page_title: Battle of Mannheim (1799)
section_title: Campaign and Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Mannheim (1799) / Campaign and Battle
context_page_description: The Battle of Mannheim was fought between a Habsburg Austrian army commanded by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and a Republican French army under Jacques Léonard Muller. Most of the French Army of the Rhine had retreated to the west bank of the Rhine River, leaving the division of Antoine Laroche Dubouscat to hold Mannheim on the east bank. Despite assistance by Michel Ney, Laroche's division was beaten and driven out of the city when attacked by Charles and a much superior force. The War of the Second Coalition action occurred in the city of Mannheim, located in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany about 80 kilometres south of Frankfurt.
  In the summer of 1799, Muller's 18,000-man army had the mission of drawing Charles' Austrian army away from Switzerland, the central and western portions of which were held by André Masséna's army. Moving south from Mannheim, the Army of the Rhine laid siege to Philippsburg. Provoked by this threat to his strategic rear, Charles and 30,000 troops moved north against Muller, who quickly withdrew.
context_section_description: At the end of August 1799, Army of the Rhine was organized into three infantry divisions under Colaud, Antoine Laroche Dubouscat and Jean François Leval and a cavalry reserve led by Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul. On 24 August a review was ordered at Oggersheim but it rained and the troops got drenched instead. It was rumored that the review was a cover for Muller's chief of staff Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers to carry out on a raid to Frankfurt in order to mulct the city for funds. The 6,000 troops allotted to this mission were drawn from all the infantry divisions. Hilliers would rejoin the army at Heidelberg. On the 25th Ney came to the army as a freshly-minted general of division. Muller created an advance guard of 1,400 infantry, 200 cavalry and three field pieces for Ney.
  On 26 August 1799, Muller's 18,000-strong army moved out with Leval's division marching south through Schwetzingen, Colaud occupying Wiesloch and Sinsheim, Laroche on Colaud's left and Hautpoul bringing up the rear. Ney was reinforced by a cavalry regiment and sent out ahead up the Neckar River valley where he seized Heilbronn on 29 August and Lauffen am Neckar on the 30th. A false report caused the army to retreat on 1 September, but the advance soon resumed. Ney's patrols reached Ludwigsburg. Leval's division invested Philippsburg and its 2,239-man garrison. The French threatened to burn down the town unless it surrendered, but its governor Count Salm refused, saying if his enemies captured the town all they would get would be its ashes. The bombardment started on 6 September. The French were also opposed by an Austrian force led by Anton Sztáray which was supplemented by a local militia that its commander Count Albini styled the "German National Guard". These partisans later managed to recapture Frankfurt.
  Archduke Charles was loath to get too far from Masséna and hovered near Donaueschingen for a while. However, the Austrian general began to move north when Philippsburg was attacked. On 5 September reports came in from Hautpoul's cavalry and infantry brigadier Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen that Charles was coming closer. Though Philippsburg had only been under siege for a few days, the French inflicted 94 casualties on the garrison of Philippsburg and caused serious damage to its defenses. Nevertheless, Muller abandoned the siege and began falling back on Mannheim. By 13 September, most of the Army of the Rhine was safely on the west bank of the Rhine. Leval's division covered the northern stretch between Worms and Koblenz, Colaud was south near Speyer and Ney defended the river between them with a newly formed division composed of six elite companies, one infantry regiment and three cavalry regiments.
  In a remarkable mistake, Muller left Laroche's division at Mannheim on the east bank. Laroche understood very well that his division was badly exposed. He would have liked to defend the position of Neckerau but it had no bridge, while Mannheim had a bridge. He finally turned to Ney for advice, who suggested moving the bridge to Neckerau. On 18 September, Charles with 22,000 troops assaulted Laroche who had only 5,200 soldiers. Even so, the French resisted stoutly. Ney brought some of his troops to help, but the Austrians overran Neckerau on Laroche's right and drove for the bridge. In the end, the Austrians almost managed to cross to the west bank by the bridge, but were finally stopped.
  According to another source, the archduke had 18,000 soldiers available. The regular foot soldiers forming the Austrian force included the Bojakowsky, Fitz-Gibbons, Rüffer, Sebottendorf and Tegetthof Grenadier battalions, three battalions each of Infantry Regiments Archduke Ferdinand Nr. 2, Archduke Charles Nr. 3 and Oliver Wallis Nr. 29 and two companies of Carl Schröder Nr. 7. The Grenz Infantry contingent was made up of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of Broder Nr. 7 and the 1st Battalion of Deutsch-Banater Nr. 12. The cavalry consisted of six squadrons each of the Kaiser Cuirassier Nr. 1, Lothringen Cuirassier Nr. 7, Anspach Dragoon Nr. 11, Kinsky Dragoon Nr. 12 and Vé
caption: Map of Mannheim and vicinity showing the siege works of 1795
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