Battle of Ettlingen

The Battle of Ettlingen or Battle of Malsch was fought during the French Revolutionary Wars between the armies of the First French Republic and Habsburg Austria near the town of Malsch, 9 kilometres southwest of Ettlingen. The Austrians under Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen tried to halt the northward advance of Jean Victor Marie Moreau's French Army of Rhin-et-Moselle along the east bank of the Rhine River. After a tough fight, the Austrian commander found that his left flank was turned. He conceded victory to the French and retreated east toward Stuttgart. Ettlingen is located 10 kilometres south of Karlsruhe.
The Rhine Campaign of 1796 saw Moreau's army facing the Austrian Army of the Upper Rhine under Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour in the south. Meanwhile, Jean-Baptiste Jourdan's French Army of Sambre-et-Meuse opposed the Army of the Lower Rhine under Archduke Charles in the north. Jourdan drubbed Duke Ferdinand Frederick Augustus of Württemberg at Altenkirchen on 4 June, compelling Archduke Charles to rush to the rescue with reinforcements. Charles defeated Jourdan at Wetzlar on the 15th, forcing him to pull back to the west bank of the Rhine. At this time there was a shake up in the high command and the archduke was put in control of both Austrian armies. In Charles' absence, Moreau successfully crossed the Rhine at Kehl on the night of 23–24 June and beat Latour at Rastatt on 5 July. Leaving Wilhelm von Wartensleben in charge in the north, Charles rushed south to confront Moreau along the Alb River near Ettlingen. After an all-day combat, the Austrians held the advantage on their right wing near Malsch, but the French had defeated their left wing in the Black Forest.

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