Battle of Rheinfelden

Battle of Rheinfelden

Part of: Swedish-French War, Thirty Years War

Bird's eye view of the battle near Rheinfelden. Engraving by Matthäus Merian , published in Theatrum Europaeum in 1670

date	February 28 and March 3, 1638
place	Rheinfelden , Switzerland / Rheinfelden (Baden)
output	Victory of the Swedish Protestant Army

Parties to the conflict
France , Sweden , Protestants	Imperial troops , Catholics
Commander
Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar	Federigo Savelli Johann von Werth
Troop strength
3,900	6,000
losses
about 120 dead and wounded	around 800 to 900 dead and wounded, 3,000 prisoners

As Battle of Rheinfelden two military conflicts during the will Thirty Years' War , made up, in four days near the time the southern Breisgau associated Imperial City Rheinfelden have happened. Troops of Duke Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar , who was fighting for the Protestant side , encountered Imperial Bavarian mercenaries who hurried to the aid of the besieged city. The fortunes of war alternated between the two battles, but finally on March 3, 1638 the Protestant side triumphed.

Situation before the battle

With the declaration of war by France on the Habsburg Emperor in the Thirty Years' War in 1635 the phase of the Swedish-French war began. The war had become a political-strategic war of conquest and the originally important religious factor was no longer important. Not only Protestants and Catholics met each other, but Catholic France, which fought internally against the Huguenots , fought externally on the side of German and Swedish Protestants against Catholic Spain and against the troops of the Catholic Habsburg Emperor, while almost all Protestant princes and cities in the Peace Treaty of Prague had broken their alliance with the Swedes and made peace with the Emperor.

Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar

The as a result of its heavy defeat in the Battle of Nördlingen from his Duchy of Franconia displaced Bernard of Saxe-Weimar had in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in October 1635 by France for the continuation of war by a Swedish-German army Subsidiengelder get . According to the wishes of the French Cardinal Richelieu , he moved with the army to Burgundy , where General Federigo Savelli commanded an imperial army. Bernhard's army - the so-called Weimaraner - occupied several places and on June 24, between Gray and Besançon, inflicted a defeat on the army of Duke Charles of Lorraine , who was allied with the Emperor. Bernhard then moved with his army via Mömpelgard through the Sundgau , crossed the Rhine to the right bank at Rheinau on July 27 and hid himself on the local river island near the village of Wittenweier .

Here it came to an armed conflict with an imperial Bavarian army under Johann von Werth , who had moved to the Upper Rhine after conquering the Kurtrier fortress Hermannstein , where he faced the army of Bernhard. He successfully fended off his attacks on the Wittenweier ski jumps in August and September. Bernhard's army suffered considerable losses and withdrew to the winter quarters in Mömpelgard. The Weimaraner army had shrunk to less than 4,000 men and Bernhard was disappointed by the lack of French support through the allocation of mercenaries. The worries were mixed with joy about the collaboration with the Hohentwiel Fortress , located as an exclave in Upper Austria . The local commander Konrad Widerholt had placed himself under the command of Bernhard von Sachsen Weimar and stood bravely, but also willfully, on behalf of his sovereign Duke Eberhard III, who was in exile in Strasbourg . of Württemberg , the Hohentwiel as the last Protestant bastion in Württemberg.

At Christmas 1637 Bernhard received the promise from Manassès de Pas, Marquis de Feuquières , the envoy of Cardinal Richelieu , that French reinforcements for his army were to be expected. Bernhard planned a new campaign and strengthened his troops with good food so that he could start his campaign very early in 1638. He initially aimed at gaining ground on the Upper Rhine before he wanted to turn to the immensely important Breisach fortress on the Rhine of the Reich . The contractually guaranteed rule over the Landgraviate of Alsace may have played a role in this. He wanted to conquer this area for himself from the possession of the Habsburgs in Upper Austria.

