Battle of Stockach
25 March 1799
Part 1
24th -- Evening Situation
by Roland Kessinger, Germany
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Evening Situations of St. Cyr and Merveldt After its retreat, St. Cyr’s 3rd Division held the following positions during the night of 24/25th: On the right was Legrand’s brigade, together with 8e DB (formerly with the "Flanquers"). Legrand’s right was formed by 50e DB on the open ground west of Emmingen ob Eck; in the centre was 1er DB northwest of Liptingen with elements in the open ground on the right. On the left was 8e DB in the forest near the Neuhausen-Tuttlingen road. The cavalry (8e and 10e Chasseurs a Cheval) was concentrated in the valley, through which ran the Neuhausen-Tuttlingen road. Walther’s left brigade was next to 8e DB northwest of Liptingen with its cavalry was massed with Legrand’s. On St. Cyr’s left, which formed the far left of the whole French army were the remaining units of Vandamme’s "Flanquers de Gauche" (1er DB legere, 3 squadrons) along the Danube between Stetten, Muhlheim and Fridingen. After GM Merveldt had driven St. Cyr from the open ground between Liptingen and Neuhausen ob Eck, he garrisoned the two villages with his infantry. Six squadrons of 1. Kaiser Hussars and a Cavalry artillery battery were sent north of Neuhausen ob Eck along the road to Muhlheim. Between that road and the Neuhausen-Tuttlingen road, Merveldt positioned 3 companies of Wurmser Freikorps. Further southwest on a hill on the north side of the main Liptingen-Tuttlingen road between Liptingen and Neuhausen stood the battalion of the 13 th Wallach-Illyrian Grenzer, who remained there through the night. A company of Wurmser Freikorps supported them from a position in the forest between Neuhausen and Liptingen, while two battalions of IR 31 Benjowsky were located either side of the Liptingen-Tuttlingen road. In the second Treffen (battleline) behind the infantry were 5 squadrons of 1. Merveldt Uhlans with their cavalry battery. A little bit further to the northwest, in the large forest to where St. Cyr’s troops had retreated, were 3 companies of Wurmser Freikorps on both sides of the main road to Tuttlingen with 2 companies of IR 31 Benjowsky as reinforcement. On the road between Liptingen and Emmingen ob Eck were the three battalions of IR 1 Kaiser, facing towards Emmingen ob Eck. Three more squadrons of 1. Merveldt Uhlans formed the second Treffen behind IR 1 Kaiser. As an advance guard, 6 companies of the Wurmser Freikorps were stationed in the forest between Emmingen and Liptingen and in front of the infantry, Merveldt established a line of cavalry outposts. At 11 p.m. on March 24th, GM Merveldt received the order from Charles to push forward to Tuttlingen the following day. Pushing west beyond it, he was then to separate St. Cyr and Vandamme from the main French army near Engen, for which he would be reinforced with two battalions of IR42 Erbach. However, he was also to send GM Kempf with IR1 Kaiser back to the army near Stockach. These were the Archduke’s plans, but Jourdan would preempt him and Charles would be initially off-balance as the battle began. The Position of the Armies before the Battle During the 24th, the Austrian main army had marched in two columns from Pfullendorf to a new camp near Stockach. There the troops were divided into a left and a right wing with a small reserve. The left wing took up a defensive position between Wahlwies and Espasingen at Lake Constance: At Wahlwies was IR29 O. Wallis, while IR3 Erzherzog Karl, the other regiment FML Reuss’ Division was sent forward to reinforce GM Schwarzenberg’s advance-guard between Singen and Friedingen. Two battalions of IR22 Lacy guarded a defile near Espasingen. The cavalry Divisions under FML Mels-Colloredo and FML Prince Alexander Wurttemberg were positioned behind the hills in the second line. The reserve under FML Vincenz Kollowrath (the Grenadiers, IR2 Erzherzog Ferdinand and some cavalry) halted around the Nellenburg Hill just west of Stockach. FZM Wallis commanded the right wing that was resting near Mahlspuren. Only GM Kempf’s brigade had advanced to Liptingen to reinforce GM Merveldt. The substantial Austrian advance guard was now positioned along a line from Stahringen (Oberstlt. Wiedersberg) and Friedingen-Volkertshausen (GM Schwarzenberg) round to the north between Aach and Eigeltingen (GM Gyulai and GM Kienmayer) and then on to Liptingen and Neuhausen ob Eck (GM Merveldt with GM Kempf). The French outer right wing was near Radolfzell (Ruby’s brigade); Ferino’s 1st division was between Singen and Muhlhausen, with Souham’s 2nd Division on his left between Ehingen and Engen, mostly concentrated near the Stockach-Engen road. Further to the north, northwest of Engen, was Soult’s advance-guard Division , while St. Cyr’s 3rd Division was in the forest running south-west of Tuttlingen to Emmingen ob Eck. Vandamme’s reduced "Flanquers de gauche" (1er DB legere and 3 squadrons) formed the outer left wing at the Danube near Fridingen. The Reserve Division had retreated further during March 24th and was now near Immendingen on the Danube. That night, both commanders made their plans for the following day. More Battle of Stockach: Part 1 25 March 1799
March 22nd and March 23rd March 24th -- First Clashes March 24th -- Evening Situation Charles' and Jourdan's Plans March 25th First Clashes First Austrian Counterattack Battle of Stockach: Part 2 25 March 1799
Destruction of 8e Demi-Brigade and the Austrian Pursuit Comments on the Battle Orders of Battle Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #67 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com |