Battle of Cremona (1702)
| date | February 1, 1702 |
|---|---|
| place | Cremona |
| output | draw |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
Great Alliance |
|
| Commander | |
| losses | |
|
around 500 dead |
approx. 1000 dead |
Carpi - Chiari - Cremona - Kaiserswerth - Luzzara - Cádiz - Friedlingen - Vigo - Schmidmühlen - Ekeren - Höchstädt (1703) - Gibraltar - Speyerbach - Schellenberg - Bonn - Höchstädt (1704) - Vélez-Málaga - Cassano - Barcelona (1705) - Sendlinger Murder Christmas - Calcinato - Ramillies - Turin - Castiglione - Almansa - Toulon - Lille - Oudenaarde - Malplaquet - Almenara - Saragossa - Brihuega - Villaviciosa - Denain - Rio de Janeiro - Barcelona
The Battle of Cremona (also a coup de la Cremona ) was a battle of the War of the Spanish Succession that took place on February 1, 1702 between France and imperial troops.
Five months after Prince Eugene of Savoy was able to repel the French troops in the Battle of Chiari in Lombardy , he advanced on an offensive westward with the army of the Roman-German Emperor Leopold I to Cremona on the River Po .
Eugen planned a coup d'état on Cremona with the help of a local priest who was supposed to let 400 imperial men into the city through a canal. These should then open the city gate on the Po for further troops under Charles Thomas de Lorraine-Vaudémont .
On February 1, 1702, Prince Eugene surprised the French garrison of Cremona under Marshal François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy, with his nightly attack . The city was conquered by the prince and the Duke of Villeroy captured. The imperial troops captured large numbers of the French, including senior officers. 1,000 soldiers were killed in the attack, many of them in their sleep.
But the plan was not quite as successful, because the troops under Vaudemont were held up by difficult terrain and reached Cremona later than planned. The Citadel of Cremona was held because an important bridge was blown up by the defenders and also thanks to the persistent defense of the Po Gate by the French Irish Brigade . As a French relief army approached Cremona, Eugen was forced to withdraw.