Battle in anger
The Battle of Zorn took place on July 12, 1866 in the village of Zorn (today part of the municipality of Heidenrod in the Rheingau-Taunus district in Hesse ). The "battle" was a skirmish between Nassau and Prussian troops , in the course of which a Nassau soldier was killed. The dispute took place in the context of the German War between Prussia and Austria and their allies. After the defeat of Austria, the Duchy of Nassau was annexed by Prussia .
prehistory
The occasion of the battle was an incursion by Prussian troops from the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress into Nassau territory, as had taken place several times in the previous weeks. The strategic goal was to force the Nassau contingent of the federal troops gathered near Frankfurt to defend their own territory and thereby break out of the federal troops. In this case, the Prussian association was the Landwehr battalions Jülich, Malmedy, Siegburg, Trier I and II as well as a squadron of hussars for the fortress garrison with a total of around 4,000 men and eight guns. The Prussians achieved their strategic goal when the around 5,000 Nassauer men under Major General Robert Roth, who had just returned to their quarters in Frankfurt-Rödelheim after a one-week march through the Vogelsberg , issued the marching orders for home on the night of July 11th received.
Approach
The main Prussian troops had followed the Lahn river valley, but had sent out patrols throughout the north of the duchy. Finally, the armed forces occupied several villages northwest of Langenschwalbach and stayed there to prepare for the approach of the Nassau troops, which has since been reported. Zorn was assigned to the Trier II Landwehr Battalion. The Nassau residents were moved to Wiesbaden on July 11th via the Taunus Railway and bivouacked on the night of July 12th in the forest northwest of the city, with frequent visits from the civilian population. At the same time, their leadership had requested cavalry from the Hessian federal troops in the Mainz fortress , which the Nassau residents did not have. The Kurhessen sent only two battalions of infantry to Biebrich to absorb a possible Prussian thrust through the Rhine valley. The Elector of Hesse lieutenant von Schenk and his troop riders from the Garde du Corps submitted to the Nassau command without authorization.
In the early morning of July 12th, the people of Nassau set off in a north-westerly direction and bypassed Langenschwalbach on today's Bäderstraße . Roth set up his headquarters near Kemel . At 9 p.m. there was an exchange of fire between a Nassau and a Prussian patrol in Bad Schwalbach, after which the Prussian hussars withdrew with an injured man and afterwards all the bathers left the place.
Meanwhile Roth had learned that Zorn and Diethardt were occupied by Prussia. For the following day he ordered the 1st regiment under Colonel Eberhard Neuendorff to attack Zorn.
The skirmish
On July 13th, his troops continued the march on Bäderstrasse and in the late morning turned off at the Egenrother Stock intersection in the direction of Zorn. Two rifle companies and a half-battery of artillery positioned themselves on the Grauer Kopf hill about a kilometer east of Zorn. The remaining eight companies took up position in Nauroth and camped there for a long time. It is disputed whether Nassau troops also occupied the Whisper , which was further away from Zorn . At 2 p.m., the units in Nauroth set off with the aim of Zorn. According to eyewitness reports of the numerous civilian "battle strollers", a company of the Prussians in Zorn also got ready to march towards Nauroth around this time.
In fact, there was only an infantry exchange of fire between a Nassau advance command and a Prussian soldier. This happened when a Prussian soldier, armed, left an inn, today's house at Nassauer Strasse 17, and met a small group of Nassauer. The Prussian tried to surrender, whereupon one of the Nassauer opened fire, but shot past. The Prussian replied and hit his opponent fatally in the neck. There are only fragmentary descriptions of the further course of the fighting. However, the Prussian Landwehr Battalion Trier II, with eight wounded and the loss of two members, is said to have hurriedly withdrawn into captivity towards Algenroth and Diethardt. A Prussian hussar horse was also wounded. In addition, the Nassau artillery fired shots at the marching Prussian artillery near Lautert , but without any effect. Roth reported in a telegram to the Duke that the Prussian artillery bombardment was equally ineffective.
In the evening, the Electorate Hessian cavalry lieutenant Schenk and his horsemen and ten volunteers from the 6th Company of the 2nd Nassau Regiment made a coup. He let the infantry board the regular stagecoach between Kemel and Holzhausen . There the troop attacked a 13-man Prussian field guard who promptly surrendered. The Nassauer attacked another four hidden Prussians in Holzhausen. Then they crammed the prisoners in the stagecoach and took them to their own positions. The Landwehr men were locked up in the mayor's office of Bad Schwalbach overnight and taken to the Mainz fortress the next day on a festively decorated farm wagon. The prisoners are said to have sung the Prussian song in a good mood on this occasion .
The Nassau troops rushed back to the federal troops on July 14th.
consequences
The Prussians had achieved their strategic goal in full: The 5,000 Nassau residents were missing from the federal troops on July 13 in the battles near Aschaffenburg . The Prussians struck there with a numerically more than doubly superior armed force an overwhelming victory, which enabled them to occupy Frankfurt.
Aftermath
The battle of Zorn is remembered as an operetta-like Biedermeier event in regional lore in Wiesbaden and in the Hintertaunus region. Numerous anecdotes, which often contradict the historical facts, are in circulation. It is often emphasized that in view of the Prussian retreat and the prisoners taken, this is Nassau's only formal military victory over Prussia. Rudolf Dietz wrote a popular poem about the Battle of Zorn.
literature
- Walter Rosenwald : The Battle of Zorn - a military episode . In: Association for Nassau antiquity and historical research (Hrsg.): Nassauische Annalen . tape 94 . Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Nassau 1983, p. 203-219 .
Web links
- Chronicle of the battle
- July 12, 1866 - 140 years of the Battle of Zorn , July 12, 2006