Course of the battle

Siege of Rheinfelden

Campaign of Bernhard von Weimar at the beginning of 1638

On January 18th ^jul. / January 28, 1638 ^greg. Bernhard set out with an advance detachment of 1,000 men and 1,000 horses to take possession of the forest towns . Bernhard bypassed imperial positions in Alsace and in Burgundy. 19 ^jul. / January 29th ^greg. he put 500 musketeers and 500 horses between Stein and Säckingen by ferry across the river and on the same day took the town of Säckingen and the "Kloster Picken" (the German Knights Coming Beuggen ). Then the divided troop marched on both sides of the river to Laufenburg . The city fell on July 20th ^. / January 30th ^greg. to the Swedish Protestant army, because it had only a weak defense with only 60 men. To protect the strategically advantageous Rhine bridge there, Bernard stationed 100 musketeers in the city.

Then two colonels received the order to move on immediately with their units to block the city and fortress Rheinfelden on both sides of the Rhine. On ^jul. / January 31st ^greg. Another colonel followed with part of the troops on the Black Forest side, Bernhard himself marched with the other part on the Fricktal side down the Rhine to Rheinfelden. The city was well fortified and was defended by 480 men under Colonel Sergeant Röckel. Bernhard then had the rest of his people move up from the winter quarters. On January 23rd, this part of the army from the diocese of Basel set out to siege Rheinfeld, the most important of the forest towns. Meanwhile the advance troops took the town of Waldshut .

On January 26th, ^Jul. / 5th February ^greg. Bernhard began with the siege and fighting against the defenders of Rheinfeld. On January 31, ^Jul. / February 10th ^greg. he attacked the towers and flanks of the city. The city commandant was worried because he was running out of ammunition. He sent a messenger to Breisach Fortress with a request for more supplies. The man fell into enemy hands and was on July 2nd ^. / February 12th ^greg. February hanged in front of a gate in Rheinfelden. Both on 5 ^jul. / February 15, ^Greg. as on 6 ^jul. / February 16, ^Greg. February the city was heavily shelled by the besiegers. They succeeded in laying a mine under the outer works and igniting it. Through the breach , the Swedes entered the defensive ring. Many of them were shot down or severely bruised by throwing stones . On ^jul. / 23 February ^greg. The cannonade tore a large hole in a tower and the attackers managed to place a second mine at the kennel .

After it was ignited, a corridor was built up to this tower, through which the Protestant army wanted to penetrate the city. However, the defenders managed to control individual sections of the corridor. They threw explosives and stones at the intruders. The townspeople set fire to the tower. Due to the heat it was no longer usable and unsuitable as an outpost for the attackers. The Swedes left on July 18th ^. / February 28th ^greg. February to open another breach by shelling the tower on the left and they also managed to bring the tower to collapse. Because of the two weak points in the defensive ring, the besiegers now hoped that the city would soon declare itself ready to surrender. Then things took an unplanned turn.

In the days before that, an imperial Bavarian army had gathered in Villingen and, after a four-day day and night march, was on the morning of July 18th ^. / February 28th ^greg. February reached the vicinity of the theater of war unnoticed.

First armed forces on February 28th

The Imperialists were startled by Bernhard's successes on the Upper Rhine. Under no circumstances did they want to lose Rheinfelden and advanced with troops to relieve the beleaguered city. The corps of the Imperial Feldzeugmeister Federigo Savelli was reinforced by the men of the equestrian general Johann von Werth, who was in Bavarian service, and men of Adrian Graf von Enkevort . They attacked the Swedish Protestant opponent with superior power on July 18th ^. / February 28th ^greg. , a Sunday. They initially kept their dragoons hidden in the hedges and only let the infantry carry out a half-hour skirmish .

Johann von Werth

In the battle they met:

On the imperial-catholic side:

• 3 regiments of cuirassiers
• 8 squadrons and 5 arquebusier regiments
• 10 squadrons of the Bavarian troops
• 2 companies of Croatians
• 1 regiment of dragoons
• 4 regiments on foot

On the Swedish Protestant side:

• 6 regiments on horseback
• 12 squadrons
• 400 musketeers
• 1 squadron of Colonel Bodendorff

