Battle in Gernsbach

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Battle in Gernsbach
Oil painting by Franz Seraph Stirnbrand, battle in Gernsbach
Oil painting by Franz Seraph Stirnbrand , battle in Gernsbach
date June 29, 1849
place Gernsbach
output Victory of the federal troops
Parties to the conflict

15,000 Palestinian irregulars under Colonel Ludwig Blenker, the "regular Baden Army ", national armed forces, gymnast and workers battalions, volunteers and adventurers

Flag of the Grand Duchy of Baden (1891–1918) .svg Grand Duchy of Baden 60,000 men consisting of Prussia with VII Army Corps and Neckar Corps as well as federal corps made up of Württemberg, Hessian, Nassau, Mecklenburg and Bavarian troops

Commander

Ludwig Blenker , Maximilian Dortu , Friedrich Engels , Karl Schurz

Wilhelm I. , Eduard von Peucker


Fighting in the course of the Baden Revolution of 1848/49

The battle in Gernsbach took place on June 29, 1849 during the Baden Revolution in Gernsbach . After the siege of the federal fortress of Rastatt from June 30 to July 23, 1849 by Karl von der Groeben and the battle near Waghäusel, it was the last battle of the Baden Revolution.

prehistory

When the Frankfurt parliament adopted constitution was of the larger states rejected and the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Refused the imperial crown, flared up again in 1849 riots. The reason for this was the mutiny in the Rastatt fortress on May 11, 1849. After that, a provisional government was formed in Offenburg, the Offenburg Assembly . As the highest authority in the district office Gernsbach which was Provisional Central Power for the Murgtal founded in Gernsbach. It included the mayor and the town council. They tried to maintain the existing peace and order with the provisional government. On the Schloss Eberstein , citizens and former officials to the population of the revolutionary thoughts dissuade gathered. The Grand Duke Leopold had fled to Germersheim or the Mainz fortress and called the federal troops for help, now a confrontation was looming.

The battle

The regular Baden Army, supported by 15,000 Palatinate irregulars under Colonel Blenker , people's armed forces, gymnast and workers battalions and volunteer adventurers from many countries, plus republican free troops around Friedrich Engels and Karl Schurz , saw themselves facing the massive threat of 60,000 men on the opposite side from Prussia with two army corps and federal corps from Württemberg, Hessian, Nassau, Mecklenburg and Bavarian troops, forced to constantly retreat and had to retreat behind the Murg to Gernsbach.

Most of the city's citizens fled to the surrounding forests. On the evening of June 26, 1849, the Palatinate freelance marched into the city, they were continuously strengthened by volunteers from the Murg Valley.

On June 29, around noon, the federal troops advanced over the neighboring Württemberg area to the east. The neutrality of King Wilhelm I of Württemberg was broken. At Loffenau they crossed the Baden border, but were unable to enter the city. They therefore pinned them from the north and south and finally crossed the Murg after the troops could not maintain the defense. With numerous losses and fires, the fighting dragged on into the evening and the city was occupied. Those who could fled and the helpers were also forced to do so, as the authorities now proceeded with harsh penalties. In the end, the Gernsbach family had no advantages, the revolutionaries had to be taken care of, then the federal troops plundered and the city suffered great damage, especially from the fires. 29 people died in the fighting, six of them citizens of the city.

Memorial stone to the battle in Gernsbach

Commemoration

In 1922 the city erected a memorial stone on the Protestant cemetery. The fallen of the federal troops were honored buried in the newly created Catholic cemetery; the tombstones still exist. There is a grave of irregulars near the Illert Chapel. The well tubes of the market square fountain are said to be made from gun barrels of the irregulars.

literature

  • Kurt Hochstuhl: the scene of the revolution in Baden. Gernsbach 1847–1849. Casimir Katz, Gernsbach 1997, ISBN 3-925825-68-1 .
  • Franz Kappler: Streiflichter from Gernsbach 1849. In: Landkreis Rastatt. Heimatbuch 1/1974, pp. 105–113

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Regina Kunitzki: Gernsbach in the Murgtal. Casimir Katz, Gernsbach 1985, ISBN 3-88640-025-5 , p. 47 ff.
  2. ↑ Regina Kunitzki, Gernsbach im Murgtal , p. 50

Coordinates: 48 ° 45 ′ 48 ″  N , 8 ° 20 ′ 3 ″  E