Battle of Gray

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Battle of Gray
Part of Franco-Prussian War
DateOctober 27, 1870 [1]
Location
Result German victory [3] [4]
Belligerents
Flag of France (1794-1958).svg  French Republic

Flag of Germany (1867-1919).svg  North German Confederation

Flagge Grossherzogtum Baden (1871-1891).svg  Baden [5]
Commanders and leaders
Flag of France (1794-1815, 1830-1958).svg Colonel Lavalle [6] War Ensign of Prussia (1816).svg August von Werder [7]
Flagge Grossherzogtum Baden (1871-1891).svg Prince Wilhelm of Baden [6]
Units involved
Flag of France (1794-1815, 1830-1958).svg Garde Mobile War Ensign of Prussia (1816).svgA brigade of the XIV Corps [2] [6]
Casualties and losses
15 officers and 500 soldiers taken prisoner [7] Unknown

The Battle of Gray (also called Battle of Talmay), fought on 27 October 1870, was a part of the Franco-Prussian War that occurred in Haute-Saône France.

Contents

Battle

On 22 October 1870, the XIV Corps, mostly composed of troops from the Grand Duchy of Baden under General August von Werder defeated the Army of the Rhône under General Albert Cambriels at the Battle of Ognon. Werder had orders from chief of staff Helmuth von Moltke to march through Dijon to Bourges. In engagements at Essertenne and Talmay near Gray, troops under Prince William of Baden quickly defeated a French Army force of the Garde Mobile under Colonel Lavalle, sent to defend the Vingeanne river, and forced them to withdraw from Gray. But a new enemy, the famous Italian general of the French Army, Giuseppe Garibaldi, and his forces were ordered to march to the Gray railroad station. From there, they advanced on Dijon.

On 24 October 1870, the XIV Corps assembled at Gray. In the days that followed, its units searched for French troops.

On 27 October 1870, German forces that had already crossed the Saône River performed a reconnaissance towards Dijon after encountering and repelling several Garde Mobile soldiers from the forests northwest of Gray. In the direction of the Vingeanne, the German army was already fighting the enemy at several points. Two regiments of soldiers firing muskets of the Regiment Baden 2, with 4-gate fireworks of the 3rd heavy battery, which had sailed from Autrey to face an attack by several hundred French Garde Mobile soldiers who had retreated from La Fahy and the Pomilly woods to Mornay and St. Seine L'Eglise. After a skirmish, the Garde Mobile were driven out with the loss of their handheld equipment, and 60 prisoners fell to the Germans.

Further down the area, there were several isolated French outposts. The stronger troops, stationed at the junction of Mirabeau and Pontailler-sur-Saône, retreated from Essertenne and the forest to the west after a minor skirmish with the 2nd battalion of the Baden Guards Regiment. As the army continued through the forest, some German soldiers gained access to the entire military wing, which was not supported by a vertical lineup Garde Mobile marching from Talmay to L'Eglise Renève. The French were driven back to Vingeanne and Talmay. At Talmay, another German company surrounded all 15 French officers and 430 soldiers. Later, General Werder ordered General Gustav von Beyer to conduct further reconnaissance towards Dijon. [4]

Aftermath

As a result of the victory at Gray, German forces captured a large number of French prisoners. Not long after, Lavalle was brought before a French military court.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">August von Werder</span>

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich August Leopold Graf von Werder was a Prussian general.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Strasbourg</span> Siege during the Franco-German war in 1870

The siege of Strasbourg took place during the Franco-Prussian War, and resulted in the French surrender of the fortress on 28 September 1870.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">XIV Corps (German Empire)</span> Military unit

The XIV Army Corps / XIV AK was a corps level command of the German Army before and during World War I. It was, effectively, also the army of the Grand Duchy of Baden, which, in 1871, had been integrated into the Prussian Army command structure, as had the armies of most German states. Both divisions and the bulk of the corps' support units were from the grand duchy. The corps was established in 1870, after the Siege of Strasbourg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Army of the Vosges</span> Military unit

The Army of the Vosges was a volunteer force placed under the command of Giuseppe Garibaldi, formed in order to ensure the defense of the road to Lyon from the Prussian Army during the Franco-Prussian war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athée, Côte-d'Or</span> Commune in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France

Athée is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of eastern France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Villersexel</span> Battle in France

The Battle of Villersexel took place on 9 January 1871 as part of the Franco-Prussian War. Elements of the French Armée de l'Est under General Bourbaki engaged August von Werder's German forces. It resulted in a French victory.

