The battle of the Göhrde was a battle of the
War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition (March 1813 – May 1814), sometimes known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, and a number of German States defeated F ...
on 16 September 1813 between French and Coalition troops at
Göhrde
Göhrde is a municipality in the district of Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany.
The municipality was named after the Göhrde State Forest, which has an area of about , famous for its oaks, beeches and game preserves. The hunting lodge s ...
in Germany. The French troops were defeated and withdrew to
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...
.
Site
It occurred near what is now the site of the
Göhrde State Forest
The Göhrde State Forest (german: Staatsforst Göhrde) is the largest contiguous mixed forest region in North Germany. It lies in the districts of Lüchow-Dannenberg and Lüneburg.
Description
The Göhrde includes the entire unincorporated are ...
(''Staatsforst Göhrde''), near Dannenberg, near Lüneburg. At that time this area belonged to the electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg (
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
), which had been occupied by the French since 1803. The battlefield lies on the border between the modern-day districts of
Lüneburg
Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also called ...
and
Lüchow-Dannenberg
Lüchow-Dannenberg is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany, which is usually referred to as Hanoverian Wendland (''Hannoversches Wendland'') or Wendland. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Uelzen and Lüneburg and the s ...
, between
Oldendorf an der Göhrde and
Göhrde
Göhrde is a municipality in the district of Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany.
The municipality was named after the Göhrde State Forest, which has an area of about , famous for its oaks, beeches and game preserves. The hunting lodge s ...
.
Prelude
In March 1813, Russian troops under
Friedrich Karl von Tettenborn forced the French out of Hamburg and some northern areas of Hanover. In the wake of Prussia's reentry into the war against France, the eastern areas of Hanover also rose against Napoleon. Wallmoden then received overall command of all the Allied troops on the
Lower Elbe: troops from Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Hanover, Hamburg, Mecklenburg and Sweden, including the
Russian German legion, the
Lützow Free Corps, the
Hanseatic Legion
The Hanseatic Legion was a military unit, first formed of a group of citizens from Hamburg. They had met in 1813 on the instigation of General Friedrich Karl von Tettenborn, in order to fight in the War of the Sixth Coalition. This association ...
and a part of the
King's German Legion
The King's German Legion (KGL; german: Des Königs Deutsche Legion, semantically erroneous obsolete German variations are , , ) was a British Army unit of mostly expatriated German personnel during the period 1803–16. The legion achieved t ...
, under the overall command of Generalleutnant
Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn
Ludwig Georg Thedel Graf von Wallmoden (6 February 1769 – 22 March 1862) was an Austrian General of the Cavalry, best known for his training of light infantry and the refinement of the Tirailleur system. As a grandson of George II of Great B ...
. Part of the British contingent was the newly formed Rocket Brigade under Capt
Richard Bogue
Captain Richard Bogue (24 October 1782 – 18 October 1813) was an officer of the British Army, who commanded a Rocket Brigade company at the Battle of Leipzig, where he was killed.
Biography
Bogue was the youngest son of John Bogue, M.D., of Fa ...
. On 7 September Bogue marched with half his brigade to join the main Army of the North, near Wittenburg. The other half of the brigade, under Lieut Thomas Fox Strangways joined the 4th Cavalry Division of General von Dornberg under General Wallmoden.
The Free Corps such as that from Lützow again and again attacked French supply lines and bases in the area around
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...
, south of the Elbe. The XIII Corps there, under marshal Davout, had up to this point behaved quite passively, restricting itself to holding Wallmoden's corps in check. As an anti-skirmishes measure, in September Davout sent general
Pécheux on the western Elbufer with a brigade of 50th infantry division and moved on Lüneburg with 3,000 troops. After completing his mission, Pécheux was ordered to rejoin the French troops in
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...
. Wallmoden's corps advanced on
Dömitz on 15 September with 12,300 men, crossed the Elbe, marched toward the Frenchmen and set up camp in
Dannenberg.
Battle
The French division under Pécheux decided to attack the allies. On the early afternoon of 18 September 1813, it reached the Steinker Höhen (Steinker Heights) in Nahrendorf and gave battle. Whilst Wallmoden's infantry attacked the centre, Dornberg with the KGL cavalry and artillery attacked the enemy's left. However, Dornberg brought the guns and rockets into action at too great a range; their fire was ineffective and General Lyon's infantry attack was held up. The French began to retire, formed in squares, and Strangways advanced to bring the rockets into action "close under the fire of the enemy’s infantry". The 3rd KGL Hussars broke two squares and the rockets spread such terror through the retiring ranks that order could no longer be preserved, and breaking, the French fled in all directions.
Results
The battle was the first victory over the French troops garrisoning Germany, and interrupted the link between XIII Corps under marshal Davout (with its headquarters in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...
) and Napoleon's main army (then in
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a ...
) and the French armies' supply-lines across Hanover from France to Magdeburg and Berlin. This result was critical for the outcome of the
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig (french: Bataille de Leipsick; german: Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig, ); sv, Slaget vid Leipzig), also known as the Battle of the Nations (french: Bataille des Nations; russian: Битва народов, translit=Bitva ...
soon afterwards. This was the first battle in which the newly developed
Congreve Rocket
The Congreve rocket was a type of rocket artillery designed by British inventor Sir William Congreve in 1808.
The design was based upon the rockets deployed by the Kingdom of Mysore against the East India Company during the Second, Third, ...
had been successfully deployed in action. At the Battle of Leipzig, The Rocket Brigade, under Bogue and Strangways, would make a significant attack whilst attached to the Swedish Corps of Crown Prince Bernadotte.
Commemorations
A large stone monument stands as a memorial to the battle in 1839, at a site now north of Bundesstraße 216 about 2 km behind Oldendorf in Richtung Dannenberg.
1000 dead soldiers from both sides were buried in a mass grave in the forest, 100m from where the memorial is sited. This grave was rediscovered in 1985.
Rudolf von Bennigsen
Karl Wilhelm Rudolf von Bennigsen (10 July 1824, Lüneburg – 7 August 1902, Bennigsen near Springe) was a German politician descended from an old Hanoverian family.
Biography
Bennigsen was born at Lüneburg on 10 July 1824. He was desce ...
's father Karl von Bennigsen fought in this battle (as a lieutenant), as did the famous freedom fighter
Eleonore Prochaska
Marie Christiane Eleonore Prochaska (11 March 1785, in Potsdam – 5 October 1813, in Dannenberg) was a German female soldier who fought in the Prussian army against Napoleon during the War of the Sixth Coalition.
Life
Prochaska's father was a no ...
. She had disguised herself as a man and joined the
Lützow Free Corps. During the battle she was wounded and soon afterwards succumbed to her injuries in the hospital at Dannenberg.
A reconstruction of the battle occurs every two years at
Dahlenburg. At the Heimatmuseum in the town a diorama of the battle is on permanent display, with 1500 tin soldiers.
Notes
References
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External links
hamburg1813.de*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gohrde, Battle of the
Battles of the War of the Sixth Coalition
Battles involving France
Battles involving Prussia
Battles involving Russia
Battles involving the United Kingdom
King's German Legion
1813 in France
1813 in Germany
Conflicts in 1813
September 1813 events
Battles in Lower Saxony