Battle of Hanau

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Hanau
partof=the Napoleonic Wars


caption=Battle of Hanau
date=30 October to 31 October, 1813
place=Hanau, Hesse
result=Tactical French Victory
combatant1=flagicon|France French Empire
combatant2=flagicon|Bavaria|striped Bavaria
flagicon|Austrian Empire Austria
commander1=flagicon|France Napoleon I
commander2=flagicon|Bavaria|striped Karl Philipp von Wrede
strength1=17,000
strength2=43,000
casualties1=~4,500Eggenberger, D., p.187. Says French suffered about half as many casualties as Allies.]
casualties2=9,000

The Battle of Hanau was fought on (October 30 and October 31, 1813) between Karl Philipp von Wrede’s Austro-Bavarian corps and Napoleon's retreating French during the War of the Sixth Coalition.

Following Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Leipzig earlier in October, Napoleon began to retreat from Germany into France and relative safety. Wrede attempted to block Napoleon’s line of retreat at Hanau on 30 October. Napoleon arrived before Hanau with reinforcements and defeated Wrede’s forces. On 31 October Hanau was in French control, opening Napoleon’s line of retreat.

The Battle of Hanau was a minor battle, but an important tactical victory allowing Napoleon’s Army to retreat onto French soil. Ultimately Napoleon lost the War of the Sixth Coalition, giving the battle little strategic importance.

Background

Bavaria, a former French ally, joined the Sixth Coalition according to the Treaty of Ried concluded just before the battle of Leipzig. Napoleon’s retreat into the Rhine following the crushing defeat at Leipzig, had been largely successful. However, by late October La Grande Armée had become increasingly disorganized with stragglers, which the Allies took note of. 43,000 newly committed Bavarians and Austrians commanded by Wrede, had advanced northward from the Danube into Franconia to block the French retreat. Wrede’s forces reached Hanau, blocking Napoleon’s route to Frankfurt, but thinking that the main French army was retreating along a more northerly road to Coblenz, Wrede expected to face a force of only 20,000 [Chandler., p.937] protecting the main Army's flank.

Battle

Wrede, following successful skirmishing against the French, began to deploy his forces to face the main French force of 20,000. On the 30 October, Wrede placed his centre with the River Kinzig behind it, and his right wing to its south in an isolated position with only a single bridge linking it with the main force. Napoleon had only 17,000 troops [Chandler., p.938] including Marshal MacDonald’s infantry and General Sébastiani’s cavalry to face the enemy forces blocking them. Due to dense forests on the east of Wrede’s positions the French were able to advance and make close contact with the allies almost unseen [Chandler., p.938] . Napoleon decided to attack the allies' left with all available troops. By midday Marshal Victor and MacDonald had cleared the forest in front of the Allied centre of allied forces. Soon after General Drouot found a track in the forest towards Wrede’s left capable of moving cannons through. Three hours later Grenadiers of the Old Guard had cleared the area of allied troops, and Drouot began to deploy 50 cannons supported by cavalry of the Guard and Sébastiani [Chandler., p.938] . A brief artillery bombardment from Drouot’s cannons silenced Wrede’s 28 cannons. French cavalry then attacked and pushed back Wrede’s cavalry on his left flank, then attacked the flank of Wrede’s centre. Wrede’s centre started to fall back, skirting the banks of the Kinzig River suffering heavy casualties. On the right wing, Wrede’s forces tried to cross the single bridge over the Kinzig River to reinforce the centre, but many drowned trying to cross the bridge [Chandler., p.938] . Wrede was successful in rallying his troops to form a defensive line running from the Lamboy Bridge to the Town of Hanau. During the night the allies abandoned Hanau. The French occupied Hanau on 31 October with little resistance. Napoleon made no effort to pursue Wrede, the main road to Frankfurt was now reopened, the French retreat continued.

Conclusion

Wrede suffered 9,000 casualties, Napoleon suffered much less, but between October 28 and 31 some 10,000 French stragglers became Allied Prisoners of war [Chandler., p.938] . The French reached Frankfurt on 2 November and were only 20 miles from their relatively safe rear base at Mainz.

Notes

References

*Blond, G. "La Grande Armée". Castle Books, 1979.
*Chandler, D. "The Campaigns of Napoleon". Scribner, 1966.
*Eggenberger, D. "An Encyclopedia of Battles". Dover Publications inc., 1985