Battle of Narrows
| date | May 3, 1800 |
|---|---|
| place | Narrow |
| output | French victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 45,000 | 40,000 |
| losses | |
|
1147 fallen, 1884 wounded, 3862 prisoners (total number for the two parallel battles of Engen and Stockach) |
|
Ostrach - Feldkirch - Stockach I - Verona - Magnano - Cassano d'Adda - Frauenfeld - Winterthur - Zurich I - Trebbia - Mantua - Novi - Vlieter - Bergen - Zurich II - Muotatal - Egmont - Genola - Wiesloch - Genoa - Stockach II - Engen - Meßkirch - Biberach II - Montebello - Marengo - Höchstädt - Oberhausen - Hohenlinden - Walserfeld - Pozzolo - Copenhagen - Algeciras I - Algeciras II
The Battle of Engen took place on May 3, 1800 (12th Floréal of the year VIII in the republican calendar of the French Revolution) between the bulk of the French army, commanded by General Jean-Victor Moreau , and the main Austrian army, commanded by General Pál Kray . The hotly contested battle was won by the French. The defeat of the corps of the Prince of Vaudemont in the second battle fought at Stockach on the same day and the arrival of French reinforcements under General Saint-Cyr forced Kray to retreat to the Danube after another defeat in the battle of Meßkirch (May 5) .
March
Archduke Karl was replaced in the supreme command in southern Germany by General Kray at the beginning of March 1800, who left Vienna on March 5 and arrived at his headquarters in Donaueschingen on March 17 . The main Austrian army still in assembly was about 95,000 strong and was concentrated in positions between Liptingen and Stockach . Together with the separately operating Bavaria, Mainz and Württembergers, Kray's army numbered 123,800 men and covered a line between Main and Tyrol . The right wing was under Feldzeugmeister Anton Sztáray and secured with 19,000 men the area between the Rhine and Neckar , from Murg to Heidelberg , on the left it stopped at the Nidda connection with the Electoral Mainz allies. Between Renchen and Überlingen am Ried there were three divisions under FML Baron Kienmayer (with 9,700 men), Friedrich Joseph von Nauenburg (with 11,300 men) and Count Vincenz Kolowrat (with 13,300 men). The corps in Tyrol and Vorarlberg commanded FML Prince Reuss . It numbered 24,300 men and was positioned between the Rhine and Lake Constance as far as Buchhorn. The corps of FML Graf Baillet de Latour with 9,400 infantry and 3,400 riders was in reserve in the Villingen , Engen and Tübingen area , reinforced by the subsequent artillery reserve in Donaueschingen.
Opposite the equally long lines of the Austrians were the four corps of the French Rhine Army under General Moreau, which held eastern bridgeheads at Basel, Breisach , Strasbourg and Mainz; the headquarters were in Basel . General Moreau had around 120,000 men: General Saint-Suzanne (18 battalions and 33 squadrons) was on the left wing, Saint-Cyr (27 battalions and 28 squadrons) was marching in the middle and General Lecourbe's corps (31 battalions ) on the right wing and 23 squadrons). The reserve corps (32 battalions and 39 squadrons) was commanded by Oberfeldherr Moreau himself, but not in the second line, but ahead as the vanguard. Against the plans of the first consul Bonaparte , Moreau decided to cross the Rhine between Schaffhausen and Breisach. On April 25th the troops of St. Suzanne crossed the Rhine at Strasbourg and Kehl , and the corps under St. Cyr near Breisach. Moreau's reserve corps crossed the Rhine on April 27th near Basel, a division under General Richepanse formed the avant-garde and was sent ahead to Sankt Blasien to establish the union with the Saint-Cyr troops, whose corps had already advanced from Breisach to Freiburg on April 25th and had pushed the Austrian outposts back into the mountains. The corps under General Lecourbe did not cross the Rhine with 31,800 men until May 1st above Schaffhausen near Stein. After his troops had crossed the Rhine, the Austrians withdrew from Singen on May 1 , units of the Vandamme division occupied the Württemberg fortress of Hohentwiel , which had been surrendered without a fight .
