Нересхайм шайқасы: Бірінші коалиция соғысының эпизоды

1796 battle during the War of the First Coalition

The Battle of Neresheim (11 August 1796) was fought by the Republican French army under Jean Victor Marie Moreau against the army of the Habsburg monarchy of Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen. Pursued by Moreau's Army of Rhin et Moselle, Charles launched an attack against the French. While the Austrian left wing saw some success, the battle degenerated into a stalemate and the archduke withdrew further into the Electorate of Bavaria. Neresheim is located in the state of Baden Württemberg in Germany a distance of northeast of Ulm. The action took place during the War of the First Coalition, part of a larger conflict called the French Revolutionary Wars. In the Rhine Campaign of 1796, two French armies successfully breached the Rhine River to invade Germany, Moreau's army in the south and Jean Baptiste Jourdan's Army of Sambre et Meuse in the north. The French armies operated independently while Charles commanded both Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour's Army of the Upper Rhine in the south and Wilhelm von Wartensleben's Army of the Lower Rhine in the north. Charles hoped to concentrate superior strength against one of the two French armies. To keep his enemies separated, the archduke wished to lure Moreau south of the Danube River by crossing to the south bank. To allow his columns to cross the river safely, Charles attacked the French, hoping to push them back. Though he failed to defeat the French, the battle gave the archduke enough space to get his troops over the Danube without interference. Though he had a chance to join his army to Jourdan's in the north, Moreau soon crossed to the south bank in pursuit.

