The Coalition planned to begin operations in April 1799 with 125,000 men in Southern Germany, 60,000 in western Austria and 110,000 Russians under the famous Field Marshall Alexander Suvorov in Italy. Baron Friedrich von Hotze with a corps of anti-French Swiss soldiers stood guard along the Rhine in Vorarlberg, Liechtenstein and the Swiss border areas of Luziensteig and Graubünden.
The French with 200,000 men in five armies had planned to strike in the beginning of March of 1799 but on hearing of the Russian movement in Italy attacked in the Upper Rhine to prevent the Austrians and Russians from linking up.
The Austrians chose Feldkirch as their main defense as it sat on the strategic crossroads in the Central Alps. Here lay the Rhine Valley and the road from the Arlberg, and the mountain range east of Feldkirch. To the west lay Switzerland. The Ill River with the main bridge, then the Heiligkreuzbrücke, the Holy Cross Bridge, joins the Rhine at this point. The surrounding mountains formed a natural barrier to an invader's easy approach to the city. To the north lay the Ardetzenberg, to the west the Schellenberg and the Blasenberg while to the east were the Stadtschrofen and the Känzele and the towering cliffs of the Ill River Gorge. The weakest point in Feldkirch's defenses was the valley to the south - Liechtenstein. The Austrians built two lines of strong fortifications between the city and the little Principality. The old fortifications such as Castle Schattenberg, built in the middle ages, had lost their defensive value as the city had spread a ways beyond them. On March 4, 1799, the Austrian called up the Vorarlberg militia to take their positions ready to repulse any French advance. A small troop was stationed in the Vaduz castle on the hill above the village. The players were all in place. The terrible drama was about to begin.
References:
Moore, Russell F., Principality Of Liechtenstein/A Brief History, Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corp, New York, 1960.
