Battle of Swalmen 1793
Dutch During the
Revolutionary Wars Part 12
Introduction
by Geert van Uythoven, Netherlands
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In part 6 [1] of this series I have
already described what happened in the eastern part of the Dutch Republic,
for simplicity called the ‘Limburg region’. To provide a firm base to
understand the events that I will describe in this and the following
parts, I will summarize the most important facts. See the accompanying
map for the situation in the Limburg region on 1 March 1793.
In the Limburg region attention was focused on three cities: Venlo,
Roermond and Maastricht, all three located at the river Meuse. Venlo and
Maastricht were on Dutch territory, Roermond was part of Austrian
Geldern. Venlo was a Dutch enclave in the middle of Prussian Geldern, east
of the Meuse. In Prussian Geldern stood a Prussian army to cover
Prussia’s Westphalian provinces, commanded by Friedrich August D.
Herzog von Braunschweig-Oels (Duke of Brunswick-Oels).
Map
Locations of the French and Allied armies in the Limburg region, 1 March 1793
French positions:
Allied positions:
Duke of Brunswick-Oels
The Duke of Brunswick-Oels’ field army consisted of about 11,400 men. The Prussians
had taken up positions east of Venlo, with outposts along the river Meuse,
while the Duke of Brunswick-Oels had his headquarters in Kempen. To cover
the Prussian right flank, the Duke of Brunswick had occupied Venlo,
previously only weakly held by 200 Dutch soldiers. Major General von
Pirch was appointed governor of Venlo, and the Prussian troops brought
the fortress-city as much as possible into a proper state of defence.
On the west bank of the Meuse, opposite Venlo, the fortress St. Michel was
situated. This fortress was occupied by maréchal de camp Félix-Marie-Pierre
Chesnon de Champmorin, who commanded the nearly 6,000 men of the
Division de Gauche of the Armée du Nord . The Division de Droite of the
Armée du Nord , 6,000 men commanded by Lieutenant-General Louis-Philippe
d’Orléans, duc de Valois and duc de Chartres, was besieging Maastricht
on the west bank of the Meuse.
The advance guard of the Armée du Nord , consisting of about 6,500 men
and commanded by maréchal de camp Antoine-Nicolas Collier, comte de la
Marlière, occupied Roermond and positions on the east bank of the
Meuse, behind the Swalm brook. The Armée du Nord was commanded by
Lieutenant-General Francisco de Miranda.
As well as commanding the Armée du Nord , Miranda was at the same time interim commander of the
Armée des Ardennes instead of Lieutenant General Jean-Baptiste-Cyrus-Marie-Adélaide de Timbrune de
Theimbronne, compte de Valence, who was interim commandant en chef
during the absence of Dumouriez. Of the Armée des Ardennes, the Avant-Garde,
5,500 men commanded by maréchal de camp François-Joseph
Drouot, known as Lamarche, stood in the northern part of the Ardennes,
around Verviers and Eupen. Just south of him, around Stavelot and Spa, stood
the Division de Droite, just over 4,000 men commanded by maréchal de
camp Joachim-Joseph Levasseur de Neuilly. The Division de centre of
about 7,000 men, commanded by Lieutenant-General Alexis-Paul-Michel
Tanneguy, compte Le Veneur de Tillières, had taken up positions east
of Maastricht, on the east bank of the Meuse, also taking part in the siege of
Maastricht. The Division de gauche, 6,000 men commanded by Lieutenant-General
Dominique Diettmann, stood also east of Maastricht.
And yet another French army was present in this region, the Armée de la
Belgique, commanded by Dumouriez, however not present. The Avant-garde ,
nearly 13,500 men, commanded by Lieutenant-General René-Joseph,
chevalier de la Noüe; the Flanqueurs de gauche, just over 3,000 men,
commanded by maréchal de camp Joseph, compte Miaczynski; and the
Flanqueurs de droite, 1,500 men commanded by Colonel Jean-Henry-Guy-Nicolas de Grandval, marquis de
Frégeville, covered the French front, roughly east of and Aachen, opposite
the Austrian main army behind the rivers Ruhr and Erft. Finally, the
Corps d’armée principal (‘main force’) of the Armée de la Belgique,
12,750 men stood on the west side of the Meuse, between Liège and Maastricht.
