Battle of Gefrees

Battle of Gefrees

Part of: Fifth Coalition War

date	July 8, 1809
place	Gefrees , Germany
output	Austrian victory

Parties to the conflict
Austria black crowd	France Westphalia Saxony
Commander
Michael von Kienmayer Friedrich von Braunschweig	Andoche Junot Jérôme Bonaparte Johann von Thielmann
Troop strength
Entire campaign: 13,000 Austrians, 2,000 Braunschweig residents. At Gefrees: 6,000 Austrians	Entire campaign: 15,000 French 15,000 Westphalia 5,000 Saxons Near Gefrees: 7,500 French
losses
400 dead or wounded	2,000 dead or wounded

The Battle of Gefrees took place on July 8, 1809 during the Fifth Coalition War . An allied army of Austrians and Brunswicks under the command of General Michael von Kienmayer faced a French army under Marshal Andoche Junot . The battle ended with a victory for Austria, whose troops successfully avoided the encirclement by Junot and his Saxon and Westphalian allies under the command of Jérôme Bonaparte . After Jérome's troops were decisively defeated in the Battle of Hof , the Austrians took control of Saxony . This victory was useless because of the decisive Austrian defeat in the Battle of Wagram . Thereupon the Znojmo armistice was concluded, which then led to the Peace of Schönbrunn .

prehistory

When Austria declared war on April 9, 1809 France, was in North Bohemia an observation corps of 7,000 Austrians under Major-General at the end and about 1,500-strong volunteer corps under the command of Friedrich Wilhelm of Brunswick, the Black Duke, in the area around Terezin deployed.

Friedrich Wilhelm, who was recognized by Austria as an independent warring sovereign , invaded the Saxon Lausitz on May 14 , occupied Zittau and issued patriotic appeals to trigger a popular uprising in northern Germany. This resulted in a counter-attack by 1,900 Saxons under Colonel von Thielmann , who recaptured Zittau on May 28 and pursued the fleeing Friedrich Wilhelm across the Bohemian border. After confronting him in the end, Thielmann went back to Saxony.

After the battle of Aspern-Essling , Archduke Karl strengthened the corps to a strength of 10,000 men and ordered him to attack Saxony. On June 10th, the Austrians who had united with Friedrich Wilhelm marched into Saxony. One day later, a force of 9,000 Austrians under the command of at the end occupied the capital Dresden . On the night of June 12th, Tiedemann tried in vain to retake Dresden in a coup d' état and had to withdraw in the direction of Leipzig.

Meanwhile, another force under Paul Radivojevich had reached Bayreuth on June 14th and threatened to invade the Kingdom of Württemberg and to join forces with the troops of the Tyrolean uprising under Andreas Hofer . In view of the deteriorating situation in Saxony, Napoleon's brother Jérôme (who was also King of Westphalia) left Kassel on June 22nd with 15,000 men, including his elite guard division. On the same day, Austrian troops occupied Leipzig , but had to withdraw from Jérôme. On June 25, Jérôme pompously entered the city and the next day the Westphalians met for the first time with Austrians and Brunswick.

Arrival of Kienmayer and Junot

Michael von Kienmayer

Jérôme Bonaparte

At the end of June 1809, Marshal Junot arrived in Frankfurt am Main and took over the Elbe Corps, a hastily assembled army to secure the Confederation of the Rhine . He immediately marched north, and Radivojevich fell back further north, towards the end of the troops. On the other hand, Jérôme's troops pushed south after the reconquest of Dresden Am Endes. On June 3, the Austrian and Brunswick troops finally became the newly formed XI. Corps combined and placed under the command of General Michael von Kienmayer, who had arrived with reinforcements. On the same day, Jérôme left Dresden and pursued southwards. Kienmayer and his 15,000 men were now at the center of a Franco-Westphalian pincer movement.

The battle

Jérôme was only able to take up the chase slowly and therefore Kienmayer was able to move south unmolested and catch Junot. The Austrians were able to first stop the advance of Junot's Guard and then attack Junot's main army on July 8 at Gefrees . At Gefrees the Austrians had two regiments of border troops (about 5,300 men) and several hundred Landwehr militias . The Brunswick troops stayed in the north and secured the troops against Jérôme. You were not involved in the battle of Gefrees like this. Junot's French army consisted of two regular infantry regiments (about 6,000 men), a Bavarian supply battalion (about 1,000 men) and a dragoon regiment (about 500 men and horses). Junot's Elvish Corps consisted mainly of conscripts who, unlike the Austrian border guards, were poorly trained. Junot's cavalry was also unable to mount an effective attack, which meant that the Austrians could continue to fight in formation. This was especially important for the coordinated volleys of the infantry. So it came about that by the end of the day most of the French infantrymen had fled the battlefield. The Austrians had suffered only minor losses while the French losses were very high. This not only stopped Junot's persecution, he even had to withdraw to Amberg . Now that the southern pincer movement had stopped, Kienmayer turned his attention to Jérôme's troops, which were still slowly marching south. The Braunschweiger had meanwhile rejoined Kienmayer and together they met Jérôme's troops at court on July 11th. Still expecting an Austrian army to flee from Junot, Jérôme was instead faced with an outnumbered army whose morale had been boosted by the previous victory.

Jérôme, who quickly realized that defeat was imminent, ordered the general retreat to Schleiz and so the battle became more or less a retreat. Duke Friedrich Wilhelm and his Braunschweiger drove Jérôme on towards Erfurt and the Saxon western border. The Austrians took Dresden again, but when Jérôme arrived in Erfurt, the Austrian defeat in the Battle of Wagram and the resulting peace treaty of Znaim became known. The Austrians had to stop all their conquests and Jérôme and his Westphalian troops were able to escape safely to Kassel.

Review

Duke Friedrich Wilhelm had hoped with the help of Kienmayer and the Austrians to start an uprising against Napoleon in northern Germany. This was ruined by the peace of Znojmo. The Duke tried to start the uprising himself and moved towards the North Sea . In the weeks that followed, he continued to try to find supporters for the uprising, causing serious problems for Jérôme. The Duke even managed to retake Braunschweig at times . Jérôme then commissioned three generals to find Duke Friedrich Wilhelm's troops and smash them. The Braunschweiger managed to reach the coast and were evacuated from there to the Isle of Wight in August 1809 . The collecting ships had previously deposited troops on Walcheren Island.

literature

• Ch.G. Ernst at the end: Field Marshal Lieutenant Carl Friedrich at the end, especially his campaign in Saxony , Vienna 1878

Web links

• Biography of Freiherr von Kienmayer (with description of the battle)