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Battle of Warburg
Part of the Seven Years' War
Date 31 July 1760 Location Warburg, Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn, present-day Germany Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Hanover Great Britain Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Hesse-Kassel	France
Commanders and leaders
Prince Ferdinand	Louis de Muy
Strength
62,000 (16,000 engaged)	130,000 (20,000 engaged)
Casualties and losses
1,200 dead or wounded	1,500 dead or wounded 2,000 prisoners 12 guns lost

The Battle of Warburg was a battle fought on 31 July 1760 during the Seven Years' War in Westphalia. The battle was a victory for the Hanoverians and the British against a slightly larger French army. The victory meant the Anglo-German allies had successfully defended Westphalia from the French by preventing a crossing of the Diemel River, but were forced to abandon the allied state of Hesse-Kassel to the south. The fortress of Kassel ultimately fell, and would remain in French hands until the final months of the war, when it was finally recaptured by the Anglo-German allies in late 1762.

The British general, John Manners, Marquess of Granby, became famous in the battle for charging at the head of the British cavalry and losing his hat and wig during the charge. The French lost 1500 men, killed and wounded, around 2,000 prisoners and ten pieces of artillery.

Historical background

Background and political context

At the end of the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748, after eight years of hostilities, Austria ceded Silesia to the Kingdom of Prussia and a few provinces in Italy to Spain, and all other boundaries returned to the pre-war status quo. This settlement failed to resolve the underlying issues that had caused the war and most of the signatories were unhappy with the situation. In 1775, sporadic fighting resumed in the Ohio Country between British and French colonial forces and the diplomatic situation began to deteriorate again. In what became known as the Diplomatic Revolution, in Janaury 1756, Britain entered into the Anglo-Prussian Alliance under which Britain supported Prussia with subsidies and affirmed Prussian control over Silesia, while Prussia in turn guaranteed military protection for the Electorate of Hanover, which was the ancestral home of the British King George II (1683-1760), who was also Elector of Hanover. Austria and France abandoned their longstanding rivalry and formed their own alliance in opposition to the British and Prussians. In 1756, clashes in the Ohio River Valley continued to escalate and in May, war was officially declared between Britain and France. A central part of French strategy for the war against Great Britain was to occupy the Electorate of Hanover, with it's symbolic significance to King George, in order to be able to use it as a bargaining chip for overseas possessions it knew it would struggle to defend against British naval superiority.

To protect and Hanover as well as Prussian possessions in western Germany, Prussia and its allies from among the smaller principalities put together a so-called "army of observation" to oversee the borders of Hanover, which was placed under the the command of Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, the son of King George II. This army was defeated by the French troops in the Battle of Hastenbeck on July 26, 1757. The Duke of Cumberland then agreed to the Convention of Klosterzeven on September 10, withdrawing the Electorate of Hanover from the war and permitting French occupation. However, the Prince's convention was not recognized by the British government. At the personal request of King George, Prussian general Duke Ferdinand of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel was entrusted with supreme command of the Allied army. In the winter of 1757-58 he attacked French troops in their winter quarters and pushed them back to the Rhine. The campaigns of 1758 and 1759 were inconclusive. Although the French had a numerical superiority, they were repeatedly defeated by the operational and tactical skill of the Allied troops in significant battles. Each year, the French were forced to withdraw behind the Rhine and Main in the autumn after the campaigning season.

After a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Minden on August 1, 1759, the French entrusted Marshal Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie with supreme command of their army in Germany. In the campaign of 1760 he was now supposed to force back the Allied forces and recapture Hanover as a bargaining chip for France in peace negotiations.

