Battle near Winterthur
| date | May 27, 1799 |
|---|---|
| place | Winterthur |
| output | Retreat of the French |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 7,000 | 8,000 |
| losses | |
|
1,000 dead, injured or missing |
800 dead, injured or missing |
Ostrach - Feldkirch - Stockach I - Verona - Magnano - Cassano d'Adda - Frauenfeld - Winterthur - Zurich I - Trebbia - Mantua - Novi - Vlieter - Bergen - Zurich II - Muotatal - Egmont - Genola - Wiesloch - Genoa - Stockach II - Engen - Meßkirch - Biberach II - Montebello - Marengo - Höchstädt - Oberhausen - Hohenlinden - Walserfeld - Pozzolo - Copenhagen - Algeciras I - Algeciras II
In the battle near Winterthur on May 27, 1799, during the Second Coalition War against revolutionary France , Austrian troops defeated a French army near Winterthur in Switzerland . The skirmish was a prelude to the First Battle of Zurich .
When hostilities broke out again in March 1799, Lieutenant Field Marshal Friedrich von Hotze had received supreme command of the approximately 23,000-strong Austrian troops in Vorarlberg and Graubünden . There he found himself immediately involved in battles against French troops under General André Masséna , the commander of the “Swiss Army” appointed by the French Directory , in which he and his soldiers proved themselves. After initially defending Feldkirch in March, they recaptured the fortified Luziensteig on May 14, 1799 .
Hotze followed suit and, together with Archduke Karl (who did not intervene until the end of the battle), the commander in chief of the Austrian armies in southern Germany, northern Italy and Switzerland, took offensive action against Masséna. On May 27, they defeated part of the Masséna troops under the leadership of Michel Ney near Winterthur and forced him to withdraw to Zurich.
Only a few days later, on June 4-7, 1799, the two defeated Masséna again in the First Battle of Zurich. Masséna felt compelled to leave the city to the Austrians and to withdraw behind the Limmat .
literature
- Hillbrand, The battles near Feldkirch 1799 and the battle for Vorarlberg up to 1801, Military historical publication series No. 52, Vienna 1985