The Army of the Moselle (''Armée de la Moselle'') was a

French Revolutionary Army The French Revolutionary Army () was the French land force that fought the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792 to 1802. In the beginning, the French armies were characterised by their revolutionary fervour, their poor equipment and their great nu ...

from 1791 through 1795. It was first known as the '' Army of the Centre'' and it fought at

Valmy Valmy () is a rural Communes of France, commune in the Marne (department), Marne Departments of France, department in the Grand Est Regions of France, region in Northeastern France. In 2020, it had a population of 282. Geography The town stands ...

. In October 1792 it was renamed and subsequently fought at

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

, First Arlon, Biesingen,

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; ) is a town in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, 666 kilometers (414 m ...

, Froeschwiller and Second Wissembourg. In the spring of 1794 the left wing was detached and fought at Second Arlon,

Lambusart Lambusart () is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Fleurus located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowla ...

and

Fleurus Fleurus (; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It has been the site of four major battles. The municipality consists of the following districts: Brye, Heppignies, Fleurus, Lambusart, Saint-Am ...

before being absorbed by the ''

Army of Sambre-et-Meuse The Army of Sambre and Meuse () was a field army of the French Revolutionary Army. It was formed on 29 June 1794 by combining the Army of the Ardennes, the left wing of the Army of the Moselle and the right wing of the Army of the North. I ...

''. In late 1794, the army captured

and initiated the Siege of Luxembourg. During the siege, the army was discontinued and its divisions were assigned to other armies.

History

Originally known as the '' Army of the Centre'', it was renamed by decree of the

National Convention The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...

on 1 October 1792 and kept under that name in the decrees of 1 March and 30 April 1793. By the decree of 29 June 1794 its left wing joined with the ''

Army of the Ardennes The Army of the Ardennes (''armée des Ardennes'') was a French Revolutionary Army formed on the first of October 1792 by splitting off the right wing of the Army of the North, commanded from July to August that year by La Fayette. From July to ...

'' and the right wing of the ''

Army of the North The Army of the North (), contemporaneously called Army of Peru (), was one of the armies deployed by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in the Spanish American wars of independence. Its objective was freeing the Argentine Northwest a ...

'' to form the ''

''. The right wing remained under the orders of

Jean René Moreaux Jean René Moreaux (14 March 1758 – 10 February 1795) commanded the French ''Army of the Moselle'' during the French Revolutionary Wars. He joined the French Royal Army in 1776 and was badly wounded in the American Revolutionary War two years lat ...

as the ''Army of the Moselle''. However, this new army's right wing was joined with the left wing of the ''

Army of the Rhine An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

'' by a decree of 29 November 1794 under the name of the ''Armée devant Mayence'' (''Army before Mainz''), while the rest of the army was named the ''Army before Luxembourg'' under Moreaux. Finally what remained of the ''Army of the Moselle'' was merged with the ''Army of the Rhine'' by a decree of 3 March 1795 (executed on 20 April) to form the ''

Army of the Rhine and Moselle The Army of the Rhine and Moselle () was one of the field units of the French Revolutionary Army. It was formed on 20 April 1795 by the merger of elements of the Army of the Rhine and the Army of the Moselle. The Army of the Rhine and Moselle ...

''.

Generals

* 14 December 1791 – 11 July 1792:

Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette (; 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (), was a French military officer and politician who volunteered to join the Conti ...

* 12 July – 1 September 1792:

Nicolas Luckner Nicolas, Count Luckner (; 12 January 1722, Cham – 4 January 1794, Paris) was a German officer in French service who rose to become a Marshal of France. Luckner grew up in Kötzting, in eastern Bavaria and received his early education from t ...

, with supreme command of the

* 2 September – 1 October 1792:

François Christophe Kellermann François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; ...

, subordinate –

Charles François Dumouriez Charles-François du Périer Dumouriez (; 26 January 1739 – 14 March 1823) was a French military officer, French minister of foreign affairs, minister of Foreign Affairs, French minister of Defense, minister of War in a Constitutional Cabin ...

until 19 September. * 1 October – 7 November 1792:

, commander of the new ''Army of the Moselle'', subordinate –

until October 5. * 8–14 November 1792: interim – Jean Étienne Philibert de Prez de Crassier * 15 November 1792 – 23 January 1793: Pierre Riel de Beurnonville, subordinate of Adam Philippe Custine * 24 January – 28 March 1793: René Charles Élisabeth de Ligniville, subordinate of Adam Philippe Custine * 29 March – 28 April 1793:

Augustin Gabriel d'Aboville Augustin Gabriel, comte d'Aboville (20 March 1773 – 15 August 1820) was a French ''general de brigade'' ( brigadier general). He was the older brother of Augustin-Marie d'Aboville. He was born in La Fère, Aisne, Picardy. He participated in t ...

