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- The following battle descriptions are taken from the Dragoon
documentation, written by David Erickson and Stephen
Grammont. This documentation is Copyright 1999 by
David Erickson/Art of War Publishing.
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- THE BATTLE OF MOLLWITZ, April 10, 1741
The First Silesian War started as a result of the disputed Austrian succession of 1740.
Frederick offered to defend the rightful heir to the throne, Maria Theresa, in return for
the province of Silesia. Maria Theresa refused, and in December, 1740, Frederick invaded
Silesia.
Investing Glogau and Neisse, Frederick quickly gained possession of the province.
Meanwhile, however, Count Adam Neipperg was raising an army in Bohemia. Crossing the still
snow-covered mountain passes, a move which took Frederick unawares, Neipperg quickly
overran the country, cutting Frederick's line of communications in the process. The battle
that resulted from these maneuvers occurred outside the little town of Mollwitz on April
10, 1741.
The Austrians opened the battle by attacking Frederick's right wing, a confused jumble of
infantry and cavalry, with General Romer's cavalry. In the ensuing fray both Romer and the
Prussian general Schulenberg were killed (a blow to Austria since Romer was a very capable
commander), and the weak Prussian cavalry was put to flight. Frederick, accompanying the
right wing, was nearly captured. So close a call was this that Frederick, on Marshal Count
Kurt von Schwerin's urging, fled the field to safety. Schwerin remained, however, and led
the magnificent Prussian infantry, fighting off cavalry and infantry attacks, to a
victorious conclusion to the battle.
But, despite the outmatched Austrian infantry, it was by no means a cakewalk. Had the
Austrian cavalry been more intent on destroying Prussians than gathering booty, the result
could have been quite different.
THE BATTLE OF CHOTUSITZ, May 17, 1742
- After the near disaster at the Battle Mollwitz (April, 1741),
Frederick devotes himself to improving the quality of his cavalry ("damnably
awful," he calls it). It is an effort that is to pay off when he next meets the
Austrians a year later outside the village of Chotusitz on May 17, 1742.
Despite their constant drilling in battlefield tactics, the Prussian hussar corps is still
small and inexperienced at reconnaissance work. Consequently, Frederick, after having
split his army while campaigning in Bohemia (Prince Leopold commands one element,
Frederick the other), is caught unawares by the Austrians under Prince Charles. The
Austrian army moves to attack Leopold before he can be joined by Frederick. Frederick,
however, having received word of the danger, meets Leopold at 7:30 am on the 17th of May,
and the Battle of Chotusitz is underway.
Buddenbrock's cavalry opens the attack for the Prussians, hitting the Austrian left wing
of cavalry. Initially gaining the advantage, Buddenbrock is counterattacked, first being
hit by advancing infantry and then by cuirassiers and dragoons. The Prussian right wing
cavalry is defeated and out of the reckoning.
- Meanwhile, the Austrian infantry continue to advance toward
Chotusitz. In order to stem the tide, General Waldow of the Prussian left launches a
charge and then executes a wide circuit behind the Austrian lines all the way to the scene
of Buddenbrock's action on the right. But this move has no decisive impact.
The battle now becomes an infantry fight near the town. The Austrians push Leopold's
command out of the village. But there is still Frederick's inexplicably inactive right
wing to deal with. When he finally moves at 10:30, he executes a wide leftward wheel,
hitting the Austrians in the flank and putting them to flight. The battle ends at 11. The
Prussians lose 4,800 troops, the Austrians 6,330.
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- THE BATTLE OF HOHENFRIEDBERG, June 4, 1745
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- During the Second Silesian War (1744-1745), Frederick invaded
Bohemia with 60,000 men and caught the Austrian army under Prince Charles (80,000 strong)
camped near the town of Hohenfriedberg.
Frederick struck at dawn and routed the Saxon contingent of the army in about an hour.
Before Charles' Austrians could intervene, Frederick had already directed newly arrived
reinforcements toward them. The Austrian right wing cavalry was first defeated by the
Prussian cavalry while the infantry came to grips with the enemy, giving rise to a
frightful din of opposing artillery. It was then that the ten-squadron strong regiment of
Beyreuth Dragoons, noticing the shaken Austrian infantry to their front, launched a charge
that effectively ended the battle by destroying or putting to flight all but 3 Austrian
regiments who remained to cover the retreat. It was 9 a.m. Prussian cavalry had come a
long way from Mollwitz, and their infantry was the envy of the world.
NO QUARTER: First Blood at Hohenfriedberg, June 4, 1745
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- This is the opening Saxon portion of the Battle of Hohenfriedberg.
Frederick put the Saxon's out of action in about an hour.
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- THE BATTLE OF SOOR, September 30, 1745
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- Three months after the battle of Hohenfriedberg, Prince Charles
exploits Frederick's carelessly laid "Camp of Staudenz" to launch a surprise
attack on a diminished Prussian army.