Operations in the summer of 1760

Operations near Warburg in 1760

In the early summer of 1760, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, commander of the Allied troops in the western theater of war, attempted to gain the initiative against the French armies under Marshal de Broglie. He operated from Hessen-Kassel and initially tried to prevent the unification of the two French armies near Sachsenhausen. However, this effort was unsuccessful and led to the defeat of an Allied corps in the Battle of Corbach on July 10, 1760. Despite the numerical advantage of the French - 66,000 Allies faced more than 100,000 French - there was little movement for the next few days as French declined to press their advantage. On July 16, 1760, Marshal de Broglie tried to threaten the rear Allied lines but the corps he sent was wiped out in the Battle of Emsdorf.

de Broglie then went on the offensive with the main body of his force and pushed the Allies back across the River Fulda by July 27th. The main Allied army was at Kassel, while the French camped at Balhorn. de Broglie initially sent his reserve troops under the Comte du Muy, Louis Nicolas Victor de Félix d'Ollières, via Volkmarsen to Stadtbergen to block the Allied troops from crossing the River Diemel. The Chasseurs de Fischer were to be assigned to the crossing at Warburg. After the Allies ordered more troops to Warburg to hold this important crossing, de Muy was also sent to Warburg to reinforce the French. He reached it on the evening of July 29 with a total of about 20,000 men. There, the French regiments took up a position between Warburg and Ossendorf, facing northeast, where Allied troops had been sighted near Körbecke.

Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Ferdinand found himself in a difficult position. With de Broglie's advance on the Diemel, the Allied troops were at risk of being cut off from their magazines and strongholds in the Duchy of Westphalia. Then they would have to face the larger French force between Fulda and the Diemel or, as in the previous year, retreat over the Weser. Retreat would have meant the loss of all of Hesse and Westphalia. The Duke therefore decided to advance his formations to the Diemel in order to anticipate the French there. On July 28, troops under Major von Bülow near Liebenau encountered advance troops of the Chasseurs de Fischer, who retreated to Warburg. When the Duke learned of these movements of the French army, he directed General Friedrich von Spörcken's corps with 14 battalions, 14 squadrons and 22 cannon to Warburg. The corps reached Körbecke on July 29. The following day further reinforcements of 10 battalions, 8 squadrons and 4 cannon arrived under Duke Ferdinand's nephew Charles William Ferdinand.

At the Allied headquarters, the Duke of Brunswick's secretary (functionally acting as a kind of chief of staff), Philipp von Westphalia, persuaded the Duke that the situation called for swift action. In the current situation, the prince could not hold the Diemel if de Muys received further reinforcements. Therefore, he suggested marching quickly to the Diemel with the main army and defeating de Muy's units there. Only a rear guard under Count Kielmansegg was to cover Kassel and evacuate it if necessary. Once de Muy had been defeated, Hesse, which had been evacuated temporarily, could be recaptured. The Duke gave the order to set out on the evening of July 30th.

Terrain around Warburg

View from the northwest to the Heinberg with the Heinturm

The battle took place in the vicinity of the town of Warburg in the Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn. The predominantly Catholic local population was hardly friendly to the largely Protestant Allies, nor to the foreign French. And after three years of plundering by troops of both sides, they were largely resigned. Although Warburg itself was the second largest city in the Principality, it was only fortified by a medieval wall, which provided little defense against the weapons of the era. Northeast of the city is the steeply rising Desenberg hill in the middle of the fertile plain of the Warburger Börde. The Diemel marked the edge of the battlefield to the south, though the river was relatively low and could be crossed by troops with a little effort. The ridge northwest of Warburg in the direction of Ossendorf was of particular importance for the battle; a little further west, south of Ossendorf, lay a rise called the Heinberg with an old watchtower, the Heinturm, atop it.

Battle

The French forces under de Muy comprised about 18,000 men and 24 cannon. They stood north of the Diemel on a ridge running northwest from Warburg to Ossendorf. From the ridge, the entire region was visible to Desenberg. To the south of the ridge, there were bridges over the Diemel, though the river was fairly low in late June.

