Battle of the Speyerbach

Battle of the Speyerbach

Part of: War of the Spanish Succession

Plan of the Allied and French camps on the Speyerbach near Neustadt, 1703

date	November 15, 1703
place	west of Speyer , Germany
output	French troops victory

Parties to the conflict
France	Imperial: Hessen-Kassel Electoral Palatinate
Commander
Camille d'Hostun de la Baume, duc de Tallard	Friedrich von Hessen-Kassel Johann Ernst von Nassau-Weilburg
Troop strength
18,000 men	16,000 Dutch (led by Friedrich von Hessen-Kassel), 5–6,000 Imperial troops under Johann Ernst von Nassau-Weilburg
losses
4,000 dead and wounded	Hessen-Kassel: 2500 dead and wounded Nassau-Weilburg: 4000 dead and wounded, 2000 prisoners, 23 guns

The Battle of the Speyerbach (French: La bataille de Spire ), or Battle of the Heiligenstein , took place on November 15, 1703 immediately southwest of Speyer as part of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). A French army under Camille d'Hostun de la Baume, duc de Tallard , who at the same time tried to recapture Landau for the French during the siege of Landau (October 13 to November 17, 1703) , defeated an imperial relief army of the Allies , whereupon the besieged fortress surrendered to the French.

prehistory

Ground plan of the siege facilities against Landau by the French troops under General Comte de Tallas, October 14 to November 16, 1703

The French had surprisingly enclosed the Landau fortress on October 17, 1703. On October 28, the Allies dispatched a Hessian-Dutch relief army under Johann Ernst von Nassau-Weilburg and Friedrich von Hessen-Kassel . This arrived in Speyer on November 13th and set up camp southwest of the city (south of the Speyer stream ) to wait for reinforcements. The next day we should continue towards Landau.

Tallard did not wait for the attack, however, but decided to counterattack. He ordered reinforcements from troops under Armand, Marquis de Pracontal, from Saarbrücken, who were to join him at Essingen .

The Allied troops did not expect this attack and their camp was not designed for defense. In addition, the entire leadership was on the day of the attack, November 15, 1703, at the celebrations for the emperor's name day in nearby Speyer.

Course of the battle

The French gathered at Essingen at 7 a.m. and marched towards Speyer, where they met the Allied troops at around 12 p.m. Without their leadership they reacted too slowly, and General Vehlen did not succeed in closing all the gaps. Tallard had 14 units attacked on the left wing, which managed to break through the gaps in the lines. In the meantime Johann Ernst von Nassau-Weilburg was able to intervene with his cavalry and destroy the French cavalry. Pracontal was killed. Instead of rallying again, Nassau-Weilburg pursued the French with his Hessian cavalry into terrain that was unsuitable for horses.

At around 2 p.m. the entire French army attacked. In the middle the Allies were able to hold the lines, but on the right wing the French succeeded and drove Vehlen's cavalry to flight. The French infantry attacked the Palatinate cavalry, which also fled. The French then trapped the middle and there was a slaughter. The remaining Allied troops withdrew north of the Speyerbach at 5 p.m.

consequences

In this battle Tallard achieved one of the greatest victories in the war. Landau fortress surrendered on the same day. This victory was only overshadowed by the crushing defeat of the French nine months later in the Second Battle of Höchstädt in 1704.

Tallard did not allow the vanquished to be pursued. His troops had about 4,000 dead and wounded. The defeated Imperial Relief Army suffered roughly the same amount of losses. In addition, the imperial army had a further 2,000 prisoner losses, including 149 officers. Among the dead were Major General Philipp von Hessen-Homburg and Colonel Friedrich Ludwig von Nassau-Weilburg (the son of the Commander-in-Chief).

The way to Speyer was relocated for the Electoral Palatinate body regiment, so that two of its battalions were taken prisoner. The Allied camp with 23 artillery pieces, 50 standards and flags, ammunition and luggage fell into the hands of the French.

literature

• Albert Kennel: The Battle of Speier on November 15, 1703 , Jäger Verlag, 1895.
• Ferdinand von Apell: The attempt to relieve Landau and the Battle of the Speyerbach on November 15, 1703 , Marburg 1906. Available as a digitized version at the Munich Digitization Center

Web links

• Battle of the Speyerbach (English)
• The Battle of Speyer

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.spanishsuccession.nl/speyerbach.html The loss information from Hessen-Kassel must be classified more precisely, as they are based on loss lists
2. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.