Having stripped off many detachments during his march through Bohemia, Frederick's numbers
have been reduced to 22,000 effectives. Prince Charles has a splendid opportunity. The
King has failed to occupy the Graner-Koppe, the hill north of Burkersdorf that dominates
the landscape to the east and south. Prince Charles loads it up with musketeers,
grenadiers, cavalry and 16 heavy guns. The remainder of his army he extends in line to the
south.
The Prussians detect the Austrian presence, however, and despite all the enemy's
advantages of surprise and terrain, it is they who move first to the attack. Marching in
column formation, Frederick directs his army to the north where the battle opens with an
Austrian cannonade upon the helpless columns of cavalry as they pass beneath the
Graner-Koppe.
Having weathered the fire, the cavalry deploys to the north of the hill. The infantry will
take the summit itself. General Buddenbrock's troopers open the assault by driving the
Austrian horse from the high ground. But the cavalry attack runs into enemy infantry and
is turned back by musket fire. The Graner-Koppe is now under infantry attack as well.
Elite Prussian grenadiers march right up to the muzzles of the heavy guns and are
decimated by a combination of cannon and musket fire. The second line surges forward,
fighting through enemy grenadiers, and captures the summit, putting the dangerous battery
out of action.
Meanwhile, the right wing of the Austrian line is engaged in its own separate battle as
the Prussians move to clear Burkersdorf. After nearly bogging down under yet another
battery near the town, Prince Ferdinand's troops finally crack the Austrian center. The
Austrians relinquish the field. Frederick has overcome the most dangerous predicament of
his career. ("I was in the soup up to my ears.")
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- BLOOD and GLORY: The Taking of the Graner-Koppe, September
30, 1745
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- Perhaps more blood than glory, the taking of this important hill
during the Battle of Soor was one of the remarkable feats of Frederick's early military
career. Once again, as at Hohenfriedberg, it was the cavalry that proved the decisive arm.
Having marched with extraordinary composure under the Austrian guns ("Each bomb
carried away eight or ten horses at once."), the Prussian cavalry charged through a
steep valley and up the slopes of the hill and caught the Austrian horse flat footed.
THE BATTLE OF LOBOSITZ, October 1, 1756
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- At the outset of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), Frederick,
learning of his enemies' hostile intentions, crosses the Saxon frontier with 70,000 men
and occupies Dresden. The Saxon army, 19,000 strong, falls back to the fortified camp at
Pirna and is put under siege.
Requiring new foraging land and becoming increasingly dissatisfied with reconnaissance
reports out of Bohemia, Frederick takes charge of the 28,500-man army and sets out in
search of the Austrian Field Marshal Browne.
On October 1, 1756, Frederick finds him deploying his army on the plain near a bend in the
Elbe in front of the little town of Lobositz.
To get at them, the Prussians are forced to deploy out of a narrow valley. The valley is
bounded on one side by the Lobosch Hill and on the other by the Homolka-Berg. The Lobosch,
an extinct volcano whose slopes are terraced and choked with vineyards and divided by low
stone walls, is occupied by a force of Croatian light infantry. The Homolka Mound is
unoccupied, though, and the Prussians place a battery there in preparation for action
against the Austrian main force, hidden in a sunken road south of Lobositz and deployed
behind the channels and swamps of the Morellen-Bach further south.
Following an intense long-range artillery duel, Frederick orders the Duke of Bevern to
clear the Lobosch. Bevern makes his way up the slopes with three regiments and is soon
heavily engaged with the enemy.
Meanwhile, to clarify the situation on the plain (a heavy fog conceals all but the general
outline of the Austrian position) Frederick orders a reconnaissance in force by
Lieutenant-General Kayu's cavalry, and the battle is fully underway.
The first Prussian cavalry attack is repulsed near the village of Sullowitz. Without
orders, a second attack is launched, this time by 10,000 dragoons and cuirassiers. Part of
the attack breaks across the sunken road and is spoiled by musketry, cannon fire and the
counterattack of a group of Austrian cuirassiers. The other part gets stuck in the
Morellen-Bach and is too disorganized to continue.
Meanwhile, the fight on the Lobosch heats up. Bevern is sent reinforcements and the
Austrian general Lacy dispatches a small force of regulars to assist the light infantry
there. Finally, sometime after 1 p.m., Bevern dislodges the Croats from their stone walls
and ditches. The right wing infantry advances across the plain and launches a successful
assault on Lobositz itself, forcing the Austrians to retreat, in safety, across the Elbe,
as was their original intent.
The Battle of Lobositz is a tactical Prussian victory, with each side losing about 3,000
men. The Prussians retain the field and the Saxons at Pirna later surrender.
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- THE LOBOSCH, October 1, 1756
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- This is the action at the Lobosch Hill during the Battle of
Lobositz.
