Battle of Kaiserslautern

Battle of Kaiserslautern

Part of: First Coalition War

date	November 28, 1793 to November 30, 1793
place	Kaiserslautern
output	Prussian victory

Parties to the conflict
France	Prussia
Commander
Lazare Hoche	Ferdinand of Braunschweig
Troop strength
29,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry altogether 32,000 men	35 infantry battalions, 54 cavalry squadrons, 80 guns, a total of 26,000 men
losses
2,400 men dead or wounded, 700 men captured	900 men dead, wounded or missing

The information on troop strength and losses can vary in the literature.

The Battle of Kaiserslautern , also known as the Battle of Morlautern , took place between November 28 and 30, 1793, during the first coalition war between the French revolutionary troops and the Allies under Prussian leadership. The battle ended with a Prussian victory, which had no major strategic consequences.

prehistory

After the defeat of the French on the Rhine in 1792 and in the spring of 1793, Lazare Hoche was appointed commander-in-chief of the French army on the Rhine and Moselle. Initially the Allies, especially the Austrians and Prussians, remained successful. Mainz was taken on July 23rd. The allies advanced towards the French border. General Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser had overcome the French positions of the lines near Wissembourg on October 13th and advanced on Strasbourg . However, disagreements arose among the Allies. While Wurmser was advancing further, the commander of the Prussian troops, Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, withdrew.

After the Duke of Brunswick had withdrawn from the Saar , the French troops under General Hoche advanced quickly. The duke withdrew to the Kaiserslautern area, where there were prepared defensive positions. Part of the Allied troops under the Prince of Hohenlohe were separated and posted in the area near Annweiler and Bergzabern to cover the blockade of Landau . Another department moved into a fortified camp near Bobenthal in order to maintain contact with General Wurmser's troops. Hoche was commissioned by the Welfare Committee to bring relief to the French troops in Landau and wanted to defeat the Prussian army under the Duke of Braunschweig in a decisive battle. At first he made the mistake of mistaking Hohenlohe's troops for the opposing main force, followed them and turned back after recognizing the error. He arrived at Ramstein on November 27th . The Duke of Braunschweig had meanwhile had to separate further units for other tasks. The main Allied army consisted of around 26,000 men. The French had 32,000 men. Other data speak of a ratio of 20,000 to 40,000 men.

In the north of Kaiserslautern there were two uncovered elevations - called Kaiserberg and Moorlauterberg. They formed the core of the battlefield. In between was the Moorlautener Grund. The elevations were bounded in the south and west by Lautertal and on the north side by the Otterbacher Grund. The slopes towards the Lauter river are quite steep and there was forest to the west. The Lauter river carried little water. The main position of the Prussians was on the Kaiserberg. The retracted right flank covered General Friedrich Adolf von Kalckreuth on the Moorlauterberg. There were some outposts on the gallows.

course

Lazare Hoche

Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel

On the 27th General Hoche had a division march on Kaiserslautern to attract the attention of the enemy. With the main army he tried to attack the Prussian troops in the rear via forest paths. The French drove out a Prussian outpost unit, which withdrew to the Galgenberg. The French then fired at the position on the gallows hill. The bombardment continued on the 28th. On the 29th the main French army advanced against Otterbach. General Kalckreuth's attempt to defend the Otterbacher Grund failed because Hoche had had heavy artillery stationed on a hill the day before. The Prussians had to retreat to the Moorlauterberg.

The Duke of Braunschweig learned from a report from Kalckreuth that the French were approaching from behind. He reinforced the troops on the Moorlauterberg and went there himself. Hoche opened fire from 29 guns. A division advanced in the Lautertal, a half-brigade advanced in the Erlenbacher Grund. The aim was to attack the opponent on both flanks. The division mentioned had climbed the Moorlauterberg unnoticed and formed on the edge of the forest and attacked Kalckreuth's left wing. Although the attack was unexpected, the Allies held out. The half-brigade also attacked from the Erlenbacher Grund and was driven back by the Prussians. The troops who had fled tried in vain to regroup. A square near Erlenbach was broken up by the opponents. As a result, all those involved withdrew to their previous positions. The artillery bombardment, which had ceased in the meantime, continued until nightfall.

Both sides received reinforcements that night. The Duke of Braunschweig moved further significant troops to the Moorlauterberg. As on the day before, Hoche attacked with a division primarily the Moorlauterberg. The enemy position on the Kaiserberg was only fired at with guns. A smaller troop advanced through the Erlengrund. The latter was defeated and driven back. Around noon Hoche ordered the retreat of the troops that had advanced against the Moorlauterberg to the Otterbachgrund. The retreat was covered by the artillery. However, they could not completely prevent the attack by the Allied cavalry.

When the battle at Moorlauterberg was largely over, two French divisions attacked the Allied positions on Galgenberg. This was apparently intended to cover the French withdrawal. The Duke of Braunschweig was deceived by this and also went to the Galgenberg with his troops. The battle there lasted until three in the afternoon. Then the French withdrew.

consequences

The battle of Kaiserslautern was a clear victory for the Allies, but had no immediate consequences, as the Allies refrained from pursuing the enemy and the army of Hoche remained intact. As a result, the Austrian General Wurmser was defeated and the Allies had to pull back. Hoche was able to advance again and was on December 3rd near Biesingen ( Blieskastel ). In 1794 battles took place again near Kaiserslautern.

In Morlautern , the “ battle tower ” has been a reminder of the events since the end of the 19th century .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gaston Bodart: Military-historical War Lexicon, (1618-1905). Vienna, 1908 p. 283 ( archive.org ).

literature

• Kaiserslautern (battle 1793) . In: Hanns Eggert Willibald von der Lühe (Ed.): Militair Conversations-Lexikon. Edited by several German officers . IV. Band: I, K and L . Wigand, Leipzig 1834, OCLC 258567028 , p. 126–129 ( reader.digitale-sammlungen.de ).
• Special supplement to the Wiener Zeitung. No.98, Saturday December 7th ( anno.onb.ac.at ) and No.99, Wednesday December 11th 1793. ( anno.onb.ac.at )
• Great General Staff, Department of War History (Ed.): Pirmasens and Kaiserslautern. A reminder of the year 1793 (=  individual writings on the history of war . Issue 16). Mittler, Berlin 1893, OCLC 71557278 .

Web links

• J. Rickard: Battle of Kaiserslautern, November 28–30, 1793. February 9, 2009 (English)