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Johann von Klenau

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Johann Graf von Klenau
AllegianceHabsburg monarchy Habsburg Austria
Service/branchColonel-Proprietor 5th Chevauxleger Regiment: 20 February 1804 – 10 June 1819
Years of service1775–1819
RankGeneral of Cavalry
Battles/warsFrench Revolutionary Wars
Napoleonic Wars
Awards• Knights Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa 30 October 1795
• Commanders Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa 13 July 1809
• Commander's Cross, Order of Leopold 07 January 1809
• Grand Cross, Order of Leopold 10 November 1813

Johann von Klenau, also called Johann Josef Cajetan von Klenau und Janowitz, (13 April 1758 – 6 October 1819), the son of a Bohemian noble, joined the Austrian cavalry as a teenager. He fought in the Austro-Ottoman wars, the French Revolutionary Wars and commanded a corps in several important battles during the Napoleonic Wars.

In the French Revolutionary Wars, he distinguished himself at the Weissenbourg lines. As commander of the Coalition's left flank in the Adige campaign in northern Italy in 1799, he was instrumental in isolating the French-held fortresses on the Po River by organizing and supporting a peasant uprising in the countryside. Afterward he became the youngest Lieutenant Field Marshal in the history of the Habsburg army.

Arguably among the best of the generals in Habsburg service in the Napoleonic period, Klenau led the battle-winning charge at Handshuhsheim in 1795. As a Corps commander, he also led key elements of the the Austrian army at the battles of Aspern-Esslingen and Wagram. He commanded the IV Corps at the 1813 Battle of Dresden. After the Battle of Nations at Leipzig, Klenau organized and implemented the successful Dresden blockade. In 1814-15, he was commander of the Corps Klenau of the Army of Italy. After the war, he was appointed commanding General in Moravia and Silesia. He died in 1819.

Early career

Johann von Klenau was born into a noble family at Benatek Castle in the Austrian province of Bohemia on 13 April 1758. He entered the 47th Infantry Regiment Ellrichshausen in 1774, at the age of 17, as an Officer Cadet and became a Second Lieutenant in 1775. He fought in the short War of the Bavarian Succession, also known as the Potato War, after transferring into a Chevauleger (light cavalry) regiment as a Captain of Cavalry, or Rittmeister. In the Austro-Turkish War (1787-1791), Klenau served in the 26th Dragoon Regiment Toscana, and later transferred to the 1st Dragoon Regiment Kaiser. Following his distinguished action at Zemun, in which he repulsed an attack of superior numbers of Ottoman forces on 28 September 1788, he received personal commendation and earned his promotion to major in 1788.[1]

Benatek Castle, in Bohemia, where Klenau was born

French Revolutionary Wars

On 12 February 1793, Klenau received his promotion to Lt. Colonel in an Lancer's regiment serving under General of Cavalry Count Graf Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser. He was captured in 1793 near Offenbach, but was unexpectedly freed by two Hussars from the 17th Regiment, Archduke Alexander Leopold, who stumbled upon him and his captors. Klenau commanded a brigade in Hotze's 3rd Column at the Battle of Wissembourg on 13 October 1793, during which the Habsburg force stormed the 12-mile earthen ramparts.[2]

Small groups of armed men are dispersed throughout a rural area; in the foreground, officers on horseback confer. In the middle and background, large groups of mounted men charge a line of foot soldiers.
Klenau's charge at Handschuhsheim decided the outcome of the battle.

In late September, at the sleepy country village of Handschuhsheim, east of Heidelberg on the Neckar River,[3] on 24 September 1795, Klenau led a battle-winning charge. He commanded a mounted brigade that included the six squadrons of the 4th KürRegiment Hohenzollern, two squadrons of the 3rd Dragoon Regiment Kaiser, six squadrons of the 44th Hussar regiment Szeckler, and four squadrons of the French Emigre regiment Allemand. The brigade-sized unit dispersed two French divisions (approximately 12,000 men) of Charles Pichegru's Army of the Upper Rhine, under the command of General of Division George Joseph Dufour. With a loss of 193 men and 54 horses killed, the Austrians inflicted over 1,500 French casualties, including 1,000 killed; they also captured eight guns, nine ammunition caissons and their teams, and General Dufour.[4] In the action, General of Brigade Dusirat was wounded, as was Dufour before his capture.[5] For his role in this exploit, Klenau was promoted to Colonel[6] and awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa.[7] At Handschuhsheim, as at Zemon, he demonstrated his "higher military calling," establishing himself as an intrepid, tenacious and quick-thinking field officer.[8]

