Battles near Rheinweiler and Hüningen (1793)
Battle near Rheinweiler: The French army (D; E; F) tries to cross over to Rheinweiler (K) and is prevented from doing so by the Austrian army (G; H; J)
| date | September 17, 1793 |
|---|---|
| place | Rheinweiler , Baden-Württemberg ; Hüningen , France |
| output | Austria's victory |
| consequences | The French army was not allowed to cross the Rhine |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
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| losses | |
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900 dead; 130 prisoners |
20 dead; 40 wounded |
The battles near Rheinweiler and Hüningen took place on September 17, 1793 near what is now the Rheinweiler part of the municipality of Bad Bellingen and the French fortress of Hüningen , about 15 kilometers to the southeast . A battalion of the 16th Infantry Regiment Ludwig von Terzy of the Imperial Habsburg Army prevented French troops from crossing the Rhine near Rheinweiler. Associations of the 27th Infantry Regiment Leopold Strassoldo prevented the Rhine crossing at Hüningen.
Starting position
The Holy Roman Empire had declared war on the newly founded French Republic on March 23, 1793 , after this declaration of war had already been decided in principle in November 1792. A French army under General Adam-Philippe de Custine had invaded the Reich, while Prussian and Austrian troops were fighting in northern France. The Austrian general Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser became commander-in-chief on the Upper Rhine and now attacked the French in Alsace. On the Upper Rhine he left an observation corps of about 20,000 men under Field Marshal Lieutenant Baron Joseph Staader von Adelsheim .
The French Army on the Rhine was commanded by General Charles Hyacinthe Leclerc de Landremont in the summer of 1793. This Rhine Army made several attempts to cross over to the right bank of the Rhine on the Upper Rhine, while it was the task of the Austrian observation corps to prevent this.
On September 8, 1793, a French council of war decided to attack the entire front line from Hüningen to Saarlouis for September 12. The Haut-Rhin division under the commanding officer, Brigadier General Etienne La Bruyère, who was only appointed on September 5, was to cross the Rhine between Hüningen and Breisach.
France had national convention the way for the on September 5, 1793 Terror of the Jacobins freed. The so-called security committees were also set up in Alsace and a wave of arrests began on September 14, 1793.
Bombardment of Kehl
From September 12th to 15th, the city and fortress of Kehl were shelled and heavily destroyed from Strasbourg . The fortress was cleared by the troops of the Swabian Empire and the Rhine bridge was set on fire.
Breisach bombing
On September 15, 1793, the French troops from Neuf-Brisach began to bombard the city of Breisach with heavy gunfire, which was countered by the Austrian occupation of Breisach. The artillery battle lasted until September 19th. However, with around 4800 projectiles, the French fire was ten times superior to the Austrian one. Breisach was largely destroyed, but the losses of the Austrian troops were small and the French could not force the crossing of the Rhine. However, it is believed that the bombardment was mainly intended to distract from the planned main attack near Rheinweiler.
Battles on September 17th
The French attack, which had already been planned for September 12, was delayed due to a lack of equipment. Ultimately, the decision was not made by the military, but by the members of the National Convention , Louis Guyardin, Jean-Baptiste Michaud and Jean-Baptiste Lacoste, who were sent to the army . The attempt to cross the Rhine near Hüningen was planned as a diversionary maneuver, as the main attack was to take place near Rheinweiler. In addition to regular troops and national guardsmen, farmers were also mobilized in Alsace. On September 15, 6,000 peasants armed with rifles, pikes and forks are said to have gathered near Hüningen.
Attempted crossing of the Rhine near Hüningen
On September 17th at 6 a.m., a bombardment began from the French fortress of Hüningen on the Austrian positions on the Schusterinsel and on the right bank of the Rhine. There followed an attempt to cross troops with four plateaus from the fortress. These large, flat boats were manned by 200 grenadiers each . The first boat failed in the gunfire of the crew of the Schusterinsel. Two other boats were badly damaged by Austrian artillery a little further downstream, so that a large number of soldiers drowned in the Rhine. The remainder were able to reach the German bank of the Rhine at Märkt , but were cut down or captured by Austrian units. The fourth boat was able to go ashore near the Austrian battery and attack it. The Austrian troops of the 27th Infantry Regiment Leopold Strassoldo under Colonel Woller repulsed the attack with a bayonet . The French Revolutionary Army lost about 500 men in the entire operation, while the Austrian losses were small.
Main attack near Rheinweiler
On September 17, 1793 at 6:30 a.m., the French army began bombarding the banks of the Rhine near Rheinweiler from the Alsatian village of Niffer in order to drive the Austrians out of their positions and prepare for the landing. Meanwhile 14 pontoon boats with 50 men each were brought into the water. A total of 16 battalions of infantry and a cavalry regiment near Rheinweiler were supposed to cross over to the German bank in order to attack the Breisgau in front of Austria. A company of the 16th Infantry Regiment Ludwig von Terzy under Lieutenant Stephanko had established itself in front of the French on one of the Rhine islands off the Rheinweiler and took the pontoon boats from there under effective gunfire. A second Austrian company arrived to provide support. The French allowed themselves to be aborted to Bellingen, but were pursued by the Austrians, who had meanwhile been reinforced by another company. The French boat crews surrendered after great losses at Bellingen, and only four of the boats were able to reach the left bank of the Rhine again. French troops lost about 400 dead and 100 prisoners.
