Battle of Fraunfeld
Part of theWar of the Second Coalition
Death of General Weber
Date 25 May 1799 Location Frauenfeld,Thurgau,Switzerland 47°33′N8°54′E / 47.550°N 8.900°E /47.550; 8.900 Result French victory[1]
Belligerents
France Helvetic Republic	Austria
Commanders and leaders
André Masséna Nicolas Oudinot Nicolas Soult Augustin Keller [de]	Archduke Charles Friedrich von Hotze Franz Petrasch Johann Weber †
Strength
23,000[1]	10,000[1]
Casualties and losses
230 killed 570 wounded[1]	750 killed 1,450 wounded 3,000 captured[1]

War of the Second Coalition:
Austria

190km
118miles

16

15

14

13

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

Zurich

5

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2

1

   

The color black indicates the current battle.

TheBattle of Frauenfeld was a military encounter during theWar of the Second Coalition (1799-1802). It took place on 25 May 1799 between Austrian and French troops. The battle ended in the evening with the retreat of the Austrians, but on the following day the French withdrew.

TheSwiss Old Confederacy was occupied by theFrench Empire in 1798 and the French-supportedHelvetic Republic was established on its territory. Thus, at the beginning of the War of the Second Coalition, French troops under GeneralAndré Masséna (1758–1817) were operating on Swiss soil. After defeats in theBattle of Feldkirch and theBattle of Stockach, the French had to pull back and abandon eastern Switzerland. Two Austrian armies under GeneralFriedrich von Hotze (1739–1799) andArchduke Charles (1771–1847) pursued them. They sought to unite these two armies as quickly as possible. On 22 May 1799, thevanguard of the Archduke's army reachedFrauenfeld, where they stopped in order to meet up with the vanguard of General Hotze's army, which occurred on 24 May.

After the advance troops of the Austrians had already linked up, General Massena who was stationed atWinterthur decided to make an attempt to prevent the enemy's main forces from linking together. At this point he posted four French and two HelvetianBattalions, acompany of Helvetiansharpshooters, fivesquadrons ofHussars and eight cannons under GeneralCharles Nicolas Oudinot (1767–1847) and GeneralAugustin Keller [de] (1754–1799) to meet the enemy at Frauenfeld. GeneralNicolas Soult (1769–1851) followed in reserve with three more French and three Helvetian battalions.

On the morning of 25 May 1799, around 5 o'clock, General Oudinot encountered the weak Austrian garrison at Frauenfeld. These troops slowly withdrew over theThur. Around 9 o'clock however more troops from Hotze's army arrived (six battalions and six squadrons) underFranz Petrasch ofWyl, on the left flank and in the rear of the French. The French were forced to bring their main force up against this new enemy. About 22,000 Austrians were now arrayed against about 14,000 French and Swiss troops.^[2] This clash continued without a clear victor until evening. As a result, there were very heavy losses. The Adjutant General of the Helvetian troops himself, GeneralJohann Weber (1752–1799) fell victim to a sharpshooter. Since the outcome of the battle was so unclear, General Petrasch decided to retreat at 7 o'clock in the evening. The Austrians lost about 5,000 men in the battle (mostly captured) and two cannons.

During the battle, two further columns of Massena's army attacked the Austrian archduke's main forces nearRorbas andAndelfingen in order to push them back over the Thur. After some initial success, however, the French were themselves pushed back. Despite the tactical success at Frauenfeld, Massena's position thus remained untenable and he led a withdrawal in the direction ofZurich on 26 May. Contemporaries, likeCarl von Clausewitz, criticised Massena for having three columns (and the reserve under Soult) operate separately from one another instead of concentrating his whole force against Hotze's army. Only in this way, they said, could he have defeated the Austrians.^[3]

Because of the failure of the French attack on the Archduke's army and the subsequent French retreat, there was no further obstacle to the union of the two Austrian armies. After further defeats, the French army scored a victory at the end of September in theSecond Battle of Zurich. After this, the French regained the city of Frauenfeld and other territory.

• Carl von Clausewitz:Die Feldzüge von 1796 und 1799 in Italien und in der Schweiz, Mundus-Verlag, Leipzig 1999, p. 435
• Rudolf Hanhart:Erzählungen aus der Schweizergeschichte nach den Chroniken, Part 4, Basel 1838, pp. 632–636 (Online-Version)
• Johann Georg Heinzmann:Kleine Schweizer Chronik, Part 2, Bern 1801, pp. 636–646 (Online-Version)
• Max Steiner:Das Gefecht von Frauenfeld 1799, Verlag Huber, Frauenfeld 1999,ISBN 978-3-7193-1170-4
• Bodart, Gaston (1908).Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618–1905). Retrieved3 February 2023.

• Battles involving the Helvetic Republic
• Frauenfeld
• History of Thurgau
• 1799 in Europe
• Conflicts in 1799
• Battles of the War of the Second Coalition involving Austria

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