Battle of Siegburg 1796

Battle of Siegburg

Part of: First Coalition War

date	June 1, 1796
place	Siegburg
output	French victory

Parties to the conflict
France	Austria
Commander
Chief General Jean-Baptiste Kléber	Prince August of Württemberg
Troop strength
approx. 20,000	approx. 7,000
losses
nB	2400

The battle near Siegburg was the first step in the French offensive across the Rhine , which was to become the main campaign of 1796 as part of the First Coalition War . General Kléber passed on 30 May 1796 the divisions Lefebvre and Colaud in Dusseldorf the Rhine and turned south toward Siegburg, where he transition on June 1 victory forced. This gave General Jourdan the opportunity to bring the majority of his troops across the Rhine near Neuwied .

Detail from the map of 1796 from the book Principles of Strategy by Archduke Carl of Austria

prehistory

With the armistice of November 23, 1795, the two French revolutionary armies under General Jourdan and General Moreau were separated by the main forces of the Habsburg monarchy . Archduke Karl occupied the Palatinate of Karlsruhe with the main part of the Austrian army in an arc via Kaiserslautern to Mainz . To the north and south of this position, the Austrians stayed on the right bank of the Rhine. The left, southern wing was under the command of Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser . His troops were raised from Hüningen near Weil am Rhein via Philippsburg and Mannheim to Kaiserslautern and had no fortified positions between Basel and Philippsburg. However, the situation on the right, northern flank was even more difficult. Here the Ehrenbreitstein fortress was owned by the Habsburgs, but the armistice line along the Agger and the victory had been drawn so that Jourdan was already standing with one foot on the right bank and had a bridgehead with Düsseldorf . The Austrian wing, under the Prince of Württemberg , was erected on the eastern bank of the Rhine between Neuwied and Altenkirchen , about 35 km further north . Upstream stood a line of outposts along the Sieg, which flows into the Rhine opposite Bonn . The ceasefire agreement stipulated that there was a mandatory ten-day period between its termination and the start of hostilities. Contrary to the advice of Archduke Karl and General Wurmser, the idea in Vienna was that the French could be driven out over the Moselle and seized the fortress of Landau and Alsace and besieged Strasbourg in winter . On May 21, 1796, Austria terminated the armistice and set the start of hostilities on June 1. According to the French plan , General Jourdan was to lead his Sambre Maas army north of Koblenz across the Rhine. This was to force Archduke Karl 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 advance towards the Danube . On May 30th, General Kléber had crossed the Rhine and entered the demilitarized zone. On May 31, he camped with his troops between Porz and Bensberg , occupied the Agger and the Sieg and then carried out his orders on June 1, 1796.

Course of the fight

Habsburg representation

Michael Freiherr von Kienmayer , 1796 General of the Imperial Lower Rhine Army

“When the Prince of Württemberg heard the first news of the advance of the French against the Sieg, he made the decision to meet them with part of his already weak corps. General Kienmaier was ordered to cover the debouchee of Agger near Troisdorf and in the fords near Meindorf and Menden with his avant-garde ; but generally to hold up the enemy in victory until the 6 bats detached from the prince . 14 Escad. at the influence of these would have arrived in the Rhine. The Oberste Gottesheim was to move from Daden towards the Traventer Höhe and Overath , force the Agger there on the day of the attack, and 1 bat was added to Soutien (support) or to receive. detached to meadows (segregate).

On June 1, 1796, before the detachments with which Ferdinand Friedrich August von Württemberg wanted to meet the enemy had arrived at the avant-garde, General Colaud had already won the fords at Meindorf and Menden after stubborn resistance and the light troops of the Austrians thrown back to Hangelar , but this made it easier for the Lefebvre division to cross over the Agger near Troisdorf and Lohmar . This was now advancing on Siegburg, while General Colaud continued his march along the left bank of the river and forced the Austrians to leave the bridge of Siegburg. General Kienmaier drew together his reserves at Niederpleis and since troops of the main corps had rushed up in the meantime, he went to meet the enemy advancing from Meindorf. The latter, however, had put most of his cavalry over the victory, defeated General Kienmaier as far as the Difilee (narrow pass) from Warth, and took his position on the heights near Hennef . Lefebvre camped behind the victory at Happerschoß . "

