{ "slug": "worth-1870", "title": "Battle of Wörth (1870)", "status": "draft", "era": "1850–1900", "date_text": "6 August 1870", "start": "1870-08-06", "end": "1870-08-06", "war": "Franco-Prussian War", "cdb90_war": "FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR", "place": { "name": "Wœrth (Wörth) and Frœschwiller, on the Sauer, northern Alsace, France", "lat": 48.9389, "lon": 7.7333, "wikidata": "Q684479" }, "lede": "On 6 August 1870 outpost fighting on the Sauer grew, against orders, into a battle in which the Crown Prince of Prussia's Third Army stormed MacMahon's heights at Frœschwiller. The French army in Alsace fell back beyond the Vosges and Alsace lay open.", "result": "Decisive German victory", "result_cdb90": "attacker win", "belligerents": [ { "role": "attacker", "name": "German Third Army: V and XI Prussian Corps, I and II Bavarian Corps, and Werder's Württemberg and Baden divisions", "commanders": [ "Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia (Third Army; on the field from 13:00)", "Lieutenant-General Leonhard von Blumenthal (chief of staff)", "General Hugo von Kirchbach (V Corps)", "General Julius von Bose (XI Corps)", "General Jakob von Hartmann (II Bavarian Corps)", "General Ludwig von der Tann (I Bavarian Corps)" ], "strength": { "value": 87300, "low": 81000, "high": 125000, "source": "s4" }, "casualties": { "value": 10642, "low": 10549, "high": 10642, "source": "s2" } }, { "role": "defender", "name": "French Army of Alsace: I Corps, with Conseil-Dumesnil's division of VII Corps", "commanders": [ "Marshal Patrice de MacMahon", "General Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot (1st Division)", "General Marie-Hippolyte de Lartigue (4th Division)", "General Noël Raoult (3rd Division)", "General Charles-Frédéric de Bonnemains (reserve cuirassier division)" ], "strength": { "value": 45000, "low": 35000, "high": 54300, "source": "s2" }, "casualties": { "value": 20000, "low": 15096, "high": 21000, "source": "s5" } } ], "sections": { "background": "France declared war on Prussia in July 1870. Napoleon III took command of the Army of the Rhine at Metz on 28 July, and Marshal MacMahon's I Corps, four infantry divisions, guarded northern Alsace. While their First and Second Armies closed on the Saar, the Crown Prince of Prussia's Third Army, with Blumenthal as chief of staff, advanced on the frontier at Wissembourg. On 4 August it overwhelmed Abel Douay's isolated division at Wissembourg. Douay was killed, and the survivors marched into MacMahon's lines on the 5th.\n\nThat day Napoleon split his forces. Bazaine took the corps in Lorraine; MacMahon was given I, V and VII Corps in Alsace. He took up a strong position on the heights west of the Sauer, from Neehwiller through Frœschwiller and Elsasshausen to the heights above Eberbach, and Conseil-Dumesnil's division of VII Corps came up by rail from Mulhouse. Failly's V Corps was still marching to Bitche, and only Lespart's division set out towards Reichshoffen on the morning of the 6th. Moltke says MacMahon meant to attack the invaders.\n\nNeither commander expected a battle on 6 August. The Crown Prince planned to close up his army and wheel it west that day, and to attack only when the situation was clear. But the outposts stood a few hundred metres apart across the Sauer. On the evening of the 5th German hussars chased a French watering party back to its camp, and the French stood to arms. A violent storm broke over the bivouacs that night, and by first light the outposts at Wœrth and Gunstett were shooting. The same day the Second Army attacked Frossard's corps at Spicheren, on the Saar.", "forces": "The Third Army mixed Prussians and South Germans: V Corps (Kirchbach) and XI Corps (Bose), the I Bavarian Corps (von der Tann) and the II (Hartmann), and Werder's corps of the Württemberg and Baden divisions. The Bavarians had fought Prussia in 1866. Pfister reckons that by the afternoon 87,300 Germans faced 54,300 French; the official history puts 45,000 French on a front of three and a half miles.\n\nMacMahon had the four divisions of I Corps, Ducrot's, Raoult's, Lartigue's and Douay's (now under Pellé), with Conseil-Dumesnil's division of VII Corps, Duhesme's cavalry with Michel's cuirassier brigade, Bonnemains' reserve division of four cuirassier regiments and eight reserve batteries. Much of the infantry was African: Zouaves and Turcos, the Algerian tirailleurs.