Battle of Parma

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Battle of Parma
Battle of Parma
Battle of Parma
date June 29, 1734
place Parma , Italy
output French-Sardinian victory
Parties to the conflict

France Kingdom 1792France France Sardinia
Flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1728-1802) .gif

Habsburg MonarchyHabsburg Monarchy Austria

Commander

France Kingdom 1792France François-Marie de Broglie François de Franquetot, duc de Coigny
France Kingdom 1792France

Habsburg MonarchyHabsburg Monarchy Claudius Florimund Mercy † Friedrich Ludwig von Württemberg-Winnental
Habsburg MonarchyHabsburg Monarchy

Troop strength
60,000 50,000
losses

4,000 killed and wounded

6,000 killed and wounded

The Battle of Parma in French, also known as the Battle of San Pietro or Battle of la Crocetta , took place on June 29, 1734 between the French-Sardinian allies on the one hand and the troops of the Archduchy of Austria (or Emperor Charles VI. ) In the run-up to fortified Parma instead of. The battle lasted all day and ended with the withdrawal of the Austrian troops , who had killed four generals and the Imperial Field Marshal Claudius Florimund Mercy .

This French victory did not have a final character, as both armies clashed again on September 19, 1734 in the Battle of Guastalla .

backgrounds

The French-Sardinian armed forces had seized all Austrian bases in northern Italy, as these were only very weakly occupied with troops. The only exception was the fortress of Mantua . The castle of Tortona fell last on February 3, 1734 , while the majority of the troops were already in their winter quarters.

At the beginning of spring the military operations shifted from the area north to south of the Po , because the Austrians went on the offensive again with the goal of Parma. Charles Emmanuel III tried with his army the area in favor of Charles III. , who was also Duke of Parma and Piacenza , to assert against the Austrian threat.

Commanders

The French troops were commanded by Maréchal de Villars , who died unexpectedly on June 17, 1734 at the age of 81. He was succeeded by the Marshals de Broglie and de Coigny . The Sardinian troops were led by King Charles Emanuel III. commanded. However, he had left his troops and had to go to Turin because his wife Polyxena von Hessen-Rotenburg (called Polissena) was seriously ill. During this period, command of the Sardinian contingent passed to the French marshals, on the premise that the fighting would not begin. When it came to that, Karl Emanuel III was. not present.

The Austrians were commanded by Claudius Florimund Mercy , assisted by Prince Friedrich Ludwig von Württemberg-Winnental . The two men harbored a heartfelt dislike for each other and made life difficult for each other wherever possible. This destructive antipathy ultimately led to disaster.

  • Claudius Florimund Mercy

  • Friedrich Ludwig von Württemberg-Winnental

  • François-Marie de Broglie

  • François de Franquetot, duc de Coigny

May 1734

Between May 1 and May 2, 1734, the Austrians crossed the Po near Portole and San Benedetto Po with the main contingent of their troops on two temporary bridges . The French troops, which were distributed along the river to prevent this crossing, were completely taken by surprise and withdrew in disarray. The Austrians were therefore able to occupy the area up to the Enza river (which flows into the Po near Brescello ) without resistance.

The French-Sardinian cavalry had cordoned off the area south of the Po at Sacca and rejected the Austrian vanguard at Colorno . The Austrians then swung south to arrive in the west of Parma (below today's Via Emilia Ovest) in the area where the battle was to take place less than two months later.

Wait two months

The Marshal de Mercy suffered a stroke during this time, which temporarily prevented him from seeing and speaking. He was therefore forced to hand over the command to the Prince of Württemberg at short notice.

During the illness of the Austrian commander-in-chief, the parties agreed to suspend activities as far as possible. In June, in addition to the change of command, there were also attacks on market towns and looting by the Austrians, which in turn provoked counter-attacks by the French-Sardinian troops.