In 1796, Klenau transferred to the Italian theater. He led the advance guard of Peter Quasdanovich's right column as it descended from the Alps upon Brescia. Finding the French garrison unprepared, Klenau set out at midnight with two squadrons of the 8th Hussar Regiment Wurmser, a battalion of the 37th Infantry Regiment De Vins, and one company of the Mahony Jägers. Hidden by fog, the small force surprised the Brescia garrison on the morning of 30 July, capturing 600–700 French soldiers and three officials of the French Directory, Jean Lannes, Joachim Murat, and François Étienne de Kellermann.[9] However, left alone at Montichiari to face Napoleon Bonaparte and 12,000 Frenchmen, Klenau's small advance guard was quickly pushed out of Brescia on 1 August. At the subsequent Battle of Lonato, the French forced Quasdanovich's column to withdraw into the mountains.[10]

The Commanders Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa is studded with gems and engraved with the word FORTITUDE.
This gem-studded 1765 exemplar of the Commanders' Cross is engraved with the word FORTITUDE.

Klenau fought at the Battle of Bassano on 8 September. He was with Dagobert von Wurmser's column as it fought its way into Mantua and he participated in the combat of La Favorita near Mantua on 15 September. From that time until 2 February 1797, he was trapped in the fortress during the Siege of Mantua.[11] After the Austrian disaster at the Battle of Rivoli, Klenau negotiated conditions of surrender with French General Jean Sérurier.[12] When the garrison capitulated in February, Klenau co-signed the document with Wurmser.[13]

In the 1799 campaign in Italy, Klenau and his 4500 troops inspired and assisted in an uprising of another 4000 or more peasants in the countryside. Under his command, the 8th Hussar Regiment, two battalions of Banaters (from the Austrian border with the Ottoman Empire), and a battalion of the 18th Infantry encouraged a general insurgency which effectively pinned down the French on the east bank of the Po River. This isolated the French-held fortresses, making them vulnerable to Suvorov's main force. In June, he was instrumental in taking the fortress at Ferraro, a lynch-pin in the French Po River defenses.[14]

In October 1800, he was promoted to Lieutenant Field Marshal making him the youngest of that rank in the history of the Habsburg military.[15] In 1800, he married the widowed Maria Josephina Somsich de Sard, daughter of Tallian de Viseck. They had one daughter. During the peaceful years between 1801–1805, Klenau commanded a division in Prague, and was named as Colonel and Proprietor of the 5th Dragoon Regiment (now the 10th Dragoons).[16]

Napoleonic Wars

At the outbreak of war in 1805, Klenau joined the army of Archduke Ferdinand for the War of the Third Coalition. He was captured in the Battle of Ulm when Karl Mack surrendered the encircled army of 20,000 infantry and 3,273 cavalry on 21 October 1805.[17] He and the other officers were released on the condition that they not serve against France until exchanged.[18] At the beginning of the War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809,[19] he commanded a division in IV Corps, which included 19 battalions of infantry and approximately 16 mounted squadrons, which he led at the Battle of Eckmuhl, in southeastern Germany on 22 April 1809. Archduke Charles lost the advantage in the battle; Klenau's and Rosenberg's IV Corps were badly mauled, losing 534 killed, 637 wounded, and 773 captured (865 missing).[20]

Two groups of well-dressed officers, one group stands on a hill, and the other group approaches them.
General Mack and his staff surrender the Ulm fortress.

Action on the Danube by Vienna

Further information: Battle of Aspern-Essling

At Aspern-Essling in May 1809, von Klenau commanded a force of close to 6,000, including a battalion of the 1st Jägers, three battalions of the 3rd Infantry Regiment Archduke Charles, eight squadrons each of the Stipcisc Hussars and Schwarzenburg Uhlans, and a horse battery of 64 guns. Receiving his orders an hour late, Klenau's delay in deployment and in assaulting on the French III Corps meant that his men approached the French position in close order; a two gun French battery, placed well out into the plain beyond the Essling, "mowed furrows" of enfilade fire in the Austrian ranks.[21] Despite the withering fire, Klenau's force reached the village, where it set up 64 artillery pieces and bombarded the French for nearly an hour. Austrian cavalry poured into the village from the north, and the French were pushed out in a methodical advance during which Klenau's batteries were able to send fire on the French-held bridges south of the village, over which the French had to retreat.[22] For his leadership at Essling, he received the Commander's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa.[23]

In the lull between the battle at Aspern-Essling and the Battle of Wagram, Charles ordered the construction of a several mile long entrenchment, but did little else to shore up his force, while Napoleon brought in additional troops from Italy and Hungary. At the Wagram, 5–6 July, Klenau replaced General Johann von Hiller, who had fallen ill, to command the 13,740 soldiers of VI Corps.[24] Klenau's Corps and Joseph-Armand von Nordmann's advanced guard provided a screen while Charles moved the main force of his army to the east. French guns bombarded the earthworks, and then assaulted the line. General Antoine Lasalle was killed in the French cavalry assault. Charles watched from his command post at Wagram as Nordmann and Klenau's forces stubbornly clung to their positions, but they were overwhelmed. Nordmann was killed, and Klenau organized the rear guard for the Army's retreat into Moravia. At Wagram, Klenau coined the phrase Massena's Infernal Column to describe the French IV Corps commanded by Andre Massena and its steady approach.[25]

Black and white picture shows Murat's (French) cavalry charge at the Battle of Dresden; Klenau's force took the brunt of the charge and suffered high casualties.
Klenau's force bore the brunt of Murat's cavalry charge at the Battle of Dresden.

