Battle of Aldenhoven /
Aix-La-Chapelle, 1793
Dutch During the
Revolutionary Wars Part 13
The Battle of Aldenhoven
by Geert van Uythoven, Netherlands
 |
The Archduke Charles immediately stormed the French positions and captured them, the French apparently only able to fire six cannon balls at the advancing Austrians. Both guns were captured, the French infantry retreating to Eschweiler. When these French arrived there, maréchal de camp Dampierre used them to reinforce the garrison of Röthgener Castle (‘Röthgener Burg) and the hamlet Oberröthgen south of Eschweiler (4me bat de Grenadiers), and to cover the artillery positioned on the Stich Hill (‘Sticher Berg’). The Archduke’s light infantry, leading the advance, arrived around 10.00 am in Eschweiler, and were so close behind the retreating French that they captured seven baggage carts on the market place of Eschweiler, before the French could retreat them. This would be in agreement with the statement that the French here were not alarmed before 08.00 am. Eyewitnesses report that after the alarm there was much disorder, cause the French ‘forgot’ much of their equipment, and finally they occupied their positions as already described. Another eyewitness states that a French captain, still lingering inside the house he was billeted in, was shot by a light infantryman. The same happened to a dragoon, who tried to flee with his child in front of him on his horse. Both fell from the horse, hit by several bullets. Another Frenchman had chopped his head off with a sabre when he, after being pardoned and handing over his musket, pulled out a pistol and treacherously shot an Austrian soldier. [2]
Redoubt
When the Archduke Charles arrived in front of the French positions at Eschweiler with the remaining troops under his command, he came under gunfire from a redoubt on the Röhe Hill, a strong position overlooking the whole valley. French artillery was apparently two batteries strong, commanded by capitaine de bombardiers Antoine-Alexandre Hanicque.
This redoubt was part of a line of entrenchments erected between the villages Hehlrath and Rüd, to block the road from Eschweiler to Aachen. The Austrians brought up their own guns, and an ineffective cannonade followed, with only slight loss on both sides. This lasted until about 11.30 am, when FML Prinz von Württemberg arrived on the scene with his force and deployed.
The Austrians apparently believed the French positions at Eschweiler to be very strong, and they were formidable indeed. Therefore FM Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld decided to pull out most of the forces at his disposal, to go north and to outflank the French positions at Eschweiler. The Avant-Garde and the 2. Treffen disengaged and marched north, following the road to the villages Dürwiss and Lürken, arriving in front of the French entrenchments at Höngen, were the French main force was collecting. I will first describe the actions here, before returning to Eschweiler.
At 14.00 pm, the Austrian Avant-Garde and the 2. Treffen reached Höngen. South of this village, on the ‘Begau’, being moor land, the French occupied a line of two big and three smaller redoubts, across the road from Jülich to Aachen. These redoubts were armed with twenty guns, supported by two infantry battalions, while the remainder
of the infantry was drawn up in battle line behind them, with cavalry covering the flanks and forming a second line. The first line, based on two battalions of the 29me Régiment d’Infanterie augmented with volunteer battalions, stood right behind the re-doubts. Their left flank was covered by a hollow road, occupied by light infantry and some grenadiers. The second line formed by the cavalry was positioned somewhat further back, consisting of both chasseurs à cheval regiments which had covered the retreat from Koslar and Aldenhoven (6me and 12me Régiment de Chasseurs à Cheval, for details see further below), and the 5me and 7me Régiment de Dragons, totalling about eight squadrons.
The French were commanded by Lieutenant-General de la Noüe, who had retreated here after being dislodged from his forward positions in front of Jülich. Probably counting on reinforcements, underestimating the strength of the Austrian troops in front of him, and overestimating the quality of his own troops, De la Noüe ordered his
French gunners only to retreat after having fired all their ammunition and having nailed the guns. In case of a retreat, two dragoon squadrons were assigned to cover the retreating gunners. FM Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld kept French attention by deploying the 2. Treffen just out of range in front of the redoubts, preparing for a frontal attack.
Archduke Charles continued his movement to the French left with the Avant-Garde, reinforced by some, possibly all six squadrons of the Chevau-léger Regiment No. 31 “Latour".
This movement was masked for the French by a row of low hills and a small forest, and arriving on the French left flank the Archduke prepared for a flank attack, ably supported by his preparation the Austrian chief of staff Colonel Karl Freiherr von Mack von Leiberich. Fourteen or sixteen guns -- sources differ -- were deployed on
a height left of the French reboubts, able to enfilade the French positions. Behind these the infantry formed up for attack, their right covered by the Chevau-léger Regiment No. 31 “Latour" [3]. The Husaren Regiment No. 32 “Esterházy” was ordered to move further to a position behind the French positions, in or-der to attack them in the back and to cut off their retreat route.