To the west, between Namur and Liège, stood an independent Division as a strategical reserve, just
over 12,000 men strong, commanded by Lieutenant-General Louis-Auguste
Jouvenel des Ursins, comte d’Harville. Finally, southwest of Luxemburg,
stood the Armée de la Moselle, commanded by Lieutenant-General
François-Marie, comte d’Aboville.
According to French sources, the armies in the east were seriously
weakened. Over the last weeks, apparently over 10,000 soldiers had
left the ranks of the Armée du Nord and the Armée des Ardennes. Some
were officially on leave, many had taken leave themselves. Especially the
volunteers had suffered an enormous loss of manpower this way. These
were also short on officers, because many had left their units and entertained
themselves in Liège and Aachen.
As an example, from the 3me bat/de Paris, billeted in the village Haaren, only a few kilometres from
Aachen, only six of the 24 officers were present! [2]
Because of the lack of discipline, other soldiers formed bands
of marauders, and roamed the countryside for loot. Also the French were hampered by an enormous amount of
camp-followers. These found for themselves a place on the wagons and carts destined to transport baggage,
provisions, and ammunition, frustrating the already difficult supplying of the French troops.
The Austrian troops were also spread along a wide front, from Basel to the north to Mannheim, and further
from the area around Trier along the river Mosel to the north, finally to link up with the Prussian troops in Prussian
Geldern. In the area east of the fortress city Luxembourg stood an Austrian corps commanded by FZM
Fürst Friedrich Wilhelm Hohenlohe-Kirchberg.
This corps was about 12,000 men strong, and covered Trier (Trèves), the river Mosel and Luxembourg.
West of the fortress-city Luxembourg, on the road to Arlon, stood an Austrian corps commanded
by FML Johann Peter Freiherr von Beaulieu. His corps was about 13,000 men strong. The garrison of Luxembourg
was commanded by FM Bender. In case the Austrians might be pushed back to the river Rhine, both FZM
Hohenlohe as well as FML von Beaulieu had orders to strengthen the garrison to 15,000 men before they
retreated. The Austrian main army, about 45,000 men, was commanded by
FM Friedrich Josias Prinz von Sach-sen-Coburg-Saalfeld, who would also command the contingents of the
Allies: the Prussians of the Duke of Brunswick-Oels and the contingents
from Hanover and Köln. The Austrian main army was positioned behind the
rivers Ruhr and Erft between Düren and Jülich. FZM Karl Josef Graf
Clerfayt stood near Neuss with part of this army.
The campaign was to start with clearing the French from the east bank of the river Meuse. The Prussians then
would besiege and take the fortress-city Mainz (Mayence), with a force
consisting of 15,000 Austrians and 33,000 Prussians, covered by an army
of another 50,000 Prussians. Another Austrian Corps of 18,000 men, commanded
by FM Dagobert Sigmund Graf Wurmser would be held ready near Mannheim, to assist the Prussian
covering army if it would be attacked by the French. Also present was a
force consisting of about 6,000 French immigrants, commanded by Condé.
Their combat capability was however limited. They would not take part in
the initial fighting. After Mainz had been taken the Allied main army
would cross the river Meuse and besiege Mainz (‘Mayence’). Then the
advance into the Austrian Netherlands would be executed. However, the
French attacked into the Dutch Republic before the Allies were ready to
execute their plans. So without Mainz being taken, the Allies would have to
act before the Dutch Republic was knocked out of the war.
On 15 February, the decision was made that the main Austrian army
would go over to the offensive in the Netherlands. The 11,400 Prussians of
the Duke of Brunswick-Oels would have to cover the right flank, so its
task of defending the Westphalian territories was changed into an offensive
role. The Austrian army as well as the Prussians would be reinforced by German contingents, instigated by FM Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld in his role as Reichsfeldmarshall of the Holy Roman
Empire. As a secondary task, the Prussian army would have to retake
Roermond, while a Dutch army would relief Maastricht as soon as it would
be ready to take the field. The French troops in the Limburg
region thus totalled nearly 85,000 men.
All these troops were spread over an enormous wide area. They had to,
because they had to gather their food from the area they were in. As a result,
the dispersed troops were not able to support each other sufficiently. So
when the Austrians attacked, on 1 March, the French were set up for
disaster. But as I already have said, the description of this will have to wait
until the next part of the series.
First, lets have a look at the Prussian attack on the French positions before Roermond, on 3 March.
Battle of Swalmen, 1793 Dutch in Revolutionary Wars Part 12
The Dutch During the Revolutionary Wars
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The Situation in the Limburg Region