\n\nThe position favoured the defence. The meadows of the Sauer, about 1,000 paces wide, gave no cover and lay within range of the chassepot from the heights; above them were vineyards, hop gardens, stone villages and fieldworks. Maude says the French made nearly twice as many hits as the Germans for the same ammunition. The German answer was artillery. 108 guns were in action east of the Sauer by 10:00 and some 200 by 13:00. The official history says most French shells failed to burst and the mitrailleuses were soon driven off. Again and again the German guns broke up French counter-attacks.", "course": "**Outposts (05:00–10:00).** At 07:00 General Walther of the 20th Brigade, thinking the French were moving off, sent a battalion of the 37th Fusiliers into Wœrth. The bridges were down; his skirmishers waded the Sauer, found the town empty and drew fire from four French batteries. Walther broke off at 08:30. To the south the French had already opened fire at Gunstett, where XI Corps' advanced guard came up. To the north Hartmann's II Bavarian Corps had orders to march on the sound of guns. Its 4th Division came through the woods from Langensulzbach towards Frœschwiller and was held by Ducrot's division.\n\n**V Corps fights on (10:00–13:00).** At 10:00 84 guns of V Corps and 24 of XI Corps opened from the heights east of the river and silenced the French guns. Kirchbach sent battalions across at Wœrth and Spachbach. French fire and counter-attacks threw most of them back, but a party held on at the bend of the Hagenau road. At 10:30 the Crown Prince's order not to bring on a battle reached the Bavarians, who pulled back to Langensulzbach. Kirchbach was too deeply engaged to obey it. He decided to attack and asked both neighbouring corps for help. XI Corps' advanced guard rushed the river near Spachbach and Gunstett and fought for the Niederwald. Lartigue counter-attacked across the Sauer towards the German gun line until the guns and a fresh battalion stopped him.\n\n**The Crown Prince takes over (13:00).** Reaching the field at 13:00, the Crown Prince decided to finish the battle. The Bavarians would turn the French left towards Reichshoffen, XI Corps would advance by Elsasshausen and the Niederwald with the Württembergers behind it, and V Corps would storm the heights in front, which it did from 13:30. On the far left Schkopp's brigade ignored an order to close on Gunstett and took Morsbronn, turning the French right.\n\n**Morsbronn (about 13:00).** To save his flank Lartigue sent in Michel's brigade. The 8th and 9th Cuirassiers and part of the 6th Lancers, more than 1,000 sabres, rode over unreconnoitred ground cut by ditches and tree stumps against the 32nd and 94th Regiments as they wheeled. The infantry received them in line with rapid fire. The cuirassiers who got into Morsbronn were shot down in its street, and the 13th Hussars scattered the rest near Walbourg. The brigade was almost destroyed, but Lartigue's infantry got back into the Niederwald.\n\n**Niederwald and Elsasshausen (14:00–15:30).** XI Corps fought through the wood, reaching its northern edge about 14:30 and linking with V Corps, then stormed burning Elsasshausen. MacMahon struck south with his reserves and drove the disordered Prussians back into the wood, until Schkopp's two intact battalions and horse artillery firing case stopped him. Then Bonnemains' cuirassiers charged by squadrons over vineyards and hop gardens. Most of the infantry stayed in line instead of forming groups; their fire and the case shot of seven batteries broke every regiment. The 2nd Cuirassiers lost 5 officers killed, 129 men and 250 horses.\n\n**Frœschwiller (15:00–17:00).** Between 15:00 and 16:00 the German line closed on Frœschwiller from Eberbach to Neehwiller: XI Corps and the Württembergers from the south, V Corps from the east, the Bavarians from the north. Two horse batteries galloped to case range of the village. Bose, wounded twice, led his men in. The French fought on in the burning streets, and the wounded Raoult was taken. By 17:00 it was over. The rest fled down the Reichshoffen and Niederbronn roads, and Lespart's newly arrived division was swept away at the Falkenstein brook.", "aftermath": "Victory cost the Germans 489 officers and 10,153 men, over half of them in V Corps. The French lost about 20,000, though the split between killed, wounded, prisoners and stragglers is uncertain. The Third Army took 200 officers and 9,000 men prisoner, an eagle, four Turco standards, 28 guns and 5 mitrailleuses. Pfister says some regiments, the 2nd Turcos among them, lost between 64 and 93 per cent.