The battle

At 3:00 a.m. on the morning of June 29th, the Franco-Sardinian army set out on the imperial troops. The infantry, composed of 52 companies of grenadiers, at the head of the Maréchal de Broglie, used the road from Colorno to Parma, the dragoons took the path on the right side of the infantry through the Cornocchio forest. Around 7:00 a.m. the infantry columns appeared under the walls of Parma, marched along them, turned on the way to the La Crocetta Inn and stopped there. When the infantry were complete, they took up battle formation on the road (Via Emilia Ovest) near the El Crocetto inn; three lines of French infantry and a fourth line of Sardinian infantry.

Count de Mercy's vanguard crossed the Taro , followed by the main force, which was approaching the battlefield on side roads. The imperial grenadiers of the vanguard appeared at 10 a.m. in front of the advanced French posts from four companies of grenadiers and opened fire on them. Thereupon the French withdrew to the main line of resistance, where they returned fire. Mercy now ordered the Prince of Württemberg to attack massively without hesitation.

The prince countered that he had to direct the troops first, whereupon Mercy impatiently attacked at the head of some of his cuirassiers himself. At 1 p.m., the French were in retreat when Marshal de Mercy was killed. There followed a great deal of confusion among the imperial ones, who suddenly found themselves exposed to counter attacks by the French and Sardinians.

Both sides were caught in a heavy fire that lasted nine hours and increased from the afternoon to around 7:00 p.m. Then it subsided and the fight ended around 9 p.m.

The artillery ceased fire and the Austrians began to retreat on the way to the southeast. Larger detachments were placed behind hedges, from where they acted as rearguard to cover the withdrawal of the main forces by means of interference fire until around 10 p.m. The wounded and dead were left on the battlefield. At midnight the battle was generally declared over.

The Austrians withdrew to what is now the province of Reggio Emilia , the Prince of Württemberg took up quarters in Montechiarugolo Castle , from where he wrote a report on the battle to the emperor.

The imperial ones lost 6,172 dead and wounded. In addition to Marshal de Mercy, four other generals were killed (including Albrecht Wolfgang von Brandenburg-Bayreuth ), five were wounded, two of which were taken prisoner and died in Parma. There were a large number of deserters presented in chains in the Allied camp.

The French lost 104 fallen officers and 452 officers were wounded. 1141 of the men had died and 2305 were wounded.

For the Piedmontese / Sardinians, a document in the royal library in Turin says that the troops of the line and the partisans had 324 wounded and 75 killed, of which 12 officers were killed and 41 were wounded.

Effects of the battle

The allies advanced as far as the Secchia River and occupied Guastalla , Reggio and Modena . On July 20, the Duke of Modena, Rinaldo d'Este , fled with his court to Bologna .

Troops involved

French infantry

French cavalry

Piedmontese infantry

  • 2 battalions of the Shoulembourg regiment
  • A battalion of the Tarentaise Regiment
  • A battalion of the Turin Regiment
  • A battalion of the Casal Regiment
  • 2 battalions of the Guard Regiment
  • 2 battalions of the Montferrat regiment
  • 2 battalions of the Savoie regiment
  • 2 battalions of the Saluces regiment
  • 2 battalions of the Fusiliers Regiment
  • 2 battalions of the Regiment des Portes
  • 2 battalions of the Rietman Regiment

Austrian infantry

Austrian cavalry

Contemporary plans to show the battle. However, they are designed differently and all have the same flaw that they are not aligned to the north - they are almost upside down and have to be turned by 180 ° to make them a reality!

  • Battaglia di Parma vinta dalle troupe piemontesi e francesi.png
  • Bataille de parme 4.png
  • Bataille de parme 3.png

literature

  • La battaglia di Parma Atti del Congresso Internazionale di Scienze Storiche, you Prof. Dott. Ludovico Oberziner (1906)
  • Parma Édition Quaderni Parmensi, de Gianfranco Stella (1988)
  • Parma e Vienna Édition Artegrafica Silva - Parma, de Adele Vittoria Marchi (1988)
  • La battaglia di San Pietro Edition Aurea Parma, de Giancarlo Gonizzi (2004)

Coordinates: 44 ° 48 ′ 23 "  N , 10 ° 17 ′ 53"  E