A three-face stone bearing inscriptions in Latin, French and German
marks the place where Turenne died.
At Sasbach, an obelisk was erected in Turenne's honor. Red Baron approached the monument taking the French Boulevard lined by poplar trees.
General de Gaulle personally cared that the monument was already back in place on October 5, 1945. He inaugurated the obelisk as a symbol of remembrance of the French marshal and the victory over Nazi Germany.
Going back in history, Turenne entered Freiburg's past in June 1644. The year before, on November 24, the general had suffered a crushing defeat of his Franco-Weimarian army in the Battle of Tuttlingen when Bavarian and imperial troops surprised the French in their winter quarters.
Although there were occasional skirmishes between the roaming Weimaraners and the besieging Bavarians, Turenne, commanding a mixture of soldiers still shocked by the previous year's defeat and of new, inexperienced men, preferred not to attack Mercy's numerically more significant troops. Apologetically, he wrote to Mazarin, "Il y a encore ici trop de gens qui se souviennent de la journée de Tuttlingen (There are still too many people here who remember the day of Tuttlingen)." Indeed, later during the Battle of Freiburg, Turenne's troops were only good for flank protection.
Turenne preferred to wait until the Duc d'Enghien stationed with his Armée de France in the region around Verdun had joined him. This decision turned out to be a strategic blunder because the besieged city of Freiburg surrendered to Mercy's Bavarians on July 29, 1644, before the Armée de France was in place.
With the duke's arrival, Turenne was reduced to second rang. As a superior, the young Duc d'Enghien assumed supreme command of the combined Franco-Weimar forces. In his impetuosity, he wanted to lead his tired and Turenne's inexperienced troops immediately into battle against Mercy's Bavarians.
As for the nearby imperial city of Türkheim, the magistrates fled to Colmar, still under imperial rule, instead of entering into negotiations of surrender. Turenne overreacted to this insult, and his revenge was terrible. In the account of the citizens of Türkheim, it reads. "Things then turned cruel in this town. Turenne not only had Türkheim completely plundered and destroyed without protest, but all honest girls and women were raped and tortured to death. For 14 days, the French troops stole and killed, sparing neither children, women, nor the church."
In 1935, the city of Türkheim erected an obelisk to Turenne in front of its South Gate. On one side of the monument, the dedication reads, "Alsace to the French armies. "In the face of the political and later military threat from the other side of the Rhine in the 1930s, the French emphasized their national integrity.
At first sight, it is incomprehensible that the citizens, so battered in 1675, should dedicate a monument to Turenne, the great son of France. Bernard Wittmann, a chronicler Alsatian, writes, "Et que dire des monuments et des statues qui, outre leur rôle de marquage du territoire contribuent souvent à conforter la manipulation historique? Ainsi en est-il du monument de Turenne, le bourreau de Türkheim statufié par les descendants de ses victimes (What about monuments and statues which, in addition to their role of marking the territory, often contribute to reinforcing historical manipulation? This is the case with the Turenne monument, the butcher of Türkheim, immortalized by the descendants of his victims)."
|
| Turennius fell here on day July 27 the year 1675 |
|
| Turenne was killed her |
|
| Turennius was killed here |
At Sasbach, an obelisk was erected in Turenne's honor. Red Baron approached the monument taking the French Boulevard lined by poplar trees.
It turned out that the granite needle is from 1945. Neither the Prussians, following their victory over France in 1871, nor the Germans during the
First World War touched the Turenne Monument. But when France was defeated in 1940, the Nazis removed the obelisk from its site.
General de Gaulle personally cared that the monument was already back in place on October 5, 1945. He inaugurated the obelisk as a symbol of remembrance of the French marshal and the victory over Nazi Germany.
Going back in history, Turenne entered Freiburg's past in June 1644. The year before, on November 24, the general had suffered a crushing defeat of his Franco-Weimarian army in the Battle of Tuttlingen when Bavarian and imperial troops surprised the French in their winter quarters.
Of the original 16,000 men, 4000 fell, almost 7,000 went into
captivity, and only 4500 escaped and made it over the Rhine, while the
victorious
Franz von Mercy
had lost only 6 (!?) of his men. The booty included all the cannons, 560
horses, silverware, and the cash to pay the army for a month.
In the spring of 1644, in a case of forwarding defense, an Imperial-Bavarian army advanced into southwestern Germany to throw the French enemy out of Breisgau. It was led by the victor of Tuttlingen.
Awaiting the arrival of the Bavarian army, Obrist Kanoffski, the commander of the French-Swedish troops that occupied Freiburg, tried hard to make the city ready for defense with a garrison of only 1650 men.
On June 25, 1644, Franz von Mercy and his imperial armada were ante portas starting the siege.
Meanwhile, a newly formed Franco-Weimarian unit stayed entrenched within sight of the city near the village of Pfaffenweiler on the Batzenberg. This army, called de l'Allemagne, consisted of ten thousand men, half infantry and half cavalry. The troops were under the command of Turenne, who had been promoted to Maréchal de France by Cardinal Mazarin.
In the spring of 1644, in a case of forwarding defense, an Imperial-Bavarian army advanced into southwestern Germany to throw the French enemy out of Breisgau. It was led by the victor of Tuttlingen.
Awaiting the arrival of the Bavarian army, Obrist Kanoffski, the commander of the French-Swedish troops that occupied Freiburg, tried hard to make the city ready for defense with a garrison of only 1650 men.
On June 25, 1644, Franz von Mercy and his imperial armada were ante portas starting the siege.