The right wing of Bernhard's troops commanded General Georg Christoph von Taupadel , who prevailed against the left wing of the imperial, commanded by Johann von Werth. Werth's men let themselves be dispersed and fled, followed far behind by Swedish Protestant units. The opposite was the situation on the other wing. Here the units led by Savelli and Major General Klaus Dietrich von Sperreuter were able to cause confusion in the ranks of the enemy and drive some of them to Beuggen Castle, where musketeers took them under fire. Because there were a few cuirassiers in the ranks of the Imperialists, the infantry on Bernhard's left wing made little headway. The advance of the right wing separated the square and the ranks of Bernhard. While advancing, the attackers captured the regimental guns. The imperial rulers encountered the enemy entourage through the resulting gaps and began to plunder the wagons with supplies, but were immediately stopped by their colonels by orders in this activity. Bernhard was able to use this mess to restore order and launch an attack with his people. During this phase Bernhard and his General Taupadel were captured by the enemy. But because their guards paid more attention to not neglecting the looting, they both managed to escape.

The imperial army initially had to retreat, but supported by a failure of the garrison in the city, they managed to defeat the Protestant opponent. Further attacks were parried by the imperial and several prisoners, including the Duke of Rohan, were taken as they rushed forward. Duc Henri II. De Rohan , who had fallen out of favor at the French court and who had joined Bernhard as an advisor, suffered an injury in this battle from which he died on April 13th in Königsfelden after an initially positive recovery process . Furthermore, Bernhard was taken on the battlefield with the death of Major General Johann Philipp , Wild and Rheingraf from the Salm family in the Salm-Kyrburg line , another important support in his army. His Swiss chief of staff, Johann Ludwig von Erlach , got into enemy custody with other people.

The fighting in this battle lasted all day until dark. Only then did the troops gather. For a long time, the fortunes of war were evenly distributed in this meeting, but because of their larger number of soldiers, the Imperialists had more advantages in the end and could consider themselves victorious. They camped in the city of Rheinfelden that night. The imperial did not pursue the withdrawing army of Bernhard. Believing that he had achieved a total victory, Savelli, against the advice of Werths, subsequently allowed the troops to organize better food in the towns in the greater area. Rheinfelden was supplied with the necessary supplies.

Bernhard and his army made the night return to Laufenburg. The Swedish Protestant units on the other side of the Rhine had shelled the city of Rheinfelden during the day, but ended the siege at the end of the day. The artillery also moved on the other side of the Rhine in the evening. On the way to Laufenburg on Monday, February 19th, Bernhard took ^July. / March 1st ^greg. , the enemy-occupied " Rothenhaus Castle " located on a hill between Säckingen and Laufenburg , where he took 150 prisoners. Possibly Rothaus near Murg is meant here. In the evening, the units marched back on both sides of the Rhine united in Laufenburg. The very next day, February 20th ^July. / March 2nd ^greg. , Bernhard and his troops left again at around 2:00 p.m. He sent General Taupadel with his cavalry on an approach through the Wehratal in the Black Forest. He himself moved with the rest of the army - foot soldiers, cannons and regiments on horseback - towards Säckingen and camped near Oberschwörstadt . On February 21, ^Jul. / March 3rd ^greg. he reunited with Taupadel's cavalry at Beuggen at 7:00 am.

Second armed forces on March 3rd

Formation of troops on February 21st, ^July / March 3, 1638 ^greg.

Bernhard got close to his opponents unnoticed. They thought he was on the retreat and were of the opinion that they had achieved a brilliant victory. Duke Savelli sent such a message to Emperor Ferdinand III. Some of the imperial officials were on their way to Breisach to get cannons from there, with which they wanted to bombard Laufenburg, the alleged camp of Bernhard. When the news came that the Swedish Protestant force was already nearby, the forces available were hurriedly deployed for the battle. A part of the infantry was hidden next to Rheinfelden in the bushes on the banks of the Rhine, another part was placed in a trench in front of the battlefield. A regiment was placed in the forest near the village of Nollingen . The other forces awaited the enemy behind the trench, the cavalry was placed next to or behind the infantry.

