Battle of the Lisaine

Overview

The Battle of the Lisaine, also known as the Battle of Héricourt, was fought from 15 January to 17 January 1871 between German and French forces. The French were led by Charles Denis Bourbaki, and were attempting to relieve the Siege of Belfort. The Germans prepared XIV Corps (Baden) and several other divisions, some 40,000–45,000 men, to halt the French advance of about 110,000 men. The Germans had their outer posts overran quite swiftly but the Prussians forced back and counterattacked the French forces, breaking the morale of French troops and leaving them to either die or retreat. In the end their efforts failed, and they were forced to flee into Switzerland where they were all interned soon after.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of the Lisaine was the decisive engagement that ended the French Army of the East's attempt to relieve the Siege of Belfort during the final weeks of the Franco-Prussian War. Bourbaki's force of roughly 110,000 men outnumbered the German XIV Corps and attached divisions by more than two to one, yet the German defenders absorbed the initial French pressure, counterattacked, and broke the morale of the attacking force. The French failure at the Lisaine had immediate and irreversible operational consequences: unable to continue the offensive, Bourbaki's army retreated and was eventually forced across the Swiss frontier, where the entire force was interned. The loss effectively removed the Army of the East from the war, eliminating the last significant French field force capable of threatening German operations in the theater and foreclosing any prospect of lifting the Belfort siege by military action.

Tactics

Forces & casualties

Commanders (2)