Allied disposition

On the morning of July 30, the Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand inspected the French position from Desenberg. He knew the area, having had his winter quarters in Warburg the previous winter. He decided to attack and reported this to Allied Headquarters, which had just developed the same intention. The hereditary prince planned to bypass the French position with his troops at night and attack their left flank on the Heinberg. Only a weak diversionary attack should be carried out in the front. Duke Ferdinand had meanwhile decided to march to Warburg with the whole army. He therefore instructed this nephew to wait and only begin his attack when the main army had crossed the Diemel. The main army left their camp near Calden at 9 p.m. and crossed the Diemel on pontoon bridges between Liebenau and Trendelburg.[13]

In the morning the duke arrived at Warburg. Since the arrival of the main army was delayed, at 7a.m. he ordered Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand and General von Spörcken to initiate the encircling movement with further delay. The troops, numbering 14,578 men, formed two columns. The right under General Spörcken via Borgentreich marched north around Grosseneder and Nörde to Ossendorf. The left column, led by General von Zastrow, also reached Ossendorf via Lütgeneder, Hohenwepel and Menne.

French Response

General de Muy knew that the Allied army was nearby but due to the morning fog it's exactly location could not be determined. He therefore sent Maréchal de camp de Castries with a few grenadier and rifle companies, two regiments of dragoons and the "Chasseurs de Fischer" to the Desenberg to reconnoiter. There de Castries encountered von Bülow, who quickly withdrew to Rösebeck. When the fog cleared around 9:30 a.m., de Castries and de Muy, who had rushed to Desenberg, finally recognized the advancing enemy columns. De Muy gave the order to leave behind a rear guard at Desenberg and to occupy Warburg with the Chasseurs de Fischer. Finally, he ordered his troops to form themselves into battle order. Since an attack was expected from the east, the line-up was aimed there. Four brigades of infantry and two batteries of artillery took up positions under Maréchal de camp de Ségur on the heights west of Warburg. The left wing was bent back like a hook in front of Ossendorf. Two infantry brigades under Maréchal de camp de Maupeou joined to the right. The cavalry under Generals Lützelburg and Dauvet stood in the center, where they had a more favorable attacking ground in front of them. Behind the cavalry, de Muy kept the Brigade Rouergue in reserve. As a precaution, the baggage was brought to the southern bank of the Diemel.

Attack on the western flank

It was already after noon when the Allied flanking columns reached their destination. The right column reached Ossendorf via Nörde and formed up there with the front to the south-east. The left column formed at the same time between Ossendorf and Menne. Since space was limited, the cavalry were positioned behind the two infantry formations. Meanwhile, the heavy Allied artillery under Lieutenant Colonel Huth from Hesse began shelling the French position.

At the head of the right column were two English grenadier battalions under Lieutenant Colonel Beckwith. These pushed back some French outposts, who informed de Muy that the target of the Allied attack was apparently the Heinberg with its medieval tower. De Muy responded by first ordering a battalion of the Regiment de Bourbonnais onto the hill. To prevent this, the Allies raced to beat the French to the hill. As the French battalion approached the crest of the hill, it was met with sharp defensive fire. Since the size of the opposing force was unclear, the French commander stopped the advance to await the arrival of the regiment's 2nd Battalion. The delay allowed an entire English Grenadier Battalion to occupy the Heinberg. Then the Regiment de Bourbonnais attacked again. The numerical superiority of the French soon pushed the English back, but the arrival of an English Battalion restored the situation. Realizing the danger, de Muy ordered an entire brigade to occupy the Heinberg. After they initially succeeded in throwing back the English battalion, De Muy ordered two additional brigades to the hill.

In the meantime, however, other Allied battalions of the right column, which had been held up by the artillery near Ossendorf, arrived. The units of the left column formed quickly and attacked without waiting for the full deployment. The battalions of the Hessian 4th Guards Regiment turned here against the heights east of Ossendorf, which were defended by the Swiss regiments Jenner and Planta. Under pressure from the Hanoverian and Hessian troops, the French left wing slowly retreated. An attack shortly afterwards by the English cavalry regiments Royal Dragoons and 7th Light Dragoons shook the French line decisively.

de Muy, realizing that his position had become untenable, ordered preparations to be made for the retreat. The two brigades on the right flank were to march off and take up a holding position south of the Diemel. The cavalry would follow them.

