Battle of Hanau

The Battle of Hanau was fought from 30 to 31 October 1813 between Karl Philipp von Wrede's Austro-Bavarian corps and Napoleon's retreating French during the War of the Sixth Coalition.The Battle of Hanau was an important tactical victory allowing Napoleon’s depleted army to retreat onto French soil to prepare to face an invasion of France.The Battle of Leipzig, the largest and bloodiest encounter of the Napoleonic Wars, began on 16 October 1813, raged for three days and ended with a decisive victory for the Sixth Coalition.[4] This allowed the coalition to threaten the overall military position of the French by moving a 45,000 - 50,000 Austro-Bavarian army, under the command of Karl Philipp von Wrede, into Napoleon's rear, occupying Würzburg in Franconia.[3] The small French garrison of Würzburg did not try to resist and instead barricaded themselves at the local citadel, allowing the enemy to occupy the town without a fight.[7] The Austrian Corps, under the command of Field-Marshal-Lieutenant Baron Fresnet, numbered 24,000 men: 18,000 infantrymen (18 battalions), 6,000 cavalrymen (32 squadrons) and 34 artillery pieces.[6][8] On 29 October, having correctly reckoned that his force was strong enough to block the retreat of a disorganised enemy army, Wrede decided to give battle.One regiment, the Austrian Szekler, two battalions strong, as well as a great many skirmishers detached from their parent units were placed in an advanced position in the Lamboy forest.[9] Meanwhile, Napoleon spent the night of 29/30 October at Isenburg castle, near Gelnhausen, and received detailed intelligence about the Austro-Bavarian preparations, which confirmed that the enemy was intending to make a stand.Napoleon studied Wrede's position and spotted its main weakness, namely that he had most of his army deployed with the river behind it, which would act as a natural barrier should retreat be necessary.On 30 October Wrede placed his centre with the River Kinzig behind it, and his right wing to its south in an isolated position with only a single bridge linking it with the main force.[11] The French reached Frankfurt on 2 November 1813 and were only 20 miles from their relatively safe rear base at Mainz allowing Napoleon’s army to recover and face the subsequent invasion of France in 1814.