- Karl von Österreich-Teschen : principles of strategy

French representation

Claude Sylvestre Colaud 1796 General of the French Sambre and Maas Army

“On June 1, 1796, General Kléber took action against the river of victory. The banks of this river and those of the Agger were defended by four battalions and ten squadrons, commanded by General Kienmaier. When the Prince of Württemberg was informed of the Klébers march, he left five battalions and ten escadrons under the orders of General Finke on the Neuwied plain, and set out with the remnant of his troops to unite with Kienmaier and the French attack, only Kléber beat him. General Colaud forced the passage over the victory at Meindorf and Menden. Lefebvre overturned the Austrian outposts, went over the Agger near Troisdorf and Lohmar and took possession of the town and the bridge of Siegburg even before Ferdinand Friedrich August von Württemberg arrived. In the meantime the head of the column, which hurried to the aid of this point, had arrived, the enemy stood for a moment at Niederpleis, and even made an offensive movement against Colaud's division, which was victorious on Meindorf on the right bank; pursued by the French cavalry as far as the Warth pass. Kléber gave the loss of the Austrians to 2,400 men, including a thousand prisoners. "

- Jean-Baptiste Jourdan : Memories of the history of the 1796 campaign

Troop strength

The Austrians terminated the armistice with the declaration that hostilities would begin on June 1, 1796. The German outposts were forbidden under penalty of death from firing at the French outposts earlier than 10 a.m. on June 1st. Then the Austrian Lower Rhine Army under Archduke Carl of Austria had a total strength of 71,076 infantry and 20,702 cavalry.

• The corps between Sieg and Lahn under Ferdinand Friedrich August von Württemberg .................... 17,794 M. Inf. And ... 5388 M. Cavalry
• The avant-garde that stood at victory ......................................... ................ 3619 M. Inf. And ... 2200 M. Cavalry
• Between Altenkirchen, Hachenburg and Dierdorf ............................................ ........... 7187 M. Inf. And ... 2318 M. Cavalry
• At Neuwied under General Finck ............................................ ............................. 4409 M. Inf. And ..... 870 M. Cavalry
• Ehrenbreitstein Garrison ............................................... ......................................... 2579 M. Inf.

Follow-up events

The ford of Meindorf, popularly known as the cow path, in its current state.

On June 2, General Lefebvre passed the victory at the town of Blankenberg , General Colaud advanced to the heights of Jungrath, and both divisions united forward Kircheib , from where their vanguard delogirte the cavalry post and drive General Kienmaier under the cannons of the Position at Altenkirchen drove. Here the battle of Altenkirchen took place on June 4, 1796 .

review

If, therefore, the 15,000 men remaining after the formation of 5000 men at Neuwied, the Prince of Württemberg were right at the start of the hostilities before Uckerath , the center of the whole line, where the victory is easiest to translate and the open area makes every side march possible , confessed, they could approach the French as soon as they saw their crossing point, and a swift attack would probably have been to the advantage of the Austrians.

swell

• Archduke Carl of Austria: Principles of Strategy 2 . Anton Strauss, Vienna 1814.
• Jean Baptiste Jourdan translated by Johann Bachoven von Echt: Memories of the History of the Campaign of 1796 . Koblenz 1823 ( limited preview in Google book search).

literature

• Leopold Bleibtreu : War events near Neuwied 1792 to 1797 . Carl Georgi, Bonn 1834, urn : nbn: de: hbz: 061: 1-73887 .
• Peter Heinz Krause: besieged, conquered, plundered. Siegburg wartime from 1583 to 1714. A military-historical overview (=  historical studies . Volume 1 ). Verlag Franz Schmitt, Siegburg 1998, ISBN 3-87710-185-2 , p. 63-64 .
• Daniel Schneider: The battle of Altenkirchen 1796 in its historical context , in: Heimat-Jahrbuch des Kreis Altenkirchen 55 (2012), pp. 183–194.

Web links

• Rickard, J (February 12, 2009), Combat of Siegburg, June 1, 1796

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jourdan translated by Johann Bachoven von Echt: Memories of the history of the campaign of 1796, published in Koblenz in 1823, p. 16.
2. ^ Archduke Carl of Austria : Principles of Strategy, printed by Anton Strauss, Vienna 1814, Volume 2, pp. 47–49.
3. ↑ Jean Baptiste Jourdan translated by Johann Bachoven von Echt: Memories of the History of the Campaign of 1796, published in Koblenz in 1823, Third Chapter, p. 19.
4. ↑ Wochenblatt, Friday, June 10, 1796.
5. ^ Archduke Carl of Austria : Principles of Strategy, printed by Anton Strauss, Vienna 1814, Volume 2, p. 24.
6. ^ Archduke Carl of Austria : Principles of Strategy, printed by Anton Strauss, Vienna 1814, Volume 2, p. 50. For the following battle and its prehistory, see Daniel Schneider: The battle of Altenkirchen 1796 in its historical context, in: Heimat-Jahrbuch des Kreis Altenkirchen 55 (2012), pp. 183–194.
7. ^ Archduke Carl of Austria : Principles of Strategy, printed by Anton Strauss, Vienna 1814, Volume 2, p. 65.