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Battle of Biberach (1796)

Coordinates: 48°06″N 9°48″E / 48.00167°N 9.01333°E / 48.00167; 9.01333
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This article is about the battle in 1796. For the battle in 1800, see Battle of Biberach (1800).

48°06″N 9°48″E / 48.00167°N 9.01333°E / 48.00167; 9.01333

Battle of Biberach (1796)
Part of the War of the First Coalition

Photo shows Biberach and the nearby rolling hills.
Date2 October 1796
Location
Biberach an der Riss, Germany
Result French victory
Belligerents
France France Holy Roman Empire Habsburg Austria
Commanders and leaders
France Jean Moreau Holy Roman Empire Baillet de Latour
Strength
35,000–39,000 15,000–26,000
Casualties and losses
500 killed & wounded 300 killed & wounded, 4,000 & 18 guns captured

The Battle of Biberach was fought on 2 October 1796 between a French Republican army led by Jean Victor Marie Moreau and a Habsburg Austrian army led by Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour. The French army paused in its retreat toward the Rhine River to maul the pursuing Austrians. The action occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars.

Two French armies invaded Germany in the summer and fall of 1796. They were opposed by two Austrian armies directed by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen. When the Archduke concentrated his forces against the northern French army, Moreau's southern French army failed to come to its aid because of a faulty strategy. After the northern army was driven back, Moreau's army was isolated and forced to retreat. At Biberach, Moreau turned on Count Latour's army to deal it a sharp blow. After the engagement, Latour followed the French at a more respectful distance.

Biberach an der Riss is located 35 kilometres (22 mi) southwest of Ulm on the Riss River.[1]

Background

Strategy

On 20 May 1796, the Austrians notified the French that the existing armistice would end on 1 June, thus initiating the Rhine campaign of 1796.[2] At this time, there were two Austrian armies defending the Rhine River. Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen commanded 71,076 infantry and 20,702 cavalry on the lower Rhine while Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser directed 82,776 soldiers on the upper Rhine.[3] Facing Wurmser's Army of the Upper Rhine was the French Army of the Rhine and Moselle led by Jean Victor Marie Moreau. Archduke Charles's Army of the Lower Rhine was opposed by the French Army of Sambre and Meuse under Jean-Baptiste Jourdan.[4] Lazare Carnot dictated a strategy that required the two French armies to operate on the extreme flanks of the Austrian armies. This faulty strategy would lead to the eventual failure of the French effort in Germany.[5]

Events in Italy caused a major change in the campaign. The French Army of Italy under its new commander Napoleon Bonaparte won a series of victories and occupied Milan on 15 May 1796.[6] This compelled the Austrian government to order Wurmser and 25,330 soldiers to transfer to the Italian theater. When Wurmser left Germany on 18 June, Archduke Charles was placed in overall command of both Austrian armies in Germany, totaling 151,334 troops. At this time, Moreau commanded 79,592 French soldiers and Jourdan led 77,792 French troops. Count Baillet de Latour replaced Wurmser in command on the upper Rhine, while Wilhelm von Wartensleben assumed command over Austrian forces on the lower Rhine.[7] Putting both armies in Germany under one supreme commander gave Austria a strategic advantage over the French, whose two armies were given separate and not necessarily cooperative orders.[4]

Operations

Using the French bridgehead at Düsseldorf to his advantage, Jourdan moved the bulk of his army south on the east bank of the Rhine as far as the Lahn River. Archduke Charles reacted by moving to the Lahn with superior forces.[8] The French were defeated at the Battle of Wetzlar on 15 June 1796. Jourdan's forces subsequently withdrew partly to Düsseldorf[9] and partly to the west bank of the Rhine. While the Austrians concentrated their forces against Jourdan's army, Moreau's army forced a crossing of the Rhine upstream near Kehl on 24 June.[10] Leaving 25,351 infantry and 10,933 cavalry with Wartensleben, the Archduke raced south to confront Moreau's army.[7] In the Battle of Ettlingen on 9 July, Moreau compelled Archduke Charles to abandon the Rhine River and retreat.[11] The Archduke left 30,000 troops in the garrisons of Mainz, Mannheim, Philipsburg, Ehrenbreitstein, and Königstein.[12]

Painting shows a balding man in a white military uniform embellished with various medals.
Archduke Charles

