Battle of Aldenhoven (1794)

Part of War of the First Coalition

Date	2 October 1794
Location	Aldenhoven, Germany
Result	French victory

Belligerents

Republican France

Habsburg Austria

Commanders and leaders

General Jourdan

Count of Clerfayt

Units involved

Army of Sambre-et-Meuse

Austrian Army

Strength

99,000

76,000

Casualties and losses

"nearly equal"

3,800

The Battle of Aldenhoven or Battle of the Roer (2 October 1794) saw a Republican French army commanded by Jean Baptiste Jourdan attack a Habsburg Austrian army under François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt which was defending the line of the Roer River. The key crossing was won by the French right wing at Düren after heavy fighting. The Austrian retreat from the Roer conceded control of the west bank of the Rhine River to France. The battle occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of a wider conflict called the Wars of the French Revolution. Aldenhoven is located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany about 21 kilometres (13 mi) northeast of Aachen.

After the Battle of Fleurus on 26 June 1794, the army of Austria began pulling back to the east while their British and Dutch allies withdrew to the north to defend Holland. There was a lull as the French armies paused to capture a number of fortresses held by the Coalition. Then, as Jean-Charles Pichegru's Army of the North prepared to overrun the Dutch Republic, Jourdan's Army of Sambre-et-Meuse turned northeast to drive the Austrians back to the Rhine, first winning the Battle of Sprimont in September. On 2 October, Jourdan launched attacks at Düren on the right, Aldenhoven and Jülich on the right center, Linnich on the left center and Ratheim on the left. After its victory, the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse captured Cologne and Bonn on the Rhine.

...
Wikipedia