Battle of Winterthur ( 1799 ) The Battle of Winterthur ( 27 May 1799 ) was an important action between elements of the Army of the Danube and elements of the Habsburg army , commanded by Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze , during the War of the Second Coalition , part of the French Revolutionary Wars . The small town of Winterthur lies northeast of Zürich , in Switzerland . Because of its position at the junction of seven cross - roads , the army that held the town controlled access to most of Switzerland and points crossing the Rhine into southern Germany . Although the forces involved were small , the ability of the Austrians to sustain their 11 - hour assault on the French line resulted in the consolidation of three Austrian forces on the plateau north of Zürich , leading to the French defeat a few days later . By mid - May 1799 , the Austrians had wrested control of parts of Switzerland from the French as forces under the command of Hotze and Count Heinrich von Bellegarde pushed them out of the Grisons . After defeating Jean - Baptiste Jourdan ' s 25 , 000 - man Army of the Danube at the battles of Ostrach and Stockach , the main Austrian army , under command of Archduke Charles , crossed the Rhine at the Swiss town of Schaffhausen and prepared to unite with the armies of Hotze and Friedrich Joseph , Count of Nauendorf , on the plains surrounding Zürich . The French Army of Switzerland and the Army of the Danube , now both under the command of André Masséna , sought to prevent this merger . Masséna sent Michel Ney and a small mixed cavalry and infantry force from Zürich to stop Hotze ' s force at Winterthur . Despite a sharp contest , the Austrians succeeded in pushing the French out of the Winterthur highlands , although both sides took high casualties . Once the union of the Habsburg armies took place in early June , Archduke Charles attacked French positions at Zürich and forced the French to withdraw beyond the Limmat river . Background . Political and diplomatic situation . Initially , the rulers of Europe viewed the revolution in France as an event between the French king and his subjects , and not something in which they should interfere . As revolutionary rhetoric grew more strident , they declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe as one with the interests of Louis and his family ; this Declaration of Pilnitz threatened ambiguous , but quite serious , consequences if anything should happen to the royal family . The French position became increasingly difficult . Compounding problems in international relations , French émigrés continued to agitate for support of a counter - revolution . On 20 April 1792 , the French National Convention declared war on Austria . In this War of the First Coalition ( 1792 – 1798 ) , France ranged itself against most of the European states sharing land or water borders with her , plus Portugal and the Ottoman Empire . Although the Coalition forces achieved several victories at Verdun , Kaiserslautern , Neerwinden , Mainz , Amberg and Würzburg , the efforts of Napoleon Bonaparte in northern Italy pushed Austrian forces back and resulted in the negotiation of the Peace of Leoben ( 17 April 1797 ) and the subsequent Treaty of Campo Formio ( 17 October 1797 ) . The treaty called for meetings between the involved parties to work out the exact territorial and remunerative details . Convened at a small town in the mid - Rhineland , Rastatt , the Congress quickly derailed in a mire of intrigue and diplomatic posturing . The French demanded more territory . The Austrians were reluctant to cede the designated territories . Compounding the Congress ' s problems , tensions grew between France and most of the First Coalition allies . Ferdinand of Naples refused to pay agreed - upon tribute to France , and his subjects followed this refusal with a rebellion . The French invaded Naples and established the Parthenopaean Republic . Encouraged by the French Republic , a republican uprising in the Swiss cantons led to the overthrow of the Swiss Confederation and the establishment of the Helvetic Republic . The French Directory was convinced that the Austrians were planning to start another war . Indeed , the weaker France seemed , the more seriously the Austrians , the Neapolitans , the Russians , and the English discussed this possibility . In mid - spring , the Austrians reached an agreement with Tsar Paul of Russia by which the legendary Alexander Suvorov would come out of retirement to assist Austria in Italy with another 60 , 000 troops . Outbreak of war in 1799 . The French Directory ' s military strategy in 1799 called for offensive campaigns on all fronts : central Italy , northern Italy , the Swiss cantons , the upper Rhineland , and Holland . Theoretically , the French had a combined force of 250 , 000 troops , but this was on paper , not in the field . As winter broke in 1799 , General Jean Baptiste Jourdan and the Army of the Danube , at a paper strength of 50 , 000 and an actual strength of 25 , 000 , crossed the Rhine between Basel and Kehl on 1 March . This crossing officially violated the Treaty of Campo Formio . The Army of the Danube advanced through the Black Forest and , by mid - March , established an offensive position at the western and northern edge of the Swiss Plateau by the village of Ostrach . André Masséna had already pushed into Switzerland with his force of 30 , 000 , and successfully passed into the Grison Alps , Chur , and Finstermünz on the Inn river . Theoretically , his left flank was to link with Jourdan ' s right flank , commanded by Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino , at the far eastern shore of Lake Constance . The Austrians had arrayed their own army in a line from the Tyrol to the Danube . A force of 46 , 000 under command of Count Heinrich von Bellegarde formed the defense of the Tyrol . Another small Austrian force of 26 , 000 commanded by Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze guarded the Voralberg . The main Austrian Army — close to 80 , 000 troops under the command of Archduke Charles — had wintered in the Bavarian , Austrian , and Salzburg territories on the eastern side of the Lech river . At the battles of Ostrach ( 21 March ) and Stockach ( 25 March ) , the main Austrian force pushed the Army of the Danube back into the Black Forest . Charles made plans to cross the upper Rhine at the Swiss town of Schaffhausen . Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze brought a portion ( approximately 8 , 000 ) of his force west , leaving the rest to defend the Voralberg . At the same time , Friedrich Joseph , Count of Nauendorf , brought the left wing of the main Austrian force across the Rhine by Eglisau . They planned to unite with the main Austrian army , controlling the northern access points of Zürich and forcing an engagement with Masséna . By mid - May , French morale was low . They had suffered terrible losses at Ostrach and Stockach , although these had been made up by reinforcements . Two senior officers of the Army of the Danube , Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen and Jean - Joseph Ange d ' Hautpoul , were facing courts - martial on charges of misconduct , proffered by their senior officer , Jourdan . Jean - Baptiste Bernadotte and Laurent de Gouvion Saint - Cyr were sick , or claimed they were , and had left the army ' s encampments to recover their health . Masséna ' s force had been repelled by Hotze ' s army at Feldkirch , and forced to fall back , and LeCourbe ' s failure to push through against Bellegarde ' s Austrian force in the Tyrol , meant Masséna had to pull his southern wing back as well as his center and northern wing , to maintain communication with the retreating armies on his flanks . At this point , also , the Swiss revolted again , this time against the French , and Zürich became the last defensible position Masséna could take . Locale . Winterthur ( ; ) lies in a basin south and east of the Töss river approximately northeast of Zürich . To the north and east of the town lies a ring of hills approximately high . To the west , the Töss river runs on its course north toward the Rhine . The locale of a Roman settlement from 200 to 400 , and the site of a medieval battle in 919 , its location at seven crossroads gave it strategic importance in the effort to control north – south and east – west communication in the early days of the War of the Second Coalition . Leadership . After the defeats at the battles at Ostrach and Stockach , and the Army of the Danube ' s retreat into the Black Forest , the French Directory had sacked Jean Baptiste Jourdan in April 1799 and given command of both the Army of Switzerland and the Army of the Danube to André Masséna . Protecting the northern access to Zürich , Masséna gathered some of the best commanders he had available ; eventually , three of them would become Marshals of France , and Tharreau , a dependable General of Division . The situation for the French was dire . Not only had they been trounced in southwestern Germany , the legendary Alexander Suvorov was on his way to northern Italy with 60 , 000 Russians , to take command of Coalition forces there . Count Heinrich Bellegarde , positioned with 20 , 000 men in the Grisons , effectively isolated Masséna ' s force from any assistance out of Italy . Most threatening , Archduke Charles ' main army lay less than a day away ; in size alone , it could overwhelm him , or , if he withdrew to the west , its position cut off his avenue of withdrawal toward France . If Charles ' left wing , commanded by Nauendorf , united with Hotze ' s force , approaching from the east , Masséna knew Charles would attack and very likely push him out of Zürich . To prevent this merger of the Austrian forces , Masséna established a forward line centered at Winterthur , and under overall command of the experienced Jean Victor Tharreau . The French forces were arrayed in an uneven semicircle , in which Winterthur formed the central part . The command of the Winterthur brigades was the most important . If the center could not hold its position , the flanks would be isolated and crushed . Masséna sent newly promoted General of Division Michel Ney to Winterthur on 27 May 1799 to take command of the center . Masséna recalled him from his assignment commanding an outpost of Claude Lecourbe ' s force in central Switzerland , and gave him a command more fitting with his new rank . Ney arrived with the reputation for boldness considered typical of cavalry officers , but with minimal experience in commanding mixed forces . Anxious to prove himself but aware of protocols , he had hurried to Tharreau ' s headquarters , but had to wait for his " letters of service " before he could take command . These arrived on 25 May . The troops at Winterthur included a