In the north, Jourdan left 28,545 soldiers under François Séverin Marceau to blockade Mainz and Ehrenbreitstein.[13] The remainder of the Army of Sambre and Meuse, a total of 46,197 men, advanced east in pursuit of Wartensleben's 36,284 Austrian soldiers.[14] In the south, the Army of the Rhine and Moselle also marched east with its left wing led by Louis Desaix, its center commanded by Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, and its right wing under Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino.[15] In the Battle of Neresheim on 11 August 1796, Archduke Charles lashed out at Moreau's army, but his troops were repulsed mostly by Saint-Cyr's forces. The Archduke then withdrew his army to the south bank of the Danube.[16] In the north, Jourdan's army pushed Wartensleben's troops behind the Naab River.[17]

Print shows a man with long sideburns wearing a dark military uniform with a single row of buttons and an embroidered collar.
Jean Victor Moreau

Archduke Charles left Count Baillet de Latour with 30,288 Austrians, plus the Army of Condé (5,000–6,000), to oppose Moreau and moved north with 28,000 troops. He crossed to the north bank of the Danube at Ingolstadt on 17 August 1796 and marched to reinforce Wartensleben.[18] Moreau's army crossed to the south bank of the Danube, but instead of following the Archduke, it drove straight east.[19] Moreau's 59,000 men rather handily defeated Latour at the Battle of Friedberg on 24 August.[20] However, that same day the Archduke defeated Jourdan's army at the Battle of Amberg. Jourdan was defeated again at the Battle of Würzburg on 3 September and his army was chased west to the Rhine. The Austrians relieved the sieges of both Mainz and Mannheim on 8 September.[21]

On 19 September 1796, Moreau found his 64,000-man army isolated, and he began to retreat to the west. The Austrian forces that tried to surround him were Count Latour with 16,960 men, Michael von Fröhlich with 10,906 soldiers on the upper Iller River and the Tyrol, Friedrich Joseph, Count of Nauendorf with 5,815 troops marching to occupy Ulm, and Franz Petrasch with 5,564 men on the Rhine. Archduke Charles left 32,000 soldiers to watch the defeated Army of Sambre and Meuse and hurried south with 16,000 troops. In addition, 13,334 men from the Rhine garrisons were available. Nauendorf, after being reinforced to 9,500 men, headed west from Ulm to Tübingen, which took his force away from Latour. Nevertheless, Latour believed that he had the French on the run and acted very aggressively.[22]

On 30 September, Latour's vanguard under his brother Louis Antoine, Count Baillet de Latour-Merlemont (referred to by Edward Cust and hereafter as Count Baillet) ran into Saint-Cyr's troops at Bad Schussenried and lost 300 prisoners.[23] This setback came at the hands of Claude Lecourbe's French brigade. That night, Moreau, Desaix, and Saint-Cyr met to decide what to do next.[24] Moreau determined to stun Latour's army with a hard blow in order to discourage pursuit. At this time, Desaix's wing was deployed from Uttenweiler to Alleshausen, north of the Federsee. Saint-Cyr's troops were arranged from Bad Buchau to Bad Schussenried, south of the Federsee. Ferino was far to the south at Ravensburg, more than one day's march distant.[25]

Battle

The terrain near Biberach is hilly and wooded with deep streambeds. Count Latour's army was deployed in a difficult position with the Riss River across its line of retreat.[25] The Austrian right flank under Siegfried von Kospoth with 6 battalions and 10 squadrons ran from Stafflangen to the north. Count Baillet held the center at Steinhausen with 6 or 7 battalions and 12 squadrons. The Austrian left under Karl Mercandin with 7 or 8 battalions and 19 squadrons was supported by the Army of Condé (French Royalists) at Winterstettenstadt.[23][note 1] Counting only those troops that were present at the battle, Moreau had 39,000 men against Latour's 26,000 troops, according to historian Ramsay Weston Phipps.[26] Digby Smith estimated a strength of 35,000 men for the French and only 15,000 for the Austrians.[1]

The French troops under General Louis Desaix attacked at noon on October 2, advanced via Seekirch, threw back an enemy detachment from Ahlen and pursued the Austrians via Gutharzhofen to Burren. The now open right flank of the imperial division under Siegfried von Kospoth forced this general to retreat his troops via Biberach to the Galgenberg, where the French left wing between Birkenhard and Stafflangen developed to attack.

