Austrian Occupation of Luxembourg

Following the declaration of war on the Kingdom of France by Austria, the Austrian armies that had been placed provisionally on the Rhine during the peace moved. Such a sight had not been seen since the days of the great Austro-Turkish war when the proud Austrian armies and their fellow HRE allies marched south to deal with the Turkish threat, now with their new white uniforms glowing in the warmth of the sun, a blessing from God perhaps, with an Austrian flag in front of each regiment, flying proudly over the advancing Austrian forces. This most northern sector of the front was assigned, of course, to one of the Emperors best armies, one that had shown itself to be very capable in the field, we are referring of course to the "Armee Der Nationalen Sturm". They army marched quickly and enthusiastically out of Trier, their moment had once again come to show their worth to the Emperor and the Austrian state. It was time for them they felt to finally deal a blow to the hated French. Their operational objective, the one assigned them was the city of Luxemburg. The capture of this city was of vital strategic importance, and the Austrian army marched directly on to it. The fall of Luxemburg would allow the Austrian army to overrun the whole of northern France. The "Armee der Nationalen Sturm" on reaching the French border with Trier, the Austrian forces met no challenge and they continued their advance confident of success. Luxembourg was in site. The Austrian officer core had assigned the command of this army to the young and gifted Austrian General Karl Schwarzenberg. The Austrian officer core had commented that he was "charismatic, daring and full of cunning". Further adding that "he was just the man for the job" 

The "Armee Der Nationalen Sturm" was a rather well sized Austrian force comprising a large amount of men. The entire army comprised the following; 28,000 line infantry, 4000 grenadiers, 5000 dragoons, 2000 Hussar, 200 field guns, 50 howitzers. The army marched in good order, quickly and in good fashion towards the city across the French countryside. They were helped by the apparent lack of French soldiers in this area, with no resistance in front of them they made quick progress, and after several days marching Austrian forces reached the outskirts of the city. They moved to quickly surround the city of Luxemburg. However, the gradual extension of the supply lines though meant that as they advanced the soldiers increasingly had to live off the land, living off the French agricultural output as they went.    

The Austrian General sent an envoy to the city, asking politely, and in French, that the city surrender to Austrian forces. General Schwarzenburg stated in his message " Your city is surrounded, and cut off from the rest of France, let us now fight and spill blood over a pointless struggle. You and your city will be spared, and as a result there will be a peaceful Austrian occupation of the City and the rest of the surrounding province" Several strong points were established around the city and the army spread evenly around the city. Meanwhile Schwarzberg began to draw up the next stage of his advance from beyond the province of Luxemburg, however for the time beginning the province was secure under Austrian occupation.