brigade of four battalions commanded by Dominique Mansuy Roget , a weak brigade commanded by Théodore Maxime Gazan , and a cavalry brigade commanded by Frédéric Henri Walther . Like Ney , Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze , the Austrian commander , was also a cavalry officer . Unlike Ney , he had broad field experience . The Swiss - born Hotze had entered the military service of the Duke of Württemberg in 1758 and had been promoted to " Rittmeister " , or captain of cavalry ; he had campaigned briefly in the Seven Years ' War , but saw no combat . Later , he served in the Russian army in the Russo - Turkish War ( 1768 – 74 ) . With an Austrian commission , he joined the Habsburg imperial army , and served in the brief War of the Bavarian Succession ( 1778 – 79 ) . His campaigning in the War of the First Coalition , particularly at the Battle of Würzburg , had earned him the confidence of Archduke Charles and elevation to the ranks of nobility by Charles ' brother , Francis II , Holy Roman Emperor . Action . Preliminaries . On 22 May 1799 , Friedrich Joseph , Count of Nauendorf , led a large column across the Rhine at Constance , Stein and Eglisau . Hotze ' s force had already crossed the Rhine further east , where it was still a mountain stream , and passed through the Grisons , into Toggenburg , and moved toward Zürich . To prevent these two forces from joining with Archduke Charles ' 100 , 000 men , on 22 May , Masséna and 23 , 000 troops of the Army of the Danube marched from Zürich in the direction of Winterthur . Once past Winterthur , they made their way another northeast and , on 25 May , the two armies clashed at Frauenfeld . Out - numbered almost four to one , Hotze ' s force was badly mauled by the French ; 750 of Hotze ' s men were killed or wounded , and 1 , 450 captured ; in addition , Hotze lost two guns , and one color . His second - in - command , Major General Christoph Karl von Piacsek , was wounded in action and died later of his wounds . Despite the superiority of the French numbers , though , Hotze extricated his force from the engagement , maneuvered around the French position , and escaped in the direction of Winterthur . Meanwhile , by 26 May Nauendorf established camp near Andelfingen and reacquired contact with the main Austrian force . Having united with Nauendorf , Archduke Charles awaited Hotze ' s force , coming from the east , before he would attack the French at Zürich . That same night , Hotze camped between Frauenfeld and Hüttwilen , about southeast of Nauendorf ' s position , and sent his advance posts as far ahead as Islikon and Elgg , only east of Winterthur . Clash . On the morning of 27 May , Hotze assembled his force into three columns and marched toward Winterthur . Opposite him , Michel Ney , newly in command of his division of approximately 3 , 000 men , deployed his force around the heights , the so - called Ober - Winterthur , a ring of low - lying hills some north of the city . Given the size of the Austrian force approaching him , Ney planned to withdraw to Winterthur . Before he could implement this action , the over - all commander of the forward line , Jean Victor Tharreau , had galloped to his position and said he would support Ney by sending Jean - de - Dieu Soult ' s division ; Ney understood this to mean he was to make a stand along the entire outpost line , and that he would not be isolated . His small force would receive reinforcements from Soult ' s division . Consequently , Ney directed the weakest brigade , under the command of Gazan , to move up a long valley toward Frauenfeld , and another brigade , under the command of Roget , to take the right , preventing any Austrian flanking maneuver . By mid - morning , Hotze ' s advanced guard had encountered moderate French resistance first from Roget ' s brigade , and then , almost immediately , from Gazan ' s . The Austrian advance troops quickly overran Gazan ' s weak brigade and took possession of the woods surrounding the village of Islikon . After securing the villages of Gundeschwil , Schottikon , Wiesendangen , and Stogen , further west of Islikon , Hotze deployed two of his columns facing the French front , while a third angled to the French right , as Ney had expected he would . By mid - morning , Ney had moved toward the front with Gazan ' s brigade and he could see the enemy advancing toward him ; still expecting Soult ' s reinforcements on his flanks , he anticipated an easy victory , like the one three days earlier in which Masséna ' s force had pounded Hotze ' s column at Frauenfeld . He did not realize , at least not yet , that Hotze had 8 , 000 men with which to secure the crossroads north of Winterthur . Ney brought more of his men to the front , and moved against the Austrian left . In an Austrian volley , he and his horse went down ; the horse was killed and Ney received a knee injury . He had his wound bandaged , called for another horse , and reentered the fight . Ney now had two problems : he expected support columns from Soult ' s division on both flanks to arrive momentarily and he did not know that the Austrians had arrived in force , directly in front of his center . Although Roget ' s brigade was strong enough to prevent the Austrians from flanking the position , Gazan ' s brigade was too weak to resist the superior Austrian force , which was growing visibly stronger as Hotze ' s troops continued to arrive at