Battle of Kaiserslautern

The 36,850-man Coalition army of Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick successfully concluded the siege of Mainz on 23 July 1793. The French garrison of 18,675 men surrendered and was released on the promise of not fighting the Coalition for one year. The French government immediately sent the released troops to fight in the internal War in the Vendée. During the siege, the French suffered approximately 4,000 casualties while the Coalition lost about 3,000. The 60,000-strong Army of the Rhine under Alexandre de Beauharnais and the 40,000-strong Army of the Moselle under Jean Nicolas Houchard were poised to march to the relief of Mainz. However, Beauharnais had not informed the Mainz garrison that help was on the way and then took too long to start his movement. After the fall of Mainz, both French armies retreated, the Army of the Rhine to Wissembourg and the Army of the Moselle to the Saar River. Blamed for the loss of Mainz, Beauharnais fell into a funk, begged to be relieved of command and on 23 August 1793 he was replaced by Charles-Hyacinthe Le Clerc de Landremont. Meanwhile, Houchard had been replaced by Balthazar Alexis Henri Schauenburg on 5 August. Beauharnais was executed by guillotine on 23 July 1794. His widow Joséphine de Beauharnais later married Napoleon Bonaparte. Landremont was soon ordered to send 12,000 soldiers to the Army of the North. This reduced the strength of his field force to 45,000 with an additional 39,000 in garrisons or in the Upper Rhine Division under Jean-Charles Pichegru. Brunswick pressed forward toward the fortress of Bitche, driving back the Corps of the Vosges and the Army of the Moselle. At this moment, the French government dismissed Schauenburg for the crime of being an aristocrat. During his short tenure he had drilled the troops into better shape. The late commander of the Corps of the Vosges Jean René Moreaux was named to succeed him, but declined because an old wound had reopened. A division commander, Jacques Charles René Delauney reluctantly took over the army on 30 September. Landremont was also dismissed and arrested but his intended replacement, Antoine Guillaume Delmas was trapped in the siege of Landau. Pichegru was offered command of the Army of the Rhine but he refused. Since the generals saw that leading the army led to arrest or execution, none wanted to accept the command. Finally on 2 October, Jean Pascal Carlenc took command of the Army of the Rhine. He would quickly prove to be completely unfitted for the job. The Army of the Rhine withdrew to the Zorn River near Strasbourg while Wurmser's army occupied northern Alsace. On 22 October, Delauney sent six battalions to Saverne where they helped repel an attack by one of Wurmser's divisions. Pichegru took command of the Army of the Rhine on 29 October. That same day Delaunay was dismissed from command of the Army of the Moselle. The representatives on mission wanted Eustache Charles d'Aoust to replace Delauney but Lazare Hoche arrived from Paris to take command on 31 October. His rank was general of division rather than army commander because he was supposed to act under the orders of Pichegru. On 18 November, Pichegru began a series of attacks on Wurmser's defensive lines in the Battle of Haguenau. The French government reinforced the Army of the Moselle with 15,000 troops taken from the Army of the Rhine and 5,000 from the Army of the Ardennes. Both Hoche and Pichegru were well aware that the main objective was the relief of Landau. In mid-November 1793, Hoche advanced from the Saar with 36,000 troops while the rest of the army guarded the passes through the Vosges. Hoche used rough language with his subordinates; at this time he wrote one of his division commanders Jean-Jacques Ambert, "Listen, bugger of a sans-culotte...". On 17 November, a Prussian raid on the fort at Bitche failed. Leopold Alexander von Wartensleben's column of 1,200 picked soldiers overran the outer defenses with the help of a French traitor. However, they were soon discovered and repulsed with casualties of 120 killed and 251 captured. The French lost 63 men captured and few other losses. The same day, the French divisions of Alexandre Camille Taponier and Louis Pierre Huet bumped into 13,000 Prussians under Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth at Biesingen, north of Mandelbachtal. The 20,000 French troops were drubbed, losing 760 men killed or wounded and 42 captured against a Prussian loss of only 16 killed and 92 wounded. Despite the setback at Biesingen, Brunswick's troops were pulling back into winter quarters and Hoche entered Blieskastel on 18 November. The Prussians abandoned the camp of Hornbach and the French occupied it on the 19th. Believing that he had his enemies on the run, Hoche became very optimistic. Alarmed at the French offensive and anxious that they intended to relieve Landau by moving via Pirmasens, Brunswick made up his mind to offer battle at Kaiserslautern. ==Battle==

