North Franconian Legion

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The Northern Franconian Legion (French: Légion des Francs du Nord ) was an army established by Napoleon Bonaparte in the new departments on the left bank of the Rhine at the end of 1799 . With a decree of December 16, 1799, Napoleon transferred command to the French General Rudolf Eickemeyer . The army was never to reach its nominal strength and was disbanded after a mass desertion in 1801.

Structure and locations

The nominal strength of the North Franconian Legion should be nominally 6,000 soldiers and consist of men from the departments on the left bank of the Rhine. It should consist of three battalions of light infantry , a regiment of hunters on horseback and a company of artillery . The recruitment remained relatively unsuccessful with 132 enlisted soldiers. The team stands were therefore filled with soldiers from different nations. The maximum strength of the North Franconian Legion was 1,800 men for a short time. The Legion's headquarters were in Aachen , Koblenz , Mainz and Walcheren .

State and resolution

Eickemeyer, who had a good reputation as a former Kurmainzer military and now general of the French Republic , had trouble getting a suitable officer corps for the Northern Franconian Legion. After 1,100 soldiers deserted from the peak of 1,800 shortly afterwards, there was another mass exodus on the island of Walcheren in 1801 . Eickemeyer was also accused of embezzlement and embezzlement. Although personally rehabilitated by the Minister of War, he was retired as the longest-serving colonel general in the French army and the Northern Franconian Legion was dissolved.

literature

Wikisource: Legion Nordfranken (France) (1799)  - Sources and full texts
  • Eckart Schneider-Reuter: Much reviled, but also admired. About Rudolf Eickemeyer (1753–1825). In: Mainz. Quarterly issues for culture, politics, economics, history . Issue 3, 4th year 1984. Verlag H. Schmidt Mainz, pp. 103-109, ISSN  0720-5945
  • Erich Hinkel: Rudolf Eickemeyer. Association of Heimatfreunde am Mittelrhein eV, publisher, Heimatbuch. Meine Heimat Landkreis Mainz-Bingen, Bingen, 1995, pp. 123–126; ( online as PDF document, 34 kB)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Memories of General Eickemeyer, Francfort-sur-le-Main, 1845