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Battle of Werbach | |||||||
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Part of Austro-Prussian War | |||||||
Fight at the bridge over the Tauber. Woodcut by Ludwig Burger, 1871. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Prussia Oldenburg Bremen | Baden Württemberg | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
August von Goeben Ludwig von Weltzien | Prince Wilhelm of Baden Oskar von Hardegg | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
13th Division | VIII Army Corps | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
5,000 soldiers | 5,000 soldiers | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
12 dead; 59 wounded | 7 dead; 60 wounded, 16 missing |
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.
After his march into Frankfurt (16 July), the commander of the Prussian Army on the Main, Eduard Vogel von Falckenstein, was recalled and replaced by Edwin von Manteuffel. The Prussian army was also increased to 60,000 men. From 21 July the Prussians marched from Frankfurt towards Würzburg to prevent the unification of the Federal Army. After crossing the Odenwald, there were a series of battles with Baden, Hessian and Württemberg units of the VIII Corps of the Federal Army on the Tauber until 24 July.
The VII Army Corps of the Federal Army was formed by the Bavarian Army. This corps under Prince Karl of Bavaria was in the Würzburg area. Karl of Bavaria was also the commander-in-chief of the federal troops in southern Germany and the aim was to lead the two federal corps into battle against the Prussian Main Army.
In the Werbach area met on 24 July 1866 (three weeks after the decisive battle of Königgrätz) the 13th Prussian division with the Oldenburg-Hanseatic Brigade under the command of Major General Ludwig von Weltzien, as well as the Baden division under the command of Prince Wilhelm of Baden.
The 8th Federal Corps, consisting of four divisions under the command of Alexander von Hessen-Darmstadt, was divided into the following places on 24 July:
The Prussian Main Army consisted of three divisions under Edwin von Manteuffel
The Order of Battle of the participating associations in a contemporary representation:
On the advance the Prussians advanced to three places on the Tauber: the Goeben division on the right wing to Tauberbischofsheim, the Beyer division in the center to Werbach and the Flies division on the left wing to Wertheim. On the Tauber, the Prussians first met the VIII. Corps, which was already planning to march towards Aschaffenburg . On 23 July, there was a first battle near Hundheim , but the commander of the VIII Corps, Prince Alexander of Hesse, realized too late that he was facing the entire Army of the Main. Shortly after the Oldenburg Brigade arrived in front of Hochhausen, the Avantgarde of the 13th Prussian Infantry Division under August Karl von Goeben reached the Wrangel Brigade near Bischofsheim and began on 24 July the battle near Tauberbischofsheim with the Württemberg division of the VIII Army Corps under Lieutenant General Oskar von Hardegg.
The combined Prussian division Flies crossed the Tauber near Wertheim without encountering any resistance . Prince Alexander assumed that this transition would be covered by the Bavarian army corps.
The Baden division stood on 24 July at 12 noon between Werbach and Werbachhausen on the right bank of the Tauber and also controlled the Tauber crossing at Hochhausen, where 2 companies of the 2nd regiment were located. The 3rd regiment was in Werbach itself. The 2nd Infantry Brigade of the Baden Division was deployed with five battalions and two artillery detachments - a total of around 5,000 men.
At 12.30 p.m. the Oldenburg- Hanseatic Brigade under Major General Ludwig von Weltzien reached the heights southwest of Hochhausen. After artillery battles near Hochhausen and Werbach, the infantry attack by 3 battalions of the Oldenburg-Hanseatic Brigade on Hochhausen began at 3 p.m. The Oldenburg Brigade had three Oldenburg and one Bremen infantry battalions, as well as two artillery divisions. The brigade received support from the fusilier battalion of the 8th Rhenish Infantry Regiment No. 70 and two other artillery divisions of the combined Beyer division, so that around 5,000 men were deployed.
The avant-garde of the Beyer division also intervened in the battle with the fusilier battalion of the 8th Rhenish Infantry Regiment No. 70 and an artillery division. The Baden troops evacuated Hochhausen without any resistance worth mentioning. At 4 p.m. the infantry attack on Werbach began, where the Baden troops offered heavy resistance, but ultimately had to retreat in the Welzbach valley. A battery in Württemberg near Impfingen set fire to Hochhausen, but was soon driven from its position. The Baden division withdrew to the Bavarian Unteraltertheim, with the rearguard remaining with Steinbach with the Baden army was thus pushed out of the Grand Duchy of Baden.
Prince Alexander, the commander in chief of the VIII Army Corps, saw his right flank threatened by the withdrawal of the Baden division and sent the Hessian division from Großrinderfeld to Wenkheim on 24 July.
The VIII Federal Corps united with the VII Army Corps advancing from Würzburg with the Bavarian troops. On 3 August 1866 an armistice was agreed between Baden and Prussia in Würzburg. Bavaria had already agreed an armistice on 28 July, Württemberg and Hesse on 1 August.
August Karl Friedrich Christian von Goeben, was a Prussian infantry general, who won the Iron Cross for his service in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71.
Werbach is a municipality in the district of Main-Tauber in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.
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The 26th Division, formally the 26th Division, was a unit of the Prussian/German Army. It was headquartered in Stuttgart, the capital of the Kingdom of Württemberg. The division was subordinated in peacetime to the XIII Corps. The division was disbanded in 1919 during the demobilization of the German Army after World War I. The division was raised and recruited in the Kingdom of Württemberg.
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The Battle of Tauberbischofsheim was an engagement of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, on the 24 July at Tauberbischofsheim in the Grand Duchy of Baden between troops of the German Confederation and the Kingdom of Prussia. It was part of the campaign of the Main and ended with a Prussian victory.
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The Battle of Frohnhofen or Battle of Laufach took place on 13 July 1866 as part of the Main Campaign of the Prussian Army in the Austro-Prussian War. In a battle lasting several hours, the Prussian 26th Infantry Brigade repulsed attacks by the 3rd (Hessian) Division of the VIII. Corps of the North German Confederation, with the Hessians suffering heavy losses. It thus secured the Spessart crossings and created favorable conditions for the Battle of Aschaffenburg around the Main crossing the next day.
The Battle of Aschaffenburg, sometimes also called The Skirmishes Near Aschaffenburg, was a battle of the Austro-Prussian War on 14 July 1866 between pitting the armies of Prussia on the one hand and parts of the VIII Corps of the German Federal Army on the other side which primarily consisted of soldiers from the Austrian Empire, Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Kassel.
The Battle of Helmstadt was a battle in the Main Campaign of the Austro-Prussian War on 25 July 1866, between the Prussian Main Army and the VIII Corps of the German Federal Army which consisted of soldiers from the Kingdom of Bavaria.
The Battle of Roßbrunn was the last battle of the Main Campaign in the Austro-Prussian War. It took place on 26 July 1866 near Roßbrunn, Uettingen and Hettstadt.
The Battle of Hundheim took place during the Austro-Prussian War as part of the Campaign of the Main on 23 July 1866 between the combined forces of the Prussia and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha against the armies of Baden.
The Battle of Gerchsheim was an artillery battle during the Austro-Prussian War as part of the Campaign of the Main on July 25, 1866, between the Prussian Alliance and the German Federal Army.
Alfred Emil Ludwig Philipp Freiherr von Degenfeld (1816-1888) was a Badensian-Prussian general and a member of the Reichstag.
Peter Friedrich Ludwig von Weltzien was an Oldenburg-Prussian lieutenant general who served in the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian wars.
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.
Oskar von Hardegg was a Württemberger officer who was notable for being the commanding Württemberger figure at the Battle of Werbach during the Austro-Prussian War.