Course of the battle
On May 2, the Austrian army left Donaueschingen to stop Moreau's advance. Moreau marched with his reserve corps against Engen, where the Corps St. Cyr, which was advancing via Blumberg , was also aiming . On May 3, the town of Engen formed the center of a semicircular position which the Austrians had taken for defense. The right wing of the Austrians was based on the fortress of Hohenhöwen and reached as far as Watterdingen , the left wing stood between Ehingen and Aach . At the beginning of the battle Kray was only able to unite about 35,000 men because the Prince of Lorraine-Vaudemont, who was subordinate to him, had to cover the important military stores in Stockach and the road to Meßkirch with his 12,000 men and was soon embroiled in a battle by General Lecourbe . The right wing of Krays was attacked by the Sainte-Suzanne division, the left wing was too far away to participate in the following battle. The French troops initially succeeded in storming the villages of Welschingen and Ehingen south of the town and staying there. The struggle for the possession of a rear plateau in the wood of Welschingen was bitter. At the same time, a French division under General Delmas attacked the Austrian vanguard outside the village of Weiterdingen and drove them back to Welschingen, where they were able to regroup. The strong Austrian cavalry developed on the plain behind Welschingen and thwarted all attempts by the French to penetrate there. The French 4th half-brigade, surrounded by the enemy cavalry, opened the way with their bayonets and caught up with the other French troops.
The superiority of the artillery allowed the Austrians under FML von Nauendorf to stay at this altitude for a long time. During the day, Gouvion-Saint-Cyr conquered the plateau five times. The destruction of the corps of Joseph Maria von Vaudémont in Stockach prevented Kray from receiving the reinforcements he had initially expected. At ten o'clock in the evening the Austrian general decided with a heavy heart to retreat in complete darkness.
consequences
Moreau's army remained inactive until May 4th and ceased to pursue the enemy. In the evening Kray's troops had moved to new positions near Messkirch and Tuttlingen. The French corps under General Saint-Suzanne had set out to pursue Geisingen on the left bank of the Danube . Feldzeugmeister Kray was driven out of his permanent position around Ulm by the French after further defeats at Messkirch (May 5th) and Biberach in mid-June , finally defeated again on June 19th in the battle of Höchstädt and then on July 31st in the command of the Archduke Johann replaced.
Trivia
The name of the Battle of Engen is engraved on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
A French command post on what was then the battlefield is now called "Napoleonseck" and is the end point of a hiking trail and history trail. Napoleon himself could never have been in a tight spot.
The street name "Zum Franzosenwäldle" in Engen also indicates the presence of French troops in the past.
literature
- François Louis Dedon, Paul Philippe Ségur: History of the campaign of the French Danube and Bündtner Army in the years 1799 to 1801. Leipzig 1806.
- Joseph von Mussinan : History of the French wars in Germany especially on Bavarian soil in the years 1796, 1800, 1805 and 1809, second part containing the campaign of 1800. JE Seidel Buchhandel, Sulzbach 1822, pp. 9-11. (download.digitale-sammlungen.de)
- JB Bilaerts, JB Petit: Carte Topographique & Militaire pour servir à l'intelligence de la Bataille de Stockach; gagnée par SAR l'Archiduc Charles, en 1799 et des Batailles d'Engen et de Moskirck gagnées par l'Armée du Rhin en 1800; Carte Topographique et Militaire pour servir à l'intelligence de la Bataille de Stockach. Brussels 1839.
- Johann Samuelersch , Johann Gottfried Gruber : General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts . Section 1, Theil 34 (Em - Enstasis), 1840, pp. 258-262. (play.google.com)
- Roland Kessinger, Werner Schütz: The revolution is near! - A military history of Hegaus from 1792 to 1801. Konstanz 2000, ISBN 3-921413-69-9 , pp. 139–248.
- Roland Kessinger: Between tricolor and double-headed eagle - The Hegau in the turmoil of the French Revolutionary Wars (1799–1801). Brochure for the Napoleonic festival weekend in Singen / Engen 21. – 23. September 2001, pp. 18-23.
- Ulf Wendler: Gunpowder Steam and War Cries - War and Everyday Life around 1800 (= Writings of the Municipal Museum Engen + Gallery. Volume 1). 2001, ISBN 3-9807457-1-6 , pp. 43-61.
- Roland Kessinger: A lack of information makes history - How not knowing about the capitulation of Hohentwiel led to the battle of Engen. In: Hegau - magazine for history, folklore and natural history of the area between the Rhine, Danube and Lake Constance. Jahrbuch 61, 2004, ISBN 3-933356-22-9 , pp. 215-224.