THE BATTLE OF PRAGUE, May 6, 1757
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- In April of 1757, four widely separated Prussian columns invade
Bohemia and catch the Austrians by surprise. The Austrians initially retreat, then decide
to make a stand on the far side of the Moldau at Prague.
- Rejecting a frontal attack as impractical, Frederick takes his
army on a long march to attack the flank of the Austrian position though an area of green
meadows. Seeing the intent of the Prussian move, the Austrian Field Marshal Maximilian von
Browne rushes to secure his open eastern flank with a large force of cavalry and an
infantry force that includes 40 companies of grenadiers.
The 73-year-old Prussian general Kurt von Schwerin is determined to take the eastern
slopes of the plateau before the Austrians can form a coherent line of defense. But the
green meadows through which the Prussians attack turn out to be the drained beds of fish
ponds. Some of the men of the first line sink to their waists in the soft black silt.
Artillery is also stuck fast, not in the muck but in the clogged, narrow streets of
Unter-Pocernitz. General Winterfeldt's infantry is going it alone. To win time,
Schonaich's cavalry launches an immediate attack on the Austrian horse, but is thrown
back. The rest of Schonaich's command arrives and the rival horse engage in a long,
inconclusive melee.
It is tough-going for the Prussian first line. They are being cut down by a powerful
battery atop the Homole-Berg. Entire regiments flee and are completely destroyed.
Winterfeldt himself falls with a mortal wound. Then Schwerin, snatching up a color to
rally his men, is killed outright in a hail of canister fire. Two of Prussia's most
stalwart heroes are dead.
The Prussian first line has disintegrated. The victorious Austrian infantry now
counterattack toward Sterbohol. Just as things appear to be going badly for the Prussians,
22 battalions begin to exploit a gap that has appeared in the Austrian line to the north.
At the same time, General Hans Joachim von Zieten, the famous hussar leader, appears on
the Austrian flank ("Overthrow any enemy who appear!") and turns the cavalry
battle to the Prussian's favor. The Austrian infantry attack, now threatened on both
flanks, collapses. With its destruction, the Prussians begin to roll up the still
northward-facing Austrian main body.
Acting on his own initiative, Prussian General Manstein attacks the earthworks between two
ponds. Eventually, Mainstein and Prince Henry attack from the north while the main body of
Prussian infantry attack from the east. The Austrians rally to form a new line between
Maleschitz and Hrdlorzez and, there, offer up the heaviest fighting of the battle, but by
3 p.m. the Austrian army is retreating into Prague. The battle is over.
- Though a victory, the Battle of Prague was one of the most costly
of Frederick's career. Of roughly 60,000 men on each side, the Prussians lost over 14,000,
while the Austrians lost over 13,000. Frederick himself said, "The battle at Prague
must be the greatest and bloodiest in history."
THE FINEST DEATH: The Fight at Sterbohol, May 6, 1757
The opening moments of the Battle of Prague. It was during this part of the battle that
both Generals Winterfeldt and Schwerin were killed. Schwerin had half his head blown off
by a blast of canister while trying to rally his shaken troops. His death was described as
"the finest death in combat that has ever been related in the annals of Prussian
military history." The Austrian Field Marshal Browne was also killed during the
counterattack at Sterbohol, making "The Finest Death" a fitting title for this
little scenario.
INTO THE GAP: The Destruction of the Austrian Right, May 6, 1757
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- This scenario starts just after the disintegration of
Winterfeldt's command and during the Austrian counterattack. Just when it appeared that
Schwerin's command was in trouble, Prussian commanders on their own initiative struck a
decisive blow that would give the Prussians an initiative they would never relinquish.
THE BATTLE OF KOLIN, June 18, 1757
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- After the Battle of Prague during the Seven Years' War
(1756-1763), Austrian Marshal Leopold J. von Daun moves with 60,000 troops in an attempt
to lift the siege of the city. Frederick, with 34,000 men, attacks Daun's camp near Kolin.
Originally planning to flank Daun's battle line, Frederick inexplicably orders a frontal
assault. The battle that follows becomes a contest for two prominences upon which the
Austrians have concentrated their defense. Repeated assaults on Przerovsky Hill yield no
results, and a savagely contested, confused infantry-cavalry battle atop Krzeczhorz Hill
ends with an Austrian victory. Frederick's losses amount to more than 12,000 men while the
Austrians sustained 8,000 casualties. It is Frederick's first ever defeat in battle.
ADVANCE GUARD: Nadasdy vs. Zieten, June 18, 1757
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- The opening salvoes of the Battle of Kolin. Historically, Wied's
command contained the Prussians at the Oak Wood. The cavalry battle was indecisive.