\n\nThe pursuit failed. Headquarters had not expected to fight, the 4th Cavalry Division was left behind and arrived only that night, and the next day it could not find the main line of retreat. MacMahon's army streamed through the Vosges to Saverne and Sarrebourg, took up Failly's corps, and went back by forced marches to Lunéville. Moltke wrote that Wœrth split the Army of the Rhine in two: Bazaine's half was later shut up in Metz, while MacMahon's became, with additions, the Army of Châlons. The Germans turned to besiege Strasbourg.\n\nFrance remembers the defeat through its horsemen. Both charges became the legend of the \"cuirassiers de Reichshoffen\". A monument was put up above Morsbronn, Morot painted the charge, and in the 1880s panoramas of it were shown in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille and Montpellier. Germany put up an equestrian statue of the Crown Prince in 1895, which was destroyed after the First World War. A museum of the battle stands in Wœrth. Historians still cite the day as a battle that commanders on the spot brought on against their orders.", "wargaming": "Wœrth is a corps-sized day on a compact field: a French front of three and a half miles from Neehwiller to Eberbach, with the Sauer between the armies. A grand-tactical game with brigades or regiments as units and 30-minute turns runs from about 07:00 to 17:00, some twenty turns. Michel's charge or the fight for the Niederwald also make good brigade games.\n\nKey terrain: the Sauer, fordable only by wading and with its bridges down; the open meadows beyond it; the vineyards and hop gardens on the slopes, bad going for cavalry; the Niederwald; and the villages of Wœrth, Elsasshausen, Morsbronn and Frœschwiller, which is the French keep.\n\nThe German player has the numbers but not the control. Corps arrive piecemeal, the Bavarians obey a halt order, and nothing is co-ordinated before 13:00. A rule that makes German corps roll to attack or to stand would capture the day. The French player must decide how to use the cavalry and reserves, and when to give up a position that is winning the firefight. The rules need chassepot range against the needle gun, French artillery with unreliable fuses, German guns that dominate and move forward, and cavalry that breaks when it charges unbroken infantry over bad ground.\n\nWhat-ifs: Failly's V Corps marches to the guns, as the official history thought could tip the scales; MacMahon withdraws at noon; Schkopp obeys his order to close on Gunstett." }, "images": [ { "file": "File:Battle of Worth MKL Bd. 16 1890 (128536185).jpg", "kind": "map", "caption": "Plan of the battle of Wœrth, from Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (1890).", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Battle_of_Worth_MKL_Bd._16_1890_%28128536185%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Battle_of_Worth_MKL_Bd._16_1890_%28128536185%29.jpg/960px-Battle_of_Worth_MKL_Bd._16_1890_%28128536185%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail", "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Worth_MKL_Bd._16_1890_(128536185).jpg", "licence": "Public domain", "licence_url": "", "artist": "Unknown author Unknown author", "credit": "National Library of Poland", "width": 1427 }, { "file": "File:379 of 'The Campaign of Sedan- the downfall of the Second Empire. August-September, 1870, etc' (11192400454).jpg", "kind": "map", "caption": "The situation at noon, from George Hooper's The Campaign of Sedan.", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/379_of_%27The_Campaign_of_Sedan-_the_downfall_of_the_Second_Empire._August-September%2C_1870%2C_etc%27_%2811192400454%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/379_of_%27The_Campaign_of_Sedan-_the_downfall_of_the_Second_Empire._August-September%2C_1870%2C_etc%27_%2811192400454%29.jpg/960px-379_of_%27The_Campaign_of_Sedan-_the_downfall_of_the_Second_Empire._August-September%2C_1870%2C_etc%27_%2811192400454%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail", "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:379_of_%27The_Campaign_of_Sedan-_the_downfall_of_the_Second_Empire._August-September,_1870,_etc%27_(11192400454).jpg", "licence": "No restrictions", "licence_url": "https://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/", "artist": "The British Library", "credit": "Image taken from page 379 of 'The Campaign of Sedan: the downfall of the Second Empire. August-September, 1870, etc'", "width": 1512 }, { "file": "File:Wuerttemberger bei Woerth.jpg", "kind": "painting", "caption": "Württemberg infantry attacking at Wœrth.", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Wuerttemberger_bei_Woerth.