Battle of Wissembourg (1870)

The Battle of Wissembourg or Battle of Weissenburg, the first of the Franco-Prussian War, was joined when three German army corps surprised the small French garrison at Wissembourg on 4 August 1870. The defenders, greatly outnumbered, fought stubbornly "especially considering they were surprised and greatly outnumbered, that the French sustained their old renown as fighting men and that the first defeat, although severe, reflected no discredit on the soldiers of the 1st Corps." The fall of Wissembourg allowed the Prussian army to move into France and compelled Marshal Patrice MacMahon to give battle, and suffer defeat, at the Battle of Wörth on 6 August.