The battle of Spychern took place on August 6, 1870 and is the second battle of the Franco-Prussian War .
| Battle of Spychern | |||
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| Main Conflict: Franco-Prussian War | |||
| date | August 6, 1870 | ||
| A place | Speichern , France | ||
| Total | Victory of Prussia | ||
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| Forces of the parties | |||
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In the shadow of such battles as the battle of Mars la Tours and Gravelot , the battle of Spychern remains little studied and little known.
Content
Preparing for the battle
On August 4, 1870 , Prussian troops invaded France. The German army, having a seven-fold superiority in manpower over the enemy, was able to occupy Weissenburg and continued to advance deep into French territory. The army of Lorraine was immediately mobilized. But it was too late. The Prussian forces advanced too fast, and now the French were forced to retreat. When retreating, the French general Frossard made many strategic mistakes. He did not order the destruction of bridges across the Saar , damage to the telegraph and railways , leaving all these precious resources to the Germans.
Battle
In the morning of August 6, the battle began. Frossar occupied comfortable heights and prepared to repel the Prussian attacks. Prussian troops, receiving reinforcements throughout the day, introduced more and more soldiers. Frossar several times asked Commander-in-Chief Bazin to send reinforcements, but Bazin decided that the battle was lost anyway and, fearing the encirclement of his own army, did not send reinforcements.
Prussian Krupp guns quickly suppressed short-range French artillery. At about 4 p.m., Prussian troops with heavy losses captured the approaches to the heights where the French army was located. Frossar ordered the infantry to attack. A fierce battle ensued, sometimes turning into hand-to-hand combat. Toward evening, Frossard, who did not wait for reinforcements, orders the soldiers to descend from the heights. The French begin to leave their fortifications.
End of battle
The battle continued in the form of small skirmishes in the surrounding villages until the early morning of August 7th . The Steinmets army suffered heavy losses, but the battle won. Now the entire French army continued its retreat inland. With the retreat of Frossard, the French army lost the last chance to repulse the enemy near his own territory.
It is worth noting that the battle of Woerth took place on the same day, in which the more famous French commander-in-chief McMahon suffered a catastrophic defeat.
Literature
- Spiechner-Forbach // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- Thomas Harbotle. The battle of world history. - M., 1993.