Battle of Arlon (1793)
Part of the War of the First Coalition
Date 9 June 1793 Location Arlon (Southern Netherlands) Result French victory
Belligerents
First French Republic	Archduchy of Austria
Commanders
Jean Nicolas Houchard
Strength
	8,000 men 30 siege artillery pieces

v • d • e War of the First Coalition Verdun – Valmy – Jemappes – 1st Mainz – Neerwinden – Famars – 1st Arlon - Hondshoote – Wattignies – Kaiserslautern - Toulon - Wissembourg - 2nd Arlon - Villers-en-Cauchies – Tourcoing – Tournay – 3rd Arlon - Ushant – Fleurus – Vosges – 1st Dego – Luxembourg – Genoa – Groix – Quiberon - Hyères – 2nd Mainz – Loano - Montenotte – Millesimo – 2nd Dego – Mondovì – Fombio – Lodi – Borghetto – Lonato – Castiglione – Neresheim – Amberg – Würzburg – Rovereto – 1st Bassano – 2nd Bassano – Calliano – Caldiero – Arcole – Expédition d'Irlande – Rivoli – Mantua – Fishguard – Neuwied - Camperdown War in the Vendée – War of the Pyrenees – Flanders Campaign - Anglo–Spanish War

The Battle of Arlon was an episode at the stronghold of Arlon (now in Belgium) on 9 June 1793 during the French Revolutionary Wars.

Contents 1 Campaign 2 Course 3 Notes 4 Bibliography

[edit] Campaign

During the Siege of Mainz, the armée du Rhin, under the orders of Beauharnais (who had come to replace Custine), was entrenched on the Lauter. After taking up his positions, the commander in chief had reorganised his troops and incorporated the recruits who had arrived from all sides.

At the same time the armée de la Moselle was retiring behind the Blies and Saar. This inaction displeased the National Convention and the two generals were strongly ordered by the Committee of Public Safety to re-assume the offensive and march to the aid of the army blockaded in Mainz by all the efforts of the Coalition forces. The surest means of raising the siege was to carry out a two-pronged simultaneous attack on the enemy, with the armée de la Moselle attacking by Pirmasens or Kaiserslautern and the armée du Rhin by the left bank of the river.

[edit] Course

Houchard, commander of the armée de la Moselle, believed in the same goal, advancing on the left on 9 June to attack Arlon, on the heights, defended by 8,000 men, 30 artillery-pieces and a chain of echelon trenches and overlooking all points from which it could be attacked. The Republican columns advanced at the charge in good order, shouting Vive la République ! and under fire from these batteries, with the French artillery being of too low a calibre to reply to any advantage. The right was more exposed than the rest and was charged by Austrian cavalry, but the columns in the centre and the artillery came to the right's aid and repulsed the enemy cavalry. During the fighting near Arlon the future general Duprès, then only a lieutenant, distinguished himself by capturing a whole Austrian company.

During this time general Beauregard was marching on Arlon from the right and took the heights overlooking the town. 400 carabiniers attacked a square of 1,500 Austrians under Feldmarschalleutnant von Schrœder^[1]. Several volleys of grapeshot, fired at only 50 paces from the front of the square, threw it into disorder and the carabiniers routed it. Arlon remained in French hands and the army set up its based there, but its capture was of no use to the besieged troops at Mainz, though Houchard's poor judgement in taking this action was not punished (he was made commander of the armée du Nord the following August).

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Johann Gottfried Freiherr von Schrœder. Ref.: Biographical Dictionary of all Austrian Generals.

[edit] Bibliography

• Général de Jomini : Histoire critique et militaire des campagnes de la Révolution (1811) ;
• A. Hugo : Histoire des armées françaises de 1792 à 1837 (1838) ;
• P. Giguet Histoire militaire de la France (1849) ;
• C. Clerget : Tableaux des armées françaises pendant les guerres de la Révolution (Librairie militaire 1905) ;