French collapse

Duke Ferdinand realized that the bulk of his army would not be able to advance quickly enough to be able to intervene in the fighting. He therefore ordered the cavalry under John Manners, Marquess of Granby, to hurry ahead of the main body. Granby arrived on the battlefield with 22 squadrons, supported by two light artillery brigades commanded by Count Wilhelm von Schaumburg-Lippe. Granby formed the cavalry into two formations and immediately attacked the retreating French. Since the French troops were already withdrawing, only a regiment of cavalry and a regiment of dragoons could counter the attack for the French. The French managed to encircle and push back the initial British attack, but the Horse Guards came to their aid. The Bourbon regiment was thrown back and lost a standard in the process.

Hans von Geisau wrote in 1961 that "the sacrifice of the Bourbon cavalry saved the retreating French from the full impact of the British attack, but could not save them from the relentless pursuit." But after these last organized French units were defeated, the British cavalry first overtook the fleeing enemy cavalry and then attacked the retreating infantry. It was during this phase that the French suffered most of their casualties. An entire battalion was surrounded and forced to surrender. Hundreds of soldiers were taken prisoner. The Freikorps Fischer had meanwhile been expelled from Warburg by the Légion Britannique. In the open field it was now also overtaken by the Allied cavalry and completely destroyed.

General de Muy, meanwhile, attempted to gather his troops south of the Diemel while most fled the battlefield. The two intact infantry brigades took up position on the heights there and covered the retreat of the defeated army units. They later withdrew as well. During this escape, part of the French baggage fell into the hands of an Allied patrol unit near Mengeringhausen. Duke Ferdinand sent 12 British battalions and 10 squadrons of cavalry under the Marquess of Granby in pursuit of the defeated enemy while the rest of the troops rested on the battlefield or on the heights south of the Diemel.

Consequences

In the city of Warburg

The city of Warburg had been occupied by Hanoverian troops in May 1757, a French garrison in the winter of 1757-1758, and again by units from both sides in 1759. However, the impact of the battle on the city far exceeded any of these prior incidents.

As early as July 28, 1760, French troops moved into the city and urged the population to hand over floorboards and other wood in order to build additional bridges across the Diemel, where the forces under de Muys were expected. The city complied with this request and the French commander-in-chief moved in with his staff and 4,000 soldiers the following night. The rest of his corps camped outside. The French soldiers housed in the city are reportedly began looting before they were also transferred to the surrounding villages.

When fighting between the advanced troops of both sides began on the Desenberg on the morning of July 31, the city area was also affected. "All the people in the city were in the greatest terror, worry and fear," reported Warburg City Secretary Johannes Andreas Fischer later. Shortly thereafter, the first 20 wounded hussars were brought into the city and treated there. In the late afternoon, the French garrison thrown out of the city by Allied troops. By order of the Marquess of Granby, the Allied soldiers were allowed to pillage Warburg for two to three hours (the exact duration varies). Soldiers from several allied nations and units reportedly took part. There were also serious excesses committed against the civilian population, during which at least one woman was shot dead and two other people were shot. The burial of the dead had to be postponed for nine days because the cemeteries outside the city were inaccessible due to Allied encampments there.

After their victory, the Allies requisitioned grain and other foodstuff from the city and the surrounding area. Duke Ferdinand and most of the Allied generals took up quarters in Warburg until August 24th. Overall, the city suffered material damage estimated at around 50,000 thalers. Duke Ferdinand later paid 2,000 thalers to the city council in compensation for the damage and the goods taken.

