ORDER OF BATTLE // July 25, 1866
Battle of Gerchsheim
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 42,000 estimated
Prussia
16,000
Medium-confidence figure
Austrian Empire
26,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Battle of Gerchsheim was fought on July 25, 1866, as part of the Campaign of the Main during the Austro-Prussian War, pitting a Prussian force of 16,000 against an Austrian and allied German Federal Army numbering 26,000. The engagement formed one episode in Prussia's broader effort to neutralize the German states aligned with Austria along the Main river line, a secondary but strategically necessary front while the decisive contest played out in Bohemia. Württemberg sustained recorded casualties of 102, indicating active participation by the German Federal contingents fighting alongside Austrian imperial forces under Prince Alexander. The Campaign of the Main as a whole served to prevent the southern German states from threatening Prussia's flank and to consolidate Prussian dominance over the German Confederation, outcomes that would be settled diplomatically shortly after at the Peace of Prague.
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