There was an aftermath for the French officers. Members of the National Assembly who were present on site had them arrested and locked up in Hüningen. Despite acquittal by a military court, they were arrested again and so were the judges.
After the successful defense against the crossing of the Rhine, there were expressions of solidarity and food donations from communities in the margraviate of Baden-Durlach and Upper Austria to the Austrian troops.
The federal occupation of the border near Basel
On April 28, 1792, the Grand Council of the City of Basel promised the French General Custine that Basel would be strictly neutral. At the extraordinary federal conference from May 14th to 30th, 1792 in Frauenfeld , the Diet decided to fill the borders near Basel with a federal contingent of 1,300 men.
The city authorities were almost anxious not to give either party to the conflict any reason to doubt Basel's neutrality. A general ban on dancing and residence restrictions for non-residents should help avoid conflict situations between Germans and French in the city. The smashing of the Swiss Guard during the Tuileries storm in August 1793 led to anti-French emotions in Switzerland. The other Swiss regiments, which had previously been in French service and had now been abolished by France, withdrew to Switzerland and in some cases reinforced the border occupation forces near Basel.
While trying to cross the Rhine on September 17, 1792, while fleeing from the Austrians, about 150 French soldiers ran into Basel territory and were disarmed by the Swiss troops, but then released back to Hüningen. The Austrians protested because the French were able to save themselves via Basel, but Basel even secretly returned the rifles to the French.
Switzerland, and in particular Basel, suffered from the export ban imposed by the Swabian Empire and Upper Austria . This was supposed to prevent grain and other goods from reaching France via Switzerland. In Switzerland, this embargo triggered inflation.
literature
- Fritz Schülin: The imperial fiefdom Bamlach-Rheinweiler owned by the Lords of Rotberg (1417-1866) . In: Das Markgräflerland, Heft 1/2 1977, pp. 103–118 (especially p. 110)
- Memories of the French War in 1793 , Prague and Vienna, third volume, first issue, pp. 51–61 online in the Google book search
- Fridrich Pfaff: The bombardment of Breisach by the French from September 15 to 19, 1793. In: Alemannia , Volume 42 (1915), pp. 129–140 online at Commons
- Paul Beck: French barbarism in Altbreisach and the county of Falkenstein in 1793. In: Alemannia, Volume 31 (1903), pp. 149-151 online at Commons
- Jean Colin: Campagne de 1793 en Alsace et dans le Palatinat , Paris 1902, p. 256–342 online at gallica
- Arthur Chuquet: Les Guerres de la Révolution. VIII Wissembourg (1793) , Paris 1890, p. 134–142 online at gallica
- A. Coste: Notice historique et topographique sur la ville de Vieux Brisach , Mulhouse 1860, p. 287 online in the Google book search
- Karl Bronner: The passage of the imperial in 1791 and the neutrality of Basel during the first coalition war 1793-1799 , Basel 1903 online in the Internet Archive
- Fridrich Dinner: On the Federal Occupation of the Frontiers from 1792 to 1795 . In: Yearbook for Swiss History, Volume 12 (1887), doi : 10.5169 / seals-25728
Web links
- Freiburg newspaper of September 21, 1793 with the first report on the attempted Rhine crossings
- Freiburger Zeitung of September 25, 1793 report on food donations to the troops
- Freiburg newspaper of October 5, 1793 with the official report on the battles of September 17 at Hüningen and Rheinweiler
Individual evidence
- ↑ s. Gebler: From the 1793 campaign in Germany . In: Oestreichische military magazine, 4th volume, 11th issue, Vienna 1834, p. 131 online in the Google book search ; at Schülin, September 1st is incorrectly stated
- ↑ see entry Charles Hyacinthe Leclerc de Landremont in the French Wikipedia Charles Hyacinthe Leclerc de Landremont # Notes et références
- ↑ Landremont end of September through was Jean-Charles Pichegru replaced
- ^ L. Heinrich Engelhardt: Vaterländische Geschichte des Alsasse , 6th volume, Strasbourg 1851, p. 195 online in the Google book search and Colin p. 260
- ↑ s. Pfaff p. 131
- ↑ see French Wikipedia Louis Guyardin
- ↑ Jean-Baptiste Michaud
- ^ Justice of the Peace in Mauriac (Cantal)
- ↑ s. Karl Tschamber: History of the city and former fortress Hüningen , St. Ludwig 1894, p. 125; Colin, p. 289 reports on 30,000 farmers from Sundgau who were ready to cross the Rhine near Rheinweiler
- ↑ today to the district Friedlingen the city of Weil am Rhein duly
- ^ Andreas Graf Thürheim: Memorial sheets of the war history of the kk Austrian army . Volume I, Vienna and Teschen 1880, p. 95 online in the Internet Archive
- ↑ s. Chuquet p. 141
- ↑ Freiburg newspaper of September 25, 1793, report on food donations to the troops
- ↑ s. Bronner p. 44
- ↑ s. Anton Philipp von Segesser: Official collection of the older Confederate farewells. 8. The federal farewells from the period 1778 to 1798. Lucerne 1856, pp. 169–170
- ↑ s. Peter Ochs : History of the city and landscape of Basel. Basel 1822, Volume 8, p. 163 online in the Google book search
- ↑ s. Bronner pp. 96-97
Coordinates: 47 ° 42 ′ 39 ″ N , 7 ° 31 ′ 56 ″ E