Army of the Danube order of battle
Army of the Danube | |
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Second Battle of Zürich (Advance Guard, elements of I. and III. Divisions and Reserve) | |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Jean-Baptiste Jourdan André Masséna Louis Marie Turreau |
The Army of the Danube was a field army of the French First Republic. Originally named the Army of Observation, it was expanded with elements of the Army of Mainz (Mayence) and the Army of Helvetia (Switzerland). The army had three divisions plus an advance guard, a reserve, and an artillery park.[2] The artillery park was under the command of Jean Ambroise Baston de Lariboisière and consisted of 33 cannons and 19 howitzers operated by 1,329 non-commissioned officers and cannoneers as well as 60 officers. There were approximately 25,000 members of the Army, the role of which was to invade southwestern Germany, precipitating the War of the Second Coalition.
The Army crossed the
Initially, the Army included six future
Staff
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan received command of the Army of Observation in September 1798, from its temporary commander, Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino. From October to December, he assessed its condition. By 27 February 1799 Moreau had drawn together his general staff and laid out his operational plan for a Danube campaign.[7]
General Staff
Chief of Staff Jean Augustin Ernouf
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Position | Staff | |||||||||
Commander of the Engineers | Armand Samuel de Marescot | |||||||||
Chief Commissary | Jean Baptiste Vaillant[8] | |||||||||
Commander of the Artillery | Jean Fabre de La Martillière André Joseph Lemaire | |||||||||
Staff officer | Joseph Augustin Fournier, Marquis d'Aultanne[9] | |||||||||
Adjutants | Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor Étienne Hastrel de Rivedoux Jean-François Barbier François Louis Dedon-Duclos | |||||||||
Source: Jean-Baptiste Jourdan. A Memoir of the Operations of the Army of the Danube under the Command of General Jourdan, Taken from the Manuscripts of that Officer. London: Debrett, 1799, p. 88. |
Inspectors General | ||||||||||
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Formation | Inspector | |||||||||
Cavalry |
Louis-Auguste Juvénal des Ursins d'Harville | |||||||||
Infantry | Edmond Louis Alexis Dubois-Crancé | |||||||||
Source: Jean-Baptiste Jourdan. A Memoir of the Operations of the Army of the Danube under the Command of General Jourdan, Taken from the Manuscripts of that Officer. London: Debrett, 1799, p. 88. |
Advance Guard
The Advance Guard crossed the Rhine River at
Advance Guard General of Division François Joseph Lefebvre Adjutants: Jean-Baptiste Drouet and François-Xavier Octavie Fontaine. General of Brigade Jean-de-Dieu Soult | ||||||||||
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Column | Commander | Units | Notes | |||||||
Left | General of Brigade Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier
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The 53rd and 67th Demi-brigades had formed part of the Army of the Sambre-et-Meuse 1795–1797.[13] | |||||||
Right | General of Division Dominique Louis Antoine Klein | Most of these units had served in the old Army of the Sambre-et-Meuse.[14] | ||||||||
Detached Flank | General of Division Dominique Vandamme | Although Vandamme commanded the I. Division in the absence of Lefebvre, after Lefebvre's return, assumed first, a staff position, and then Jourdan assigned him to investigate rumors of an Austrian presence in Stuttgart.[11] These units became the flanking corps (corps de flanqueurs); one unit was taken from Saint-Cyr's division and the other, 8th of the Line, from d'Hautpoul's reserve. This amounted to approximately 3,000 troops, which weakened both the Reserve and the III. Division.[15]
Vandamme's flanking force including a squadron of dragoons and a squadron of light horse, but it is unclear which ones: A squadron of the 1st Dragoons may have been detached from II. Division, or a squadron of the 2nd Dragoons from the left column of the III. Division. In addition, his force included a squadron of Light Horse, from either the 8th or 10th, detached from the III. Division, were engaged.[16] | ||||||||