Bernhard and his men advanced straight to the battlefield behind the trench, he commanded the left wing, Taupadel again the right wing, but after the enemy line-up became visible, he was ordered to stay stronger to the left. The battle began with the bloody expulsion of the musketeers positioned in the bushes on the Rhine by a combat unit of the Weimaraner Army. It was also possible to take back the regimental cannons that were lost on Sunday. Bernhard had cannons fired three times at the ranks of the Imperialists and with such skill that the artillery could be constantly pushed forward, at the end of the day until the enemy infantry were within reach of the pistol. The effect of the volleys in the ranks of the enemy was bad.

After the third cannon salvo, the colonels received the order to attack with the foot troops across the ditch, Taupadel and his riders were to take out the opposing regiment lying in the forest at the same time. In Bernhard's ranks, Colonel Bodendorff and two Rittmeister died in the first attack when they tried to cross the trench. During their attack, the foot troops were exposed to a sharp volley of infantry and fire from the imperial musketeers lying in the trench. Afterwards they nevertheless managed with great bravery to penetrate the ranks of the enemy, who were wavering. When some imperial rifles began to be thrown away and their cavalry saw this, many imperial horsemen fled and did not rush into the fray.

Johann von Werth and his regiment in the forest had held out the longest in this battle. When his people had decided to go through, Taupadel and a squadron blocked the escape route for them. The whole regiment had to be captured. In addition to Johann von Werth, Duke Savelli, Major General Adrian Graf von Enkevort and Claus Dietrich von Sperreuth as well as the officers' corps with the exception of Lieutenant Wilhelm Graf von Lamboy were there . Most of the riders who were about to flee and all the infantry were also captured. The imperial soldiers stationed near Rheinfelden, when they became aware of the defeat of their army, fought on the federal side to Breisach and got to safety. They managed to collect 400 horses.

The returned Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar had completely defeated the carefree military leader Savelli that day. The commanders Savelli and Johann von Werth reacted to his attack with unfortunate actions. Half of the imperial troops, including the dragoon leader John Henderson , fled, the other half surrendered. The Swedish Protestant army took 3,000 prisoners. Bernhard was able to free his people captured by the opposing side on Sunday, among them General Johann Ludwig von Erlach, who was important to him.

Rheinfeld's tactics

City and fortress Rheinfelden around 1663; left the north side

On February 23rd, ^Jul. / March 5, 1638 ^greg. Protestants celebrated a thanksgiving service on the battlefield. A day later, accompanied by Bernhard, the prisoners were brought to Laufenburg and distributed there to the other places of detention in Benfeld , Hohentwiel and Mömpelgard. On February 26th, ^Jul. / March 8th ^greg. The city commandant of Rheinfelden received a renewed request to hand over the place after there was still no answer to a message sent to him three days ago. He was given an ultimatum to explain himself as quickly as possible, stating that all the Imperial officers were either captured or dead. He could let someone convince him of the truth. The following day the commandant sent a drummer to the town to check it out. He saw the prisoners. The next day this messenger was sent back to the city together with a companion who had handover conditions for signature. But the commandant asked for a further three days' delay. Bernhard had had enough of the delaying tactics and ordered work to continue taking the city. In the meantime heavy cannons had also been brought in from Hohentwiel and Benfeld. The mining and digging of passages did not go unnoticed and on July 12th ^. / March 22nd ^greg. the transfer contract was finally concluded. The captured Swedes in the city were set free, the garrison, which had grown to 1,600 men, was taken away, including imperial soldiers who had escaped into the city.

Balance sheet

After the battle of Rheinfelden the following had to be balanced:

18./28. February:
Sweden: around 100 dead and wounded.
Imperial: over 300 dead and wounded

February 21/3. March:
Sweden: about 20 dead.
Imperial: about 500 to 600 dead

On February 23, Bernhard had his army mustered after the battle and received the result that there were 3,000 men and 4,000 horses. Taupadel and his people were then commanded towards Breisach and Freiburg im Breisgau.

After the battle

Prisoners

Johann von Werth was first brought to Laufenburg and transferred to the Benfeld Fortress on March 12th. On May 7th it was handed over to the French in Marsal and transported to the Vincennes fortress on May 27th . At Richelieu's request, he was later temporarily brought to Paris and held there in honorable custody. Johann von Werth was exchanged in a prisoner exchange on March 24, 1642 in Dinglingen against the Swedish field marshal Gustaf Graf Horn . Count Enkevort largely shared the same lot as von Werth.

