Battle of Beaune-la-Rolande

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Battle of Beaune-la-Rolande
Beaune-la-Rolande Beauquesne.jpg
date November 28, 1870
place Beaune-la-Rolande , Arrondissement Pithiviers , Loiret Department , France
output German victory
Parties to the conflict

North German ConfederationNorth German Confederation North German Confederation

Second empireSecond empire France

Commander

Konstantin von Voigts-Rhetz

Joseph Crouzat
Jean-Baptiste Billot

Troop strength
11,000 60,000 men
losses

850 dead and wounded

approx. 9,000 dead, wounded and prisoners

Battles and Sieges of the
Franco-German War (1870–1871)

The battle of Beaune-la-Rolande on November 28, 1870 was a battle of the Franco-German War . The German X. Army Corps defended itself against the attacks of the right wing of the French Loire Army and, after the arrival of further reinforcements, was able to repel the enemy despite multiple superiority in number of troops.

prehistory

The right wing of the Loire Army (XX. And XVIII. Corps) had 60,000 men and 138 artillery pieces and was commissioned to relieve the siege of Paris . Here, however, it had to be taken into account that a large number of these soldiers had only recently been drafted and had only received brief training. The Loire Army, like all the other large new formations set up after Sedan, suffered from a lack of experienced soldiers, especially in the field of officers and non-commissioned officers.

The Germans were informed of the French deployment through the battles at Ladon and Maizières on November 24th. The X. Army Corps under General Voigts-Rhetz then holed up in a five-kilometer-wide position near Beaune-la-Rolande . In particular, the city itself was prepared for defense as far as possible. The further arrangement of the wings was based on the city.

Deployment and battle

Konstantin Bernhard von Voigts-Rhetz

The French attacks began in the morning by the XX. Corps under General Joseph Crouzat . However, not all units of the Loire Army were deployed immediately, especially the units of the XVIII. Corps under General Jean-Baptiste Billot and a division of the XV. Corps intervened in the fighting some time later. General Crouzat planned with his XX. Corps Beaune to include from the west and south, at the same time the XVIII. Push the corps towards the east side of the town via Juranville.

The small town of Beaune-la-Rolande, which was to become the focal point of the battle, was defended by the 38th Infantry Brigade under Major General von Wedell , even after the town was set on fire by the enemy artillery during the fighting . The attacked German X. Corps (Westphalia, Hanoverian and Oldenburg) could only use three brigades with 11,000 men and 70 guns in the following defensive battle .

On the left wing General Crouzat had the 2nd Division of the XX. Corps against Beaune, 1st Division against Batilly. The advance guard met the outposts ( Infantry Regiment No. 57 under Colonel von Cranach ) of the 38th Infantry Brigade between Batilly, Orme and Foucerive at around 9 a.m. , while Infantry Regiment No. 16 (Colonel von Brixen) was in Beaune entrenched. In addition to the 38th Infantry Brigade, the 39th Infantry Brigade was particularly active between Juranville and Lorcy . Despite the superior strength of the enemy, the X. Corps managed to hold its own because the French did not develop their entire force at the same time. At around 12.30 p.m., the 39th Infantry Brigade under Major General von Woyna had to give up its position on the railway embankment at Corbeilles. The Westphalian Infantry Regiment. 56 (Colonel of block ) succeeded after several counter-attacks of Marcilly ago to expel the French Brigade Robert shortly from Juranville. After the French XVIII. Corps fully intervened, Juranville and Corbeilles were lost again and the 39th Infantry Brigade had to retreat to the Vernouille - Long Cour line, while the double 38th Infantry Brigade still held out in Beaune. Around 2 p.m., the village of Les Cotelles fell after repeated attacks, with 50 prisoners falling into French hands. The 38th Infantry Brigade was after the intervention of the 3rd Division of the French XX. Corps pushed back from the Bois de la Leu to the crossroads northwest of Beaune. French artillery also began to operate from the north via La Pierre Percee. When the French 2nd Division climbed the heights of Les Roches from the east, the two battalions of the 57s threatened there had to go back to La Nue Boynes.

The report of the loss of Beaune had already arrived at the headquarters of the X Army Corps. The chief of staff at Caprivi succeeded in convincing the commanding general to delay the necessary withdrawal order. The lieutenant colonel von Waldersee , detached from the highest headquarters , received instructions to go to the nearby III. Ride Army Corps to accelerate its approach from Pithiviers . In Beaune, 1,500 defenders were almost completely isolated, but their commanders hoped to be relieved soon. The main focus of this struggle was the churchyard, where Captain Feige and four companies of the 16th and 57th Regiments blocked the French from advancing further.

The 19th Division of the X. Army Corps was already completely exhausted by 4 p.m., the remaining ammunition was almost used up when the III. Army Corps under General von Alvensleben intervened in support. The Prussian 1st Cavalry Division ( von Hartmann ) and four battalions of the 5th Infantry Division ( von Stülpnagel ) intervened in the battle. Soon 66 guns were concentrated against the French left wing. In vain did General Crouzat let a brigade take a hook position to the left to secure the flank. The 9th Infantry Brigade (Major General von Conta ) of the 5th Infantry Division went there against an express order against the French positions. A breakthrough of the advance guard of the Brandenburg Infantry Regiment No. 52 (Colonel von Wulffen ) was no longer possible despite these reinforcements, so that the fighting dragged on until nightfall.

Since the French made no further progress in the other sections and were even pushed back in some areas, General Crouzat ordered a retreat into the forest of Orléans. The recently established units of the XX. and XVIII. Corps had become very confused in the fighting. On the mere assumption that the Prussians might soon be defeated, he did not want to risk his units. The Prussians immediately went into pursuit and were able to achieve further successes.

Although the fight lasted more than ten hours, the other French units in the Artenay area, about 25 km away , remained inactive and thus enabled the Prussians to beat the numerically far superior French one after the other.

consequences

The planned advance on Paris was no longer possible after this battle. The French had hit the right flank and could no longer be used until the new collection. Instead, Prussian units were located there, the strength of which the army command had no precise information. Since this threat had to be removed, the Loire Army made a right turn towards Pithiviers . From this movement the battle of Loigny and Poupry developed on December 2nd .

Here, too, the Germans remained successful. These received constant reinforcements from the troops that had become free at Metz after October 23, 1870 .

losses

There is different information about the amount of losses depending on the source. The German losses are given quite consistently with about 38 officers and 817 to 858 men dead and wounded. Meyers Lexikon puts the loss of the French at 1,300 dead and wounded and 1,800 prisoners. Other sources give here up to 8,000 men (plus 1,000 prisoners). The young French painter Frédéric Bazille was among the dead .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ There were three rounds left per man.
  2. ↑ preussenweb.de speaks of about 4,000 man losses among the French
  3. ↑ Goeffrey Wawro: The Franco-Prussian War. The German conquest of France in 1870–1871. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2005, ISBN 978-0-521-58436-4 , p. 274.