Happy Valentines Day, you bums. Hopefully, you can spend some time with someone you want to spend time with, and not get caught in the trap of spending too much money under the circumstances. Given the romance in the day, we'll head to the Swiss Alps today, for a study of a pair of battles loaded with smoke, gunpowder, and blood.
The First Battle of Zurich
The Allies of the Second Coalition called for an attack on several fronts- last week, we talked about the early successes the Austrians had on the Danube front. However, the Austrians also launched an attack into Switzerland, with a smaller force under the command of Baron Hotze. The French commander in Switzerland, Massena, had to move quickly in the early part of the campaign to put down the rebellion that brought him into Switzerland in the first place as Charles drove Jourdan out of Germany and back to the French border, as we discussed last week.
Once Jourdan was relieved- or, effectively, resigned his command- of the French Army of the Danube, the command lingered for a month before the Directory added it to Massena's command. Massena ordered this army to finally retreat into Switzerland, as Charles had halted his westward advance. The Army of the Danube fell back on Winterthur, north of Zurich. Winterthur was a vital crossroads, controlling access to most of Switzerland, making it a prime target- if the Austrians could take it, they could untie Hotze's army with Charles, as the Austrian High Command wanted. Massena ordered Michel Ney to command the advanced guard at Winterthur, and promised to send reinforcements under Soult to help hold the town. Ney held Winterthur for 11 hours on April 27th, against a coordinated Austrian attack, but Soult's men never arrived, forcing Ney's retreat. Ney never forgave Soult.
The capture of Winterthur allowed the Austrians to pull together a massive army- Hotze's men, Charles' major army, and another column of men that had marched through the passes to join them. This gave Charles well over 100,000 men under his command near Zurich, nearly double that available to Massena. Massena had little choice but to fall back on Zurich and its fortress, while Charles arranged his army in a semi-circle around the city, backing Massena against the Zurich See. Massena, worried about being cut off, had to arrange his forces in a long, fortified line north of the city.
Charles ordered his forces to advance against Massena in a general advance, trying to find and squeeze down the French army. On June 2nd, his advanced guard found Soult's division, and, at 0300 on the 3rd, launched an attack against Soult's position at the top of the arch Massena held around Zurich. The Austrians moved quickly, and nearly cut Soult off, until Massena personally led an attack to relieve Soult and push the Austrians back. The Advanced Guard retreated to wait for the rest of the army to show up.
On the 4th, Charles opened a general attack on the French positions, concentrating on the center and left of the French line. Charles hoped to break out and around the French army, pinning it between the city and the Zurich Zee, cutting off retreat to the south. Charles organized five attack columns, aiming for several points along the French line. The attack against the French right center went well, driving nearly into Zurich before turning to join in the attack on the French center. The attack against the French left was less successful, as the French commander on the scene organized a series of counterattacks to hold the Austrians at bay.
The most serious part of the action, however, came in the center, against the fortifications held by Soult. The initial attack proceeded slowly, but, Austrian numbers began to tell quickly. This action forced Massena to commit more men, which also drew Austrian reinforcements. At the attack bogged down again, Charles organized a force of grenadiers from his own reserve, and sent them to assault the main part of the French fortifications. Massena responded by scratching up the last of his reserves, leading them personally against the flank of this assault, and finally driving it back.
However, there was no real way for the French to hold their position for much longer. As darkness fell on the 4th, Massena retreated under the shelter of the guns at Zurich, while Charles reorganized for another attack, and an eventual siege of the town. However, also during the day, representatives of the two sides met, and agreed to spare the city and citizens of Zurich the deprivations of a siege. Massena was allowed to retreat to the south, while Charles' men entered the city unopposed. Massena, while losing the city, had inflicted about 3500 casualties on Charles' force, at a loss of about 1700 men.
With Zurich in hand. Charles halted once again, under orders from Vienna. He was to wait for Russian reinforcement. The first batch of reinforcements under Alexander Korsakov arrived shortly, and Vienna ordered Charles out of Switzerland to head for the Netherlands, where the British offensive was going poorly. Korsakov, in turn, was ordered to wait for the excellent Russian general, Suvarov, to move from Italy to Switzerland.
Suvarov's Italian campaign
Suvarov, one of the most experienced and effective generals in Russian service, was given command of a combined Russian and Austrian force, and ordered to march out of Venice and drive the French out of Northern Italy. Upon his arrival in April, 1799, he quickly organized his army and marched. He defeated the French army in northern Italy at the Battle of Cassano, turning the French flank with a decisive river crossing. He quickly drove on Milan, taking the city at the end of April, then smashed up the French again outside of Turin, and again at Genoa.
