On the 28th of June, Lieutenant General von Hacke, who had been appointed to the command of the German Corps, directed the Advanced Guard to move upon Charleville, which lies under the guns of the Fortress of Mézières, and to carry the place by storm. The capture was successfully made by some Hessian Battalions, and tended greatly to facilitate the siege of Mézières. Moveable Columns were detached to observe the Fortresses of Montmédy, Laon, and Rheims. The last named place was taken by capitulation on the 8th of July; and the garrison, amounting to 4,000 men, retired behind the Loire.
Lieutenant General von Hacke finding that, notwithstanding his vigorous bombardment of Mézières, which he commenced on the 27th of June, his summons to surrender was unheeded by the Commandant, General Lemoine, undertook a regular siege of the place, and opened trenches on the 2nd of August. On the 13th, the French garrison gave up the Town and retired into the Citadel, which surrendered on the 1st of September.
The efforts of the Corps were now directed upon Montmédy, around which Fortress it had succeeded in placing twelve Batteries in position by the 13th of September. After an obstinate resistance, the garrison concluded a convention on the 20th of September; by which it was to retire, with arms and baggage, behind the Loire.
After the capture of Montmédy, the German Corps d'Armée went into cantonments in the Department of the Ardennes; whence it returned home in the month of November.
Operations of the Army of the Upper Rhine, under the command of Field Marshal His Highness Prince Schwartzenberg.
This Army consisted of four Corps d'Armée, and Reserves; composed of troops of Austria, Bavaria, Würtemberg, Saxony, of Hesse Darmstadt, and of the petty Princes.
Its strength was as follows:—
| Battalions. | Squadrons. | Batteries. | |||
| First Corps d'Armée | 24,400 | men, in | 26 | 16 | 8 |
| Second " | 34,350 | " | 36 | 26 | 11 |
| Third " | 43,814 | " | 44 | 32 | 9 |
| Fourth " | 57,040 | " | 46 | 66 | 15 |
| Austrian Reserve Corps | 44,800 | " | 38 | 86 | 10 |
| Blockade Corps | 33,314 | " | 38 | 8 | 6 |
| Saxon Corps d'Armée | 16,774 | " | 18 | 10 | 6 |
| ———— | ———— | ———— | ———— | ———— | |
| Total | 254,492 | men, in | 246 | 244 | 65 |
According to the general plan of operations projected by Prince Schwartzenberg, this Army was to cross the Rhine in two Columns. The Right Column, consisting of the Third Corps, under Field Marshal the Crown Prince of Würtemberg; and of the Fourth Corps, or the Bavarian Army, under Field Marshal Prince Wrède, was to cross the Rhine between Germersheim and Mannheim. The Left Column, consisting of the First Corps, under the Master General of the Ordnance, Count Colloredo, and of the Second Corps, under General Prince Hohenzollern Heckingen, together with the Austrian Reserve Corps; the whole being commanded by General the Archduke Ferdinand, was to cross the Rhine between Basle and Rheinfelden. The Column formed by the Right Wing was to be supported by the Russian Army, under Field Marshal Count Barclay de Tolly, which was expected to be collected at Kaiserslautern by the 1st of July. The object of the operations, in the first instance, was the concentration of the Army of the Upper Rhine and the Russian Army at Nancy.