Strength of Advance Guard: 6,292 infantry; 2,102 cavalry; 382 artillery; and 177 sappers.[17] | ||||||||||
Sources: Unless otherwise cited, Roland Kessinger and Geert van Uythoven. Order of Battle, Army of the Danube. Stockach: Roland Kessinger & Geert van Uythoven. Accessed 14 April 2010. |
I. Division
The division crossed the
I. Division General of Division Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino Adjutants: Jean-Marie Defrance (chief of staff) and Anne Gilbert de Laval | ||||||||||
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Column | Commander | Units | Notes | |||||||
Left | General of Brigade Jean-Baptiste Jacopin |
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Jacopin also commanded the right flank of the Reserve; both columns moved parallel to one another through the Black Forest.[20] Like many of the other units, the elements of this column had been part of the Armée de Sambre-et-Meuse and, in 1798, part of the Army of Germany and the Army of Mainz; the regiment saw action in the Rhineland.[21]
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Right | General of Brigade Jean Victor Tharreau |
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Tharreau's force provided the forward line protecting Zurich by April 1799; the furthest posts, at Winterthur, were under command of Michel Ney by late May 1799.[22] | |||||||
Strength of I. Division was 6,452 infantry; 988 cavalry; 481 artillery; and 192 sappers.[23] | ||||||||||
Sources: Unless otherwise cited, Roland Kessinger and Geert van Uythoven. Order of Battle, Army of the Danube. Stockach: Roland Kessinger & Geert van Uythoven. Accessed 14 April 2010. |
II. Division
The division followed the Advance Guard across the Rhine, also at Kehl. As it approached the mountains, II. Division followed the river valleys east of Freudenstadt.[24] At the Battle of Ostrach, II. Division took position behind François Joseph Lefebvre's Advance Guard, on the slope below Pfullendorf. At the Battle of Stockach, Souham's Division, positioned in the center, was to coordinate a simultaneous assault with Ferino's I. Division on the Austrian left flank.[25]
II. Division General of Division Joseph Souham Adjutants: Pierre-Charles Lochet and Henri Gatien Bertrand | ||||||||||
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Column | Commander | Units | Notes | |||||||
Left | General of Brigade François Goullus |
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The 1st Dragoons fought at Battle of Frauenfeld, First Battle of Zurich, and at the action at Battle of Schwyz in the summer 1799. Their Chef de Brigade Jean-Baptiste-Theodore Vialanes was wounded in southwestern Germany in 1800; he eventually was promoted to brigadier general in 1803 and raised to baron of the Empire in 1808.[26] Jacques LeBaron was Chef de Brigade of the 6th Dragoons; he was killed on 6 February 1807 at the Battle of Eylau.[27] | |||||||
Right | General of Brigade Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen |
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Francois-Alexis Guyonneau de Pambour (1766–1802) was appointed Chef-de-Brigade of the 7th Horse Artillery on 26 March 1799; the previous Chef Nicolas-Louis Gueriot de Saint-Martin had been promoted to brigadier general in February of that year. The regiment was disbanded in 1801. The 2nd Foot Artillery took battle honors at the Second Battle of Zürich in September 1799.[28]
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Strength: 5,630 infantry; 847 cavalry; 316 artillery; and 161 sappers.[29] | ||||||||||
Sources: Unless otherwise cited, Roland Kessinger and Geert van Uythoven. Order of Battle, Army of the Danube. Stockach: Roland Kessinger & Geert van Uythoven. Accessed 14 April 2010. |
III. Division
The Third Division and the Reserve also crossed at Kehl, and then divided into two columns, III. Division traveling through the Black Forest via Oberkirch, and the Reserve, with most of the artillery park, via the valleys at Freiburg im Breisgau, where the horses would find more forage, and then over the mountains past the Titisee to Löffingen and Hüfingen.[24] At the Battle of Ostrach, after more than 15 hours of general engagement, the Austrians flanked the III. Division's left wing and pressed the entire division back to the Pfullendorf heights.[30] At the Battle of Stockach, Saint-Cyr and Vandamme were to execute simultaneous attacks on the Austrian right flank, Saint-Cyr on the front and Vandamme from the rear; the attacks failed when Archduke Charles moved support troops from the left flank.[31]