On 8 June 1796, the Army of Rhin et Moselle commanded by Jean Victor Marie Moreau numbered 71,581 foot soldiers and 6,515 cavalry, not counting artillerists. The army was formed into a Right Wing under Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino, a Center led by Louis Desaix and a Left Wing directed by Laurent Gouvion Saint Cyr. Ferino's three divisions were led by François Antoine Louis Bourcier, 9,281 infantry and 690 cavalry, Henri François Delaborde, 8,300 infantry and 174 cavalry and Augustin Tuncq, 7,437 infantry and 432 cavalry. Desaix's three divisions were commanded by Michel de Beaupuy, 14,565 infantry and 1,266 cavalry, Antoine Guillaume Delmas, 7,898 infantry and 865 cavalry, and Charles Antoine Xaintrailles, 4,828 infantry and 962 cavalry. Saint Cyr's two divisions were under Guillaume Philibert Duhesme, 7,438 infantry and 895 cavalry, and Alexandre Camille Taponier, 11,823 infantry and 1,231 cavalry. With artillerymen, Moreau's host counted a total of 79,592 soldiers. Originally, the Army of Rhin et Moselle was opposed by 82,776 Austrians and allies under Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser. But 25,330 Austrians were soon transferred to Italy and Wurmser went with this force on 18 June. Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour was appointed the new commander of the Army of the Upper Rhine. The former leader of the Army of the Lower Rhine, Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen was replaced by Wilhelm von Wartensleben so he could take overall command of both Austrian armies. During this period of maneuvering, Moreau switched the positions of two of his wings. Ferino still commanded the Right Wing, but Desaix now commanded the Left Wing while Saint Cyr led the Center. With Desaix on the left and Saint Cyr on the right, Moreau pressed north up the east bank of the Rhine to the Murg River. The French thrust severed Austrians under Fröhlich and French Royalists under Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé from the remainder of Latour's army. Ferino's wing pursued Fröhlich and Condé to the southeast and seized the region around Freiburg im Breisgau. On the Murg, Desaix won a minor victory over Latour in the Battle of Rastatt. By this time, Archduke Charles arrived from the north with 20,000 reinforcements. The archduke planned to attack on 10 July, but Moreau preempted him by one day. In the Battle of Ettlingen on the 9th, both commanders tried to hold with their left wings and attack with their right. On Moreau's right, Saint Cyr was successful in driving back Konrad Valentin von Kaim's Austrians near Frauenalb while Taponier's division pushed back Lindt's Saxons near Neuenbürg. On the French left, Desaix captured Malsch twice but was ultimately driven out. Despite having won the battle on his right flank, Charles feared Saint Cyr's advance might cut him off from his supply base at Heilbronn so the archduke ordered a retreat to the east. Archduke Charles stopped long enough at Pforzheim to transfer his military stores to the army's wagon train. Moreau was surprised by his foe's decision to disengage and took several days to digest this information. The French commander planned to attack Pforzheim on 15 July, but by that date Charles was retreating farther to the east. On 21 July, there was a skirmish at Cannstatt near Stuttgart. There were 8,000 Austrians in nine battalions and eight squadrons involved in the clash. From Cannstatt, Charles retreated toward Schwäbisch Gmünd with Moreau following his enemies at a leisurely pace. Meanwhile, the isolated Austrian left wing withdrew through Villingen On 29 July at Biberach an der Riss, the Swabian Regional Contingent was disarmed by Fröhlich on the instructions of Charles. At this time Ferino was at Memmingen to the south of the Danube. A report from 7 August 1796 showed that Saint Cyr shuffled the brigades in the Center so that Duhesme's division had only one while Taponier had the other three. In Duhesme's division, Dominique Vandamme's brigade was made up of the 17th and 100th Line Infantry Demi brigades, two squadrons of the 20th Chasseurs à Cheval and a detachment of the 11th Hussars, a total of 5,272 infantry and 292 cavalry. Taponier's division included the brigades of Antoine Laroche Dubouscat, Claude Lecourbe and Henri François Lambert. Laroche directed 5,124 soldiers of the 21st Light and 31st Line Infantry, Lecourbe commanded 5,878 men of the 84th and 106th Line and Lambert controlled 5,888 troops of the 93rd and 109th Line. Two squadrons of 240 sabers from the 2nd Chasseurs à Cheval were attached to Lecourbe's brigade. Altogether, there were 22,162 foot soldiers, 532 horsemen and 433 gunners in Saint Cyr's command. In addition to the other units, the 9th Hussars were normally attached to Taponier's division. The Austrian archduke commanded 43,000 men while Moreau led 44,737 troops. Charles massed his main strength against Saint Cyr, who commanded 30,426 soldiers if the nearby Reserve was included. The outnumbered Duhesme was to be assailed by 7,000 infantry and 2,400 cavalry. Once they crushed the French right flank, 3,000 men under Karl Mercandin were to attack Dischingen while the rest were supposed to circle behind Moreau's army and keep it from escaping. Hotze seized Kösingen but found himself facing a new French line on high ground between him and Neresheim. He attacked this position but was repulsed by Desaix. On Hotze's right, Honoré Théodore Maxime Gazan drove the Austrians back to Schweindorf. The Austrians took Bopfingen but found that the French were moving south to assist the center. Desaix had little trouble fending off these advances. But a message came from the far right that said Duhesme's division was in trouble. Riese attacked Duhesme at Medlingen, forcing him to retreat. A large force of Austrian cavalry reached Giengen to block the French retreat, but Duhesme escaped to the northwest. Mercandin ended the day 3 mile (5 km) short of Dischingen and Riese moved west to Heidenheim an der Brenz rather than making a sweep into the French rear. Fröhlich's column only got as far as Albeck, north of Ulm. Besides the two cavalry regiments that fought at Bopfingen, the Austrian units that came into action were four battalions of Infantry Regiments Reisky Nr. 13 and Slavonier Grenz, three battalions each of Infantry Regiments Manfredini Nr. 12, Nádasdy Nr. 39 and Kinsky Nr. 47, two battalions of Infantry Regiment Schröder Nr. 7, one battalion each of Infantry regiments Archduke Charles Nr. 3, Alton Nr. 15 and Ligne Nr. 30, the Apfaltrern, Candiani, Pietsch and Retz Grenadier Battalions, elements of Archduke Ferdinand Hussar Regiment Nr. 32 and four squadrons of the Archduke Franz Cuirassier Regiment Nr. 29. Furious with Duhesme for retreating, Moreau removed him from command of his division. Saint Cyr persuaded him to rescind the order a few days later. Napoleon later wrote of Moreau, "One would have said that he was ignorant that a French army existed on his left". The next actions were the Battle of Amberg