Battle of Nördlingen (1645)

Background

By 1645 the emperor and his chief German ally, Bavaria, were under growing pressure from the French, the Swedes and their Protestant allies. The Imperial-Bavarian army under Field Marshal Franz von Mercy was struggling to stop a French advance into Bavaria. In July Mercy was joined by the corps of Gottfried Huyn von Geleen (5,000 men, according to German Wikipedia, arriving on 4 July), while the French under the Duc d'Enghien, later the Grand Condé, combined with Turenne's Franco-German force and about 6,000 Hessians under Johann von Geyso. A Swedish contingent under Königsmarck left before the battle (German Wikipedia).

After a standoff at Dürrwangen on 1 August, Enghien marched on Nördlingen. Mercy chose a strong position at Alerheim on the morning of 3 August. The village stood in the centre as a fortified bastion, its houses with firing slits; the Wennenberg, a ridge about a kilometre north-east of the village, anchored the right, and a hill with the ruined castle (Schloss) of Alerheim, about a kilometre to the south-west, anchored the left. Dismounted dragoons and foot soldiers barricaded the village to protect the weak centre.

The battle took place about ten kilometres south-east of Nördlingen; English Wikipedia calls it the Battle of Nördlingen (1645) and also gives the name Alerheim, which is the German article's title.

The armies

Enghien commanded about 17,000 men: roughly 6,000 French, 5,000 Weimarian Germans (Turenne's army) and 6,000 Hessians, with 27 guns. English Wikipedia's footnotes break the total down as about 7,800 foot and 9,200 horse. Enghien held overall command, with Turenne on the left wing and Marshal Gramont on the right; the Hessians were under Geyso.

Mercy's army was smaller, 15,000 to 16,000, with 28 or 29 guns, with Werth commanding the left wing, which included the Bavarian cavalry, and Geleen the right. His position at Alerheim was strong and he had time to prepare it: the village, the Wennenberg and the Schloss hill together offered a fortress with a thin centre. In English Wikipedia's footnotes the French had the advantage in cavalry, 9,200 horse to 7,200.

The armies were fairly even, and the position was the Imperial-Bavarians' advantage: the French were attacking a fortified line with the stronger cavalry. Neither Wikipedia article has much on equipment, doctrine or the quality of the troops.

The battle

CDB90 records one engagement, number 18 (ALLERHEIM (NORDLINGEN II)), from 17:00 to 20:00 on 3 August, coded 'not clear-cut'. German Wikipedia gives most of the detail below, English Wikipedia a shorter outline; they differ on some points, noted where they arise.

Deployment, noon to 16:00. Turenne joined his army to Enghien's and the Hessians. Enghien planned a frontal French attack on the Imperial positions. English Wikipedia says drawing up the French lines took from noon until 16:00. German Wikipedia has an artillery duel begin in the late afternoon, about 16:00 to 17:00, in which the Imperial guns, in prepared positions, had the better of it.

The attack on the village. The infantry attack under Marsin stalled at the western edge of Alerheim. Enghien then led a second assault himself, pulling infantry from the right wing against Gramont's objections. The French set the thatched village on fire. Mercy was shot in the head and fell dead from his horse. Only the churchyard, church and two stone houses held out.

The Imperial counterattack. English Wikipedia says the Imperials attacked almost at once, charging downhill from the Schloss and breaking Enghien's right wing. German Wikipedia says Werth's Bavarian cavalry crossed a ditch the French had thought impassable and hit the French right, which broke. Gramont was stunned by a blow to the helmet and nearly killed before Captain Sponheim of the Lapierre regiment saved him and took him prisoner; Chabot's reserve was routed too. Werth then pursued the French baggage train instead of attacking the Hessian reserve.

The Wennenberg, about 19:00. Enghien and Turenne committed their last reserves. The Weimarians took the hill at heavy cost and broke the Imperial line. Geleen counterattacked, but Enghien led Hessian and Weimarian troops in a final push. When the Imperial cavalry ran out of reserves the infantry regiments Mandelsloh and Plettenberg were cut down and the artillery was taken. Geleen was wounded and captured. English Wikipedia says the Imperial right swung back and the victorious Imperial left wheeled forward, so that the line faced north instead of north-west.

The night. Both armies stayed on the field. Werth returned at about 20:00 but did not attack the Hessians and Weimarians from behind, which German Wikipedia calls the decisive error. Imperial troops in the village, believing themselves surrounded, capitulated, and the Gil de Haes regiment at the churchyard surrendered. By about 01:00 the Imperial army had withdrawn to Donauwörth. Turenne followed with about 300 riders (the Theatrum Europaeum says 1,000) and turned back without attacking the Schellenberg.

Aftermath

The French took Nördlingen, which signed a neutrality agreement, and Dinkelsbühl. The Hessians separated. Enghien fell ill with dysentery and Turenne took command, but abandoned the siege of Heilbronn in the face of a superior Imperial-Bavarian army reinforced by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm with about 5,000 cavalry from Bohemia, and withdrew towards the Rhine, to Philippsburg. The Imperials and Bavarians recovered the places the French had taken.

The verdict of both Wikipedia articles is that the victory was costly and gave only a breathing space: German Wikipedia calls it a Pyrrhic victory, neither militarily decisive nor politically significant by itself, though it helped to push the peace negotiations forward. It did not prevent the French and Swedish invasion of Bavaria in 1646. The Ulm armistice was signed in March 1647, and the Peace of Münster ended the war on 24 October 1648.

The village of Alerheim was burnt in the battle and took about 70 years to rebuild. In 2008 archaeologists found a mass grave of about 50 skeletons, most likely French soldiers, just outside the village, where the French right had stood; some remains were shown at the Bavarian Army Museum in 2019. The casualties are still disputed, with sources differing by a factor of three, and the argument over Werth's choice to chase the baggage train rather than attack from behind is the main what-if in the literature.

Wargaming it

Alerheim suits a game at about 1:100 or 1:150 figures, about 17,000 against 16,000, with the village, the Wennenberg and the Schloss hill as three separate actions. Its attraction is that the attacker's weight and the defender's fortress are in balance, so the result turns on decisions and nerve.

The key terrain is the village, with its firing slits, barricades and thatch that can be set alight; the Wennenberg on the Imperial right; and the Schloss hill on the left, from which the Bavarian cavalry charged downhill. The ditch in front of the French right, which they thought impassable and Werth crossed, is a natural hidden rule. Mercy's death in the village can be a random event for the Imperial player.

The decisions are Condé's: whether to assault the village head on, whether to pull infantry from Gramont's wing, and when to commit his last reserves on the Wennenberg. The Imperial player decides whether Werth pursues the baggage or returns, and Geleen when to counterattack. A night turn, with the village's garrison deciding whether to surrender, would reproduce the end.

The what-ifs are Werth coming back in time to strike the Hessians and Weimarians from behind, Mercy surviving, and Condé accepting the stalemate. Victory conditions should include the field at midnight, since neither army was destroyed.

Maps and pictures