page_title: Battle of Kaiserslautern (1794)
section_title: Combat of Kaiserslautern
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Kaiserslautern (1794) / Combat of Kaiserslautern
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Bildnis von Generalfeldmarschall Wichard Joachim Heinrich von Moellendorff.
context_page_description: The Battle of Kaiserslautern saw an army from the Kingdom of Prussia and Electoral Saxony led by Wichard Joachim Heinrich von Möllendorf fall upon a single French Republican division under Jean-Jacques Ambert from the Army of the Moselle. The Prussians tried to surround their outnumbered adversaries but most of the French evaded capture. Nevertheless, Möllendorf's troops inflicted casualties on the French in the ratio of nine-to-one and occupied Kaiserslautern. While the Prussians won this triumph on an unimportant front, the French armies soon began winning decisive victories in Belgium and the Netherlands. The battle occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1794 Kaiserslautern was part of the Electoral Palatinate but today the city is located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany about 67 kilometres west of Mannheim.
  In December 1793, the French drove the soldiers of Habsburg Austria and Prussia from French soil in the Second Battle of Wissembourg and took positions beyond the eastern frontier.
context_section_description: Though aware of the weakness of his defense lines, Moreaux did not want to retreat, possibly because he was masking Jourdan's transfer of troops to the north. Kaiserslautern was held by the division of Jean-Jacques Ambert with eight battalions, a cavalry regiment and two squadrons of chasseurs à cheval. Many of the soldiers were raw recruits and some were not even armed. One of the few veteran battalions was commanded by Nicolas Oudinot. Anxious about the position, Moreaux sent Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr, an adjutant general whose advice he trusted, to look over the ground. Saint-Cyr advised Ambert to retreat but that general had orders to hold his ground though he had only 5,000 troops. Meanwhile, Möllendorf chose to make his main effort against Kaiserslautern.
     
  Möllendorf massed 46,000 Prussian and Electoral Saxon troops in 43 battalions, four companies, 42 squadrons and 10 1/2 batteries. The divisions were commanded by Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth, Alexander von Knobelsdorff, Franz Kasimir von Kleist, Friedrich Gisbert Wilhelm von Romberg, Ernst von Rüchel, and Duke Louis of Württemberg. Kalckreuth's Prussian units included the Infantry Regiments Crousaz Nr. 39 (two battalions), Hertzberg Nr. 47 (grenadier battalion) and Borch Nr. 39 (three battalions) and three squadrons of the Bayreuth Dragoon Regiment Nr. 5. Kalckreuth's Saxon contingent was made up of one battalion each of Infantry Regiments Langenau, Lindt, Prinz Max and Prinz Xaver, four squadrons each of the Kurfürst Cuirassier and Albrecht Chevau-léger Regiments and two squadrons of the Hussar Regiment. Kalckreuth led one Saxon howitzer battery and two foot and 1/2 horse artillery batteries of Prussians. The remaining divisions were composed entirely of Prussian troops and invariably counted three infantry battalions in each infantry regiment.
  Knobelsdorf's division comprised the Infantry Regiments Thadden Nr. 3, Kalckstein Nr. 5 and Kleist Nr. 12, the Thadden Fusilier Battalion Nr. 13, two squadrons of the Eben Hussar Regiment Nr. 2, one Jäger company and one foot artillery battery. Kleist's division was made up of the Infantry Regiments Knobelsdorff Nr. 27 and Prinz Ferdinand Nr. 34, two squadrons of the Voss Dragoon Regiment Nr. 11 and one foot artillery battery. Romberg's division consisted of the Infantry Regiments Brunswick Nr. 21, Prinz Heinrich Nr. 35 and Köthen Nr. 48, the Eben Hussars, one Jäger company and one foot artillery battery. Rüchel's division had the Infantry Regiments Rüchel Nr. 30 and Wolframsdorff Nr. 37, the Ernest Fusilier Battalion Nr. 19, three squadrons each of the Eben Hussars and Voss Dragoons, three Jäger companies and one horse and two foot artillery batteries. Württemberg's cavalry division included five squadrons each of the Leib Cuirassier Nr. 3, Borstell Cuirassier Nr. 7 and Lottum Dragoon Nr. 1 Regiments and one foot artillery battery.
  On 23 May, Ambert and Saint-Cyr heard the sound of gunfire and rode out to investigate. They discovered that the Army of the Rhine was under assault to the east. Saint-Cyr convinced Ambert that it was time to withdraw, since it was likely that their own lines would soon be attacked in force. Before anything more could be done, the Prussian attack materialized. Saint-Cyr successfully managed the retreat of the forward elements behind the Lauter River. Then Ambert determined to retreat in two columns, personally taking the left column while Saint-Cyr led the right column. Möllendorf planned to envelop and capture Ambert's division entirely, sending out Kleist's division to head off the French retreat. A flying column under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher was sent to cut the link between the two French armies but this effort failed. The French were favored by the terrain in which the roads to the rear went through narrow passages, difficult for a pursuer to follow.
  Saint-Cyr put his cavalry and artillery in the middle of his leading unit and was able to avoid pursuit. His column arrived at Trippstadt as the town was being attacked by Kleist. This lucky accident allowed Saint-Cyr's colum
caption: Wichard von Möllendorf.
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