The battle of Kirchheim is one of the battles of the War of the First Coalition that took place on June 19, 1796 near Kirhayb [3] between the army of the First French Republic under the command of General Jean-Baptiste Kleber and the army of the Habsburg monarchy under the command of General Paul Kray von Craiova Topol .
| Battle of Kirchheim | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Main conflict: First Coalition War | |||
 Kirchheim Battle Plan (drawing from the " Military Encyclopedia ") | |||
| date | June 19, 1796 [1] | ||
| A place | Kirkhayb | ||
| Total | French defeat | ||
| Opponents | |||
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| Commanders | |||
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| Losses | |||
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After the battle of Wetzlar, the French were forced to retreat to Tiefenbach , and from there, divided into two groups, began to retreat to the Rhine: Jourdan in the direction of Neuvid , and Kleber at Altenkirchen . For the pursuit of the latter, General Edge was sent with a 14-thousand army, and the Austrian Archduke Karl pursued Jourdan [4] .
The region allowed the dispersion of forces, advancing along several roads, having no connection. On the morning of June 19th, Kleber took advantage of this and with 24 battalions and 28 squadrons launched an offensive near Kirchheim, where the terrain allowed for hidden maneuvering. The severed Austrians retreated in disarray and occupied the surrounding hills. Kleber, holding back the enemy at the front, sent strong columns bypassing both flanks [4] .
Around noon, Antoine Rispans' cavalry overturned the Austrian cavalry of the right flank; pursuing the retreating, General Rispans himself came under fire and was forced to retreat [4] .
About two o'clock in the afternoon, the right Bastulya roundabout (3 battalions and 9 squadrons) attacked the left flank, and the Edge had to clear Kirchheim. Trying to break through the location of the Austrians, Kleber attacked them with four battalions and one half-brigade from the front, while bypass columns rushed from the flanks. Despite the carcass fire, the French ascended to the heights, but here they were met with coordinated rifle salvoes at close range of 4 battalions of Gennral Milius, who then rushed into the hand-to-hand combat. In short hand-to-hand combat, the French lost their banner and were forced to retreat [4] .
Although Kleber still had one more reserve division, but he saw that fresh reinforcements were coming up to the Austrians, stopped the battle, especially since he received news that Jourdan had already crossed the Rhine River.
The French lost on this day from one and a half to two thousand people killed and wounded; Austrians lost about 400 people.
Notes
- β In the Sytin Military Encyclopedia, probably erroneously, the date is June 18th.
- According to German Wikipedia .
- β Kirchheim // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 t. (82 t. And 4 add.). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- β 1 2 3 4 Kirchheim // Military Encyclopedia : [in 18 t.] / Ed. VF Novitsky [et al.]. - SPb. ; [ M. ]: Type. t-islands I. D. Sytin , 1911-1915.
Literature
- Golitsyn. N.S. The general military history of the new times (1650-1791).
- Giguet "Histoire des campagnes d'Allemagne, d'Italie et de Suisse pendant les annΓ©es 1769-99". Paris. 1817.