The battle of Valmy 1792After graduation at the Wiener Militärakademie and promotion to Fähnrich, the young Austrian officier Andras Kareil was part of the Austrian contingent in the coalition army in 1792. This first coalition was formed by Austria, Prussia and several other smaller German states to restore order in revolutionary France. In July 1792 Prussia had amassed an army of 46000 infantry, 12000 cavalry and 220 guns at Koblenz which were opposed by 4 sizable French armies located at Dünkirchen, Sedan, Metz and Elsass. On 30th of July the Prussian army commanded by the Duke of Braunschweig started the offensive by marching to the French fortress of Longwy where they were joined by the Austrian contingent of 11000 soldiers under General Clarifayt.
The fortress of Longwy surrendered on 23rd of august and the coalition army continued to the fortress of Verdun which surrendered on 2nd of september. The army had to gross the ardennes to reach paris and the French general Dumouriez tried to block the passes against with his 30000 men. On the 12th of september the Austrians supported by some Prussians attacked the pass at La Croix-aux-Bois and forced the French army to retreat. To the surprise of the coalition officers the French did not retreat west but south were they joined forces with additional 20000 men under general Kellermann near the village of Valmy.
The coalition army had made a turn to follow the French and approached Valmy from the southwest with the Prussians up front. On the morning of 20th of september in thick fog the Prussian avantgarde under General-Leutnant Hohenlohe and joined by young Andras Kareil as Austrian liaison officer were marching to battle.
The morning mist was lifting very slowly and the coalition forces advanced along the pike from Auve to Orbeval when they encountered French cavalry at about 0700 in front of La Lune. It was French cavalry performing a delaying action against the Prussians. The French made some brave attacks against the Prussians and spiked several guns but they also took losses.
At the ridge of La Lune and the town of Les Maigneux the French decided to make a stand and the lifting fog showed all arms present and more coming in from the east. The Prussians had to await the arrival of more infantry and artillery before deploying to attack but used the time to send their cavalry north and south to look for flanking possibilities.
By 1000 the Prussians had sufficent forces in place and they started to advance against the ridge of La Lune. Heavy fighting with daring cavalry attacks by the French erupted but slowly the Prussians prevailed and the French were pushed back.
With the ridge of La Lune in Prussian hands and their cavalry on both their flanks the French forces withdrew further to the northeast giving up Les Maigneux.
The French established a line north of the pike towards Orbeval where they could put it under fire and also placed forces at the crossroads west of Orbeval. From the north fresh French cavalry attacked the Prussian wing at Mount Yvron.
Stretching their forces rather thin the Prussians made an all out attack on both wings and at about 1400 they had control of the ridge northeast of Les Maigneux and also the crossroads west of Orbeval. Daring French attacks against the thin line between the wings and a determined counterattack northeast of Les Maigneux were costly for the Prussias and forced them back again in the end.
Fähnrich Kareil joined the Austrian avant garde as they arrived but when they neared Les Maigneux they got new orders from the Duke of Braunschweig. While the right wing with Orbeval and the pike towards the northeast were secured the situation at the left wing was getting dangerous. The fresh Austrian troops were able to hold the line there but further attacks were out of the question. To the surprise of the duke and most other officers the French revolutionary rabble did not run when approached by a professional army but they stood their ground and attacked vigorously. Against such a French army the coalition forces were considered too weak and they retreated along the pike to the northeast with the Austrians as rearguard.
The French army did not closely pursue the coalition troops and the Prussians safely retreated to Luxemburg while the Austrians continued to the Austrian Netherlands.
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