The Battle of Châtillon, also known as the Battle of Châtillon-sous-Bagneux, was a skirmish in the Siege of Paris between France and North German Confederation in the Franco-Prussian War, took place on 13 October 1870. This is also considered the first battle in the history of the French Third Republic. In this fierce battle – occurred at Châtillon and Sceaux, Corps V of the Prussian army under the command of Lieutenant General Infantry Hugo von Kirchbach, along with the II Corps of the Kingdom of Bavaria by the Supreme Minister infantry Jakob von Hartmann which were the forces of the army Group 3 of Prussia by Prince Friedrich Wilhelm as General command., won a victory against an attack by the XIV Corps under General Renault - of the French army under General Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot. Although some soldiers under Ducrot fought well, the majority of his army became agitated. The French were forced to flee to Paris, losing the Châtillon Plateau - a very favorable defensive position overlooking the fortresses south of Paris - to the Germans. This was a disaster for the "justice" of the French army during the war, although the French reported that they suffered only minor losses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proclamation of the German Empire</span> 1871 unification of the German states

The proclamation of the German Empire, also known as the Deutsche Reichsgründung, took place in January 1871 after the joint victory of the German states in the Franco-Prussian War. As a result of the November Treaties of 1870, the southern German states of Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, with their territories south of the Main line, Württemberg and Bavaria, joined the Prussian-dominated "North German Confederation" on 1 January 1871. On the same day, the new Constitution of the German Confederation came into force, thereby significantly extending the federal German lands to the newly created German Empire. The Day of the founding of the German Empire, January 18, became a day of celebration, marking when the Prussian King William I was proclaimed German Emperor at the Palace of Versailles.

The Podewils gun was a 13.9mm calibre rifle used in the Bavarian army since 1858. It was the most common infantry weapon of the Bavarian army in the Austro-Prussian war of 1866 and the Franco-Prussian war of 1870/71. Theodor Fontane called it an "excellent" weapon of the Austro-Prussian war due to its long range. Originally a muzzleloader, it was converted to breechloading in 1867, the so-called Lindner conversion. In 1869 the Bavarian army started to replace it with the Werder breechloader, but due to budgetary constrains by 1870 most Bavarian troops still used the Podewils while only four infantry battalions had received the Werder. Even the Lindner conversion was inferior to both the Prussian Dreyse needle gun and the French Chassepot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Werbach</span>

The Battle of Werbach took place during the Austro-Prussian War as part of the Campaign of the Main on 24 July 1866 between the Prussian Alliance and the German Federal Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Nompatelize</span>

The Battle of Nompatelize, also known as the Battle of Etival, was a battle of the Franco-Prussian War on 6 October 1870, between Etival and Nompatelize in the province of Vosges from Strasbourg 64 km southwest. This battle marked the first major crackdown of franc-tireur operations in the Vosges region by the XIV Corps of the Prussians by Minister August von Werder in early October 1870. In matches fiercely this, A force of the Army of Rhône of the French Republic under the command of General Louis-François Dupré, who predominated to markedly document in terms of troop numbers, and attacked 6 infantry battalions of the Grand Duchy of Baden under the command of General Alfred von Degenfeld which were part of the XIV Corps, but were defeated. Compared to the casualties of the German military, the losses of the French side in this battle were much greater. After seven hours of fighting, the French were forced to flee in turmoil to Bruyeres and the Rambervillers. The Battle of Etival contributed to General Werder wiping out the French from Alsace.

The siege of Sélestat was a siege, extending from 20 to 24 October 1870, of the French Alsatian fortress of Sélestat, during the Franco-Prussian War. After artillery bombardment by the Germans, the siege ended when the French army surrendered, mainly because the French garrison was demoralized. The Germans suffered only minor losses, while this victory brought them many spoils.

The Battle of Ognon was a battle in the Franco-Prussian War, which took place on October 22, 1870, at the Ognon River. In this battle the Prussian XIV Corps under the command of General Karl August von Werder, which also consisted of a division of the Grand Duchy of Baden, attacked elements of the French Army of the Rhine commanded by General Albert Cambriels. The Germans captured a large number of French prisoners. The German victory in the Battle of Ognon decided the fate of the Army of the Rhine, at least within two weeks thereafter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Dijon (1870)</span> Series of battles in the Franco-Prussian War

The Battles of Dijon were a series of battles that took place in 1870 and 1871, as part of the Franco-Prussian War, on the current territory of the French commune of Dijon between the French Republic and the German states of Prussia and Baden and later, the German Empire.