Battle of Dresden

Klenau was promoted to General der Kavallerie (full general) on 26 July 1813. When Austria joined the Sixth Coalition in 1813, he held command of an independent corps in the Army of Bohemia. In the Battle of Dresden, the leading elements of his corps were placed on the army's left flank, separated from the main body by the flooded Weißeritz. Marshal Joachim Murat took advantage of this isolation and inflicted heavy losses on the Austrians.[26] A French participant observed, "Murat, who commanded this part of the French line, showed himself more brilliant than ever; for after forcing the defile of Cotta, he turned and cut off from the Austrian army Klenau's corps, hurling himself upon it at the head of the carabineers and cuirassiers. His movement was decisive; Klenau could not resist that terrible charge. Nearly all his battalions were compelled to lay down their arms, and two other divisions of infantry shared their fate."[27] Of Klenau's force, Lieutenant Field Marshal Joseph, Baron von Mesko de Felsö-Kubiny's division of five infantry regiments was surrounded and captured by Murat's cavalry, which amounted to approximately 13,000 men, and 15 colors.[28] On 16 October at the Battle of Leipzig, the so-called Battle of Nations, Klenau's IV Corps defended the Army of Bohemia's right flank against the attacks of Marshal Jacques MacDonald.[29] Part of the 196,790 man Allied Main Army, he commanded three divisions, including those of Josef, Baron von Mohr, Lieutenant Field Marshall Prince von Hohenohe-Bartenstiein, and Lieutenant Field Marshall Anton von Mayer Heldenfsfeld.[30] In this action, his force played a vital role in preventing Marshall MacDonald from flanking a portion of the main army, thus splitting it into two smaller groups. Ultimately, this was a key to the second day of battle.[31] The location is marked by a monument.[32]

Promotions

  • Major: 15 January 1790
  • Lt. Colonel: 12 February 1793
  • Colonel: 8 August 1795
  • Major General: 1 May 1797 (effective 13 June 1797)
  • Lt. Field Marshal: 29 October 1800 (effective 18 November 1800)
  • General of the Cavalry: 26 July 1813

After the battle, the allied high command assigned Klenau to blockade the large French garrison at Dresden. In this action, his IV Austrian Corps of the Army of Bohemia, included the division of Lt. General Count Osterman-Tolstoy, and the militia of Major General Titov, a total of approximately 41,000 troops. Although Klenau negotiated a capitulation in which the French troops would return to France with their honors, on condition that they would not fight against the Allies for six month, the Supreme commander, Prince of Schwarzenberg, refused to ratify the capitulation. Marshal Laurent de Gouvion-Saint-Cyr surrendered to Klenau on 11 November,[33] and the French troops marched into captivity in Austria instead. The victors took 94 French field guns and 151 Saxon fortress guns, and reacquired control over the Kingdom of Saxony.[34] During the 1814 campaigns, Klenau commanded a corps in Italy, known as the Korps Klenau.[35]

After the war ended in 1815, Klenau was appointed Commanding General in Moravia and Silesia.[36] He held this office until his death on 6 October 1819  at Brno in the modern-day Czech Republic.[37] Many considered General of the Cavalry Count von Klenau one of the best Austrian corps commanders of his age, for his aggressiveness, his confidence and his talent.[38]

