 On 22 June , the French executed simultaneous crossings at Kehl and Hüningen . At Kehl , Moreau ’ s advance guard , 10 @,@ 000 , preceded the main force of 27 @,@ 000 infantry and 3 @,@ 000 cavalry directed at the several hundred Swabian pickets on the bridge . The Swabian force consisted of recruits provided by the members of the Swabian Circle and most of them were literally raw recruits , field hands and day laborers drafted for service in the spring of that year . The Swabians were hopelessly outnumbered and could not be reinforced . Most of the Imperial Army of the Rhine was stationed further north , by Mannheim , where the river was easier to cross , but too far away to support the smaller force at Kehl . Neither the Condé ’ s troops in Freiburg nor Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg 's force in Rastatt could reach Kehl in time to relieve the Swabian troops . Within a day , Moreau had four divisions across the river . Unceremoniously thrust out of Kehl , the Swabian contingent reformed at Rastatt by 5 July . There they managed to hold the city until reinforcements arrived , although Charles could not move much of his army away from Mannheim or Karlsruhe , where the French had also formed across the river . 
