Battles of Stockach and Engen

Battles of Stockach and Engen
Part ofthe campaigns of 1800in theWar of the Second Coalition
Combat of Stockach, 3 May 1800 byFélix Philippoteaux,1838
Date 3 May 1800 Location StockachandEngen, Germany 47°51′10″N08°46′17″E Result French victory Engen: Draw Stockach: French victory
Belligerents
France	Austria
Commanders and leaders
Engen: Jean Victor Moreau Stockach: Claude Lecourbe	Engen: Paul Kray Stockach: Prince of Vaudémont
Strength
84,000	72,000
Casualties and losses
Total per Smith: 3,000 killed, wounded and missing Total per Bodart: 3,000 casualties	Total per Smith: 397 killed 718 captured Total per Le Spectateur militaire: 1,147 killed 1,884 wounded 3,862 captured Total per Bodart: 3,000 killed or wounded 4,000 captured

War of the Second Coalition:
Austria

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125miles

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The color black indicates the current battle.

Battles of Engen and Stockach(Ch. L. F. Panckoucke,1819)

TheBattles of Stockach and Engenwere fought on 3 May 1800 between the army of theFirst French RepublicunderJean Victor Marie Moreauand the army of theHabsburg monarchyled byPaul Kray.The fighting nearEngenresulted in a stalemate. However, while the two main armies were engaged at Engen,Claude LecourbecapturedStockachfrom its Austrian defenders (the latter commanded byJoseph Louis, Prince of Lorraine-Vaudémont). The loss of his main supply base at Stockach compelled Kray to order a retreat. Stockach is located near the northwestern end ofLake Constancewhile Engen is 20 kilometres (12 mi) west of Stockach. The action occurred during theWar of the Second Coalition,part of theFrench Revolutionary Wars.

Background

See theMesskirch 1800 Order of Battlefor details of the French and Austrian armies in the campaign.

Plans

At the beginning of 1800 the armies of France and the Habsburgs faced each other across the Rhine.FeldzeugmeisterPaul Krayled approximately 120,000 troops. Beside his regular Austrian soldiers he led 12,000 men from theElectorate of Bavaria,6,000 troops from theDuchy of Württemberg,5,000 soldiers of low quality from theArchbishopric of Mainzand 7,000 militiamen from theCounty of Tyrol.Of these 25,000 men were deployed east ofLake Constance (Bodensee)to protect theVorarlberg.Kray posted his main body of 95,000 soldiers in the L-shaped angle, where the Rhine changes direction from a westward flow along the northern border ofSwitzerlandto a northward flow along the eastern border of France. Unwisely, Kray set up his main magazine atStockach,only a day's march from French-held Switzerland.

Feldmarschall-LeutnantPrince Heinrich XV of Reuss-Plauencommanded the 25,000 troops in the Vorarlberg which included the Tyrolese. The 40,000-man center led by Feldmarschall-LeutnantFriedrich Joseph, Count of Nauendorfwas posted from Lake Constance on the east toVillingenon the west, with its forward elements along theRhinebetween the lake andBasel.The right wing consisted of the 15,000 troops of Feldmarschall-LeutnantMichael von Kienmayerguarding the passes through theBlack Forest,16,000 soldiers under Feldmarschall-LeutnantAnton Sztáraybehind the Rhine from theRenchRiver north to theMain Riverand 8,000 men defendingFrankfurt.Finally, a 20,000-strong reserve hovered nearStockach.There were garrisons in all the major fortresses and a small naval squadron on Lake Constance. In total, Kray disposed of 110,000 infantry, 25,000 cavalry, 4,000 gunners and 500 artillery pieces. In his rear was a major supply base and an entrenched camp atUlm.The Habsburg general was able to trace one line of supply throughMunichtoAustriaand a second one throughRegensburgtoBohemia.

General of DivisionJean Victor Marie Moreaucommanded a well-equipped army of 137,000 French troops. Of these, 108,000 troops were available for field operations while the other 29,000 watched the Swiss border and held the Rhine fortresses. First ConsulNapoleon Bonaparteoffered a bold plan of operations based on outflanking the Austrians by a push from Switzerland, but Moreau declined to follow it. Rather, Moreau planned to cross the Rhine nearBaselwhere the river swung to the north. A French column would distract Kray from Moreau's true intentions by crossing the Rhine from the west. Bonaparte wanted General of DivisionClaude Lecourbe's corps to be detached to Italy after the initial battles, but Moreau had other plans.

