Battle of Altenkirchen

Battle of Altenkirchen

Part of: Revolutionary War

The Battle of Altenkirchen, bas-relief by Philippe Grass on the monument to General Kléber in Strasbourg

date	June 4, 1796
place	from Almersbach near Altenkirchen to Kroppach in the Westerwald
output	French victory

Parties to the conflict
France	Austria
Commander
Jean-Baptiste Kléber	Ferdinand of Württemberg
Troop strength
11,000	6,500
losses
According to some sources 150, according to others more than 1,000	2,000 men killed, 1,500 in captivity

The battle of Altenkirchen (Westerwald) (June 4, 1796) was an early success during the French invasion of Germany in the summer of 1796, during the first coalition war . General Kléber forced the Austrians to give up their positions around Altenkirchen and to retreat to the Lahn .

There is another battle in the same year (September 19), also known as the Battle of Altenkirchen. In it, Archduke Charles defeated the French army of Sambre et Meuse under General Jourdain, whereby General François Séverin Marceau fell, and forced them to retreat across the Rhine.

prehistory

The French plan led General Jourdan and his Sambre Maas Army across the Rhine near Düsseldorf . This was supposed to force Archduke Karl of Austria to leave his positions on the left bank of the Rhine west of Mainz and to face Jourdan in order to enable General Moreau to bring the Rhine-Moselle Army over the Rhine near Kehl and then advance towards the Danube .

The Austrian right wing, under the Prince of Württemberg , was stretched on the eastern bank of the Rhine between Neuwied (am Rhein) and Altenkirchen, about 35 km further north, with a line of outposts along the Sieg , which opposite Bonn into the Rhine flows out.

General Kléber had already crossed the Rhine on May 30, 1796 and marched further south. On June 1, he captured the bridge at Siegburg and forced the Austrians to retreat ten miles southeast to Uckerath , where the Prince of Württemberg had assembled a division . Kléber got ready to attack Uckerath, but the Austrians withdrew again, this time to a strongly fortified position near Altenkirchen. Kléber took up position in front of the Austrian position on June 3 and decided to attack the next day.

A field camp was set up at Bergsporn Jungeoth, which today belongs to Buchholz . Several factors made this position particularly suitable. It was of course secured by slopes on three sides as well as the Hanfbach and the Scheussbach . In addition, the Steiner Berg , Priesterberg and Heppenberg, suitable as spying posts , as well as the Hohe Strasse from Cologne to Frankfurt were nearby. The camp was extensively fortified with protective walls and trenches.

Course of the battle

The Austrian line stretched east from Altenkirchen to Kroppach and was too broad in relation to the available forces. The French commander, General Kléber, decided to attack in three columns . On the left, General Soult von Hilgenroth (north of Altenkirchen) advanced in the direction of Kroppach. General Lefebvre took command of the central column, which attacked Altenkirchen directly. The right column advanced against Almersbach , three kilometers southwest of Altenkirchen. General Colaud , he was in command of a central reserve, and General Ney , with a strong detachment of light troops, fled southwest of the Austrian left flank in order to bypass it and cut off the enemy supplies and communications.

The French attack was a complete success. Soult's troops tied up the Austrian reserves. The French right wing took Schöneberg and Almersbach and forced a regiment of Austrian grenadiers to surrender . Lefebvre and Colaud, supported by heavy artillery fire, had advanced from Altenkirchen to the foot of the heights (there were ten guns from the Austrian troops, mostly twelve pounders). With his left flank, the Prince of Württemberg was forced to give up Altenkirchen. Overnight the Austrians withdrew twelve miles southeast to Freilingen , while at the end of the day the troops had reached Lefebvres Hachenburg . They were now to the east of Altenkirchen. The French took 1,500 prisoners and captured twelve cannons and four flags during the battle.

Result

After the Austrians had missed the first moment to attack the enemy (the passage over the Sieg ), all further skirmishes only led to unnecessary human loss . Their barrier guards fought in vain against the superior enemy during the entire retreat, in vain they accepted a battle near Altenkirchen after they had been so considerably weakened by the erection of a barrier belt as far as Neuwied and by the removal of some of the advance troops on the right wing. The position near Altenkirchen was bad in itself, because not every hill is a position, not every ravine is a support for a wing. The troops stood on a mountain foot between two passable gorges, the occupation of which was entrusted to light infantry and individual companies.

Follow-up events

Archduke Karl of Austria reacted to the French victories at Siegburg and Altenkirchen as the French had hoped. He moved his main force back across the Rhine and then north to face Jourdan. Field Marshal Dagobert Sigmund Graf von Wurmser , who was now in command of the Austrian Left, was ordered to protect Mainz. This gave Moreau a chance to cross the Rhine. Two weeks later, near Wetzlar , Archduke Karl maneuvered General Jourdan and forced him to retreat across the Rhine.

literature

• Daniel Schneider: The battle of Altenkirchen 1796 in its historical context. In: Heimat-Jahrbuch des Kreis Altenkirchen , 2012, pp. 183–194.
• Archduke Carl of Austria : Principles of strategy, explained by the representation of the campaign of 1796 in Germany. Part II: History of the Campaign. Anton Strauss, Vienna 1819, pp. 49–56.
• Leopold Bleibtreu : Memories from the war events near Neuwied from 1792 to 1797. Carl Georgi, Bonn 1834, pp. 326–327.
• Jean-Baptiste Jourdan , translated by Johann Bachoven von Echt: Memories of the History of the Campaign of 1796. Coblenz 1823, pp. 20-21.

Web links

• Rickard, J (February 12, 2009), First battle of Altenkirchen, June 4, 1796

Individual evidence

1. ^ Johann Bachoven von Echt: Memories of the History of the Campaign of 1796 , published in Koblenz in 1823, p. 21
2. ↑ KF von Justin: History of the war caused by the French Revolution between the largest part of the European powers and the French nation, fifth campaign from 1796 , Regensburg 1797, p. 12, digitized
3. ^ David Hollins: Altenkirchen, Battle of (September 19, 1796) , in: Gregory Fremont-Barnes: The Encyclopedia of the french revolutionary and Napoleonic wars , ABC Clio, Santa Barbara 2006, p. 62
4. ^ Daniel Schneider: The battle of Altenkirchen 1796 in its historical context , in: Heimat-Jahrbuch des Kreis Altenkirchen 2012, pp. 184-187.
5. ^ Johann Bachoven von Echt: Memories of the History of the Campaign of 1796 , published in Koblenz in 1823, p. 16ff
6. ^ Johann Bachoven von Echt: Memories of the history of the campaign of 1796 , published in Koblenz in 1823, p. 19ff
7. ^ History of the campaign of 1796 , author unknown p. 127 (literally abbreviated copy from the works: Principles of the strategy of Archduke Carl of Austria )
8. ^ History of the campaign of 1796 , author unknown p. 126 (literally abbreviated copy from the works: Principles of the strategy of Archduke Carl of Austria )
9. ^ Archduke Carl of Austria : Principles of Strategy, explained by the representation of the campaign of 1796 in Germany. Part II: History of the Campaign. Anton Strauss, Vienna 1814, pp. 67–68.
10. ^ Daniel Schneider: The battle of Altenkirchen 1796 in its historical context , in: Heimat-Jahrbuch des Kreis Altenkirchen 2012, pp. 183–192.