Battle of Würzburg
The Battle of Würzburg | |||||||
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Part of the 1796 Rhine campaign during the War of the First Coalition | |||||||
Battle of Würzburg by Martinet and Branche, 1837 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Republican France | Habsburg monarchy | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan | Archduke Charles | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
30,000[1] | 30,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
3,000, 7 guns | 1,500 | ||||||
The Battle of Würzburg was fought on 3 September 1796 between an army of the
The summer of 1796 saw the two French armies of Jourdan and Jean Victor Marie Moreau advance into southern Germany. They were opposed by Archduke Charles, who supervised two weaker Austrian armies commanded by Wilhelm von Wartensleben and Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour. At the Battle of Amberg on 24 August, Charles managed to concentrate superior numbers against Jourdan, forcing him to withdraw. At Würzburg, Jourdan attempted a counterattack in a bid to halt his retreat. After his defeat, Charles forced Jourdan's army back to the Rhine. With his colleague in retreat, Moreau was isolated and compelled to abandon southern Germany.
Battle
The French army advanced against what they thought to be an isolated Austrian division under
Jourdan's imagined superiority diminished even more when the division of
Result
Army of the Lower Rhine
The French suffered 2,000 killed and wounded, plus 1,000 men and 7 guns captured. The Austrians lost 1,200 killed and wounded, with 300 captured.
On 7 September, Charles forced the French to lift the siege of
Army of the Upper Rhine
Having disposed of Jourdan's army, the Austrian archduke forced Moreau's now-isolated army to retreat west through the Black Forest to France.[5] On 18 September, an Austrian division under Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz Petrasch stormed the Rhine bridgehead at Kehl, but was driven out by a French counterattack. At this time, Moreau's army was still south of Ulm. On 2 October, Moreau defeated Feldzeugmeister Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour's Army of the Upper Rhine at the Battle of Biberach. While French casualties numbered only 500, they inflicted 300 killed and wounded, while capturing 4,000 soldiers and 18 cannon.[6] This slowed the southern Austrian pursuit, but with Charles rushing south to cut him off from France, Moreau retreated to the Rhine.
On 19 October, Moreau with 32,000 soldiers fought Charles with 28,000 Austrians at the Battle of Emmendingen. The French suffered 1,000 killed and wounded, including General of Division Michel de Beaupuy killed. In addition, the Austrians captured 1,800 men and 2 cannons. The Austrians losses totaled 1,000, including Feldzeugmeister Wilhelm von Wartensleben killed.[7]
The French withdrew south and fought the
Order of battle
French Army
- Army of Sambre-et-Meuse: General of Division Jean-Baptiste Jourdan[9]
- 25,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, 11 artillery batteries
- Division: General of Division François Joseph Lefebvre
- Division: General of Division Paul Grenier
- Division: General of Division Jean Étienne Championnet
- Division: General of Division Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
- Cavalry Reserve: General of Division Jacques Philippe Bonnaud
Habsburg Army
- Feldmarschall Archduke Charles (30,000)[10]
- Division: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze
- Mixed Brigade: General-Major Michael von Kienmayer
- Infantry Brigade: General-Major Johann von Hiller
- Cavalry Brigade: Oberst Anton Canisius
- Mixed Brigade:
- Division: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Anton Sztáray
- Mixed Brigade: General-Major Prince Johann of Liechtenstein
- Infantry Brigade: General-Major Eugen Montfrault
- Bavarian Infantry Brigade: General-Major Bartels
- Grenadier Brigade: General-Major Konrad Valentin von Kaim
- Division: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann Sigismund Riesch
- Cavalry Brigade: General-Major Prince Alexander of Württemberg
- Cavalry Brigade: General-Major Joseph Spiegelberg
- Division: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Paul Kray
- Cavalry Brigade: General-Major Friedrich Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen
- Cavalry Brigade: General-Major Karl Joseph Hadik von Futak
- Infantry Brigade: General-Major Franz Sebottendorf
- Infantry Brigade: General-Major Prince Friedrich of Orange
- Infantry Brigade: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Joseph Staader
- Cavalry Brigade: General-Major
- Reserve: Feldzeugmeister Wilhelm von Wartensleben
- Grenadier Brigade: General-Major Johann Kollowrat
- Grenadier Brigade: General-Major Joseph von Schellenberg
- Grenadier Brigade: General-Major Ludwig von Vogelsang
- Cavalry Brigade: General-Major Prince Franz Seraph of Rosenberg-Orsini
- Cavalry Brigade: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Karl of Lorraine-Lambesc
- Division:
Notes
- ^ Smith, p 122. Smith's strengths are used. Smith and Rothenburg agree on losses.
- ^ Rothenberg, p 248. Rothenberg gives 44,000 as the Austrian strength, which may include Elsnitz's division. Smith's strengths were used instead.
- ^ Smith, p 122
- ^ Smith, p 124
- ^ Eggenberger, p 482
- ^ Smith, p 123
- ^ Smith, p 123–124
- ^ Smith, p 125–126
- ^ Smith, p 121–122
- ^ Smith, p 122. Some names and ranks were changed according to data in Smith-Kudrna.
References
- Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 BC to the Present. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications Inc. ISBN 0-486-24913-1.
- ISBN 0-253-31076-8.
- ISBN 1-85367-276-9.
- Smith, Digby; Kudrna, Leopold. "Biographical Dictionary of all Austrian Generals during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1792–1815". napoleon-series.org. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
- Hollins, David (1996). 'Decided by Cavalry: Würzburg 1796' in: 'Age of Napoleon' No.20 (Spring 1996) pp.12-17.
See also
- Nafziger, George. "Austrian Army at Wurzbourg, 3 September 1796" (PDF). United States Army Combined Arms Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
External links
- Media related to Battle of Würzburg at Wikimedia Commons
Preceded by Battle of Amberg |
French Revolution: Revolutionary campaigns Battle of Würzburg |
Succeeded by Battle of Rovereto |