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "thumb": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Wuerttemberger_bei_Woerth.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled", "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wuerttemberger_bei_Woerth.jpg", "licence": "Public domain", "licence_url": "", "artist": "", "credit": "", "width": 293 }, { "file": "File:ReichshoffenMorot1870.jpg", "kind": "painting", "caption": "Reichshoffen, Aimé Morot's painting of Michel's cuirassiers at Morsbronn (Château de Versailles).", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/ReichshoffenMorot1870.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/ReichshoffenMorot1870.jpg/960px-ReichshoffenMorot1870.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail", "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ReichshoffenMorot1870.jpg", "licence": "Public domain", "licence_url": "", "artist": "Aimé Morot", "credit": "[1]", "width": 1500 }, { "file": "File:La charge du 9e rég de Cuirs Morsbronn 4391.JPG", "kind": "painting", "caption": "The charge of the 9th Cuirassiers in Morsbronn, by Édouard Detaille (Musée Saint-Remi, Reims).", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/La_charge_du_9e_r%C3%A9g_de_Cuirs_Morsbronn_4391.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/La_charge_du_9e_r%C3%A9g_de_Cuirs_Morsbronn_4391.JPG/960px-La_charge_du_9e_r%C3%A9g_de_Cuirs_Morsbronn_4391.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail", "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:La_charge_du_9e_r%C3%A9g_de_Cuirs_Morsbronn_4391.JPG", "licence": "Public domain", "licence_url": "", "artist": "Édouard Detaille", "credit": "Own work ; Garitan", "width": 3640 }, { "file": "File:LASB K Hellwig 0846.jpg", "kind": "illustration", "caption": "The battle of Wörth, 1870: a German general view.", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/LASB_K_Hellwig_0846.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/LASB_K_Hellwig_0846.jpg/960px-LASB_K_Hellwig_0846.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail", "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LASB_K_Hellwig_0846.jpg", "licence": "CC BY-SA 3.0 de", "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en", "artist": "Unknown author Unknown author", "credit": "Landesarchiv Saarbrücken, Kartensammlung Hellwig Nr. 846", "width": 4416 }, { "file": "File:Patrice de Mac-Mahon.jpg", "kind": "portrait", "caption": "Marshal Patrice de MacMahon, commander of the French army in Alsace.", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Patrice_de_Mac-Mahon.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Patrice_de_Mac-Mahon.jpg/960px-Patrice_de_Mac-Mahon.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail", "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Patrice_de_Mac-Mahon.jpg", "licence": "Public domain", "licence_url": "", "artist": "Unknown author Unknown author", "credit": "Carte de Visite Photo", "width": 1203 } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "title": "Battle of Wörth", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_W%C3%B6rth", "kind": "web" }, { "id": "s2", "title": "Great General Staff, The Franco-German War 1870–71, First Part, vol. I, trans. F. C. H. Clarke (Clowes, London; archive.org scan)", "url": "https://archive.org/details/francogermanwar01clargoog", "kind": "primary" }, { "id": "s3", "title": "Helmuth von Moltke, The Franco-German War of 1870–71, trans. Archibald Forbes (Project Gutenberg)", "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36209", "kind": "primary" }, { "id": "s4", "title": "J. F. Maurice (ed.), The Franco-German War 1870–71, by Generals and Other Officers Who Took Part in the Campaign (Swan Sonnenschein, 1900), chapter III, 'The Battle of Wörth', by Albert von Pfister", "url": "https://archive.org/details/francogermanwar100maur", "kind": "primary" }, { "id": "s5", "title": "F. N. Maude, 'Wörth', Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition (1911), vol. 28, pp. 834–836 (Wikisource)", "url": "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/W%C3%B6rth", "kind": "article" }, { "id": "s6", "title": "Franco-Prussian War", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Prussian_War", "kind": "web" }, { "id": "s7", "title": "Schlacht bei Wörth (German Wikipedia)", "url": "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlacht_bei_W%C3%B6rth", "kind": "web" }, { "id": "s8", "title": "Bataille de Frœschwiller-Wœrth (1870) (French Wikipedia)", "url": "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataille_de_Fr%C5%93schwiller-W%C5%93rth_(1870)", "kind": "web" }, { "id": "s9", "title": "Michael Howard, The Franco-Prussian War: The German Invasion of France, 1870–1871 (Routledge, 1991 edition)", "url": null, "kind": "book" }, { "id": "s10", "title": "Micheal Clodfelter, Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1494–2007 (McFarland, 2008)", "url": null, "kind": "book" }, { "id": "s11", "title": "R. G. Grant, 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History (Chartwell Books, 2017)", "url": null, "kind": "book" }, { "id": "s12", "title": "Geoffrey Wawro, The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France in 1870–1871 (Cambridge University Press, 2003)", "url": null, "kind": "book" } ], "cdb90": [ 221 ], "order": 106, "url": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/worth-1870/", "oob": [], "oob_lwtv": [], "scenarios": [], "orbat": null, "orbat_lwtv": null, "reading": { "prose": [ { "work_id": "gutenberg:9896", "title": "My Days of Adventure The Fall of France, 1870-71", "in": null, "author": "Ernest Alfred Vizetelly", "life": "1853–1922", "year": null, "kind": "memoir", "library": "Project Gutenberg", "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9896", "language": "en", "contemporary": true, "subject": false, "references": 4, "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/my-days-of-adventure-the-fall-of-france-1870-71-103f81/" }, { "work_id": "ia:kriegsbriefeausd00kret", "title": "Kriegsbriefe aus den Jahren 1870/71", "in": null, "author": "Hans von Kretschman", "life": "1832–1899", "year": 1904, "kind": "memoir", "library": "Internet Archive", "url": "https://archive.org/details/kriegsbriefeausd00kret", "language": "ger", "contemporary": true, "subject": false, "references": 1, "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/kriegsbriefe-aus-den-jahren-1870-71-b2fa2e/" }, { "work_id": "ia:tagebucheinesord00irisuoft", "title": "Tagebuch eines Ordonnanz-Offiziers", "in": null, "author": "Maurice Irisson d'Herisson", "life": "1839–1898", "year": 1885, "kind": "memoir", "library": "Internet Archive", "url": "https://archive.org/details/tagebucheinesord00irisuoft", "language": "ger, hun", "contemporary": true, "subject": false, "references": 1, "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/tagebuch-eines-ordonnanz-offiziers-11010d/" }, { "work_id": "gutenberg:75277", "title": "Kriegsgefangen", "in": null, "author": "Theodor Fontane", "life": "1819–1898", "year": null, "kind": "memoir", "library": "Project Gutenberg", "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75277", "language": "de", "contemporary": true, "subject": false, "references": 1, "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/kriegsgefangen-5441cb/" }, { "work_id": "ia:bub_gb_5aIwAQAAMAAJ", "title": "Von Berlin bis Paris", "in": null, "author": "Ludwig Pietsch", "life": null, "year": 1871, "kind": "memoir", "library": "Internet Archive", "url": "https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5aIwAQAAMAAJ", "language": "ger", "contemporary": false, "subject": false, "references": 2, "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/von-berlin-bis-paris-301890/" } ], "history": [], "fiction": [], "poetry": [ { "work_id": "wikisource:de:Auf den Schlachtfeldern von Weißenburg und Wörth", "title": "Auf den Schlachtfeldern von Weißenburg und Wörth", "in": null, "author": null, "life": null, "year": null, "kind": "poem", "library": "Wikisource", "url": "https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Auf_den_Schlachtfeldern_von_Wei%C3%9Fenburg_und_W%C3%B6rth", "language": "de", "contemporary": false, "subject": true, "references": 0, "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/auf-den-schlachtfeldern-von-weienburg-und-worth-5f2c66/" } ] }, "reading_lwtv": { "prose": [], "poetry": [] }, "photos": [], "photos_kind": "photographs", "newspapers": null }