References

Citations and notes

  1. ^ Template:De icon Jens-Florian Ebert. "General der Kavallerie Graf von Klenau". Die Österreichischen Generäle 1792–1815. Napoleon Online.DE. Accessed 15 October 2009; Leopold Kudrna and Digby Smith. A biographical dictionary of all Austrian Generals in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1792–1815. "Klenau". Napoleon Series, Robert Burnham, editor in chief. April 2008 version. Accessed 19 October 2009.
  2. ^ Digby Smith. The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill, 1998, ISBN 1-85367-276-9, p. 58.
  3. ^ Template:De icon Ursula Perkow, "Der Schlacht bei Handshuhsheim". KuK Militärgeschichte. Lars-Holger Thümmler, editor. 2009. Accessed 28 November 2009.
  4. ^ Smith, p. 105, maintains that Dufour was captured; in Kudrna and Smith,"Quosdanovich", Smith states that Dufour (1758-1820) was killed.
  5. ^ Smith, p. 105. Additional Austrian losses included 35 men and and 58 horses killed, six officers, 144 men and 78 horses wounded, two men and three horses missing.
  6. ^ Smith, p. 105
  7. ^ Kudrna and Smith, "Klenau."
  8. ^ Template:De icon "Klenau, Johann Graf“. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, herausgegeben von der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Band 16 (1882), ab Seite 156, Digitale Volltext-Ausgabe. (Version vom 27. Oktober 2009, 21:33 Uhr UTC).
  9. ^ Boycott-Brown, p. 382.
  10. ^ Kudrna and Smith, "Klenau."
  11. ^ Template:De icon Klenau (ADB)
  12. ^ Boycott-Brown, p. 521.
  13. ^ Kudrna and Smith, "Klenau."
  14. ^ Enrico Acerbi, The 1799 Campaign in Italy: Klenau and Ott Vanguards and the Coalition’s Left Wing April - June 1799, Napoleon Series, Robert Burnham, editor in chief. March 2008. Accessed 30 October 2009.
  15. ^ Kudrna and Smith, "Klenau."
  16. ^ Template:De icon Klenau (ADB).
  17. ^ Smith, p. 205; and Klenau (ADB).
  18. ^ Smith, p. 205.
  19. ^ Austria did not participate in the War of the Fourth Coalition.
  20. ^ Smith, p. 292.
  21. ^ James R. Arnold. Napoleon Conquers Austria: the 1809 campaign for Vienna, 1809, Westport, Conn: Praeger, 1995, ISBN 1995978-0-275-94694-4, p. 143, see p. 204 for the Order of Battle; Gunther Rothenberg. Napoleon’s Great Adversary: Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army 1792–1814. Spellmount: Stroud, (Gloucester), 2007, ISBN 9781862273832, pp. 188-189.
  22. ^ Arnold, p. 143–144. Arnold refers to the complete disorder in the French ranks in the face of the Austrian advance, which did not falter, even under the enfilade fire.
  23. ^ Kudrna and Smith, "Klenau."
  24. ^ Robert B. Bruce et al., Fighting techniques of the Napoleonic Age, 1792–1815. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, 2008, 978-0312375874 p. 154.
  25. ^ Bruce, p. 155; Arnold, p. 162.
  26. ^ Chandler, pp. 910–911.
  27. ^ Jean Baptiste Antoine Marcellin de Marbot. The Memoirs of General Baron De Marbot, Volume II,, Chapter 23. Electronic book widely available.
  28. ^ Smith, p. 445. Mesko was wounded, and retired the following year. Kurdna and Smith, Mesko.
  29. ^ Chandler, p. 929.
  30. ^ Smith, p. 466, p. 470.
  31. ^ Christopher Thomas Atkinson. A history of Germany, 1715–1815. London: Methuen, 1908, p. 656.
  32. ^ Template:De icon Völkerschlacht-Gedenksteine an vielen Stellen in und um Leipzig, "Das Kolmberg-Denkmal bei Liebertwolkwitz". Farbfotos: www-itoja-de, Nov.2007. Accessed 28 November 2009.
  33. ^ Kudrna and Smith, "Klenau."
  34. ^ Smith, p. 478.
  35. ^ Ebert, "General der Kavallerie Graf von Klenau".
  36. ^ Kudrna and Smith, "Klenau."
  37. ^ Kudrna and Smith, "Klenau."
  38. ^ Template:De icon Ebert."General der Kavallerie Graf von Klenau"

Bibliography

  • Arnold, James R. Napoleon Conquers Austria: the 1809 campaign for Vienna, 1809. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 1995, ISBN 1995978-0-275-94694-4.
  • Boycott-Brown, Martin. The Road to Rivoli. London: Cassell & Co., 2001. ISBN 0-304-35305-1.
  • Bruce, Robert B. et al. Fighting techniques of the Napoleonic Age, 1792-1815. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, 2008, 978-0312375874
  • Chandler, David. The Campaigns of Napoleon. New York: Macmillan, 1966.
  • de Marbot, Jean Baptiste Antoine (Baron), The Memoirs of General Baron De Marbot, Volume II, Chapter 23, no pagination. Electronic book widely available.
  • Pivka, Otto von. Armies of the Napoleonic Era. New York: Taplinger Publishing, 1979. ISBN 0-8008-5471-3
  • Rothenberg, Gunther E. Napoleon’s Great Adversary: Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army 1792–1814. Spellmount: Stroud, (Gloucester), 2007. ISBN 9781862273832,
  • Smith, Digby. The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill, 1998. ISBN 1-85367-276-9
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