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The Second Battle of Zurich (25–26 September 1799) was a key victory by the Republican French army in Switzerland led by André Masséna over an Austrian and Russian force commanded by Alexander Korsakov near Zurich. It broke the stalemate that had resulted from the First Battle of Zurich three months earlier and led to the withdrawal of Russia from the Second Coalition. Most of the fighting took place on both banks of the river Limmat up to the gates of Zurich, and within the city itself. ==Background== After the First Battle of Zurich Masséna had consolidated to a defensive line behind the lower reaches of the Aare River. At this time his entire army in Switzerland consisted of around 77,000 combatants, positioned as: * 1st Division (Tharreau) in the Upper Valais and the Simplon Pass. * 2nd Division (Lecourbe) in the St Gotthard and the valley of the Reuss. * 3rd Division (Soult) Right wing near Glarus, centre on the left bank of the Linth, the left near Adliswil on the Sihl. * 4th Division (Mortier) on the Uetliberg. * 5th Division (Lorge) on the left bank of the Limmat between Altstetten and Baden. * 6th Division (Ménard) from Baden to the confluence of the Aare with the Rhine. * 7th Division (Klein) formed the Reserve in the Frick-thal. * 8th Division (Chabran) at Basel. Following the overall strategic plan, the Austrian army under the Archduke Charles was to be augmented by the 25,000 man Russian command of Korsakov, newly arrived at Schaffhausen after a 90 day march. Masséna meanwhile was preparing an offensive on his right flank against the Austrian positions in the Alps.〔Geschichte des Krieges Russlands mit Frankreich, Beilage 42〕 On 15 and 16 August General Claude Lecourbe with 12,000 men drove the forces of Strauch and Simbschen from the St.Gothard, Furka and Oberalp Passes in a series of violent assaults.〔Shadwell p.147-154〕 As a distraction, on 14 August French forces under Soult made demonstrations across the Sihl below Zurich.〔Shadwell p.155〕 On the night of 16/17th Archduke Charles supported by Korsakov's troops launched a surprise attack over the river Aare at Gross-Döttingen using boats and pontoon bridges, but his engineers misjudged the strength of the current and depth of the river, the pontoon bridge was unable to be secured and eventually after serious fighting the attack was called off.〔Shadwell p.159-161〕 Archduke Charles and Korsakov planned no further joint action however, as following the strategic plans of the Austrian Hofkriegsrat under Baron Thugut, Charles had been ordered to move his main command north into southern Germany. Reluctantly following these instructions, he left behind a column of 29,000 men under Friedrich von Hotze, and Korsakov's command with the Swiss in the Austrian service. The plan for these two commands was to wait for the arrival of the Russian column of Suvorov penetrating north from Italy over the Alpine passes and trap Masséna in a 3-point encirclement. 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「Second Battle of Zurich」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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