Battle of Bergen (1759)

The French army at the beginning of 1759 consisted of 97 thousand people, of which 66 thousand under the command of the French commander-in-chief, Marshal Louis Georges Contad , were in winter apartments along the Rhine , and 31 thousand, led by the Duke de Broglie , were the so-called. Maine Army, stationed in Frankfurt.

The plan of Ferdinand of Braunschweig, who led the army of the Prussians and their allies, was to defeat the French one by one, not allowing them to join. To this end, he supposed to attack the French by surprise, in their winter apartments, to his amazement, this plan did not succeed in relation to the Main Army, it turned out that the French were prepared to meet with him. The clash of opponents occurred on April 13 near the town of Bergen, near Frankfurt .

The Duke de Broglie led the combined army of the French and Saxons, numbering 49 battalions and 44 squadrons with 135 guns, a total of 35 thousand people. The Saxons, about 4 thousand people who were in the army, were allocated in a separate detachment under the command of Prince Xaver.

The Prince of Braunschweig had under his command 27 battalions, 6 companies of huntsmen and 43 squadrons, a total of 28 thousand people. The prince’s heavy artillery (71 guns) got stuck in the mud on the approach to Bergen and did not ripen to the start of the battle, which was probably one of the main reasons for the failure of the Allied army, thus, all the artillery of the Prince of Brunswick was made up of light guns available (according to 2 per battalion) with infantry, total of 54 light guns.

The right flank of the French relied on the town of Bergen surrounded by gardens (in Bergen there were 8 infantry battalions and 15 in reserve, behind Bergen). The gardens were cut down and there were set-ups made of trees, behind which was a battery of 16 guns. The center stretched for 2000 steps (0.8 meters are considered to be a step) between Bergen and the Wiebel forest and consisted of 8 small batteries (45 guns in total), behind which were 32 cavalry squadrons. Part of the French infantry occupied the skyscraper dominating the battlefield, without having artillery. The rest of the French infantry was located between the last, 8th battery, and the Wiebel forest, in which there were Alsatian huntsmen from the free battalion (Volontaires d'Alsace). The left flank consisted of the Saxon detachment under the command of Prince Xaver, who was armed with 16 guns. Prince Xaver guarded the road to the town of Wibel. Well, and finally, the remaining 12 squadrons of the French cavalry were in reserve, in the forest, behind the positions of the Alsatians. The Prussian military historian, Colonel Decker, who discusses the battle in detail, writes that he, with all his efforts, could not understand the meaning of such a construction, except that the Duke de Broglie was able, by some miracle, to predict the future course of the battle, which, according to Decker, was relationship "one of the strangest tactical anomalies."

Appearing near Bergen, the Prince of Braunschweig, without waiting for the approach of heavy guns, without artillery preparation, immediately goes on the attack on the French positions. The army of the prince was built for that time traditionally: in the center-infantry, on the flanks-cavalry. The huntsmen (4 companies) were sent to Wiebel, where they “charmed” all day in the forest with the Alsatian battalion, not achieving success. Consisting of 5 battalions and 4 squadrons, the vanguard strikes at Bergen. Without artillery support, the soldiers had to run across an open space to the French notches, which they initially, by some miracle, succeed and they even capture part of the French cannons. But soon the attack was repelled, and two attempts to come to the aid of the vanguard were repulsed. The French constantly "feed" the defenders of Bergen with soldiers from the reserve, their artillery brings devastation to the ranks of the attackers. The Prince of Braunschweig forms a battery of 30 battalion guns and three, by that time, heavy guns, entering, from a distance of 2000 steps, into a hopeless duel with heavy French artillery. Over time, the battle becomes increasingly chaotic, breaking up into a series of fights around Bergen, where both sides fight selflessly, however, it is difficult to guess any line, logic in their actions, attacks and counterattacks, which will later allow Colonel Decker to call the battle of Bergen "Tactical anomaly." Almost all reserves are drawn into battle from both sides. Despite all efforts, the Union Army is not able to achieve tangible progress at any point. In the end, the Prince of Braunschweig withdraws his troops from the battle and rebuilds them, placing the cavalry in the center, and the infantry on the flanks. The purpose of this construction is to entice the French from their positions. The army of the prince is moving forward somewhat, however, the French are not amenable to bait and strengthen, on the contrary, their defense of Bergen. Having received by then 11 more heavy guns, the Prince of Braunschweig was trying for the last time to duel with the French artillery, however, in order to give vent to his chagrin than for any practical purpose. In the evening, the Allied Army leaves back to Vinden, without taking Bergen.

Losses of the Prussians and their allies amounted to 2,373 people, with regard to the French losses, there are great differences between historians: from 1800 (Decker) to 4000, that is, much more than the Allied army, at Groeler.

Under Bergen, the French won their first independent victory in the battle at the German theater of the Seven Years War. It is not surprising that this victory was glorified almost as an epoch-making achievement, the French commander was literally showered with a stream of favors and rewards: the winner under Bergen was made by the prince of the Holy Roman Empire and the marshal of France . In the Prussian camp, Bergen was, on the contrary, assessed as a minor, temporary setback.

After receiving the news of the victory, the French commander, Marshal Contad , was ordered to unite with de Broglie and launch a joint offensive, occupy Hesse and, threatening Hanover , force the Allied army to withdraw from Westphalia . On June 3, both French armies joined at Giessen and soon captured the Minden fortress. This was the end of their success: on August 1, 1759, the French were defeated by the Prince of Braunschweig at the Battle of Minden .

• Groehler, Olaf . Die Kriege Friedrichs II. - Berlin: Brandenburgisches Verlagshaus, 1990.

• C. von Decker, Oberst und Brigadier der Ersten Artillerie Brigade ir .: Die Schlachten und Hauptgefechte des siebenjährigen Krieges. Mit vorherrschender Bezugnahme auf den Gebrauch der Artillerie, in Verbindung mit den beiden andern Hauptwaffen der Armee, Druck und Verlag von Ernst Siegfried Mittler, Berlin, Posen und Bromberg 1837 on [1]