Battle of Tuttlingen
| Battle of Tuttlingen | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Franco-Spanish War (1635–59) | |||||||
 Johann de Werth's Überfall bei Tuttlingen by Karl von Blaas (oil on canvas, 1866) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Holy Roman Empire Bavaria Spain |
 France | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Franz von Mercy |
Josias Rantzau (POW ) | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 15,000[1]-22,000[2] |
15,000[1]-18,000[2] 10 guns | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1,000[2] |
7,000[2]-10,500[1] 10 guns | ||||||
The Battle of Tuttlingen was fought in
Josias Rantzau, composed of French soldiers and the so called Weimarans or Bernhardines, German troops once in service of Bernard of Saxe-Weimar. They were defeated by the forces of the Holy Roman Empire, Bavaria and Spain led by Franz von Mercy. Technically, Mercy led a military force composed of his Bavarian army, supported by Imperial, Spanish, and Lorrainer
troops. The French army was wiped out in a surprise attack in heavy snowfall along with French strategic gains since 1638. The French court suppressed the defeat and it remains largely unknown today, even among historians of the war.
Prelude
In early November the French-Weimarian forces had besieged
Möhringen. With the French inactive and his own army reinforced by Imperial troops under Hatzfeld and Lorrainer troops under the exiled Duke Charles, Mercy convinced the other generals to agree to a surprise attack on the French encampment. To maximize surprise, the Imperials approached from the south-east instead of further to the north, where the Danube and the French garrison at Rottweil blocked their way.[1]
Battle
At mid-afternoon on 24 November,
dragoons captured the French pickets posted near Tuttlingen, allowing the Imperials to seize with minimal opposition the lightly defended French artillery park in the cemetery outside town. Heavy snowfall contributed to the surprise. The Weimarian cavalry in Mühlheim under Reinhold von Rosen attempted to reinforce the French at Tuttlingen but were intercepted and defeated by Mercy's brother Kaspar. Kaspar then destroyed the Weimarian infantry remaining at Mühlheim.[1]
The French cavalry fled the scene. The captured guns were used to bombard the French infantry in Tuttlingen and Möhringen, who capitulated the next day along with their commander Rantzau without losing a single man killed.[3] The fighting lasted for a day and a half, not so much due to the effectiveness of Franco-Weimarian resistance but because of the disorganized and isolated nature of their detachments. The 2,000-strong French garrison in Rottweil surrendered a week later.[1]
Rantzau's army largely ceased to exist, with 4,500 survivors retreating back across the
Rhine River into Alsace.[4] Moreover, Mercy held Rantzau, seven other generals, 9 colonels, 10 guns, the baggage and seven thousand French troops captive. Among the prisoners was the Duke of Montausier. Another 4,000 lay dead or wounded. The Weimarian army was permanently crippled by this disaster and the French were reduced to the positions they had held five years earlier. The French court minimized the defeat and it has remained largely unknown ever since.[5]
See also
- List of battles
References
- ^ a b c d e f Wilson 2009, pp. 642–643.
- ^ a b c d Bodart 1908, p. 71.
- ^ Die Schlacht bei Tuttlingen
- ^ Croxton, pp. 981, 987.
- ^ Wilson 2009, p. 643.
Sources
- Croxton, Derek. "The Prosperity of Arms Is Never Continual: Military Intelligence, Surprise, and Diplomacy in 1640s Germany." The Journal of Military History, Vol. 64, No. 4 (October 2000), pp. 981–1003.
- Wilson, Peter H. (2009). Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years War. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-7139-9592-3.
- Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618–1905). Retrieved 4 February 2023.
47°59′07″N 8°49′24″E / 47.9852°N 8.8234°E
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