Battle of Chateauneuf

Background

During 26–27 November 1870, Giuseppe Garibaldi commanded the Army of the Vosges, which was a guerrilla force volunteer army of France that was then preventing the advances of the German army in Dijon. Although initially successful, Garibaldi's army was eventually crushed by the German Infantry under General August von Werder, and pushed back to Autun. After the victory of the German army at Dijon General Keller's brigade - consisting of troops from Baden - was ordered to launch an attack on Autun in order to probe the base of operations of the Army of the Vosges, their resources, as well as their connection to the French rulers. On 1 December 1870 Keller's army marched to Autun and defeated the enemy detachments. 23 French soldiers were taken prisoner by the Germans. The next day, 2 December 1870, while the Germans were preparing to launch an attack, Garibaldi prepared an escape retreat from his base. At that moment however, Werder urgently ordered the retreat of his corps to Dijon. New French forces had appeared in the Saône valley where a German detachment at Nuits St. Georges was "handled", which probably pressured Werder to issue the retreat order. With the retreat of the German Corps to Dijon, Garibaldi was able to breathe a sigh of relief.