The Battle of Neerwinden 1793After the defeat in the battle of Jemappes in 1793 and the withdrawal of the Austrian army, French forces occupied the Austrian Netherlands and took Brussels on 14th of November. Winter was spent preparing the Coalition for a renewed offensive and further states joined to fight revolutionary France. The barbaric execution of legitimate French king Ludwig XVI. on 21th of January 1793 caused public outcry across Europe.
Within France there was political turmoil, intrigues and political fighting between moderate and radical republicans together with a bad economic situation and a royalist uprising in the Vendée put high pressure on the revolutionary government. To mollify the public another military victory was needed and the French army marched east again towards the Rhine in early 1793. The Austrians, including Oberleutnant Andras Kareil, had used the winter to organize a new Armee der Sambre under Feldmarschall Prinz Friedrich Josias von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld and fought a small battle at Aldenhoven on 1st of March which they won. Aachen was liberated from the French the next day.
French general Charles-François Dumouriez took over the retreating French army in Löwen on 13th of March and turned them around immediately. After a series of small skirmishes along the main road between Liege and Brussels a small battle on 16th March at Tirlemont saw the Austrian army retreating to better positions at Neerwinden. With an army of roughly 40.000 troops the Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld took positions behind the Kleinen Gete and awaited the attack of the bigger French army. Oberleutnant Andras Kareil was one of many liaison officers in the staff of the Prinz at Neerlanden.
The very long frontline stretched south from the fortress Zoutleeuw in the North along the Kleinen Gete. In the North the Austrian Avantgarde under Generalmajor Erzherzog Karl Ludwig Johann Joseph Laurentius von Österreich had established a long thin line from Zoutleeuw to Orsmael with their main force in front of Halle.
South of them on the heights behind Orsmal and Neerhespen was the 2.Kolonne under Feldmarschall-Leutnant Württemberg encompassing the center of the Austrian line.
Further south the 1.Kolonne under Feldzeugmeister Colloredo had taken up positions on the heights directly north of Neerwinden.
The extreme left flank of the Austrian forces was held by their Reserve under Feldzeugmeister Clerfayt. This disposition had the Reserve not in a good position and depending on where the French forces would make their attack, it could develop into a real problem.
By 0800 French forces could be observed advancing along most parts of the frontline from Orsmael to Neerheylissem. Austrian screening forcing withdrew before them and the Prinz decided to give up Racour and Overwinden in the South to concentrate his forces. Against a numerically superior French army the only way was to concentrate the Austrian army and use interior lines to combat them. In the North the fortress of Zoutleeuw was to held by the garrison troops alone, the troops of the Avantgarde marched south towards Halle.
The French crossed the Kleine Gete in force and by then had taken Orsmael in the North and Neerwinden in the South without fighting. The Austrian Avantgarde attacked them in Orsmael to keep them occupied but this was mainly intended as a ruse to prevent the enemy from concentrating all his forces in the South. There a new line was established from the heights northeast of Neerwinden to Landen. Further north Austrian troops threatened Neerhespen and Wanghe but this again was mainly intended to keep the French occupied.
The ruses at Orsmael and Neerhespen worked quite well but by noon events had overtaken their use. Another French column in the North was attacking the lone garrison of Zoutleeuw which had badly surprised the Austrian forces. Under mounting French pressure the Austrians retreated their forces towards their main line but that was already under attack. Heavy French cavalry attacked from Neerwinden and sent the Austrian troops fleeing. Marshalling local reserves that were built up in the South allowed the Austrians to hold the line.
In the next hours the French brought a lot of artillery to bear in the South, forcing the Austrians to move their line back another ridgeline but there all further French progress was stopped cold. Attacks on the flank in Landen got repulsed with heavy losses and the Austrian line held. Although the French took the isolated the fortress of Zoutleeuw their overall progress was far below their expectations and the poorly supplied troops began to mutiny, forcing the French to stop their offensive.
(Austria=brown | France=blue | VictoryPointHexes=yellow)
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Scenario: 019_Neerwinden_FB-H_HTH
Title: John Tillers Republican Bayonets on the Rhine
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