After a short cannonade of the Austrian battery, which silenced the fire of the two redoubts farthest left, Archduke Charles advanced with both battalions of the Infanterie Regiment No. 33 “Sztaray”, supported by the “Bardodetzky” Grenadiers, flanking the French entrenchments. At that moment all French superior officers; De la Noüe and Stengel, as well as the commanding officer of the artillery Lieutenant-Colonel Barrois, were in the right redoubt, having decided that this was the weakest spot of the French defences. When all of a sudden, their attention was drawn by the soldiers inside the far left redoubt, waving their hats to them and firing muskets. By then it was already to late, and there was nothing De la Noüe could do.
Broken
Almost immediately the French occupying the redoubts and the infantry line right behind it broke after having fired one volley, and having discharged their cannon only three times. The Austrians captured the hollow road, and the French retreated in disorder into a small forest behind their entrenchments. Now the Archduke launched his chevau-légers, the attack coinciding with that of his hussars, which had turned the French first line and attacked from the northwest. The forest was not dense enough to prevent cavalry entering, and after having captured three guns the Austrian troopers charged right into it. Many French soldiers were cut down or made prisoner, the survivors routing into the French cavalry, also falling in disorder.
However, the Austrians suffered a severe loss when the very popular commander of the Walloon Chevau-léger Regiment No. 31 “Latour", Colonel Philipp Karl Freiherr von Pforzheim, was killed at the spot by a canister ball, according to other sources by a musket ball in the heart. According to the popular story, a bullet was fired at point blanc range by a French drummer-boy hiding behind a tree, who had picked up a musket. Needless to say that the drummer-boy himself paid with his life, dying by the swords of several troopers.
In any case, enraged by the loss of their beloved colonel the chevau-léger, supported by the hussars, followed up their charge and crashed into the second French line
immediately after the routing French infantry, giving no quarter. They were reinforced by the remaining cavalry of the 2. Treffen which had moved through the gaps between the redoubts. A feeble counterattack by the already disordered French cavalry was to no avail, and the French troopers seemed to have broken before proper contact was made with the charging Austrian troopers. The French rout was general now, in the directions of Aachen, Geilenkirchen, and Herzogenrath, the soldiers throwing away their muskets and equipment in panic in an effort to escape from the Austrian cavalry in pursuit. Other French soldiers routed south in the direction of Eschweiler, only to run straight into elements of FML Prinz von Württemberg’s Linke Flanke. Lieutenant-General de la Noüe tried to cover the flight of his infantry with the cavalry.
Apparently the 6me and 12me Régiment de Chasseurs à Cheval did their best, according to the circumstances. The dragoons however routed without any fight. Already been given the nickname ‘wooden swords’ by the infantry, the remark “our dragoons showed us, how well their horses can gallop” was made
[4] .
In only half an hour the battle was decided. The French army completely ceased to exist as a fighting force, and it would take days to gather the refugees, and to form them in proper units again. The French lost in this engagement about 1,500 men killed or wounded, 300 prisoners, 16 guns [5] , 2 colours, and 13 ammunition wagons. Austrian losses in this engagement were surprisingly low, taking in account the strong position the French had occupied, with only 10 killed and 40 wounded. The 1. Treffen in the meanwhile, commanded by FZM Clerfayt, had crossed the Ruhr just north of Jülich. The Austrians had burned the wooden bridge there during their retreat last year.
Therefore, around midnight, a provisional walking bridge was constructed, using carts and planks. Across this feeble bridge Clerfayt’s avant-garde passed, while the cavalry and some artillery crossed using a ford. The Austrians in the meanwhile started repairing the burned bridge, in addition constructing a pontoon bridge. The first troops that crossed were a detachment of light infantry, commanded by Captain Graf von Zinzendorf. He moved against the Niersteiner Hofe, a farmstead, in with it was believed the French had an outpost. None were however present, and the farmstead was occupied by the light infantry.
At around 01.00 am (according to other sources 02.00 am) a French patrol, coming from the direction of the village Koslar, approached the farmstead, but when received by the fire of the Austrian light infantry it quickly retreated.