* 29 April - 2 August 1793:

Jean Nicolas Houchard Jean Nicolas Houchard (24 January 1739 – 17 November 1793) was a French General of the French Revolution and the French Revolutionary Wars. Early life Jean Nicolas Houchard was born on 24 January 1739 in Forbach, Lorraine. Houchard began h ...

, subordinate – Adam Philippe Custine until May 17, then moved to the high command of the Army of the Rhine * 3 August - 29 September 1793: interim – Balthazar Alexis Henri Schauenburg * 30 September 1793:

rejects command * 30 September - 30 October 1793: interim – Jacques Charles René Delaunay * 31 October 1793 - 18 March 1794:

Lazare Hoche Louis Lazare Hoche (; 24 June 1768 – 19 September 1797) was a French military leader of the French Revolutionary Wars. He won a victory over Royalist forces in Brittany. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on ...

with high command of the

until January 13 * 19 March - 2 June 1794:

Jean-Baptiste Jourdan Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, 1st Count Jourdan (; 29 April 1762 – 23 November 1833), was a French military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was made a Marshal of the Empire by Emperor Napoleon I i ...

* 3 June - 1 July 1794:

commanded the armies of the Moselle, Ardennes and the right of the Army of the North, with

Jean-Charles Pichegru Jean-Charles Pichegru (; 16 February 1761 – 5 April 1804) was a French general of the Revolutionary Wars. Under his command, French troops overran Belgium and the Netherlands before fighting on the Rhine front. His royalist positions led to h ...

* 2 July 1794 - 7 July 1794:

* 7 July - 3 August 1794: interim – Claude Ignace François Michaud * 3 August 1794 - 9 February 1795 –

* 10 February - 19 April 1795, intérim – Jean-Jacques Ambert.

Composition

1793

In 1793 the ''Army of the Moselle'' counted 27 battalions of line infantry, four battalions of light infantry, 42 battalions of National Guards and 12 mounted regiments. The line infantry included the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 30th, 33rd, 96th, 99th and 103rd Demi Brigades, the 1st Battalions of the 1st, 5th, 27th, 41st and 81st Demi Brigades and the 2nd Battalions of the 2nd, 8th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 40th, 47th, 54th, 55th, 58th, 71st and 100th Demi Brigades. The light infantry consisted of the 6th, 13th, 16th and 17th Battalions. The cavalry regiments were the 4th, 10th, 11th and 14th Cavalry, 1st, 11th and 14th Dragoons, 1st, 9th, 18th and 19th

Chasseurs à Cheval ''Chasseur'' ( , ), a French term for "hunter", is the designation given to certain regiments of French and Belgian light infantry () or light cavalry () to denote troops trained for rapid action. History This branch of the French Army o ...

and the 2nd Hussars. The National Guards were made up of the 1st Battalions of the ''Ardennes'', ''Creuse'', ''Paris Butte de Moulins'', ''Saône-et-Loire'' and ''Yonne'', the 2nd Battalions of the ''Lot'' and ''Haute-Marne'', the 3rd Battalions of the ''Côte-d'Or'', ''Manche'', ''Paris Sections Armée'' and ''Haut-Rhin'', the 4th Battalions of the ''Oise'' and ''Var'', the 5th Battalion of the ''Orne'', the 6th Battalions of the ''Basses-Pyrénées'' and ''Seine-et-Oise'', the 7th Battalion of the ''Marne'', the 9th Battalion of ''Paris Ste. Margueritte'', the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the ''Cher'', 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the ''Loiret'', the 4th, 6th and 7th Battalions of the ''Meurthe'', the 1st, 3rd and 5th Battalions of the ''Meuse'', the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Battalions of the ''Moselle'', the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the ''Paris République'', the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the ''Bas-Rhin'', the 1st and 7th Battalions of the ''Rhône-et-Loire'', the 1st and 4th Battalions of the ''Haute-Saône'' and the 1st and 6th Battalions of the ''Vosges''.

19 February 1794

General of Division

* General of Division

Jean Étienne Championnet Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

* General of Division Charles François Desbureaux * General of Division

Jacques Maurice Hatry Jacques Maurice Hatry (; Strasbourg, 12 February 1742 – Paris, 30 November 1802) was a French general. A colonel on the outbreak of the French Revolution, he rose to général de division in 1794 and fought with distinction in the armée du ...