Forces The Duke of Brunswick's army consisted of 35¾ battalions, 54 squadrons and 10 artillery batteries, a total of 26,000 Prussians, Saxons and allies. There were three Prussian divisions led by General-Leutnants Ludwig Karl von Kalckstein, Nikolaus Heinrich von Schönfeld and Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth, one Saxon division, an Advanced Guard led by Colonel Szekely and a Guards brigade under General-major Friedrich Adrian von Roeder. All units are Prussian unless otherwise noted. The Advance Guard included five squadrons of the Combined Cavalry Regiment, two squadrons of the Saxon Hussar Regiment, the 2nd Battalion of the Vietinghof Infantry Regiment Nr. 38 and two field pieces. Roeder's Guards brigade consisted of two battalions of the Garde Infantry Regiment Nr. 15 and the 1st Battalion of the Grenadier-Garde Nr. 6. The Saxon Division comprised one battalion each of the Infantry Regiments Kurfürst, Prinz Anton, Clemens and Gotha and five squadrons each of the Carabinier, Leib Cuirassier and Kurland Chevau-léger Regiments. Kalckstein's division consisted of three battalions each of the Infantry Regiments Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Nr. 19 and Prinz Heinrich Nr. 35. Schönfeld's division included three battalions of Infantry Regiment Crousaz Nr. 39, Fusilier Battalion Legat Nr. 20, one company of Jägers, one company of Imperial Trier Jägers, five squadrons each of the Borstell Cuirassiers Nr. 7 and Lottum Dragoons Nr. 1, two squadrons of the Eben Hussars Nr. 2, and one foot and one horse artillery batteries of eight guns each. Kalckreuth's division counted three battalions each of Infantry Regiments Kalckstein Nr. 5, Duke of Brunswick Nr. 21 and Knobelsdorff Nr. 27, two battalions of Vietinghof Nr. 38, the 2nd Battalions of the Garde Nr. 15 and Grenadier-Garde Nr. 6, and five squadrons of the Voss Dragoons Nr. 11. The army artillery train was made up of 26 6-pound cannons in four foot batteries, eight 12-pound cannons in one foot battery and one battery of eight mortars. On 28 November the French army advanced in three columns against the Prussian position. with Taponier leading the right, Hoche the center and Ambert the left. Taponier moved against the village of Vogelweh while Ambert aimed to cross the Lauter at Hirschhorn. Taponier's column was the first to encounter the Prussians and to open the battle, meeting moderate success. The initial attack carried his troops onto the outer ridge of the Hoheneck heights. Taponier also came up against the Galgenberg (Gallows Hill) which was defended by a Prussian redoubt. Second day The next day the French army crossed the river in force. On the 29th, Dubois' advance guard crossed first and joined a brigade under Olivier in a costly attack on the Prussian entrenchments. Hoche set up a 29-gun battery on the Osterberg height, starting a mutual bombardment that went on for a few hours. The French general then hurled a column of 10,000 troops at the Prussian left flank. Huet's division in the left flank. Hoche's chief of staff Gabriel Marie Joseph, comte d'Hédouville brought up some French cavalry squadrons from the Osterberg and hit the Saxons in their right flank. More horsemen from both sides joined the melee and ultimately the Saxons prevailed. Third day Hoche persisted in his attacks on 30 November. At dawn, he directed his artillery to open a new barrage on the Prussian positions. While holding the woods in the center, the division of Huet had difficulty maintaining its position, suffering under a storm of grapeshot. The cavalry of both armies was very active; the fighting took the form of charges and counter-charges of the French and Saxo-Prussian cavalry. Following the passive strategy of his sovereign, King Frederick William II, Brunswick did not launch a pursuit. ==Aftermath==

Jomini estimated that the French suffered 3,000 casualties while the Saxo-Prussians lost 1,300. François Joseph Lefebvre was promoted to general of brigade for excellent work, as was Édouard Huet for repelling the Prussian assault at Bitche. Louis Huet had shown himself incompetent and was shelved. Brunswick seemed baffled by Hoche's clumsy attack on his army. In his subsequent actions the Prussian failed to fully cooperate with his colleague Wurmser. ==Notes==