Battle of Neerzüge (1793)

This article deals with the battle of Neer winds in 1793. The battle of Neer winds in 1693 can be found there.

Battle of Neer winds

Part of: First Coalition War

Battle plan

date	March 18, 1793
place	Neerhaben , Belgium
output	Austria's victory

Parties to the conflict
France	Austria
Commander
Charles Dumouriez Francisco de Miranda Louis-Philippe I Jean Baptiste, Count Valence Auguste Dampierre	Friedrich von Sachsen-Coburg Charles de Clairfayt Karl von Teschen
Troop strength
approx. 47,000 men, 5,500 of them horsemen	approx. 42,500 men, including 9,000 riders
losses
4000	2800

The Battle of Neer winds took place on March 18, 1793 in the course of the first coalition war against revolutionary France. It ended with an Austrian victory over the French army.

prehistory

After the success in the Battle of Aldenhoven on March 1, 1793, the 42,500-strong Austrian army, under the command of Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg and Archduke Karl, advanced further west. General Charles-François Dumouriez had taken over the retreating French army on March 13th in Leuven and was determined to immediately return to the counter-offensive. After a series of minor clashes along the road between Liège and Brussels, the Austrians encountered the enemy again on March 16 at Tirlemont , but after a short skirmish they withdrew to the strategically more favorable position near Neerwinden . The Prince of Saxe-Coburg had taken his position behind the Kleine Gete , his center was around Neer winds. His troops occupied the heights between Laer and Neerwind in a semicircle, and Neerlanden was also occupied. The Austrian left under General Clairfayt on the southern section also stood behind the Kleine Gete between Neerwinde and Oberwinde, with the hill of Mittelwinde between the two places. On the morning of March 18, the French army of around 47,000 under Dumouriez attacked this line.

Units involved

French army

Supreme command: Lieutenant General Dumouriez

• Right wing: Lieutenant General de Valence with divisions: La Marche, Veneur, Neuilly
• Center: Duke of Chartres with divisions: Dietmann, Dampierre
• Left wing: Lieutenant General Miranda with divisions: Miaczinsky, Ruault, Champmorin
• Reserve Corps with divisions: Marliere, D'Harville

Austrian Army

Supreme command: Field Marshal Prince of Saxe-Coburg, Chief of Staff: Colonel Mack

• Avant-garde: Major General Archduke Karl with brigades: Ob. Dévay, Ob. Gruber
• First meeting: FML. Latour with brigades: GM. Happoncourt, GM. Benjovsky
• Second meeting: FML. Prince of Württemberg with Division FML Stuart (Brigade Colonel de Jardin, Colonel Wolf and GM. Von Lothringen)
• Reserve Corps FZM. Count Clerfayt with divisions: FML. Alvinczy , GM. Wenkheim

Course of the battle

Charles-François Dumouriez

Dumouriez marched up from Tirlemont and divided his army into eight attack columns, all of which advanced east across the Kleine Gete. Dumouriez reckoned that the Austrians would have their main power on their right wing in the northern sector, and so he decided to attack with his own right wing in the south. On March 18, the two armies clashed, and a day-long battle ensued. The attack by the right wing under General Comte de Valence over the little Gete took place at 7 a.m. General La Marche's division went over the Gete at Neer Heylissem and threatened Clairfayt's left flank after the occupation of Racour. The division under General Le Veneur took the bridge at Neer-Heylissem and then advanced on Overwind. General Valence was also able to storm the hill in medium and low winds. Further north, General Neuilly's division had crossed the river at Esmael and was beginning to encircle Neerwind from the left.

At the center of the battle was the French corps of the Duke of Chartres (later King Louis-Philippe), his two divisions attacked Neerwind head-on, which the Prince of Saxe-Coburg wanted to hold. The division under General Dirtmann went over the Gete at Elissem and captured Laer, the other division under General Dampierre had the task of attacking Neer winds via Esmael.