the forward line and throw themselves into the fray . Finally accepting that Soult would not arrive , Ney could not hope to hold his position , much less push the Austrians back . He concluded that he must fall back to Winterthur . To cover the retreat , he instructed Walther and his cavalry to establish a position on the Töss , above the bridge at Stieg . From there , the cavalry could protect an orderly retreat . Amidst a muddy rivulet feeding the Töss , Ney positioned a second detachment guarding the village of Töss and the road leading to a ridge of the hills , where he placed a couple of cannons . From the ridge , his rear guard could fire its artillery on the Austrian advance . For Walther , at the bridge , the position appeared defensible for as long as it would take to remove Ney ' s force through Winterthur , yet the shock of the Austrian force , as it hit his defenses , was sufficient to break his line after 90 minutes of brisk fighting . But there the Austrian forward momentum stalled . Although Hotze ' s men forced Walther ' s from the bridge , they themselves could not cross it . From the ridge , Ney ' s rear guard maintained a steady stream of cannon fire on any of the Austrians who crossed the bridge and attempted to advance up the hill . Hotze recognized the futility of throwing his men into direct cannon fire and ordered instead a steady musketry barrage . This proved effective , for Ney was again injured , this time in his left hand , and his second horse was killed ; he relinquished command to Gazan , who organized the continued withdrawal from the position . When the Archduke heard of Hotze ' s success in taking Winterthur crossroads , he directed his troops to augment Nauendorf ' s , and to take the village and the environs of Neftenbach , west - northwest of Winterthur . Nicolas Oudinot , whose men had secured Neftenbach as part of the French forward line , held out for most of the day , but was forced to retreat to Pfungen in the late afternoon ; his position there was not defensible and he was pushed further back to the outskirts of Zürich . By taking Neftenbach , Charles placed a formidable group of troops between Ney ' s force and Hotze ' s flank and forced an uneven French withdrawal toward Zürich . Tharreau maneuvered around the Töss , attempting to re - establish his forward line , but Masséna did not want a general engagement between Zürich and Neftenbach , not there and not then . The Armies of Switzerland and the Danube were not ready to take on Charles ; Masséna ' s forces were not prepared for a battle on the scale required in facing Charles ' entire army , and he needed the defenses offered by Zürich to mount a proper line against the impending Austrian attack . Eventually , Tharreau withdrew the entire forward line to Zürich . The clash took 11 hours . Aftermath . Hotze ' s force took relatively high casualties — 1 , 000 men killed , wounded or missing ( 12 . 5 percent ) of his entire force of 8 , 000 — although his losses were comparable to Ney ' s 800 killed wounded or missing , from his 7 , 000 - man force ( 11 . 5 percent ) . More importantly , though , Hotze succeeded not only in pushing the French back from Winterthur , but also in uniting his force with Nauendorf ' s and Charles ' . The unified Austrian force completed the semicircle around Masséna ' s positions at Zürich . For the French , despite their success earlier at Frauenfeld , the action was considerably less successful . In the clash , Ney was sufficiently wounded that he took immediate leave , and remained out of action and command until 22 July . The conduct of the battle also demonstrated the weakness of the French command system in which personal animosity and competition between high - ranking officers , in this case , Soult and Tharreau , undermined French military objectives . Tharreau eventually charged Soult with insubordination ; Soult had outright refused to go to Ney ' s assistance , despite specific , and direct , orders to move his division to Ney ' s flanks . Furthermore , the French dangerously underestimated Austrian tenacity and military skill . The " white coats " , as the French called the Austrians , were far better soldiers than the French assumed , and despite such demonstrations as that at Ostrach , Stockach and Winterthur , the French continued to hold this prejudice . This did not change until 1809 when the Battle of Aspern - Essling and the Battle of Wagram a few weeks later caused Napoleon to revise his opinion of the Austrian military . Finally , the battle at Winterthur made possible the victory at Zürich . Once the Austrian armies united west , north and east of Zürich , Charles decided he had a sufficiently superior force to attack Masséna ' s positions in Zürich . His strategy , to develop a converging attack , was not entirely possible without another Austria corps , which was commanded by Suvorov , and positioned in the mountains in Italy ; this would have made possible the near encirclement of Masséna ' s command at Zürich , making the French position untenable . Even so , at the First Battle of Zürich ( 4 – 7 June 1799 ) , the Austrian army forced the French to abandon Zürich ; Masséna withdrew across the Limmat river , where he set up a defensive position on the low - lying hills overlooking the city and awaited his opportunity to reacquire the city . Total : ~ 8000 men Order of battle . French . Total : 7 , 000 men