Battle of Sinsheim
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| Battle of Sinsheim | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Franco-Dutch War | |||||||
 Turenne's command post at Sinsheim | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of France |
 Holy Roman Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Turenne |
 Aeneas de Caprara | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1,500 infantry, 6,000 cavalry[1] | 1,500 infantry, 7,000 cavalry[2] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1,100[3]–1,500 killed or wounded[1] |
2,000+ killed[3] [4] Unknown wounded 500 to 600 captured [5] | ||||||
The Battle of Sinsheim took place on 16 June 1674, near Sinsheim in modern Baden-Württemberg, then in the Holy Roman Empire. Part of the 1672 to 1678 Franco-Dutch War, a French army under Marshall Turenne defeated an Imperial force led by Aeneas de Caprara.
The war began in May 1672, when a French army invaded the Dutch Republic. In August 1673, the Dutch agreed an alliance with Emperor Leopold, opening a new theatre of operations in the Rhineland. For the 1674 campaign, Turenne was ordered to prevent Imperial troops entering the contested area of Alsace; facing a number of separate forces which outnumbered his in total, he sought to defeat his opponents piecemeal.
On 16 June 1674, Turenne intercepted a slightly larger Imperial detachment of around 8,500 men, on its way to join Alexander von Bournonville and their main army near Heidelberg. De Caprara managed to repulse the first two French assaults before withdrawing; although unable to prevent him linking up with von Bournonville, Turenne inflicted heavy casualties, and thereafter gained the strategic initiative in the campaign.
Background
When the
In January 1674,
The main French objectives for 1674 were to retake the Franche-Comté and key fortresses along their border with the Spanish Netherlands. Turenne was tasked with preventing the Imperialists entering Alsace but decided the best way to do that was to attack. On 14 June, he crossed the Rhine near Philippsburg, seeking to intercept an Imperial force under Aeneas de Caprara before it could link up with Alexander von Bournonville. On 16 June, Turenne caught Caprara outside Sinsheim and brought him to battle.[11]
The battle
Caprara aligned his infantry along the hedgerows and gardens at the entrance of the village.
Turenne deployed his infantry and his dragoons on foot. They forced the outposts, crossed the Elsanz and entered Sinsheim. The Imperials retreated through the village and fell back on the plateau behind the village.
To reach the plateau, the French had to climb a narrow passage. Turenne positioned infantry and dragoons in the hedgerows flanking the narrow passage, as well as in the castle and in the vineyard. The French cavalry could then advance through the passage.
An enemy counter-attack was stopped by the covering fire of the French infantry. The Imperials were repelled from the plateau and withdrew. Turenne immediately left Sinsheim to monitor the bulk of the Imperial army, stationed on the Moselle.
There were 2,000 to 3,000 deaths, according to sources. The city was completely destroyed.
Aftermath
The battle was only a limited success for Turenne, because both enemy forces succeeded in uniting near Heidelberg. On 1 July the
Turenne again crossed the Rhine and ravaged the Palatinate (July 1674), depriving the Imperials the resources to attack the Alsace.
References
- ^ a b Bodart 1908, p. 94.
- ^ Périni 1896, p. 72.
- ^ a b Périni 1896, p. 78.
- ^ Longueville 1907, p. 335.
- ^ Zabecki 2014, p. 1088.
- ^ Longueville 1907, p. 321-326.
- ^ Lynn 1999, p. 125.
- ^ Hutton 1989, p. 317.
- ^ Chandler 1979, p. 40.
- ^ Black 2011, pp. 97–99.
- ^ Zabecki 2014, p. 1089.
Sources
- Black, Jeremy (2011). Beyond the Military Revolution: War in the Seventeenth Century World. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0230251564.
- Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905). Retrieved 25 June 2022.
- ISBN 978-0713420753.
- De Périni, Hardÿ (1896). Batailles françaises, Volume V (in French). Ernest Flammarion.
- ISBN 978-0313324086.
- Hutton, Ronald (1989). Charles II King of England, Scotland and Ireland. Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0198229117.
- Lynn, John (1999). The Wars of Louis XIV, 1667-1714 (Modern Wars In Perspective). Longman. ISBN 978-0582056299.;
- Zabecki, David, ed. (2014). Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1598849806.
- Longueville, Thomas (1907). Marshal Turenne. Robarts - University of Toronto. London: Longmans, Green.
49°13′57″N 8°48′27″E / 49.2326°N 8.8076°E
- Périni, Hardÿ de (1896). Batailles françaises, Volume V (in French). Ernest Flammarion.