Battle of the Göhrde
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Battle of the Göhrde | |||||||
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Part of the German campaign of the Sixth Coalition | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn | Marc Nicolas Louis Pécheux | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
12,200 38 guns[2] |
3,080 6 guns[2] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
558[3]-1,100[1] |
1,500-2,500[1] 6 guns[3] |
The Battle of the Göhrde took place during the War of the Sixth Coalition on 16 September 1813 between French and Coalition troops at Göhrde, Germany. The French troops were defeated[1] and withdrew to Hamburg.[4]
Site
[edit]The battle occurred near what is now the Göhrde State Forest (Staatsforst Göhrde), near Dannenberg, near Lüneburg. At that time this area belonged to the electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg (Hanover), which had been occupied by the French since 1803.[citation needed]
Prelude
[edit]In March 1813, Russian troops under Friedrich Karl von Tettenborn forced the French out of Hamburg and some northern areas of Hanover. In the wake of Prussia's reentry into the war against France, the eastern areas of Hanover also rose against Napoleon. Wallmoden then received overall command of all the Allied troops on the Lower Elbe: troops from Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Hanover, Hamburg, Mecklenburg and Sweden, including the Russian German legion, the Lützow Free Corps, the Hanseatic Legion and a part of the King's German Legion, under the overall command of Generalleutnant Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn. Part of the British contingent was the newly formed Rocket Brigade under Capt Richard Bogue. On 7 September Bogue marched with half his brigade to join the main Army of the North, near Wittenburg. The other half of the brigade, under Lieut Thomas Fox Strangways joined the 4th Cavalry Division of General von Dornberg under General Wallmoden.[5]
The Free Corps such as that from Lützow again and again attacked French supply lines and bases in the area around Mecklenburg, south of the Elbe. The XIII Corps there, under marshal Davout, had up to this point behaved quite passively, restricting itself to holding Wallmoden's corps in check. As an anti-skirmishes measure, in September Davout sent general Pécheux on the western Elbufer with a brigade of 50th infantry division and moved on Lüneburg with 3,000 troops. After completing his mission, Pécheux was ordered to rejoin the French troops in Magdeburg. Wallmoden's corps advanced on Dömitz on 15 September with 12,300 men, crossed the Elbe, marched toward the Frenchmen and set up camp in Dannenberg. [citation needed]
Battle
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ab/Battle_of_Gohrde.jpeg/220px-Battle_of_Gohrde.jpeg)
The French division under Pécheux decided to attack the allies. On the early afternoon of 18 September 1813, it reached the Steinker Höhen (Steinker Heights) in Nahrendorf and gave battle. Whilst Wallmoden's infantry attacked the centre, Dornberg with the KGL cavalry and artillery attacked the enemy's left. However, Dornberg brought the guns and rockets into action at too great a range; their fire was ineffective and General Lyon's infantry attack was held up. The French began to retire, formed in squares, and Strangways advanced to bring the rockets into action "close under the fire of the enemy’s infantry".[6] The 3rd KGL Hussars broke two squares and the rockets spread such terror through the retiring ranks that order could no longer be preserved, and breaking, the French fled in all directions.[7]
Results
[edit]The battle was the first victory over the French troops garrisoning Germany, and interrupted the link between XIII Corps under marshal Davout (with its headquarters in Hamburg) and Napoleon's main army (then in Saxony) and the French armies' supply-lines across Hanover from France to Magdeburg and Berlin. This result was critical for the outcome of the Battle of Leipzig soon afterwards. This was the first battle in which the newly developed Congreve Rocket had been successfully deployed in action. At the Battle of Leipzig, The Rocket Brigade, under Bogue and Strangways, would make a significant attack whilst attached to the Swedish Corps of Crown Prince Bernadotte. [citation needed]
Commemorations
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/G%C3%B6rdeschlachtdenkmal_ReiKi.jpg/250px-G%C3%B6rdeschlachtdenkmal_ReiKi.jpg)
A large stone monument stands as a memorial to the battle in 1839, at a site now north of Bundesstraße 216 about 2 km behind Oldendorf in Richtung Dannenberg.
1000 dead soldiers from both sides were buried in a mass grave in the forest, 100m from where the memorial is sited. This grave was rediscovered in 1985. [citation needed]
Rudolf von Bennigsen's father Karl von Bennigsen fought in this battle (as a lieutenant), as did the famous freedom fighter Eleonore Prochaska. She had disguised herself as a man and joined the Lützow Free Corps. During the battle she was wounded and soon afterwards succumbed to her injuries in the hospital at Dannenberg. [citation needed]
A reconstruction of the battle occurs every two years at Dahlenburg. At the Heimatmuseum in the town a diorama of the battle is on permanent display, with 1500 tin soldiers.[citation needed]
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c d Bodart 1908, p. 458.
- ^ a b Hofschröer 1987, p. 38.
- ^ a b Hofschröer 1987, p. 42.
- ^ Chappell 2000, p. 7.
- ^ Beamish 1837, p. 173.
- ^ thegazette 1813.
- ^ Beamish 1837, pp. 194–198.
References
[edit]- Beamish, North Ludlow (1837). History of the Kings German Legion. Vol. 2. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
- Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905). Retrieved 4 June 2021.
- Chappell, Mike (2000). The King's German Legion (2): 1812–16. Osprey Publishing. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-85532-997-3.
- Clausewitz (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 06 (11th ed.). p. 467. .
- Hofschröer, Peter (1987). Prussian Reserve Militia and Irregulars 1806-15. London: Osprey. ISBN 978-0850457995.
- thegazette (1813). Walmoden's dispatch. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
External links
[edit]- hamburg1813.de
- Examination of the battlefield
- Course of the battle
Media related to Battle of the Göhrde at Wikimedia Commons
Preceded by Second Battle of Kulm |
Napoleonic Wars Battle of the Göhrde |
Succeeded by Combat of Rosslau |
- German campaign of 1813
- Battles of the War of the Sixth Coalition
- Battles involving France
- Battles involving Prussia
- Battles involving the Russian Empire
- Battles involving the United Kingdom
- King's German Legion
- 1813 in France
- 1813 in Germany
- Battles in 1813
- September 1813 events
- Military history of Lower Saxony
- Battles of the Napoleonic Wars involving Prussia