Battle at Beaumont

Battle of Beaumont

Part of: Franco-German War

date	August 30, 1870
place	Buzancy (Ardennes) , Beaumont-en-Argonne , Villers-devant-Mouzon
output	German victory

Parties to the conflict
North German Confederation of Bavaria	France
Commander
Albert of Saxony G. v. Alvensleben Ludwig vd Tann	Patrice de Mac-Mahon Pierre de Failly
losses
3,400 dead and wounded	7,500 dead and wounded

The battle at Beaumont took place on August 30, 1870, in advance of the Battle of Sedan . Parts of the German 3rd and 4th Armies defeated parts of the French Châlons Army, which wanted to relieve the trapped Rhine Army , but now withdrew to Sedan and surrendered three days later.

prehistory

The German armies that invaded France after the border battles had enclosed the French Army on the Rhine under Bazaine and were moving on in the general direction of Paris. The French Châlons army, which had gathered near Châlons under Mac-Mahon, began marching to Reims on August 23, 1870, with the intention of going on via Montmédy and then along the Belgian border to the Rhine army enclosed near Metz .

The German 3rd Army under the Prussian Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm and the 4th Army (also known as the Maas Army ) under the Saxon Crown Prince Albert marched concentrically on Châlons for two days, as they suspected the enemy was still ahead of them in the direction of Paris. It was not until August 26 that both armies began to swing to the right and move in the direction of the Châlons army. Mac-Mahon had concentrated these between Vouziers and Chesne and set them up in a southerly direction for an attack on the German troops. The attack was then not carried out and the army marched off in a north-easterly direction, whereby the discipline began to dissolve.

In order to avoid being gripped by the German 3rd and 4th Armies, Mac-Mahon prepared a march to the northwest on Mézières . The war ministry forbade such a movement and ordered the further advance towards Metz. Since German troops had already reached the Maas as far as Stenay in the north, Mac-Mahon had to move further north to be able to reach Metz via Carignan . But only the left French wing reached the Meuse at Mouzon without a fight. Further south, German troops of the 4th Army were already west of the Meuse and met parts of the French Châlons army near Nouart .

course

Battle of Beaumont

General Pierre de Failly

Gustav von Alvensleben

On the night of August 29th to 30th, the 5th Corps of the Châlons Army under General de Failly rested at Beaumont-en-Argonne . This corps was very exhausted from long marches and pulled apart after a march over poor dirt roads and through forests. The soldiers used the camp facility at Beaumont to rest. The first French had reached the place around midnight, the last not until dawn. The French were here, without knowing it, between the IV Corps as the left wing of Prince Albert's Maas Army and the I. Bavarian Corps as the right wing of the Crown Prince's 3rd Army .

The Bavarians expected contact with the entire French army at this time and therefore carried out intensive reconnaissance with cavalry and light infantry. Two of these reconnaissance units spotted the French resting on the heights of Beaumont at noon on August 30, 1870. The French were busy getting food and many units were still asleep. Although there were indications from the population that the Prussians would come, no precautionary measures were taken.

At about the same time, the French were attacked by the Prussian IV Army Corps . While the French were still gathering for a counterattack, the first Bavarians from the 2nd Infantry Division formed and advanced. They had the great advantage of being able to attack downhill. Although the Bavarians had already made a long march of about 19 miles behind them that day, an attack was made immediately to take advantage of the opportunity.

Despite considerable losses due to the superior Chassepot rifle of the French, it was possible to advance the attack so quickly that the French fire could be undermined. Speed ​​and surprise were a big advantage for the Prussians and Bavaria. However, there was a large gap between the attacking Bavaria and Prussia, which could have been dangerous for the Germans in a counterattack, mainly because no reserves were available. Many French soldiers, however, were surprised in their sleep by the attack, and so the first soldiers began a wild flight in the direction of Mouzon . The French troops were only able to start a counterattack after a while, but this was rejected. On the German side, the entire artillery of the IV. Army Corps intervened, which in the further course of parts of the artillery of the Saxon XII. as well as the Bavarian Army Corps received support.

