Battle near Korbach

Battle near Korbach

Part of: Seven Years War

Battle near Korbach (starting position)

date	July 10, 1760
place	Korbach
output	French victory

Parties to the conflict
Kingdom of France	Electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel Kingdom of Great Britain Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel
Commander
Maréchal de Broglie	Hereditary Prince Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand
Troop strength
7,000 to 12,000	15,000 to 20,000
losses
750 killed and wounded	824 dead, wounded and missing - 18 cannons

The battle near Korbach was an episode of the Seven Years' War . It took place on July 10, 1760 east of the Hessian city of Korbach . The commanders were on the French side of the Maréchal de France Victor-François de Broglie and on the side of the Allies General Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel . It ended with a victory for the French.

Starting position

The bulk of the French troops of the Duc de Broglie were in Frankenberg about 30 kilometers south of Korbach, while the troops of the Duke of Braunschweig were in Sachsenhausen , about 12 kilometers east of Korbach.

On July 4, de Broglie ordered the Comte de Saint-Germain , who at that time was with the "Armée du Bas-Rhin" in Dortmund , to Korbach to unite with the main French army.

When the Duke of Braunschweig found out about this maneuver on July 8, he commanded the Hereditary Prince Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel with the vanguard of his army (a mixed association, mainly consisting of British, Hanoverian and Hessians) with the intention of carrying out the project to prevent the French from going to Korbach. Duke Ferdinand later went to Sachsenhausen with the rest of his army, commanded by Lord Granby .

Korbach was occupied on July 9th by the troops of General Nicolas Luckner , commander of the Hanoverian light cavalry. On the same day, Général Clausen marched on Korbach to clear up the activities of the Allies, and met the Luckner Corps. Broglie then sent the Comte de Rooth with a brigade of infantry and the Marquis de Poyanne with the Régiment des carabiniers de Monsieur to support Clausen, for which the time until nightfall was no longer sufficient under normal circumstances. Broglie then ordered Saint-Germain to speed up the march. Clausen took a position in the forest north of Korbach, while de Broglie appeared at the head of six brigades of infantry. Karl von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, meanwhile united with the corps of General Georg Ludwig von Kielmansegg , appeared on the heights near Korbach around nine o'clock on the morning of July 10th, while the main army was still forming at Sachsenhausen. Believing that he was only dealing with the Corps of Saint-Germain, he decided to attack immediately, without waiting for the bulk of his army.

The battle

Saint-Germain stationed four battalions of infantry in Korbach, from which Luckner had since withdrawn. The rest of his corps of infantry, cavalry and artillery he set up in the east and north of Korbach near the forest of Berndorf . The fighting began at 9 a.m. and was opened by the light cavalry of both camps. Karl von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel put his troops in order and immediately began the artillery attack. The French left their right flank open in order to integrate the reinforcements from Frankenberg. Heavy artillery and rifle fire continued throughout the day. The Allies fired more and more on the hill in front of Korbach and the forest of Berndorf, but could not drive the French out. Shortly afterwards, the Royal Suédois and the Régiment de Castellas, among others, arrived as reinforcements . The regiment de Navarre and the regiment du Roi , which were also added, were commanded to the left wing, where the regiment d'Auvergne and the regiment d'Orléans were in reserve . An artillery position with 24 cannons was positioned opposite the enemy artillery. Now the French took the initiative. "Navarre" distinguished itself by capturing an enemy battery after a bayonet attack.

According to an official report from Lord Granby to Field Marshal Ligonier , the arrival of the French reinforcements on the battlefield convinced Prince Karl von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel of the need to withdraw.

This retreat degenerated into chaos after 3 p.m., and confusion spread to the German infantry and cavalry. The French redoubled their artillery efforts and launched an extensive cavalry attack. Thereupon Prince Karl von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel sat at the head of the two British cavalry regiments 1st King's Dragoon Guards and 2nd Queen's Dragoon Guards in order to counterattack the withdrawal of his own troops, but could not lose the 18 cannons on his left flank prevent.

Effects

Korbach was the first battle of the campaign of 1760. The Allies lost a total of 824 men:

7 officers, 8 NCOs and 163 men had died

18 officers, 21 NCOs and 428 men were wounded

2 officers, 2 NCOs and 175 men were missing

18 cannons, four mortars and 40 carts with ammunition were lost.

Karl von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel was slightly wounded in the shoulder.

The French lost a total of 750 men, with the regiments "Royal Suédois" and "du Roi" being hardest hit. This French victory at the beginning of the campaign enabled them to keep the upper hand in Germany despite several defeats against Karl von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel and Ferdinand von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel - for example in the battle near Emsdorf and the Battle of Warburg . After the tactical French victory in the Battle of Kampen Monastery , British hopes faded, despite their successes in North America, to end the war in the same year under favorable conditions.

Karl Christoph Gottlieb von Gagern (1743–1825) lost a leg here as an officer in the French regiment of foreigners "Royal Deuxponts" and, as a war disabled, became one of the highest court officials in the Duchy of Pfalz-Zweibrücken . He was the grandfather of Heinrich von Gagern (1799-1880), President of the Frankfurt National Assembly .

literature

• Antoine-Henri, baron de Jomini: Histoire critique et militaire des guerres de Frédéric II, comparées au système moderne. Avec un recueil des principes les plus importans de l'art de la guerre. 3 volumes. Librairie militaire J.-B. Petit, Brussels 1841. First edition: Magimel, Anselin et Pochard, Paris 1818 ( full text volume 1 on Google Books , full text volume 2 on Google Books, full text volume 3 on Google Books). New edition: Nabu Press, 2010 (Volume 1: ISBN 978-1-278-46174-8 , Volume 2: ISBN 978-1-277-68750-7 , Volume 3: ISBN 978-1-149-39655-1 ).
• MLRDB: Journal de la Campagne de MDCCLX. Frankfurt 1761. New edition: Wentworth, 2018, ISBN 978-0-270-18030-5 .
• Franz von Kausler: Atlas des plus mémorables batailles, combats et sièges des temps anciens, du moyen age et de l'age modern. Herder'schen Kunst- und Buchhandlung, Karlsruhe / Freiburg 1831 ( full text in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek ; full text in the Google book search; full text in the Internet Archive ).
• Charles-Pierre-Victor Pajol: Les guerres sous Louis XV. Volume 5: 1759-1760: Fin de la campagne. Firmin-Didot, Paris 1896 ( limited preview in Google book search). New edition: Adegi Graphics LLC, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-543-94431-3 .

Remarks

1. ↑ The map is not aligned to the north, Sachsenhausen is located east of Korbach.
2. ↑ ^{a b} different sources
3. ↑ Lower Rhine Army
4. ^ Franz von Kausler: Atlas des plus mémorables batailles. 1831, p. 798 ( full text in the Internet Archive ).
5. ^ The Manuscripts of His Grace, the Duke of Rutland. Volume II. Eyre and Spottiswoode, London 1889, p. 219 ( full text in the Internet Archive).
6. ^ Edmund Burke, John Davis: The Annual Register, Or, A View of the History, Politics, and Literature for the year 1760. F. and C. Rivington, London 1789, p. 21 ( full text in the Internet Archive).
7. ^ Antoine-Henri Jomini: Histoire critique et militaire des guerres de Frédéric II. Volume 1, 1841, p. 291 ( full text in the Internet Archive).
8. ↑ Jonathan Dull: The French Navy and the Seven Years War. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln 2005, ISBN 978-0-8032-1731-7 , pp. 180-181 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).