Battle of Biesingen

Battle of Biesingen

Part of: First Coalition War

date	November 17, 1793
place	Biesingen
output	Victory of Prussia

Parties to the conflict
France	Prussia
Commander
Lazare Hoche	Friedrich Adolf von Kalckreuth
losses
approx. 800 - 1,000 men	160 dead and many wounded

The battle of Biesingen was a military conflict in the context of the first revolutionary war . On November 17, 1793, the Prussians, led by General Friedrich Adolf von Kalckreuth , and the French, led by General Louis-Lazare Hoche , faced each other. The battle ended in a victory for the Prussians.

The battle

In the morning hours of November 17th, the French Moselle Army set out in three columns from their camp on the Saar to throw the Prussians out of their positions. While two of the columns marched on Tholey and St. Ingbert , the third, and at the same time the strongest, turned to Biesingen. Here the Prussian General Kalkreuth had taken up his position and put his troops up between Biesingen and Blieskastell . The battle was opened by heavy artillery fire from French cannons against the center of the Prussians on Hilscheider Höhe. At the same time, an 800-strong French detachment had crossed the Blies at Blieskastell in order to fall into the right flank of the Prussians. It was thanks to a patrol that this attempt at flanking failed. These held out until reinforcements arrived and forced the French to retreat. In an attempt to fall the Prussians on their left flank, General Lombard had advanced through the Hilscheider forest. After the first gunfire, the Prussians and their allies launched a bayonet attack. Lombard and some officers were taken prisoner. A third attack by the French followed on a hill near Wolfersheim . Here a 3,000-strong cavalry contingent penetrated the Prussian positions, and after two unsuccessful attacks, the third brought a temporary success, with the lines being broken and several cannons captured. But the success was short-lived. The Prussians had already formed in line and under the fire of the rifles and the mounted bayonets the French had to retreat again. A final attack on the right wing was also repulsed, and so the French had to withdraw that evening.

consequences

General Kalkreuth managed to stop the enemy that day with only 7,000 soldiers. Nevertheless, he was aware of his situation and withdrew to Homburg on the morning of November 18th. General Hoche took this as an opportunity to report his victory to the Directory in Paris on the 19th. In the days that followed, the Prussians withdrew to the defensive lines at Kaiserslautern .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Christian Karl August Ludwig von Massenbach: Memoirs on the history of the Prussian state under the governments of Friedrich Wilhelm II and Friedrich Wilhelm III . tape 1 . Verlag des Kunst- und Industrie-Comptoirs, Amsterdam 1809, p. 380 ff .
2. ↑ FJK Rothauscher: The soldier in the field. Examples from the war history of all armies (etc.) . Olomouc 1851, p. 143 .
3. ^ Franz Xaver Remling: The Rhine Palatinate in the Revolutionary Period from 1792 to 1798. A documented contribution to the patriotic history . tape 1 . A. Bregenzer's Buchhandlung, Speyer 1865, p. 407 ff .
4. ^ Ernest Cuneo D'Ornano: Les Guerres de la Revolution. Hoche . tape 1 . Paris 1887, p. 88 ff .

literature

• Christian Karl August Ludwig von Massenbach: Memoirs on the history of the Prussian state under the governments of Friedrich Wilhelm II and Friedrich Wilhelm III. Volume 1. Verlag des Kunst- und Industrie-Comptoirs, Amsterdam 1809.
• FJK Rothauscher: The soldier in the field. Examples from the war history of all armies (etc.), Olmütz 1851.
• Franz Xaver Remling: The Rhine Palatinate in the Revolutionary Period from 1792 to 1798. A documented contribution to the patriotic history. Volume 1. A. Bregenzer's Buchhandlung, Speyer 1865.
• Ernest Cuneo D'Ornano: Les Guerres de la Revolution. Hoche. Volume 1. Paris 1887.