page_title: Battle of Höchst (1795)
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Höchst (1795) / Battle
context_page_description: At the Battle of Höchst, the Habsburg Austrian army commanded by François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt outmaneuvered the French Republican Army of Sambre-et-Meuse commanded by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan. Although the French attacked first, they were unable to dislodge an Austrian flanking column. Afterward Jourdan's army retreated to the north. The clash happened during the War of the First Coalition, part of a wider conflict known as the French Revolutionary Wars. Modern-day Höchst is a suburb and administrative district of Frankfurt am Main in the state of Hesse in Germany. Höchst is about 12 kilometers west of the Frankfurt city center.
  In 1795 the French employed two independent armies in thrusts across the Rhine. After winning a bridgehead on the east bank, the northern French army under Jean-Baptiste Jourdan advanced south to the Main River. At this point, the commander of the southern French army, Jean-Charles Pichegru proved uncooperative. This allowed Clerfayt to move the bulk of the Austrian forces against Jourdan. Clerfayt crossed the Main to the east, gaining a dangerously exposed position on the French left flank.
context_section_description: On 1 October 1795, the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse consisted of the divisions of Generals of Division Lefebvre, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Jean Étienne Championnet, Claude-Sylvestre Colaud, Louis Friant, Paul Grenier, Louis-Auguste Juvénal des Ursins d'Harville, François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, Antoine Morlot, André Poncet and Jacques Louis François Delaistre de Tilly. However, four divisions were guarding rear areas. Colaud's 8,911 men were posted at Düsseldorf, Friant's 3,296 troops were garrisoning Luxembourg City, Marceau's 11,240 soldiers were besieging the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress near Koblenz and Morlot's 3,471 men were holding Aachen.
  Jourdan's 63,615-strong field army was deployed in the following locations. Bernadotte's 8,223 soldiers were at Biberach (Biebrich) watching Kassel (Mainz-Kastel) on the east side of Mainz. Championnet's 9,816 troops were guarding the west side of Mainz. Tilly's 9,861 men were at Herdenheim and Helsheim, which cannot be located on a modern map. The remaining troops were posted on the north bank of the Main. From west to east the defenders were Poncet's 9,384 men between Wickert (Wicker) and Wilbach (Weilbach), Grenier's 11,150 troops at Weilsbach (Weilbach) and Lefebvre's 12,618 soldiers between Selsheim (Zeilsheim) and Niederliederbach (Unterliederbach). Harville's 1,593-strong cavalry reserve was at Marxheim and Langenheim. From Biebrich to Unterliederbach, Jourdan's line ran 31.2 kilometres (19.4 mi).
  The order of battle for Army of Sambre-et-Meuse divisions was as follows. Bernadotte had the 21st Light and 71st, 111th and 123rd Line Demi-Brigades plus the 1st, 6th and 9th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiments in brigades under Generals of Brigade Charles Daurier and Gabriel Barbou. Championnet had the 59th, 132nd and 181st Line Demi-Brigades plus the 1st and 12th Dragoon Regiments in brigades under Generals of Brigade Claude Juste Alexandre Legrand and Louis Klein. Tilly had the 23rd, 27th and 72nd Line Demi-Brigades and the Yonne National Garde plus the 12th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiment in brigades under Generals of Brigade Jean Thomas Guillaume Lorge and Bernard Étienne Marie Duvignau.
  Poncet had the 53rd, 87th, 66th and 116th Line Demi-Brigades plus the 7th and 11th Dragoon Regiments in brigades under Generals of Brigade Jean Joseph Schlachter and Nicolas Soult. Grenier had the 110th, 173rd, 112th and 172nd Line Demi-Brigades plus the 19th Chasseurs à Cheval and 4th Hussar Regiments in brigades under Generals of Brigade Henri Simon, Jean Baptiste Olivier and Christophe Oswald. Lefebvre had the 10th and 13th Light and the 8th, 90th and 119th Line Demi-Brigades plus the 1st, 6th and 9th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiments in brigades under Generals of Brigade Jean François Leval, Jean Baptiste Jacopin and Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul. The demi brigades usually consisted of three battalions each. Harville led the 6th, 8th, 10th and 13th Cavalry Regiments.
  Wurmser's army arrived in the theater and by 10 October 1795 it approached Mannheim. With no pressure from Pichegru, Clerfayt had a chance to deal with Jourdan alone. He moved his army northeast from Heppenheim to Aschaffenburg, another suburb of Frankfurt. Turning to the northwest, the Austrian army reached Offenbach am Main on 10 October. By modern roads, this route is 93.7 kilometres (58 mi). Ignoring Frankfurt's neutrality, Clerfayt's troops crossed the Main, circled around the east side of the city and advanced west along the south bank of the Nidda River.
  On 11 and 12 October 1795, 10,000 French troops commanded by Kléber tried to overpower an Austrian force defending the line of the Nidda near its confluence with the Main. The 5,500 defenders, commanded by General-major Adam Boros de Rákos,  consisted of one battalion of the Jordis Infantry Regiment Nr. 59, two battalions and four squadrons of the Wurmser Freikorps, six companies of the Warasdiner Grenz infantry (border infantry), three companies of the Grün-Laudon Freikorps, two companies of Tyrolean sharpshooters and two squadrons of the Waldeck Dragoon Regiment Nr. 39. Despite persiste
caption: Jean Baptiste Jourdan
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