Richelieu wanted to flatter the vanity of the people by the sight of such famous prisoners and let the public misery be forgotten by the display of victories. With this in mind, the captured standards and flags were brought to the Notre Dame de Paris church in a solemn procession , waved three times in front of the altar and given to the church to administer.

Savelli was brought to Laufenburg. There he managed to escape in disguise. He gathered his people who had fled and new ones around him and thus strengthened the armed forces of the Bavarian general Count Johann von Götzen , who was supposed to supply and support the beleaguered fortress of Breisach.

(Savelli's flight was avenged, a bloody deed by Lauffenburg ).

Sperreuter remained in captivity until 1640 and was then exchanged for the Taupadel, who had got into the hands of the other side through a careless attack after the battle of Wittenweiher . The prisoners of the Battle of Rheinfelden were imprisoned at the Hohentwiel Fortress, among other places. However, the mercenaries were given the choice of continuing their war craft in the service of Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar , which many made use of.

Further development

Rötteln Castle in a depiction from 1643

After the city was surrendered, Bernhard's campaign continued. His subordinate Taupadel conquered Hüningen . Bernhard himself subjugated Neuchâtel on the Rhine . After he was on March 18, ^Jul. / March 28, 1638 ^greg. also the castle Rötteln and on April 2nd ^jul. / April 12, 1638 ^greg. Having captured Freiburg im Breisgau , he prepared to besiege the Breisach fortress, the stronghold of southwest Germany that was important to the emperor and believed to be insurmountable.

After the imminent death of Bernhard von Weimar (he died only 35 years old), the Bernese Johann Ludwig von Erlach received the high command and was his successor as major general in Breisach. When in 1639 Säckingen was sacked by 300 imperial horsemen, he immediately sent help under Colonel Rosen to the forest cities. Until the peace negotiations in Münster in 1646, things remained quiet in Rheinfelden, the four forest towns were supposed to fall to France in exchange for Breisach. This plan does not prevail.

See also

• Timeline for the Thirty Years War

literature

• Georg Engelsüß: Weymarischer Feld-Zug or von Zug vnd performance of the prince. Weymarian Army , 1648 pp. 77–83 digitized
• Theatrum Europaeum , Frankfurt am Main 1670; Volume 3, pages 907 to 916 digitized
• Friedrich Wilhelm Barthold : Johann von Werth in the closest connection with contemporary history , Berlin 1826, pp. 85–95 Google digitized
• Hans Wieland : The battles of Rheinfelden in 1638. In: Basler Taschenbuch on the year 1857, pp. 181–214 Google digitized
• E. Leupold: Journal of the army of Duke Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar from the years 1637 and 1638. In: Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde, Volume 11 (1912), pp. 253–362 e-periodica
• Erhard Richter : The double battle near Rheinfelden took place 350 years ago , in: Das Markgräflerland, Issue 2/1988, pp. 86–94, digitized version of the Freiburg University Library

Web links

• Battle of Rheinfelden (English)
• Biography of Henderson
• Biography about Taupadell

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Johann Heinrich Gelbke: Duke Ernst the First called the Pious of Gotha as a person and regent: a historical representation drawn from acts and proven pamphlets and with a document book . tape 1 . Perthes, 1810, p. 34 (digitized from Google Books [accessed February 5, 2017]).
2. ↑ Entry Rödel (Röckel), N on www.30jaehrigerkrieg.de
3. ↑ Paul Tschackert:  Taub Abel, George Christoph von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 37, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, pp. 418-420.
4. ^ Karl Johann Casimir von Landmann:  Enkevort, Adrian Graf von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, pp. 148-150.
5. ↑ http://www.janvonwerth.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63&Itemid=144
6. ↑ https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/schiller/30jkrieg/N30jkrg52.html
7. ↑ Sommeregger:  Savelli, Friedrich Herzog von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 53, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1907, p. 720 f.
8. ^ Emil Jegge, The history of the Fricktal until 1803 , p. 158
9. ↑ Emil Jegge, The History of the Fricktal , pp. 139 ff.