Wargame Wednesday: Liechtenstein Part II

Initial French advance, March 1799

French advance into Liechtenstein on 6 March, 1799.

The main areas of battle in Liechtenstein in 1799.  Top arrow is the path to Feldkirch and bottom arrow is the direction the French took after crossing the Rhine to take a vital mountain pass.

The map is an excerpt taken from the 2nd Military Survey of the Austrian Hungarian Empire, 1816 - 1821.  Per General Thomas Graham in his A Contemporary Account of the 1799 Campaign in Germany and Switzerland, "Masséna caused a bridge to be thrown over the river at Azmooz, opposite the narrow pass of Luciensteig, and marched to that point with 5,000 or 6,000 men".

If I had to guess the bridge was probably built to the left of the arrow and place name of Trubbach.

Graham continues: "The Austrians, though not surprised, yet not having sufficient time to make every preparation for their defense, stood firm. They checked the enemy by a well continued cannonade at Balzers (located east of the top arrow) and near Mayenfeld (off map to the south of Luziensteig in the SE corner of the map), and bravely defended the approach to the Steig".  Despite a strong defense the fortifications at St. Luziensteig were taken on the evening of 6 March.

Above is an excerpt from a map published in 1797. North is to the right and the Rhine is on top of the map.  Balzers is just north of the woods and mountainous terrain.  I added this map as it shows the open nature of the terrain around Balzers, less built up than it was on the 1816-1821 map above. If you open the map and zoom in you can see the French may have had to contend with marshy terrain, funneling their advance in places and with limited cover from Austrian artillery.


Below is a map excerpt showing Feldkirch in 1797.

The top of the map is not true north.  The French advanced eastwards along the red road starting in the top left corner.  A good description of both battles for Feldkirch and another map can be found here.

Wargame Wednesday: Liechtenstein

Border between Switzerland and Liechtenstein south of Balzers. 

Swiss border gate at St. Luzisteig Pass 

Update: When researching the War of the Second Coalition for a Wargame Wednesday post (will link to in on 12 DEC) I found that this narrow pass was strategically important one of the main north / south roads passed through it. The French under Masséna crossed the Rhine at Azmooz and then rushed to take this pass.

After the French defeat at the 2nd Battle of Feldkirch the Austrians soon retook this position.  I have come across references to a fort in this location and the two gates mentioned below may be part of the old fort.


Imagine the continuous ringing of cow bells while viewing this picture. Imagine loud cow bells as a lot more are grazing off camera.

The gate and facilities are about 1.5 km inside of Switzerland but the military aspect of this picture is too good to pass up.

Notice the old gate house purposefully left guarding the road, narrowing two lanes to one.  Further on, there is another small, one lane, gate. The glass windows to the right of the gate are a restaurant's but I believe the other buildings are a military facility, maybe for reserves.

The cows do a good job in keeping the ditch clear and any armored force trying to force its way between the cliffs off camera to the left and small mountain off camera to the right will have a hard time with that steep embankment up ahead.

A bunker complex is off camera on the mountain to the right.

Burg Gutenberg Castle

Cows roam the high mountains in summertime.

If you want to visit the ski resort you'll pass through the village of Steg. More in a future post but if you click on the picture for a larger view you'll notice the houses form a large rectangle with a common field in the middle. Not sure if this is the traditional layout of the village.

Update: while searching for maps I found a map from around 1816 that shows the houses in Steg making a rectangular perimeter. Guessing the homes were first places along the river closest to the main road then along a stream right below the mountain.  Still interesting that the field in the center was never built upon.