time, the troops on the Gotthard, believing in this fact, were considerably reinforced in order to be able to carry out a further advance into the canton of Ticino. The objectives of the Sonderbund were basically the same as in the first major offensive action by the Sonderbund on November 12th in the Aargau Freiamt (→ Battle of Geltwil ): on the one hand, to bring about a political change in this likewise Catholic canton, especially after the war in the western region The isolated canton of Friborg had capitulated on November 14th under the impression of the marching, overpowering state army, on the other hand, in order to prevent or at least impair or slow down the expected action against the special alliance stronghold of Lucerne , as the strategy was designed to save time ; militarily mainly to separate the Swiss 6th Division stationed in Ticino under Colonel Giacomo Luvini from the units stationed in the canton of Graubünden under Eduard von Salis-Soglio , who incidentally was the brother of the commander-in-chief on the enemy side.
course
The third and last offensive of the Sonderbund in this comparatively bloodless war was triggered on November 17th, two weeks after the first in Ticino. The advance of the Uri, which was started in the morning from Hospental , was divided into three columns:
- The center under Lieutenant Colonel Karl Emanuel Müller was supposed to march directly against Airolo.
- The right wing under Major Jauch and Alois Müller was directed against the Ronca Valley.
- The left wing under Lieutenant Colonel Vinzenz Müller and Captain Huonder over the Sella to Madrano .
- In addition, the Valais should occupy the Bedretto Valley to secure a retreat .
There were small skirmishes between the Gotthardhöhe and Airolo, but the actual battle took place between Urners and Ticino people in the upper valley floor at around 1 p.m. An advance guard of the Sonderbund troops advanced in fog and snowstorms and, reinforced by the failure of the enemy security service, surprised an insufficiently trained and poorly organized Ticino brigade at lunch, a total of 3,000 men who were camped in Airolo. The sudden, rapid attack from all sides soon put them in great distress, as they did not have enough time to line up in battle; so it had to be defended improvised. The Ticinese were able to withstand the fight that followed for a certain time by rifle fire, but were partially dispersed and confused by the enemy artillery fire that now began. When a bayonet attack was carried out by the Uri under Captain Gysler with loud roaring attacks, the Ticino troops turned to flee and retreated down the valley to beyond Faido . The Ticino artillery, which could only fire three shots, could just be saved. The officers tried unsuccessfully to collect the refugees in the Stalvedro gorge below the village. Some Ticino snipers defended themselves well into the night, and also withdrew after the death of an officer named Anton Giovanni. Since the position was unfavorable and ultimately untenable for the main power of the Ticino, the 14-hour retreat took place until the next morning to the bridge over the Moësa via Arbedo to Bellinzona .
The people of Uri did not follow suit at first - for which they were later criticized in part - and stayed overnight in the Airolo area; the next morning they pushed their troops along with the artillery to Faido. The Ticino, on the other hand, posted an outpost of three companies of snipers near the place, while the main force secured the bridgehead on the Moësa. The canton of Ticino was put into a state of war on November 18, but there were no further fighting. The people of Uri advanced unmolested to Biasca, where they waited for the promised Valais troops, which would have been necessary for the planned attack on Bellinzona.
consequences
The Upper Leventina and the Bedretto Valley, which were occupied by troops from the Valais, remained the only territorial conquest of the Sonderbund in this war that kept them occupied, even if the occupation lasted only five days.
General Henri Dufour reacted to this action only with reinforcement from a brigade, which was formed from two reserve battalions standing near Uznach and transferred to Bellinzona via Chur and Misox . The reinforcements no longer reached the canton of Ticino, the fastest associations reached Mesocco . The action tied 2000 soldiers on the southern front; However, this was by no means sufficient to dissuade Dufour from his plan, which he had already started, to proceed next after the (almost) non-fighting surrender of Freiburg to the suburb of Lucerne, in order to end the war as quickly and bloodlessly in his view as possible; but also above all to forestall the feared foreign intervention mentioned above.
After the Uri and Valais troops received the unfavorable news from Lucerne on November 22nd, Emanuel Müller received the order to withdraw his troops in order to use them in the defense of Lucerne. The people of Uri withdrew with their booty and 17 prisoners of war who were then interned in Lucerne. To Uri's displeasure, the Valais also retreated over the Nufenen Pass to their home canton.
Web links
- The victorious struggle of the Confederates against Jesuitism and the Sonderbund: its connection and significance in the history of the development of the Swiss nation and its effect on political life abroad, including a complete description of the campaign of November 1847 (Google eBook)