III. Division General of Division Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr | ||||||||||
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Column | Commander | Units | Notes | |||||||
Left | General of Brigade Frédéric Henri Walther[32] Adjutant-General Jean Louis Debilly |
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Walther's dragoons covered | |||||||
Right | General of Brigade Claude Juste Alexandre Legrand Adjutant-General Charles Saligny de San-Germano |
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The 10th was commanded by Michel Ordener. Ordener was wounded on 14 August 1799. The 10th participated in the Battles at Ostrach and Stockach.[34]
Two squadrons from the 8th or the 10th Light Horse were detached to support Vandamme's flanking move to Stuttgart.[16] | |||||||
Strength: 4,844 Infantry; 1,353 cavalry; 301 artillery; 193 sappers | ||||||||||
Sources: Unless otherwise cited, Roland Kessinger and Geert van Uythoven. Order of Battle, Army of the Danube. Stockach: Roland Kessinger & Geert van Uythoven. Accessed 14 April 2010. |
Reserve
The Reserve crossed the river at Kehl, swung south toward Freiburg im Breisgau, and crossed the mountains at Neustadt, to Loffingen,
Reserve General of Division Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul | ||||||||||
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Commander(s) | Units | Notes | ||||||||
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Antoine Christophe was chef-de-brigade (colonel) of the 1st Regiment; Armand-Augustine-Louis De Caulaincourt was appointed chef-de-brigade of the 2nd Regiment on 30 July 1799; he was wounded on 2 November 1799. Both men were eventually promoted to brigadier general.[39] | |||||||||
Strength of Reserve – 2,897 infantry; 2,567 cavalry; 333 artillery; and 365 sappers.[20] | ||||||||||
Sources: Unless otherwise cited, Roland Kessinger and Geert van Uythoven. Order of Battle, Army of the Danube Archived 7 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Stockach: Roland Kessinger & Geert van Uythoven. Accessed 14 April 2010. |
Artillery park
Command: Jean Ambroise Baston de Lariboisière[40]
- Cannons: 33 four-pounders; 21 eight-pounders; and seven 12-pounders[16]
- Howitzers: 19[16]
- Personnel (effective strength): 1,329 non-commissioned officers and cannoneers; 60 officers; Total 1,389[41]
Sources
Citations and notes
- ^ a b Adolphe Thiers. The History of the French Revolution. New York: Appleton, 1854, v. 4., pp. 370, 401–402; Smith, "Clash at Winterthur." Databook, pp. 156–157.
- ^ a b Jean-Baptiste Jourdan. A Memoir of the Operations of the Army of the Danube under the Command of General Jourdan, Taken from the Manuscripts of that Officer. London: Debrett, 1799, p. 140.
- ISBN 1-85367-276-9, pp. 147–148.
- ^ Smith, Databook, p. 150.
- ^ Smith, "Clash at Winterthur." Databook, p. 156–157.
- ^ Lina Hug and Richard Stead. Switzerland. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1902, p. 361. Lawrence Shadwell. Mountain warfare illustrated by the campaign of 1799 in Switzerland: being a translation of the Swiss narrative, compiled from the works of the Archduke Charles, Jomini, and others... London: Henry S. King, 1875. pp. 110–111.
- ^ Jourdan, pp. 12–15, p. 88.
- ^ Promoted to General of Brigade 20 May 1795; See Tony Broughton. "Generals Who Served in the French Army during the Period 1789–1814: Vabre to Voulland". Archived 21 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine Napoleon Series.org. Robert Burnham, editor in chief. November 2007. Accessed 24 April 2010.
- ^ Formerly commander of the French garrison at Ehrenbreitstein. Jourdan, pp. 80–81.
- ^ Ramsay Weston Phipps. Armies of the French Republic. Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 1939, volume 5, p. 29.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8061-3875-6, p. 70.
- ^ Digby Smith. Napoleon's Regiments: Battle histories of the Regiments of the French Armies, 1792–1815. London: Greenhill, 2000, p. 201.
