The Battle of Würzburg
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Date 3 September 1796 Location Würzburg, present-day Germany Result Austrian victory
Belligerents
France	Austria
Commanders
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan	Archduke Charles
Strength
30,000	30,000
Casualties and losses
3,000, 7 guns	1,500

The Battle of Würzburg was fought on September 3, 1796. It resulted in the victory of Austria under Archduke Charles against a French army led by Jourdan.

[edit] Order of Battle

[edit] French Army

• Army of Sambre-et-Meuse: MG Jean-Baptiste Jourdan (30,000)^[1]
  • Division: MG François Lefebvre
  • Division: MG Paul Grenier
  • Division: MG Jean Championnet
  • Division: MG Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
  • Cavalry Reserve: MG Jacques Bonnaud

Key

• MG = General of Division

[edit] Austrian Army

• Army of the Lower Rhine: FM Archduke Charles (30,000)^[2]
  • Division: FML Friedrich Hotze
    • Lt Brigade: GM Michael von Kienmayer
    • Inf Brigade: GM Johann von Hiller
    • Cav Brigade: OB Anton Canisius
  • Division: FML Anton Sztáray
    • Lt Brigade: GM Prince Johann of Liechtenstein
    • Inf Brigade: GM Eugen Montfrault
    • Bavarian Inf Brigade: GM Bartels
    • Gren Brigade: GM Konrad Kaim
  • Division: FML Johann Riesch
    • Cav Brigade: GM Prince Alexander of Württemberg
    • Cav Brigade: GM Joseph Spiegelberg
  • Division: FML Pál Kray
    • Cav Brigade: GM Friedrich Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen
    • Cav Brigade: GM Karl Haddick
    • Inf Brigade: GM Karl Sebottendorf
    • Inf Brigade: GM Prince Friedrich of Orange
    • Inf Brigade: FML Joseph Staader
  • Reserve: FZM Wilhelm Wartensleben
    • Gren Brigade: GM Johann Kollowrat
    • Gren Brigade: GM Joseph Schellenberg
    • Gren Brigade: GM Ludwig Vogelsang
    • Cav Brigade: GM Franz Orsini-Rosenberg
    • Cav Brigade: FML Karl of Lorraine-Lambesc

Key

• FM = Feldmarschall, army commander
• FZM = Feldzeugmeister, army or corps commander
• FML = Feldmarschal-Leutnant, corps or division commander
• GM = General-Major, brigade commander
• OB = Oberst or Colonel
• Inf = Infantry
• Cav = Cavalry
• Lt = Light (mixed cavalry and infantry)
• Gren = Grenadier, elite infantry

[edit] Battle

The French army advanced against what they thought to be an isolated Austrian division under Anton Sztáray. Jourdan's plan was to attack Sztáray with the divisions of Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte and Jean Championnet, leaving the divisions of Jacques Bonnaud and Paul Grenier in reserve. However, the early morning mist enabled Archduke Charles to bring up the division of Friedrich Hotze as a reinforcement to Sztáray, effectively undoing what Jourdan thought to be a great numerical superiority for the French.

Jourdan's imagined superiority diminished even more when the division of Anton Elsnitz to the north kept the much larger force under François Lefebvre out of the battle. Meanwhile, Austrian engineers were laying pontoon bridges over the Main in order to let the remainder of the Austrian army cross the river. The French attacked the Austrian position without success until the Austrian divisions of Pál Kray and Wilhelm Wartensleben arrived and drove the French off the field.

[edit] Result

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. Charles pursued the beaten French, turning Jourdan's south flank and keeping between him and a second French army in southern Germany under Jean Moreau. In less than a week, Charles forced the French to lift the sieges of Mannheim and Mainz.^[3]

[edit] References

• Smith, Digby. The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill, 1998. ISBN 1-85367-276-9

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ Smith, p 121-122
2. ^ Smith, p 122. Some names and ranks were changed.
3. ^ Smith, p 122

[edit] External references

• Austrian Generals 1792-1815 by Digby Smith, compiled by Leopold Kudrna