The Battle of Châteauneuf was a battle in the Franco-Prussian War that took place on December 3, 1870, at the Châteauneuf-sur-Loire, Loire, France. During this engagement, the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the Prussian army, which was a part of the Baden Division and was under the command of General Keller repelled an ambush of the French army under the command of General Camille Crémer. The battle facilitated the Prussian army to continue its withdrawal from Autun. The battle lasted for seven hours, and brought the Prussian army negligible losses, with 153 casualties. However, the Germans viewed this engagement as one of their most glorious victories of the campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Longeau</span> 1870 battle in the Franco-Prussian War

The Battle of Longeau, was a battle of the Franco-Prussian War on December 16, 1870 in Longeau-Percey, near Dijon, France. The fighting lasted about three hours, and ended in a French retreat. Victory went to the Prussian Infantry Brigade under Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz and the German XIV Corps infantry under the command of Lieutenant General August von Werder, over French troops commanded by General Pierre Arbellot de Vacqueur, semt from Langres to Longeau. The French suffered significant losses of both manpower and equipment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Nuits Saint Georges</span>

The Battle of Nuits-Saint-Georges was a battle in the Franco-Prussian War, which took place on December 18, 1870. In this battle, the Baden Division of Germany commanded by General Adolf von Glümer and the XIV Legion under the command of General August von Werder, has won the position in Nuits from the French army led by General Camille Crémer, forced the French army to withdraw overnight with heavy losses for both sides. Glümer himself was also slightly wounded in this engagement, while the defeat of the French army in the fierce battle at Nuits Saint George resulted in the loss of much of their equipment to the German army. Cremer is credited with fighting with great courage in this battle, but not with leadership.

The Battle of Monnaie, also known as the Battle of Tours was a battle of the Franco-Prussian War. It took place on the December 20, 1870 at Indre-et-Loire, France. During this engagement, a Hanover division of the Imperial German Army under the command of General Schwarzkoppen, belonging to Legion X under the command of Konstantin Bernhard von Voigts-Rhetz attacked and won the victory against an army of Garde Mobile's 234 led by General Ferry Pisani, driving the French to Langreais. This victory allowed the Germans to enter and occupy the city of Tours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred von Degenfeld</span>

Alfred Emil Ludwig Philipp Freiherr von Degenfeld was a Badensian-Prussian general and a member of the Reichstag.

The Baden Army was the military organisation of the German state of Baden until 1871. The origins of the army were a combination of units that the Badenese margraviates of Baden-Durlach and Baden-Baden had set up in the Baroque era, and the standing army of the Swabian Circle, to which both territories had to contribute troops. The reunification of the two small states to form the Margraviate of Baden in 1771 and its subsequent enlargement and elevation by Napoleon to become the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1806 created both the opportunity and obligation to maintain a larger army, which Napoleon used in his campaigns against Austria, Prussia and Spain and, above all, Russia. After the end of Napoleon's rule, the Grand Duchy of Baden contributed a division to the German Federal Army. In 1848, Badenese troops helped to suppress the Hecker uprising, but a year later a large number sided with the Baden revolutionaries. After the violent suppression of the revolution by Prussian and Württemberg troops, the army was re-established and fought in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 on the side of Austria and the southern German states, as well as in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 on the side of the Germans. When Baden joined the German Empire in 1870/71, the Grand Duchy gave up its military sovereignty and the Badenese troops became part of the XIV Army Corps of the Imperial German Army.

References

  1. Max Maria Weber (Freiherr von), Germany, Thaten und phrasen: Sammlung officieller und officiöser depeschen und nachrichten über den deutsch-französischen krieg von 1870-1871; nebst einer chronologie des kriegs, dem wortlaut des Frankfurter friedensvertrags und einer karte des kriegsschauplatzes mit der demarcationslinie und den occupationsgebieten in Frankreich... , Page xiv
  2. 1 2 Zur erinnerung an eine grosse zeit: Den heimkehrenden siegern gewidmet..., Page 84
  3. "The German-French war of 1870 and its consequences upon future civilization"
  4. 1 2 Tony Jaques, Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity Through the Twenty-First Century, Volume 2, Page 409
  5. "The Franco-German War, 1870-1871..."
  6. 1 2 3 "Men who have made the new German empire. A series of brief biographic sketches"
  7. 1 2 Deutsche officielle Depeschen und Proclamationen: nebst Chronik des deustch-französischen Krieg, 1870-1871, Page 297