Battle of Limonest | |||||||
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Part of the Campaign of France of the Sixth Coalition | |||||||
Charge of the 13th Cuirassiers Regiment at the Battle of Limonest, 20 March 1814, by Theodore Jung | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Austrian Empire Grand Duchy of Hesse | First French Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Prince Frederick of Hessen-Homburg | Pierre Augereau | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
I Corps II Corps VI German Corps | Army of the Rhône | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
30,000[1]-53,000, 112 guns | 20,000[1]-23,000, 36 guns | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
2,900[1]-3,000 | 1,000-2,000[1] | ||||||
The Battle of Limonest (20 March 1814) saw 30,000-53,000 Austrian and Hessian troops led by Prince Frederick of Hessen-Homburg defeat 20,000-23,000 French troops under Marshal Pierre Augereau.[1]
While Napoleon faced the main Allied armies of Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher to the east of Paris, a secondary campaign was conducted near Lyon to the south. In January 1814 the Austrians easily captured large swaths of territory, but failed to seize Lyon. By mid-February, a reinforced Augereau managed to recapture some towns, posing a threat. Anxious for his supply line back to Germany, Schwarzenberg sent Prince Hessen-Homburg large forces to protect his southern flank.
After some stiff fighting, the Allies forced the outnumbered French defenders to withdraw from a line of hills north of Lyon in this War of the Sixth Coalition action.
Lyon, in 1814 the second largest city in France, was abandoned to the Allies as a direct result of the defeat. With greatly superior forces, Hessen-Homburg pressed the French back in a series of battles and captured Lyon on 22 March.