- ^ Smith. Napoleon's Regiments. pp. 109, 125.
- ^ Phipps, p. 28.
- ^ a b c Phipps, p. 33.
- ^ a b c d e See Roland Kessinger and Geert van Uythoven. Order of Battle, Army of the Danube Archived 2010-05-07 at the Wayback Machine. Stockach: Roland Kessinger & Geert van Uythoven. Accessed 14 April 2010. Neither Jourdan nor Digby Smith, Databook, specify the regimental or squadron numbers of these units.
- ^ Jourdan, p. 89.
- ^ Jourdan, pp. 96–97.
- ^ a b c Jourdan, p. 94.
- ^ a b Jourdan, p. 93.
- ^ Smith, p. 149.
- ^ Shadwell, p. 108.
- ^ Jourdan, p. 90.
- ^ a b c d Jourdan, p. 97.
- ^ Jourdan, p. 177.
- ^ Tony Broughton. 1st Dragoons. Military Subjects: Organization, Tactics and Strategy. Napoleon Series. Robert Burnham, Editor in chief. August 2000. Accessed 8 May 2010.
- ^ Tony Broughton. 6th Dragoons.. Military Subjects: Organization, Tactics and Strategy. Napoleon Series. Robert Burnham, Editor in chief. August 2000. Accessed 8 May 2010.
- ^ Tony Broughton. 7th Horse Artillery.. Military Subjects: Organization, Tactics and Strategy. Napoleon Series. Robert Burnham, Editor in chief. August 2000. Accessed 8 May 2010.
- ^ Jourdan, p. 91.
- Sir Archibald Alison. A History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution in 1789 to the Restoration of the Bourbons, New York: A.S. Barnes, 1850, p. 115.
- Timothy Blanning. The French Revolutionary Wars. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 232; Gallagher, p. 124.
- ^ Jourdan spells his name Valter. Jourdan, p. 92.
- ^ Shadwell, p. 109.
- ^ Tony Broughton. Commanders of the 10th Regiment of Chasseurs-a-Cheval. Military Subjects: Organization, Tactics and Strategy. Napoleon Series. Robert Burnham, Editor in chief. November 2000. Accessed 8 May 2010.
- ^ (in German) Roland Kessinger. "Die Schlacht von Stockach am 25. März 1799". Zeitschrift für Militärgeschichte. Salzburg: Öst. Milizverlag, 1997–. [2006].
- ^ Theodore Ayrault Dodge. Napoleon: A History of the Art of War. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 1904. vol. 3, pp. 581–582.
- ^ ISBN 1-84176-055-2, p. 27.
- ^ Promoted to general of brigade, 1 May 1794. See Broughton, "Cervoni to Custine de Sarreck." Napoleon-series.org.
- ^ Tony Broughton. Regimental Histories of the Carabiniers.. Military Subjects: Organization, Tactics and Strategy. Napoleon Series. Robert Burnham, Editor in chief. July 2000. Accessed 8 May 2010.
- ^ Jourdan, p. 94. He adds Bricket as a commander.
- ^ Jourdan, p. 94. Jourdan also lists commander of Squadron Borgeat, and Commanders of Battalion Grossclaude, Picoteau, and Cuny.
Bibliography
- OCLC 85023438.
- ISBN 0-340-56911-5.
- Broughton, Tony. Regimental Histories of the Carabiniers. (July 2000). French Foot Artillery., 1st Dragoons., 6th Dragoons, and 7th Horse Artillery. (August 2000). Commanders of the 10th Regiment of Chasseurs-a-Cheval (November 2000). Military Subjects: Organization, Tactics and Strategy. Napoleon Series. Robert Burnham, Editor in chief. Accessed 8 May 2010.
- Broughton, Tony. "Generals Who Served in the French Army during the Period 1789–1814: Vabre to Voulland". Napoleon Series.org. Robert Burnham, Editor in chief. November 2007. Accessed 24 April 2010.
- Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. Napoleon: A History of the Art of War. volume 3, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 1904.
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