The French commanders in the north, Moreau and Joubert, called for help. In Naples, MacDonald commanded a sizeable French army. He marched up quickly from the south, in an effort to trap Suvarov between his army in the south, and Joubert's in the north. Suvarov opted to concentrate against Macdonald first, meeting him on the banks of the Trebbia river on the 17th of June. In a three day battle, Suvarov destroyed MacDonald's army, then drive north to kick Joubert of out Mantua. Joubert and MacDonald retreated quickly towards Nice, and out of northern Italy. Suvarov began to organize an invasion of southern France, but he and his army were recalled, and ordered to support Korsakov in Switzerland, as Charles was ordered into the Netherlands.
Second Battle of Zurich
After his victory, Charles began to maneuver to drive the French further out of Switzerland. However, he moved slowly, consolidating his position in Zurich and resupplying the fortress before moving against Massena. These efforts took the rest of the summer, and it wasn't until August that the Austrians were ready to continue fighting. In mid August, the Austrians launched an abortive attack across the Lippert River, but poor construction wrecked the bridges, and Charles fell back. Before he could continue, he was packed off and ordered to the Netherlands. This left Baron Hortze and Alexander Korsakov in charge in Zurich. Neither had much experience, and both were waiting for Suvarov to arrive and direct the next phase of the campaign. Suvarov's forces would also outflank Massena's positions south of the city, and force him from his fortifed position. In the meantime, Korsakov and Baron Holtze decided to split the area they held into two sectors, one for the Russians, the other for the Austrians.
Meanwhile, Massena built up fortifications and his forces, receiving reinforcements to bring his army up to around 75,000 men. Charles' departure gave him a window of opportunity to move, which he had to take before Suvarov arrived to force him out of the area. Massena decide to bring the weight of his army down on Korsakov, who was the less experienced and able commander of the two. Part of his army would launch an attack against the center of Korsakov's position- however, this was just a feint. Another part of his army would attack Hotze's forces, to keep them from reinforcing Korsakov. However, the main attack would come from an unexpected direction. After making a surprise night river crossing over the Limmat River, which separated the French and Allied armies, part of Massena's army would march directly against Zurich, getting behind the Russians and cutting them off from the city.
The effort began on the night of 24th/25th September, 1799. The French crossing force assembled in the night, and, before dawn, made their crossing. The forward force assaulted the Russian position guarding the river, and covered the bridges, which came together around 0600. By 0900, the French force was across the river and driving for the Russian flank and rear.
Meanwhile, the French launched two feints. One was a desperate attack against the Russian center. This feint was effective enough that Korsakov deduced it as the main effort, and quickly sent in reinforcements. These reiforcements pushed the French back across the Limmat, and followed them in what appeared to be a stunning success- however, as Massena's attack developed, it would only leave them cut off from the rest of the Russian army. Another French force deployed in front of Russian positions, and made so much activity that the Russian commander believed it the main attack, locking him into his positions even when ordered out of them. These attacks froze Korsakov in the early going.
Massena also sent a force against the Austrians. In the early morning, a small force of picked men swam the Limmat to establish a bridgehead, which opened a larger attack. Surprised by the French action, Hotze woke up and quickly organized his forces. Looking for information he road out into a misty morning to do reconnaissance. While on his ride, he and his chief of staff, riding without an escort, rode right into a French patrol. The French shot Hotze as he fled, killing him. The word of Hotze's death spread through the Austrian army and demoralized it. The Austrian second in command was not up to the task, and stayed put while Massena's attack developed. Once Korsakov began to retreat, the Austrian force abandoned Switzerland entirely.
Massena's main attack moved quickly on Zurich and Winterhur in an effort to cut Korsakov off. This effort seized the hills above the city, and began bombarding it quickly. Korsakov, who hadn't even inspected or prepared the fortress, began to panic. He began to organize a retreat out of the area towards Winterthur, but found it cut off. He then pulled back into the city, locking the place up and preparing its defenses, a little too late. In the midafternoon, he sent an attack against the French position over the city, but the French beat it back fairly easily, as the Korsakov sent too few men and the terrain made for a poor assault.
Massena continued the pressure the next day. Korsakov wanted to hold out until Suvarov's arrival, but could not manage to organize a defense. Or an attack. Or really anything- the Russian forces collapsed into disarray as he failed to figure out what to do or where he was. He did manage to organize one successful action- an attack on Winterthur, opening a route of retreat from the city. As the French organized to storm the fortress, Korsakov pulled out of the city and raced for the Rhine and out of Switzerland. He left behind 7,000 dead and another 6.000 prisoners, to only 1,000 or so French dead. Suvarov, with no where to go, packed it up and headed home.
The French victory at 2nd Zurich turned the war in central Europe around for the French. The Russians, disgusted with the whole affair, dropped out of the Coalition, leaving the Austrians and the British to fight the French. Charles had to abandon his move towards the Netherlands, stranding the British army under the Duke of York, and establish an army in Austria for the 1800 campaign. However, despite the victory, the French position remained rather precarious. There was still near panic in France, and this led to a major political disruption later that year...
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