On the left wing in the northern section of the battle, three divisions under the corps leader General Miranda attacked between Leau and Neerhespen via the Gete. General Miaczinsky’s division crossed the river at Overhespen and advanced towards Neerlanden. General Ruault's division took the bridge at Orsmael and then wanted to advance along the road to St. Trond . The northernmost wing division under General Champmorin was supposed to break through on Leau after crossing the Gete below Neerlinter.

The Austrian right wing under Archduke Karl covered the road Tirlemont-Maastricht, in the location immediately east of the Kleine Gete. By 9 o'clock the imperial forces were pushed back under the Prince of Württemberg, the French Ruault division occupied Orsmael. The artillery led by Lieutenant Colonel Josef Smola prevented any further French advancement from Orsmael for five hours. Archduke Karl launched a successful counterattack at around 11 a.m., and his second meeting under Duke Ferdinand Friedrich von Württemberg intervened on the Neerhespen, Gutsenhoven and Orsmael line.

In the meantime, the French division Miaczinsky had seized the village of Dormael further south. Field Marshal Lieutenant Benjowsky hurried to wrest the place with the Infantry Regiment No. 15 and the Dragoon Regiment 9 from the French before reinforcements arrived, and the French Generals Ihler and Ruault were seriously wounded. When the attack by Champmorin's division on Leau finally failed, General Miranda was forced to retreat. He withdrew over the Kleine Gete. The battle at Orsmael was successfully over for the Austrians, but the decision on the south wing was still pending.

Charles de Croix, Comte de Clairfayt

Dumouriez now personally intervened on the southern section, supported by strong gunfire, he led his columns again over the Kleine Gete. Feldzeugmeister Clairfayt then pulled all the troops of his reserve corps closer to the threatened Racour. The La Marche division advanced massively against overwinds, but mixed up with the La Veneur division, which delayed the taking of overwinds until 2 p.m. General Neuilly took Neerwind at short notice, the Imperialists returned immediately, but were again driven out by troops under General Dampierre, with General Desforetes being killed in action. Clairfayt sent the brigade under Major General Franz Xaver von Auersperg to the front to support the grenadiers, who were under heavy pressure during Overwinds . The divisions under Lieutenant Field Marshal Alvinczy and Major General Franz Xaver von Wenckheim also counter-attacked and finally forced the French to withdraw from Overwind. Austrian cavalry under Major General Siegmund Franz von Lützow recaptured Racour. In the center, Feldzeugmeister Colloredo managed to take back the hard-fought Neer winds and the hill of Middelwinde. The French, now under concentrated fire, had to go back and the night put an end to the fight.

In the end, the French, who had lost 4,000 men, while the Austrians lost around 2,800, had to withdraw.

consequences

The poorly equipped and well cared for French army subsequently lost a large part of its combat strength due to massive desertions, so that Dumouriez only had about 20,000 men. The French general Dumouriez was then removed from his post by the Jacobin government in Paris. He had the agents of the convention sent to investigate his leadership arrested and handed over to the enemy. Then he tried to convince his troops to invade Paris and overthrow the revolutionary government. The attempt failed, and on April 5th Dumouriez fled with the Duke of Chartres and his brother, the Duke of Montpensier , to the Austrian camp in Mons.

The victory ended the French attempt to conquer the Netherlands. As a result of the victory at Neerwinden, the Austrian Netherlands and Brussels could be reoccupied by the previous sovereigns by March 25th . At the same time, it was the prerequisite for the Allied invasion of France.

literature

• Franz-Josef Schütz: Battle of Neer winds . In: Gerhard Taddey (Hrsg.): Lexicon of German history . People, events, institutions. From the turn of the times to the end of the 2nd World War. 2nd, revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-520-80002-0 , p. 871.
• Wenzel Porth: The battle of Neer winds on March 18, 1793 from communications from the kuk war archives, Commissionsverlag R. v. Waldheim, Vienna 1877. pp. 329–382

Web links

• Presentation on kuk-wehrmacht.de