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The Battle of Höchst (11–12 October 1795) saw a Habsburg Austrian army under François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt outmaneuver a French Republican army led by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan. At Höchst, the French attacked but were unable to dislodge an Austrian flanking column. Afterward Jourdan's army retreated to the north. The clash happened during the War of the First Coalition, part of a wider conflict known as the French Revolutionary Wars. The district of Höchst is located within the city limits of Frankfurt in the state of Hesse in Germany. Höchst is about west of the Frankfurt city center. In 1795 the French employed two independent armies in thrusts across the Rhine. After winning a bridgehead on the east bank, the northern French army under Jean-Baptiste Jourdan advanced south to the Main River. At this point, the commander of the southern French army, Jean-Charles Pichegru proved uncooperative. This allowed Clerfayt to move the bulk of the Austrian forces against Jourdan. Clerfayt crossed the Main to the east, gaining a dangerous position on the French left flank. After being repulsed at Höchst, the French withdrew northward, eventually abandoning the east bank of the Rhine altogether. The next actions were the Siege of Mannheim starting on 19 October and the Battle of Mainz on 29 October. ==Background== In the fall of 1795, the French Directory ordered General of Division Jean-Baptiste Jourdan with the ''Army of Sambre-et-Meuse'' and General of Division Jean-Charles Pichegru with the Army of the Rhine and Moselle to launch converging assaults across the Rhine. While Jourdan attacked in the north near Düsseldorf, Pichegru could mount his offensive anywhere in the south between Mannheim and Strasbourg. The operations were designed to catch Feldmarschall Count of Clerfayt's defending Austrian army in a great pincer. Between the two thrusts, the Siege of Mainz dragged on. Several French divisions led by General of Division Jean Baptiste Kléber placed the Fortress of Mainz under blockade on 14 December 1794, but the French lacked the heavy artillery to reduce the city's defenses. In any case, the French were unable to encircle the city since the Austrians held the east bank of the Rhine. On 8 September 1795, Jourdan got his army across the Rhine north of Düsseldorf. By the 20th, the ''Army of Sambre-et-Meuse'' swept south as far as the Lahn River. Hemmed in by General of Division François Joseph Lefebvre and 12,600 French troops, Count Hompesch surrendered the Bavarian garrison at Düsseldorf on 21 September. After agreeing not to fight the French for one year, the 2,000 Bavarians were permitted to march home, but the city and 168 fortress guns fell into French hands. Threatened by Jourdan's incursion, Clerfayt began shifting his army north to oppose him. This movement gave Pichegru an opportunity.〔 Despite having a 9,200-man Bavarian garrison, Baron von Belderbusch turned over Mannheim and its 471 guns to the ''Army of Rhin-et-Moselle'' after negotiations. The Austrians were furious at their ally but could do nothing to prevent their enemies from gaining this valuable bridgehead.〔 The 1795 campaign marked a change in the relationship between generals at the front and the French government. Since the downfall of the Committee of Public Safety and the end of the Reign of Terror in July 1794, the power of the representatives on mission over army generals had declined. When a representative tried to meddle with a troop deployment in September 1795, Lefebvre brusquely overrode the man's objections. The fall of Mannheim presented Pichegru with a marvellous opportunity to capture Clerfayt's supply base at Heidelberg. This coup might have compelled the Austrian general to retreat. Instead, Pichegru only sent two divisions under Georges Joseph Dufour and Jean-Jacques Ambert to seize the place. Since the two divisions advanced with the Neckar river between them, Austrian Feldmarschall-Leutnant Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich was able to concentrate most of his troops against Dufour's division. On 24 September, Quosdanovich's 8,000 men overcame 12,000 French soldiers when an Austrian cavalry charge rode down Dufour's division at the Battle of Handschuhsheim.〔 The bloodied French withdrew to Mannheim.〔 At this point, Pichegru and Jourdan got together to decide on a plan. Jourdan wanted to mass the two French armies near Mannheim, placing them between Clerfayt's army and a second Austrian army under General der Kavallerie Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser that was advancing from the south. Using the strategy of the central position, Jourdan hoped to defeat the Austrian armies one after the other. After Pichegru rejected the plan, both generals waited upon new orders from Paris. After the loss of Mannheim, Clerfayt took his army south to block further moves by Pichegru against his Heidelberg base. In response, Jourdan ordered his army to move south to the Main River. This move completely isolated Mainz by surrounding it from both sides of the Rhine.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Höchst (1795)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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