French Army

At the beginning of March, Bonaparte ordered Moreau to form his army into all-armsarmy corps.Accordingly, by 20 March 1800, there were four corps, with the last one serving as an army reserve.The Right Wing was led by Lecourbe and included four divisions led by Generals of DivisionDominique Vandamme,Joseph Hélie Désiré Perruquet de Montrichard,Jean Thomas Guillaume LorgeandÉtienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty.Vandamme commanded 9,632 infantry and 540 cavalry, Montrichard supervised 6,998 infantry, Lorge had 8,238 infantry and 464 cavalry and Nansouty directed 1,500grenadiersand 1,280 cavalry.The Center was led by General of DivisionLaurent Gouvion Saint-Cyrand comprised four divisions under Generals of DivisionMichel Ney,Louis Baraguey d'HilliersandJean Victor TharreauandGeneral of BrigadeNicolas Ernault des Bruslys.Ney had 7,270 infantry and 569 cavalry, d'Hilliers counted 8,340 infantry and 542 cavalry, Tharreau led 8,326 infantry and 611 cavalry and Bruslys directed 2,474 light infantry and 1,616 cavalry.

The Left Wing was commanded by General of DivisionGilles Joseph Martin Brunteau Saint-Suzanneand consisted of four divisions under Generals of DivisionClaude Sylvestre Colaud,Joseph Souham,Claude Juste Alexandre LegrandandHenri François Delaborde.Colaud led 2,740 infantry and 981 cavalry, Souham had 4,687 infantry and 1,394 cavalry, Legrand counted 5,286 infantry and 1,094 cavalry and Delaborde supervised 2,573 infantry and 286 cavalry. Moreau personally directed the Reserve which was made up of three infantry and one cavalry divisions led by Generals of DivisionAntoine Guillaume Delmas,Antoine Richepanse,Charles LeclercandJean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul.Delmas had 8,635 infantry and 1,031 cavalry, Richepanse directed 6,848 infantry and 1,187 cavalry, Leclerc commanded 6,035 infantry and 963 cavalry and d'Hautpoul counted 1,504 heavy cavalry.

There were additional detached troops under Moreau's overall leadership. These included General of Division Louis-Antoine-Choin de Montchoisy's 7,715 infantry and 519 cavalry, detached to hold Switzerland. Fortresses inAlsaceand along the Rhine were defended by forces under Generals of Division François Xavier Jacob Freytag, 2,935 infantry, Joseph Gilot, 750 cavalry, Alexandre Paul Guérin de Joyeuse de Chateauneuf-Randon, 3,430 infantry and 485 cavalry, Antoine Laroche Dubouscat, 3,001 infantry and 91 cavalry andJean François Leval,5,640 infantry and 426 cavalry.

References

• Arnold, James R. (2005).Marengo & Hohenlinden: Napoleon's Rise to Power.Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen and Sword.ISBN1-84415-279-0.
• Dodge, Theodore Ayrault (2011).Warfare in the Age of Napoleon: The Egyptian and Syrian Campaigns and the Wars of the Second and Third Coalitions, 1798-1805.Vol. 2. USA: Leonaur Ltd.ISBN978-0-85706-600-8.
• Lamarque, Jean Maximilien; Fririon, Franciois Nicolas baron, eds. (1836).Le Spectateur militaire: Recueil de science, d'art et d'histoire militaires, Volume 22(in French). Bureau de Spectateur militaire.
• Smith, Digby (1998).The Napoleonic Wars Data Book.London: Greenhill.ISBN1-85367-276-9.

General references

• Clausewitz, Carl von (2020).Napoleon Absent, Coalition Ascendant: The 1799 Campaign in Italy and Switzerland, Volume 1.Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.ISBN978-0-7006-3025-7
• Clausewitz, Carl von (2021).The Coalition Crumbles, Napoleon Returns: The 1799 Campaign in Italy and Switzerland, Volume 2.Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.ISBN978-0-7006-3034-9
• Bodart, Gaston (1908).Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618–1905).Retrieved3 February2023.

Preceded by Battle of Genola

French Revolution: Revolutionary campaigns Battles of Stockach and Engen

Succeeded by Battle of Biberach (1800)