On the left wing of the battle, the Bavarian 1st Infantry Division under Lieutenant General von Stephan marched on Raucourt, while the Bavarian 2nd Infantry Division (General von Schumacher) was still attacking the 8th Infantry Division (Generalleutnant von Schöler ) Beaumont supported, which was stormed around 2 p.m. General von Alvensleben instructed his two divisions to advance further towards the town of Yoncq , the 8th Infantry Division was assigned the farmstead of La Harnoterie, the confused 7th Infantry Division (Lieutenant General Groß von Schwarzhoff ) gathered north of Beaumont on the Height 261. Under this pressure, the entire French corps had to retreat via Yoncq, because the attack by parts of the French VII. Corps (Division Conseil-Dumesnil ) on the Bavarian corps had been repulsed , which in turn pushed the French forces back north. The road to Mouzon climbs, and here the French officers succeeded in stopping the escape and placing both artillery and mitrailleuses in position, causing the pursuers considerable losses. The French suffered the greatest losses on this road, which was at times completely clogged by overturned cars. Here the huddled soldiers were exposed to artillery fire without protection. The 86th regiment from Brittany lost almost 600 men here. The 12th Cavalry Division ( Prinz zur Lippe ) standing on the east bank of the Meuse had also crossed the river near Pouilly to support the Saxon 24th Infantry Division (General von Nehrhoff ) in their advance on Letanne.

In the meantime, General de Failly had taken a rearguard position at the heights at Yoncq in order to regroup his troubled units on the heights of Mont de Brune and at Villemontry. Units of the Saxon XII. Corps were already advancing over Letanne to provide support. Fierce fighting developed over the suburbs of Mouzon and the heights of Villemontry, which lasted until dark and as a result of which the French troops were pushed back into the valley of the Meuse. In the evening the IV Army Corps camped in front of Mouzon, with the Saxons on the right on either side of the Meuse. The following Prussian guard corps , which was not involved in the battle, caught up to the south of Beaumont. Behind the 1st Bavarian Corps, the vanguard of the V Army Corps (General von Kirchbach ) had reached La Besace. On the far left, the XI. Army Corps (General von Gersdorff ) found Stonne already evacuated, camped there and with the Tete at La Verliere.

The French lost around 5,700 soldiers dead, wounded and around 1,800 prisoners within a short period of time. The losses of the German troops amounted to 3,400 men, most of them in the late afternoon. They captured 28 cannons, eight mitrailleuses, 60 fully loaded ammunition wagons and various other equipment. Prince Albert of Saxony, who visited the battlefield after the battle, had his dinner in General de Failly's tent, where all the delicacies intended for the general were still to be found.

Effects

As a result of the battle strong French forces had been inflicted a defeat, which prompted Mac-Mahon to give up the march on Metz and go back to Sedan . He hoped to be able to gather and supply the army in Sedan and then move on to Mézières .

As a result of the battle, Moltke ordered the V and XI. Corps to push between Sedan and the border with Belgium. At the same time, the Third Army now blocked the retreat in the direction of Paris or Mézieres. Another relief for the Germans was that the French cavalry did not try to slow the advance of the Germans, but vacated the field and was the first to retreat to Sedan, before the infantry.

In Sedan, the Châlons army was in a dangerous situation, as it had little room to maneuver between the rapidly advancing German armies and the Belgian border. Only two days after the battle at Beaumont, the Châlons army surrendered after the Battle of Sedan, with the French Emperor Napoleon III. was captured. After the III. Republic was proclaimed, the empire now finally collapsed.

literature

• Eduard Dennert: German unity struggles. In: Ders .: Dennerts Konversations-Lexikon. A people's universal encyclopedia as well as reference and instruction book for all cases and situations of daily life. 3rd edition, Verlag Oestergaard, Berlin 1910 (2 volumes).
• Theodor Fontane : The war against France 1870–1871. Rockstuhl Verlag , Bad Langensalza 2004 (reprint of the Berlin edition 1873/76).

1. The war against the empire. 2004,
2. The war against the republic. Vol. 1, 2004, ISBN 3-937135-25-1 .
3. The war against the republic. Vol. 2, 2004, ISBN 3-937135-26-X .

• Heinz Helmert , Hansjürgen Usczeck : Prussian-German Wars 1864–1871. Military history. Military publishing house of the GDR, Berlin 1988.
• Geoffrey Wawro: The Franco-Prussian War. The German Conquest of France in 1870–1871. CUP, Cambridge 2003, ISBN 0-521-58436-1 .

Web links

• Beaumont . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 2, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 577.