Battle at Malters
The irregulars are repulsed in Lucerne
| date | 30.-31. March 1845 |
|---|---|
| place | Malters in the Canton of Lucerne , Switzerland |
| output | Victory of the Swiss Confederation |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
Defenders from the cantons of Lucerne, Bern, Solothurn, Aargau, Basel-Landschaft |
|
| Commander | |
| losses | |
|
28 dead, 30 wounded, approx. 450 prisoners |
|
The Battle of Malters was a military confrontation between the Swiss government forces and guerrillas during the Freischar trains (second Freischarenzug). It took place from 30 to 31 March 1845 at Malters in the canton of Lucerne ( Switzerland ).
prehistory
On the night of March 30th to March 31st, around 3,500 militants marched out from Zofingen and Huttwil to overthrow the government of the Lucerne canton capital . An initial meeting near Emmenbrücke with a detachment of government troops, who had been routed after a brief battle, initially went well for the militants . They marched on until just before Lucerne . Their commander-in-chief, Ulrich Ochsenbein , who had drafted the attack plan, hesitated, however, for various reasons to bombard the city. Moral concerns, the falling darkness and the exhausted state of his severely decimated crew kept Ochsenbein from doing so. Lucerne would probably have fallen into the hands of the irregulars quickly; the government and the commander of Lucerne, General Ludwig von Sonnenberg, already thought they were lost.
course
A shot accidentally fired during the night triggered a panic among the insecure and disordered free-crowd troops, which degenerated into a flight to the west without an armed confrontation. There was fighting at Littau and Malters . An artillery detachment passed through the latter village unmolested, but was captured by Entlebuch soldiers at the Rümlig Bridge. The government troops were alerted in the inns by the noisy passage of the fugitives and took them under heavy fire during the night. Another free squad was ambushed by the pursuing government troops. The 28 militants who fell in the battle in front of the Klösterli inn were buried in the cemetery in Malters, around 450, including 30 wounded, were taken prisoner. The Lucerne troops, which moved out early in the morning, only encountered small groups of irregulars.
consequences
The entire Second Freischarenzug killed 120 people, including over 100 militants, 1,785 were captured. More than 700 Lucerne citizens were sentenced to prison terms, while prisoners from other cantons were released for a large ransom. The disappointed losers also pursued negative propaganda with the argument of alleged mistreatment, which deepened the rift even more and thus actually left the conflict unsolved.
monument
A monument financed by the French abbot Guillaume Thomas François Raynal for 3,000 livres stands in Malters, which, however, was originally planned for the Rütli , which sparked a lot of discussion, as many people found it unsuitable for the “national meadow”. The upper part in the form of an obelisk was initially used as a fountain column in Lucerne. The free troop memorial stone was brought to Malters in 1886 and has been used since then to commemorate the fallen troopers.