Meanwhile, a newly formed Franco-Weimarian unit stayed entrenched within sight of the city near the village of Pfaffenweiler on the Batzenberg. This army, called de l'Allemagne, consisted of ten thousand men, half infantry and half cavalry. The troops were under the command of Turenne, who had been promoted to Maréchal de France by Cardinal Mazarin.
Although there were occasional skirmishes between the roaming Weimaraners and the besieging Bavarians, Turenne, commanding a mixture of soldiers still shocked by the previous year's defeat and of new, inexperienced men, preferred not to attack Mercy's numerically more significant troops. Apologetically, he wrote to Mazarin, "Il y a encore ici trop de gens qui se souviennent de la journée de Tuttlingen (There are still too many people here who remember the day of Tuttlingen)." Indeed, later during the Battle of Freiburg, Turenne's troops were only good for flank protection.
Turenne preferred to wait until the Duc d'Enghien stationed with his Armée de France in the region around Verdun had joined him. This decision turned out to be a strategic blunder because the besieged city of Freiburg surrendered to Mercy's Bavarians on July 29, 1644, before the Armée de France was in place.
With the duke's arrival, Turenne was reduced to second rang. As a superior, the young Duc d'Enghien assumed supreme command of the combined Franco-Weimar forces. In his impetuosity, he wanted to lead his tired and Turenne's inexperienced troops immediately into battle against Mercy's Bavarians.
The duke ignored Turenne's prudent advice to occupy all the approaches to the Black Forest. Dominating the flat country, the French could cut off every supply and compel the enemy army to surrender without a stroke
of the sword by starvation.
In his desire to increase his glory, the duke engaged in an uphill battle on the flanks of the Lorettoberg. Without pause, the Bavarian artillery shot into the onrushing infantry. All French attacks collapsed in the murderous fire.
Enraged, Enghien threw his marshal's baton among his fighting men,
and with the cry encore mille*, he drove fresh troops up the
Lorettoberg.
*Another 1000
In his History of the Thirty Years War,
Friedrich Schiller
wrote, "The Duc d'Enghien had to retreat after he had slaughtered 6000 of
his men in vain." The Bavarians lost about 1100 men, most of them
wounded.
In a review of the Battle of Freiburg, we read, "Although the initial battle was very hard, on Lorettoberg the next day such a bloody encounter took place on both sides that even
Johann von Werth, as well as almost all generals and soldiers trained and experienced in
the war of recent times, confessed that they had never seen anything like
this." Indeed, the Battle of Freiburg was one of the bloodiest of the
Thirty Years' War.
Following the Westphalian Peace Treaty, the Alsace became French except for the Decapolis, a league of ten imperial cities that kept sending their deputies to the Imperial Diet. At the Vienna court, they called those faraway places. "Our cities in Alsace."
This situation was intolerable for the French king, Louis XIV. Cardinal Mazarin wanted to impose the oath of allegiance to the French crown on those cities. After all, the French king expected money, soldiers, obedience, and respect.
This situation was intolerable for the French king, Louis XIV. Cardinal Mazarin wanted to impose the oath of allegiance to the French crown on those cities. After all, the French king expected money, soldiers, obedience, and respect.
In 1670, Louis XIV started to force one town after the other into his realm. Most cities gave in when the French army arrived; only a few resisted the French occupation openly.
An example is Türkheim, where Turenne inflicted a crushing defeat on an Imperial army led by the young and not yet Great Elector of Brandenburg, Fredrick William, on January 5, 1675. This was according to Turenne's principle, "Tant qu'il y aurait un soldat Allemand en Alsace, il ne fallait pas qu'en France un seul homme de guerre restât en repos (As long as there is still a German soldier in Alsace, no man of war may stand at gunpoint in France)."
An example is Türkheim, where Turenne inflicted a crushing defeat on an Imperial army led by the young and not yet Great Elector of Brandenburg, Fredrick William, on January 5, 1675. This was according to Turenne's principle, "Tant qu'il y aurait un soldat Allemand en Alsace, il ne fallait pas qu'en France un seul homme de guerre restât en repos (As long as there is still a German soldier in Alsace, no man of war may stand at gunpoint in France)."
As for the nearby imperial city of Türkheim, the magistrates fled to Colmar, still under imperial rule, instead of entering into negotiations of surrender. Turenne overreacted to this insult, and his revenge was terrible. In the account of the citizens of Türkheim, it reads. "Things then turned cruel in this town. Turenne not only had Türkheim completely plundered and destroyed without protest, but all honest girls and women were raped and tortured to death. For 14 days, the French troops stole and killed, sparing neither children, women, nor the church."
In 1935, the city of Türkheim erected an obelisk to Turenne in front of its South Gate. On one side of the monument, the dedication reads, "Alsace to the French armies. "In the face of the political and later military threat from the other side of the Rhine in the 1930s, the French emphasized their national integrity.
At first sight, it is incomprehensible that the citizens, so battered in 1675, should dedicate a monument to Turenne, the great son of France. Bernard Wittmann, a chronicler Alsatian, writes, "Et que dire des monuments et des statues qui, outre leur rôle de marquage du territoire contribuent souvent à conforter la manipulation historique? Ainsi en est-il du monument de Turenne, le bourreau de Türkheim statufié par les descendants de ses victimes (What about monuments and statues which, in addition to their role of marking the territory, often contribute to reinforcing historical manipulation? This is the case with the Turenne monument, the butcher of Türkheim, immortalized by the descendants of his victims)."
The inscription on the front of the obelisk reads:
A la gloire de Turenne également pleure des soldats et des peuples,
i.e., not only the glory of Turenne is mentioned, but also the soldiers
and people the marshal had on his conscience are commemorated.
*
No comments:
Post a Comment