On the other wing, three French columns had meanwhile advanced on the streets of Reichenbach and Schussenried and had begun the attack against the Austrian division of Karl Mercandin and Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé. When the corps under Saint-Cyr with a half-brigade from Sattenbeuren swung across the mossy ground, which was considered impenetrable, against Latour's right flank and the other columns also renewed their attack. Latour had to withdraw his center back to the new position at Groth under the protection of the cavalry. The divisions under Prince Conde and Mercandin were pushed back to Ingoldingen and Winterstätten. After Saint-Cyr's troops marched slowly between Muttensweiler and Wattenweiler, Latour forced him back. Latour, at the necessary time to save his artillery park stood there.

General Desaix had meanwhile decided on the left wing to bypass the opposing lines on the Galgenberg via Oberndorf through the valley there towards Biberach. Latour ordered a general retreat, Field Marshal Lieutenant Mercandin had to retreat to Eberhardzell, Prince Conde to Schweinhausen and Ummendorf, and Kospoth's division through Biberach to the other heights of the Riss. The French advanced from Lindeberg, the garrison of the city and the last four battalions of Kospoth were taken prisoner. Appendorf was set on fire during the retreat. Here, as at Rissegg, the fire was kept up into the night.

The troops of Baillet-Latour were defeated after a short battle and left 300 dead and wounded on the battlefield. In addition, they lost 18 cannons and two regimental flags

Aftermath

Desaix followed on the left wing with two divisions along the Danube; the troops under General Saint-Cyr took the route to Pfullendorf and Stockach. A rearguard remained to watch Latour's defeated troops. The troops under Desaix crossed the Danube near Riedlingen and pursued Sigmaringen. From now on the Austrians contented themselves with following the French from a distance without attempting to stop them again. The fighting flared up again in the Battle of Emmendingen on October 19, when Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen caught the French again, after the Battle of Schliengen (October 24), Moreau's troops had to retreat across the Rhine.

Notes

Footnotes
  1. ^ In Cust, battalions always referred to infantry units and squadrons always referred to cavalry units.
Citations
  1. ^ a b Smith 1998, p. 125.
  2. ^ Phipps 2011, p. 278.
  3. ^ Phipps 2011, p. 274.
  4. ^ a b Dodge 2011, p. 286.
  5. ^ Dodge 2011, p. 287.
  6. ^ Phipps 2011, p. 280.
  7. ^ a b Phipps 2011, p. 290.
  8. ^ Dodge 2011, pp. 287–288.
  9. ^ Smith 1998, p. 114.
  10. ^ Dodge 2011, p. 288.
  11. ^ Smith 1998, p. 117.
  12. ^ Dodge 2011, p. 292.
  13. ^ Phipps 2011, p. 297.
  14. ^ Phipps 2011, p. 302.
  15. ^ Phipps 2011, p. 317.
  16. ^ Phipps 2011, pp. 320–324.
  17. ^ Dodge 2011, p. 296.
  18. ^ Phipps 2011, p. 328.
  19. ^ Phipps 2011, p. 330.
  20. ^ Phipps 2011, p. 335.
  21. ^ Smith 1998, pp. 120–122.
  22. ^ Phipps 2011, pp. 367–370.
  23. ^ a b Cust 1860, p. 55.
  24. ^ Phipps 2011, pp. 370–371.
  25. ^ a b Dodge 2011, p. 304.
  26. ^ Phipps 2011, p. 371.

References

  • Cust, Edward (1860). "Annals of the Wars of the Eighteenth Century: 1796–1799, Volume 5". London: Mitchell's Military Library. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  • Dodge, Theodore Ayrault (2011). Warfare in the Age of Napoleon: The Revolutionary Wars Against the First Coalition in Northern Europe and the Italian Campaign, 1789-1797. Vol. 1. Leonaur Ltd. ISBN 978-0-85706-598-8.
  • Phipps, Ramsay Weston (2011) [1929]. The Armies of the First French Republic and the Rise of the Marshals of Napoleon I: The Armées du Moselle, du Rhin, de Sambre-et-Meuse, de Rhin-et-Moselle. Vol. 2. Pickle Partners Publishing. ISBN 978-1-908692-25-2.
  • Smith, Digby (1998). The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill. ISBN 1-85367-276-9.
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