Topic summary
Battle of Stockach (1799)
Advance Guard: François Joseph Lefebvre
First Division: Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino
Second Division: Joseph Souham
Third Division: Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr
Cavalry Reserve: Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul
Detached Flank: Dominique Vandamme
Friedrich Joseph, Count of Nauendorf
Alexander, Duke of Württemberg
Olivier, Count of Wallis
Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg†
†
7,010 cavalry
1,649 artillery
62 guns
Total: 34,823
14,900 cavalry
3,565 artillery
114 guns
Total: 72,335
1 gun lost
2 guns lost
The Battle of Stockach occurred on 25 March 1799, when French and Austrian armies fought for control of the geographically strategic Hegau region in present-day Baden-Württemberg. In the broader military context, this battle constitutes a keystone in the first campaign in southwestern Germany during the Wars of the Second Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars.
It was the second battle between the French Army of the Danube, commanded by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, and the Habsburg Army under Archduke Charles; the armies had met a few days earlier, 20–22 March, on the marshy fields southeast of Ostrach and the Pfullendorf heights. The Austrian Army's superior strength, almost three-to-one, forced the French to withdraw.
At Stockach, the French concentrated their forces into shorter lines, creating intense fighting conditions; initially, Charles's line was more extended, but he quickly pulled additional troops from his reserves to strengthen his front. When a small French force commanded by Dominique Vandamme nearly flanked the Austrian Army, Charles's personal intervention was crucial for the Austrians, buying time for reinforcements to arrive. General Jourdan, while trying to rally his men, was nearly trampled to death. Ultimately, the French were driven back upon the Rhine River.