page_title: Battle of Linth River
section_title: Linth River
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Linth River / Battle / Linth River
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Die Grafschaft Uznach und die Herrschaft Rapperswil. Ausschnitt Atlas Suisse (Meyer-Weiss-Atlas) Blatt 7 (Partie du Canton de Lucerne d' Unterwalden d' Uri et Zurich le Canton Glarus Schweiz et Zug) 1802, Massstab 1:120.000.
context_page_description: The Battle of Linth River saw a Republican French division under General of Division Jean-de-Dieu Soult face a force of Habsburg Austrian, Imperial Russian, and Swiss soldiers led by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze in Switzerland. Soult carefully planned and his troops carried out a successful assault crossing of the Linth River between Lake Zurich and the Walensee. Hotze's death early in the action disorganized the Allied defenders who were defeated and forced to retreat, abandoning supplies accumulated for Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov's approaching army. On the same day, General of Division André Masséna's French Army of Helvetia defeated Lieutenant General Alexander Korsakov's Russian army in the Second Battle of Zurich and a French brigade turned back another Austrian force near Mollis. Both Korsakov's Russians and Hotze's survivors, led by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz Petrasch withdrew north of the Rhine River.
  These defeats were the result of a mismanaged Allied strategy that planned to unite the forces of Korsakov and Hotze with Suvorov's Russian army coming north from Italy.
context_section_description: Soult's two brigades were led by Generals of Brigade Joseph Antoine Marie Mainoni and Anne Gilbert de Laval. Mainoni directed the 36th and 44th Line Infantry Demi-brigades while Laval commanded the 25th Light Infantry and 94th Line Infantry. The 10th Horse Chasseurs comprised the division's cavalry. Molitor's brigade consisted of the 84th Line Infantry. Hotze's subordinates were Petrasch who defended the Linth between Uznach and Weesen and Alexander of Württemberg who held the north shore of Lake Zurich. Petrasch's Austrian division included three battalions each of Infantry Regiments Gemmingen Nr. 21, Bender Nr. 41, and Stain Nr. 50, two battalions of Infantry Regiment Nr. 60, and 10 squadrons of the Grenz Hussar Regiment. Württemberg directed six squadrons of Waldeck Dragoon Regiment Nr. 7, and the Roverea and Bachmann Swiss battalions. Williams commanded 19 vessels armed with 13 guns and manned by 211 crewmen. At Rapperswil on Lake Zurich were two Russian battalions of the Razumovsky Infantry Regiment under General-major Vasily Titov.
  The Linth had two fords near Bilten and Schänis and bridges at Grynau Castle and the Tuilerie (brickworks). For ten days prior to his attack, Soult dressed himself in the uniform of a private soldier and spent one hour on sentry duty at a different forward post, carefully observing the Austrian positions. While the Austrians fired upon any soldiers who approached the banks of the Linth, they left sentries alone. On 22 September, Adjutant General Jean-Pierre Dellard of the 36th Line approached Soult and told him that he suspected a battle was imminent. He presented a plan to employ swimmers in advance of an assault crossing and Soult adopted it. Soult planned to cross at Bilten, preceded by Dellard's swimmers and at Grynau. Soult also commandeered some boats that he hoped might challenge Williams' small squadron. An artillery battery was built opposite Rapperswil in order to limit the Austrian squadron's movements on Lake Zurich.
  On the night of 24 September, 2,000 soldiers brought up fascines which were used to create a 300 yards (274 m) long path through the marsh at Bilten. The path was then covered by wooden beams so that bridging materials could be brought up. That night Dellard and 150 swimmers approached the river, wearing only their shirts and with their breeches tied around their ankles. At 2:30 am they slipped into the Linth. Each man had a pistol and cartridges tied to his head with a handkerchief, a lance tied to his left shoulder, and a saber in his mouth. There were also ten drummers and four buglers. Some men turned back and a few men drowned, including one drummer whose drum filled with water and dragged him down. Some Austrian sentries were dispatched with sabers and the group splashed through the march to rout a nearby outpost. Dellard gave the signal for the boats to cross the river then led his party to attack an Austrian camp, with musicians drumming and trumpeting, and the others firing their pistols. Some Swiss or Alsatians dressed in Austrian uniform went ahead, shouting in German, "Save yourselves. We are betrayed". Behind them, the French surged across the river in boats and rafts.
  A thick fog assisted Soult's attack which was also successful at Grynau Castle. The boats were used to ferry some soldiers across Lake Zurich to Schmerikon. Hotze was awakened at 4:00 am by cannon fire. He rode from his headquarters at Kaltbrunn to Schänis where he found his troops defending themselves stoutly. Hearing of trouble at Weesen, he turned toward the Walensee to investigate. On the way, Hotze rode into two French battalions in a forest and was shot dead, together with his chief of staff, Colonel Plunket. Petrasch took over the command but he brought up reinforcements too slowly. By the time they arrived, the French artillery was across the river and repulsed the Austrian counterattacks. Hard fighting went on until a final Austrian attack collapsed, with many of the soldiers captured. Meanwhile, Soult's improvised fleet attacked Rapperswil. Petrasch ordered the Russians and t
caption: 1796 map shows eastern Lake Zurich and the Linth River. Grynau is where the Linth sharply bends near Lake Zurich. Bilten and Schänis are to the lower right.
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