Casualties

The Allied troops lost 66 officers and 1,173 men in the Battle of Warburg. Only a few infantry regiments and the Marquess of Granby's cavalry had come into action. Of the approximately 1,200 soldiers lost, more than 830 were British, mainly from two grenadier battalions and Granby's cavalry, which alone lost 590 men. According to his own reports, de Muys lost 4,203 men, including 240 officers. Of these, 78 officers and 2,100 men are said to have been taken prisoner. The French also lost 12 guns, 28 ammunition wagons and 10 flags and standards.

Military consequences

On the morning of July 31, de Broglie had learned of the departure of the main Allied armies and recognized the danger to the exposed position of de Muy. He had ordered a Grenadier corps from near Volkmarsen and three infantry brigades under Lieutenant General Comte de Guerchy to Warburg. However, these reinforcements arrived too late and could only collect the remaining French troops. However, the departure of the Allied army gave the French the opportunity to occupy Kassel. Count Kielmannsegg withdrew, as previously agreed, and on the following day dodged beyond the Weser. Maréchal de Broglie, on the other hand, now turned in the direction of the Diemel, where the Marquess of Granby and his detachment dodged the French pressure. On August 4, Göttingen also fell to the French.[32]

The news of the defeat caused incomprehension and resentment at the royal court in Versailles. Secretary of War Belle Isle was particularly upset. Above all, de Muy himself was blamed. He would probably have been relieved of his command, but the news that came in at the same time that Kassel had been taken appeased government circles so that no personal consequences were drawn.[33]

Strategically, the attack hardly improved the situation of the Allied army. Although she was still on the defensive and behind larger water hazards, the loss of Hessen weighed heavily politically. Kassel Fortress was the military base for French troops in the years leading up to the end of the war. For the time being, however, Duke Ferdinand's primary aim was to successfully defend at least Westphalia.

Historical reception

Portrait of John Manners, Marquess of Granby commissioned by King George II by Joshua Reynolds

The fighting at Warburg had a different status in different national memories. Prussian historiography often did not attach much importance to them and did not classify them as "battles" but only as "engagements" or "encounters." However, more modern German history has a considers them somewhat differently. In 1960, a German scholar wrote: "The battle is an important stage in the chain of defeats that France suffered in West Germany in the Seven Years' War [...] The sum of these failed campaigns undoubtedly brought about France's willingness to make peace ...".

The battle received far more attention in British literature, not least because of the large British contribution.[34] When the British cavalry attacked, the Marquess of Granby rode in the foremost line of horse guards. His hat and wig were said to have fallen off at full gallop. The general, however, paid no heed and rode bald into battle.[35]

King George II commissioned the painter Joshua Reynolds to paint a portrait of the Marquess of Granby. When Reynolds had completed it in 1765, it was hung in the antechamber of St James's Palace, where the young officers assembled in the morning before the Queen's reception. The painting still hangs there today. In the picture, Granby was shown in front of a horse in the uniform of the Horse Guards, the regiment of which he was commander. He was deliberately portrayed without a hat and wig and with a bald head, just as he had attacked Warburg.[37]

Author William Makepeace Thackeray had part of the action of his novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon (1844), take place in and around Warburg, including a literary adaptation of the battle. In 1975, director Stanley Kubrick adapted the novel for his Oscar-winning film Barry Lyndon, and included a scene from the battle.[38]

On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the battle on July 31, 2010, parts of the battle were reenacted in a major reenactment event on the Heinberg, one of the historic battlefields. There was also an exhibition in the Heinberghalle in Ossendorf.

Bibliography

• Chenevix-Trench, Charles, A History of Horsemanship, (Doubleday & Co, 1970)
• Skrine, Francis, Fontenoy and Great Britain's share in the War of the Austrian Succession 1741–1748 (William Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1906)
• Williams, Basil, The Whig Supremacy (Oxford History of England Series, OUP, 1960)

External links

• Battle of Warburg