Battle of Kuppenheim in 1796
| date | July 5, 1796 |
|---|---|
| place | Kuppenheim |
| output | French victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 39 battalions and 57 squadrons | 16 battalions and 50 squadrons |
First Coalition War (1792–1797)
Verdun - Thionville - Valmy - Lille - Mainz (1792) - Jemappes - Namur - Neerektiven - Mainz (1793) - Famars - Valenciennes (1793) - Arlon (1793) - Hondschoote - Meribel - Avesnes-le-Sec - Pirmasens - Toulon - Fontenay-le-Comte - Cholet - Lucon - Trouillas - Menin - Wattignies - Biesingen - Kaiserslautern (1793) - First Battle of Weissenburg (1793) - Second Battle of Weissenburg (1793) - Boulou - Tourcoing - Tournay - 13th Prairial - Fleurus - Vosges - Aldenhoven - San-Lorenzo de la Muga - Genoa - Hyeres - Handschuhsheim - Mainz (1795) - Loano - Montenotte - Millesimo - Dego - Mondovi - Lodi - Borghetto - Castiglione - Mantua - Siegburg - Altenkirchen - Wetzlar - Kircheib - Kehl - Kalteiche - Malsch - Neresheim - Deining - Amberg - Würzburg - Rovereto - Bassano - Limburg - Biberach I - Emmendingen - Schliengen - Arcole - Fall von Kehl - Rivoli (1797) - St. Vincent - Diersheim - Santa Cruz - Neuwied - Camperduin
The battle at Kuppenheim on July 5, 1796 was a military conflict between the French and Austrian armies during the course of the First Revolutionary War .
prehistory
The Rhine-Moselle Army under General Moreau had driven out all opposing troops after crossing the Rhine at Kehl on June 24th . At the end of June, Moreau was ready to continue the offensive towards the Danube with 60,000 men . Archduke Karl had forced General Jourdan to retreat quickly further north . Moreau now had to fear that the Archduke would advance with all his might and attack him together with the troops of the FZM Latour . It was therefore necessary to defeat Latour before the Archduke arrived and at least push him back beyond the Neckar . But Moreau had doubts and only decided 5 days later to march against Latour. This stood with 16 battalions and 50 squadrons between Rastatt and Kuppenheim , the small town of Gernsbach was occupied by 1 battalion and from the Rhine cordon he was expecting 10 battalions of reinforcement.
March
The Ferino division was left to watch General Fröhlich and Prince Condé on the Kinzig and Schutter , while the Duhesme division advanced to Freudenstadt . On the way, General Laroche captured Fort Kniebis on July 2nd and not only pushed back the remnants of the Swabian district troops expelled from Kehl, but also defeated General Hügel , who had marched to Freudenstadt to support them , and 21 cannons were captured. As a result of these events, the Duke of Württemberg began negotiations with the republic, which should soon lead to a peace treaty.
After the withdrawal of those troops, General Moreau remained 39 battalions and 57 squadrons with which he arrived on the afternoon of July 4th in the plain between Stollhofen and Steinbach . Latour's outpost fought back as far as the Murg . With the exception of the few battalions that Rastatt held, his infantry stood on the left bank of the Murg and had to be on the defensive in the event of an attack. The entire stretch between Gernsbach and Kuppenheim, where a strong attack was to be feared, was occupied by a single battalion.
Austrian planning
With the great superiority of infantry, the victory of the French should be inevitable. It was important for the Austrians to slow the advance of the French and, if possible, hold the position until evening, because the Archduke had already reached Karlsruhe with 24,000 men . Latour's attempts, however, did not seem capable of achieving this result.
French attack
Moreau gave the command of the whole attack to General Desaix , who had the Taponnier division march with 12 battalions and 5 squadrons via Baden-Baden to Gernsbach, where the attack took place at 5 o'clock in the morning. Only when this division had made progress in the Murg Valley should the remaining troops attack the front of the Austrian position, namely Delmas in Kuppenheim and Beaupuy in Rastatt. (It is unclear why Taponnier did not march immediately along the Murg towards Kuppenheim, because he only had 2 battalions against him; that would have forced Latour to retreat quickly. It seems that Taponnier suspected enemies everywhere in the mountains). The attack against Kuppenheim and Rastatt did not take place until noon. After 3 hours of fighting, the Austrians were forced to retreat behind the Murg, which they carried out without loss. The attempt to burn the Rastatt bridge was foiled by the pursuing French. The fight continued until dark, without the French succeeding in advancing further into the Rhine Valley, which the Austrian cavalry would have prevented by making several successful attacks. The losses were about the same on both sides. The Archduke was an eyewitness to the battle; his troops camped at Ettlingen that night .
On July 9, 1796, the battle of Malsch broke out .
literature
- Hanns Eggert Willibald von der Lühe: Militair-Conversations-Lexicon , Volume 4, p. 442f
- Ludwig von Cornaro: Strategic considerations on the campaign in Germany 1796 , p. 24ff