Siege of Strasbourg

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Siege of Strasbourg
Part of Franco-Prussian War
Date 15 August-28 September 1870 Location Strasbourg, France Result German victory
Combatants
Baden Württemberg	France
Commanders
Carl Wilhelm von Werder	General Uhrich
Strength
40,000	17,000
Casualties
?	17,000 surrendered

Franco-Prussian War
Wissembourg – Spicheren – Wœrth – Borny-Colombey – Strasbourg – Mars-La-Tour – Gravelotte – Metz – Beaumont – Noiseville – Sedan – Bellevue – Coulmiers –Amiens – Beaune-La-Rolande – Hallue – Bapaume – Le Mans – Lisaine – St. Quentin – Paris – Belfort

The Siege of Strasbourg took place during Franco-Prussian War. The siege resulted in the French surrender of the fortress on 28 September 1870.

Contents 1 Background 2 Initial Bombardment 3 Siege 4 Aftermath 5 Sources

[edit] Background

After the battle of Worth, Crown Prince Frederick detached General Carl Wilhelm von Werder to move south against the fortress of Strasbourg. At the time, Strasbourg (along with Metz) was considered to be one of the strongest fortresses in France. Werder's force was made up of 40,000 troops from Württemberg and Baden which lay just across the Rhine River from Strasbourg. The French garrison of 17,000 was under the command of the 68 year old General Uhrich.

[edit] Initial Bombardment

Werder understood the value of capturing the city and ruled out a more humane yet more lengthy siege of starvation and instead decided on a quicker action of bombing the fortifications and the civilian population into submission. On August 23 Werder's siege guns opened fire on the city and caused considerable damage to the city and many of its historical landmarks. The Archbishop of Strasbourg went to Werder to beg for a cease fire and the civilian population even suggested to Uhrich to pay 100,000 francs to Werder each day he did not bomb the city. Uhrich refused to relent and soon enough Werder realized he could not keep up such a severe bombardment with the amount of ammunition he had left.

[edit] Siege

Werder continued bombing the city this time targeting selected fortifications. The German siege lines moved rapidly closer to the city as each fortress was turned into rubble. On September 11, a delegation of Swiss officials went into the city to evacuate non-combatants. This delegation brought in news of the defeat of the French at the battle of Sedan, which meant no relief was coming to Strasbourg. On September 19 the remaining civilians urged Uhrich to surrender the city but he refused believing a defense was still possible. However, that same day Weder stormed and captured one of the cities fortifications. This event caused Uhrich to reconsider his ability to defend the city. On September 27 Uhrich opened negotiations with Werder and the city surrendered the following day.

[edit] Aftermath

The fall of Strasbourg freed Werder's forces for further operations in southeastern France. His next move was against the city of Belfort which was invested in November.

[edit] Sources

• Howard, Michael The Franco-Prussian War New York, 1962