The French billeted in Koslar were alarmed and the drums were beaten. But none advanced on the farmstead, and having received order not to undertake offensive actions before daybreak, Captain Graf von Zinzendorf remained in place, and after a while all was quiet again. When the bridges were finished, between 06.00 and 07.00 am the main force of FZM Clerfayt crossed the Ruhr, followed by FML von Latour with the Rechte Flanke, who had moved here from his position opposite Linnich during the night. Initially the Austrians deployed on low ground on the west bank of the river. The Austrian intentions were clearly visible now in the light of dawn, and the French were this time alarmed along the whole front. French cavalry (squadrons of the 6me and 12me Régiment de Chasseurs à Cheval), and the only 57 men strong 2me bat/de la
Meuse with two guns (and a colour!), advanced from the villages Kirchberg and Bourheim, and occupied a small redoubt on the Engelsdorfer Burgacker near the village Koslar.
They opened an ineffective fire on the Austrians crossing the bridges, the only damage done hitting the roof of the Niersteiner Hofe. The Austrians however received additional enfilading fire from an artillery position near the Barmen village, more to the north. Additional French troops and artillery were concentrating on the Aldenhovener Hill, among which was at least the 14me bat d’Infanterie Légère (commanded by Lt-Col Honoré-Alexandre Haquin), also opening fire on the Austrians. These were still far out of range though, thus no losses were inflicted. FZM Clerfayt as ordered waited with his attack until 09.00 am.
Hussar Charge
At that specific time he released the hussars at his disposal, four squadrons of the Husaren Regiment No. 16 “Blankenstein”, and two more from the Husaren Regiment No. 30 “Wurmser”. These turned the left flank of the French position on the Engelsdorfer Burgacker, while at the same time part of the hussars prepared to charge the French frontally. The French defenders did not wait for the Austrian cavalry to reach them and routed instantly in the direction of the Aldenhovener Hill, abandoning both their guns to the hussars. Clerfayt reinforced the hussars in pursuit with the remaining cavalry at his disposal, and these charged the French on the Aldenhovener Hill.
This is of course greatly exaggerated. What really happened however is still worth mentioning. While retreating from the Aldenhovener Hill, covered by the French 6me and 12me Régiment de Chasseurs à Cheval, the 3me bat/de Paris (volunteers, about 400 men) was overtaken by the pursuing Austrian cavalry. The French cavalry took to their heels immediately and abandoned the lone battalion. The Austrians dispatched a trumpeter to the commanding officer of the French volunteers, lieutenant-colonel en second Claude Vezu, to ask for his surrender. Vezu however refused, and immediately opened fire with his battalion guns.
As a result the Austrian cavalry charged, both squadrons of the Hussards de Royal-Allemand in front, and were at the French in a moment, giving the gunners only time to fire three cannonballs and the infantry for feeble volley of musketry. Not surprisingly the hapless volunteers were slaughtered. Of the 400 men present, about 210 were killed, and 45 taken prisoner. The prisoners were nearly all wounded, many of them having received multiple sabre cuts and shot wounds, and most of them would die of wounds later. Vezu himself managed to escape due to the speed of his horse. [7]
In total, in this engagement over a thousand French were killed or wounded, three hundred were made prisoner, and eleven guns captured. The surviving French retreated partially in the direction of Höngen and Warden, partially to Geilenkirchen. After this success FZM Clerfayt advanced with his main force to Aldenhoven and occupied this town, halting his troops there. It is unclear why Clerfayt remained at Aldenhoven and did not advance further to link up with Coburg’s forces. It seems that Clerfayt was satisfied to have reached his goal without much trouble. The Rechte Flanke, commanded by FML von Latour, turned right and followed the west bank of the Ruhr, easily driving the demoralised French out of their positions at Barmen. When Latour arrived at the village Linnich it was already abandoned by the French.
Finally, lets return to Eschweiler. Here, FML Prinz von Württemberg deployed his Linke Flanke between Weisweiler and Eschweiler. The French had erected entrenchments between the villages Hehlrath and Röhe. This included a strong redoubt on the Röhe Hill, north of the Inde brook. This redoubt dominated the whole valley to the east. More French artillery was deployed on the Stich Hill, south of the Inde brook. The French positions were strong, and FML Prinz von Württemberg did not want to attack frontally. Therefore, he divided his troops in two columns. [8]
Lieutenant-Colonel Fürst von Reuss commanded the first column, deploying north of Eschweiler. These troops were formed in three lines. The first line consisted of light infantry which took up positions under cover in the gardens north of the town. About a hundred metre further back the second line was formed, while the third line with the artillery took up positions on the Böckels Hill (‘Böckelsberg’). From their position on this hill the Austrians could oversee the whole valley, and engage the French guns with counter-battery fire more effectively. The Austrian artillery was handled very well despite the long range, but were not able to silence the French artillery on the Röhe Hill completely. Austrian losses of French artillery fire was slight, with only a few wounded and a horse under an unknown general killed. [9]
As we have seen the French had occupied Röthgener Castle (‘Röthgener Burg), and the hamlet Oberröthgen south of Eschweiler, both south of the Inde brook. From these, the Austrian troops advancing along the road from Weisweiler to Aachen came under fire. Therefore the second column, commanded by General Davidovich, was
deployed against these positions and ordered forward. Leading the attack was the light infantry, which passed the farmstead ‘Patternhof’, and drove the French without much trouble from their positions at both Oberröthgen and Röthgener Castle.
