Battle of Linth River

The Battle of Linth River (25–26 September 1799) saw a Republican French division under General of Division Jean-de-Dieu Soult face a force of Habsburg Austrian, Imperial Russian, and Swiss soldiers led by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze. Soult carefully planned and his troops carried out a successful assault crossing of the Linth River between Lake Zurich and the Walensee. Hotze's death early in the action disorganized the Allied defenders who were defeated and forced to retreat, abandoning supplies accumulated for Alexander Suvorov's approaching army. On the same day, André Masséna's French Army of Helvetia defeated Alexander Korsakov's Russian army in the Second Battle of Zurich. Both Korsakov's Russians and Hotze's survivors, led by Franz Petrasch withdrew north of the Rhine River.

These defeats were the result of a mismanaged Allied strategy that planned to unite the forces of Korsakov and Hotze with Suvorov's Russian army coming north from Italy. In accordance with the strategy, Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen's powerful Austrian army had marched from Zürich to southern Germany less than two weeks before. Masséna and Soult won their victories in the narrow time window between Charles' departure and Suvorov's arrival. On 24 September, Suvorov's Russians captured the Gotthard Pass and marched into Switzerland. However, with Korsakov and Petrasch driven out of the country, Masséna turned his full attention upon Suvorov's army, setting the stage for an epic alpine campaign.