* General of Division

François Joseph Lefebvre François Joseph Lefebvre, Duke of Danzig ( , ; 25 October 1755 – 14 September 1820) was a French military commander of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, and one of the original eighteen Marshals of the Empire created by N ...

* General of Division

Antoine Morlot Antoine Morlot (; 5 May 1766 – 23 March 1809) was a French division commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. After almost eight years of service in the French Royal Army, he became an officer in a local volunteer b ...

* General of Division Nicolas Augustin Paillard ''Source:''

3 June 1794

Army of the Moselle, Left Wing: General of Division

* Division Championnet: General of Division

(7,500) ** General of Brigade Paul Grenier *** 18th Line Infantry Demi Brigade (2,153 in three battalions) *** 1st Dragoon Regiment (444 in three squadrons) ** General of Brigade Gabriel Jacques Lerivint *** 59th Line Infantry Demi Brigade (1,638 in three battalions) *** 94th Line Infantry Demi Brigade (2,327 in three battalions) *** 4th Cavalry Regiment (398 in three squadrons) ** 2nd Light Artillery Company (90) * Division Hatry: General of Division

(10,005) ** General of Brigade Jean Antoine Chapsal *** 27th Line Infantry Demi Brigade (680 in 1st Battalion) *** 44th Line Infantry Demi Brigade (768 in 1st Battalion) *** ''Moselle'' National Guard (771 in 2nd Battalion) *** ''Moselle'' National Guard (604 in 3rd Battalion) *** ''Cote-d'Or'' National Guard (428 in 3rd Battalion) *** ''Seine-et-Oise'' National Guard (1,030 in 6th Battalion) *** ''Doubs'' National Guard (455 in 9th Battalion) *** ''Meurthe'' National Guard (563 in 9th Battalion) *** 11th Dragoon Regiment (420 in three squadrons) *** 18th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiment (158 in one squadron) ** General of Brigade Jean Pierre François Bonet *** 33rd Line Infantry Demi Brigade (789 in 2nd Battalion) *** 58th Line Infantry Demi Brigade (730 in 2nd Battalion) *** ''Lot-et-Garonne'' National Guard (582 in 1st Battalion) *** ''Bas-Rhin'' National Guard (789 in 1st Battalion) *** ''Loiret'' National Guard (582 in 2nd Battalion) *** ''Var'' National Guard (554 in 4th Battalion) ** 3rd Light Artillery Company (93) * Division Lefebvre: General of Division

(9,925) ** General of Brigade

Jean François Leval Jean François, baron Leval (; 18 April 1762 – 7 August 1834) was promoted to general officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and led a division in a number of battles during the Napoleonic Wars. He rapidly rose in rank during the Fren ...

*** 5th Line Infantry Demi Brigade (777 in 1st Battalion) *** 54th Line Infantry Demi Brigade (423 in 2nd Battalion) *** 99th Line Infantry Demi Brigade (640 in 2nd Battalion) *** 9th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiment (341) ** General of Brigade

Jean-Baptiste Jacopin Jean Baptiste Jacopin (20 October 1755, Brioude – 28 May 1811), was a French General during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was appointed Adjutant General and Chief of Brigade on 28 November 1793, and General of Brigade ...

*** 13th Line Infantry Demi Brigade (1,572 in three battalions) *** 80th Line Infantry Demi Brigade (2,064 in three battalions) *** 149th Line Infantry Demi Brigade (1,663 in three battalions) ** General of Brigade Jean Sultzmann *** 16th Light Infantry Battalion (380) *** 1st Chasseurs à Cheval Regiment (381) *** 18th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiment (126) *** ''Légion de la Moselle'' (410) *** ''Vosges'' National Guard (717 in 1st Battalion) ** 19th Light Artillery Company (110) * Division Morlot: General of Division

(8,210) ** General of Brigade Jean Baptiste Olivier *** 110th Line Infantry Demi Brigade (2,709 in three battalions) *** 14th Dragoon Regiment (445 in three squadrons) ** General of Brigade Henri Simon *** 1st Line Infantry Demi Brigade (2,190 in three battalions) *** 34th Line Infantry Demi Brigade (2,354 in three battalions) *** 10th Cavalry Regiment (416 in four squadrons) ** 30th Light Artillery Company (96) ''Source:'' Brigade organization and numbers of battalions and squadrons are taken from the Fleurus order of battle on p. 86. After 20 April 1795, this army was combined with the Army of the Rhine, forming the

Notes

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Army Of The Moselle

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...