Rebuffed
West of the hamlet Oberröthgen the Austrians deployed both guns captured previously at Weisweiler, and fired several shots at the retreating French, which were pulling back to the Stich Hill. The raising terrain in front of the Stich Hill was completely without cover. Several efforts of the Austrians to storm the French positions were in vain, and all were repulsed with heavy Austrian loss. French fire was so effective that the Austrians abandoned Röthgener Castle and Oberröthgen again, pulling back behind the Patternhof and taking cover in a huge orchard east of this farmstead. The stalemate lasted until about 13.30 pm. Around that time two locals reported to the Austrians that they knew a way to reach the French positions unseen and were willing to guide them. Assigned the 1 1/2 company of Tyroler Jäger, about 120 men, these locals led them through a deeply cut hollow road into the Eschweiler Forest, from here following a path hidden by trees and thick bushes, right behind the French positions on the Stich Hill.
Arriving there, the Tyrolean’s at once opened fire at the surprised French gunners and the infantry covering them. The French limbered up their guns, and retreated hastily along the road to Stolberg, crossing the Inde Brook, and following the road through the village Eilendorf to Aachen. They were pursued for a while by part of the jäger. On the Stich Hill the French had abandoned much of their baggage and ammunition.
Because of this Austrian success the French positions on the Röhe Hill became very vulnerable. The remaining jäger that had captured Stich Hill, now moved north through the ‘Hohenstein’, another hill thickly covered with trees, and engaged the surprised French on the Röhe Hill in the right flank. Feared to be cut off, the French here also limbered their guns and around 15.00 pm hastily retreated to Aachen following the road through the villages Weiden and Haaren. They left behind all their baggage and ammunition.
Pursued by the jäger French losses were severe, for according to local reports many dead French had to be buried, apparently most with a bullet in the heart. So it seems the Tyrolean Jäger employed here were real sharpshooters! [10]
The Austrians had won an astounding victory over the numerous French forces opposing them. Sources on losses differ greatly for both sides. In any case, the French lost at least 5,000 men dead or wounded, hundreds made prisoner, 23 guns [11] , and two colours. Austrian loss on this day was 350 dead and 263 wounded, although many sources take the losses at Höngen only (10 killed, 40 wounded) for the total Austrian loss during this day. It was clear that the raw French were no match for the battle-hardened Austrians, which displayed great determination and flexibility during this battle. It is notable that the Austrians won the combat at Eschweiler by using their light infantry capability to the utmost, the strong French positions turned and captured by strong detachments of them.
On the other hand, at Höngen, Lieutenant-General de la Noüe prepared to fight a battle using the classic linear formation. This tactic was bound to fail, with the raw and shaky French infantry and cavalry being no match for the experienced Austrians. FML Prinz von Württemberg’s force encamped in Eschweiler for the night. FM Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld made his headquarters at Aldenhoven, were the main Austrian force encamped for the night.
Battle of Aldenhoven / Aix-La-Chapelle, 1793 Dutch in Revolutionary Wars Part 13
The Dutch During the Revolutionary Wars
|
Surprised or not, at Düren the crossing was unopposed when the Avant-Garde crossed first between 06.00 and 07.00 am. Maréchal de camp Stengel received word about the Austrians crossing, and immediately ordered maréchal de camp Dampierre to go forward and to take over command of the troops at Eschweiler. Moving west following the road to Aachen, the Austrians made contact with the French outposts when they reached the village Langerwehe. Pushing on to Weisweiler and arriving there around 08.00 am, the Avant-Garde received heavy fire from the redoubt there, which was armed with two guns and occupied by two French battalions (probably the 3me bat de Grenadiers and the Légion Belge et Liégeoise de Declaye).
On the approach of the cavalry part of the French infantry formed ‘masses’, apparently not able to form square because of the disorder or the bad quality of these infantry (or both). The remaining French routed. Several masses were ridden down by the Austrian cavalry. According to one source, the émigré Hussards de Royal-Allemand evened out the score they had with the revolutionary French by cutting up 1,600 garde nationale in a defile [6].