Battle of Pfeddersheim (1795)

The Battle of Pfeddersheim or Battle of the Pfrimm (10 November 1795) saw a Habsburg Austrian army led by François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt attack a Republican French army under Jean-Charles Pichegru. The Austrians defeated the French and forced them to retreat south to Frankenthal where Clerfayt won another clash a few days later. The battle occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. The borough of Worms-Pfeddersheim is located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. Worms is approximately 23 kilometres (14 mi) north of Mannheim and Pfeddersheim is about 6 kilometres (4 mi) west of Worms.

Battle of Pfeddersheim (1795)
Part of War of the First Coalition
Date 10 November 1795 Location Worms-Pfeddersheim, Germany Result Austrian victory
Belligerents
Republican France	Habsburg Austria
Commanders and leaders
Charles Pichegru	Count of Clerfayt
Units involved
Army of the Rhine and Moselle	Army of the Lower Rhine
Strength
37,232, 36–40 guns	75,000, 150 guns
Casualties and losses
1,400	600

In 1795 the French campaign on the Rhine involved two armies operating independently. After a promising start, the first French army under Jean-Baptiste Jourdan was driven back to the west bank of the Rhine. On 29 October the Austrians under Clerfayt routed the French at the Battle of Mainz, forcing them to abandon their siege lines. With Jourdan's army out of the picture, Clerfayt advanced south along the west bank of the Rhine against Pichegru's defenses behind the Pfrimm River near Worms. After beating Pichegru at Pfeddersheim and Frankenthal, Clerfayt isolated the French garrison at Mannheim. Not long afterward, the Austrians successfully wrapped up the Siege of Mannheim, eliminating the French foothold on the east bank of the Rhine and virtually ending the campaign.

References

• Dodge, Theodore Ayrault (2011). Warfare in the Age of Napoleon: The Revolutionary Wars Against the First Coalition in Northern Europe and the Italian Campaign, 1789-1797. USA: Leonaur Ltd. ISBN 978-0-85706-598-8.
• Phipps, Ramsay Weston (2011). The Armies of the First French Republic: Volume II The Armées du Moselle, du Rhin, de Sambre-et-Meuse, de Rhin-et-Moselle. USA: Pickle Partners Publishing. ISBN 978-1-908692-25-2.
• Rickard, J. "Combat of Frankenthal, 13-14 November 1795". historyofwar.org. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
• Rickard, J. "Combat of the Pfrimm, 10 November 1795". historyofwar.org. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
• Rickard, J. "Siege of Mannheim, 10 October-22 November 1795". historyofwar.org. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
• Smith, Digby (1998). The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill. ISBN 1-85367-276-9.