Scenario Notes: The chain of command for each side is slightly different than in the
overall battle scenario. First of all, the two famous hussar leaders, Nadasdy and Zieten,
are the overall commanders for their respective sides. Also, for the Prussians, Zieten's
command includes Generalmajor Puttkammer.
DOGS OF WAR: The Battle for Przerovsky Hill, June 18, 1757
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- The western end of the Battle of Kolin. Frederick placed much
importance -- maybe too much importance -- in the outcome of this almost separate battle
at Kolin. It was here, late in the fight, that he probably attempted to rally his troops
with the famous line, "Dogs, would you live forever?"
THE CAULDRON: The Battle for Krzeczhorz Hill, June 18, 1757
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- This scenario snap-shots one of the most decisive moments during
the Battle of Kolin. It begins right in the midst of the action following a successful
cavalry charge by Generalmajor Krosigk that opened the gap you see in the Austrian hilltop
position. When Krosigk was killed ("Lads, I can do no more. The rest is up to
you!"), his command was passed to a young (36) colonel of the Rochow Cuirassiers,
Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, soon to become famous as one of the great cavalry leaders
of the age. The gap Seydlitz charged into became known as "The Cauldron," for
reasons you'll soon discover.
THE BATTLE OF LEUTHEN, December 5, 1757
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- After defeating the French at the battle of Rossbach (November 5,
1757) and still smarting from his defeat at Kolin (June 18), Frederick sets out to Silesia
in search of the Austrians and finds them arrayed in a 4-mile-long battle line near the
town of Leuthen.
Having a good view of Austrian dispositions, Frederick first feigns a frontal assault by
sending the advance guard cavalry toward the center of the Austrian line. The Austrian
commander, Prince Charles, responds by shifting his infantry reserve to the north and by
dislocating Serbelloni's cavalry.
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- While these movements are taking place, Frederick, using a row of
small hillocks to mask his movements, marches his army in three lines toward the Austrian
left. Here the Austrian line is defended by German auxiliaries.
With battalions staggered back toward the left, Frederick arranges his infantry in a
textbook example of the Oblique Order. The weight of the attack is to be delivered by
three battalions of Prince Ferdinand's command (i.e., the regiment of Meyerinck and the
second battalion of Itzenplitz). They are backed up by grenadiers and the rest of the
Prussian center. The attack goes in at moderate speed. Unable to halt the elite Prussians,
the Austrian left collapses.
As the Prussians advance, Prince Charles wheels his entire army to form a line facing
south in front of Leuthen village. The Prussians rake the formation with artillery fire
from a nearby hill, and launch an all-out assault to take the town at about 3:30 p.m.
After hard fighting and particularly strong resistance from the central walled churchyard,
Leuthen falls into Prussian hands.
As Austrian battalions form yet another line north of the town, the cavalry generals
Lucheese and Serbelloni launch an attack aimed at the flank of the Prussian infantry. But
General Driesen, commanding the Prussian left wing cavalry, sees this attack and moves to
intercept it. He catches the Austrian horse while still deploying, stops the attack cold,
and hits the Austrian infantry who finally throw down their weapons and flee.
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- Of 65,000 Austrian soldiers engaged, 22,000 are lost (12,000 of
them prisoners). The Battle of Leuthen is Frederick's most brilliant victory and the
century's greatest military achievement. ("A masterpiece of maneuver and
resolution." -Napoleon.)
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- SAGSHUTZ: The Oblique Attack, December 5, 1757
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- This is the opening of the Battle of Leuthen. Frederick
masterfully arrives at the weak left flank of the Austrian line and routs the German
auxiliary units in a matter of minutes.
THE BATTLE OF ZORNDORF, August 25, 1758
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- At the Battle of Zorndorf, Frederick intended to attack in the
"Oblique Order." This was a form of attack intended to achieve overwhelming
superiority at a vulnerable point in the enemy line and to withhold a wing for employment
at a critical time during the battle.
At Zorndorf, the vulnerable point of the Russian position was their right, set slightly
but precariously forward of the main body. Manteuffel was to deliver the initial blow, and
he was to be closly supported by Kanitz. Dohna's command would serve as the
"refused" wing, standing ready for employment at the King's discretion.
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- This was the same form of attack that had achieved such brilliant
success the year before at Leuthen. Here, however, the plan goes badly astray. The entire
left wing of the Prussian attack drifts to the right. Manteuffel loses contact with the
Zabern-Grund, exposing his left flank to attack. Likewise, Kanitz's command loses contact
with Manteuffel and, instead of supporting the advance guard, itself attacks the Russian
center and is overwhelmed. Seydlitz nearly turns the tide on the left by launching a
brilliant cavalry attack across the Zabern-Grund, but it is too late. The Prussian left is
spent.
The rest of the battle occurs on the Prussian right when Dohna begins his advance at 1:30.
Immeidately pounced on by General Demicoud's cavalry, Dohna's wing is saved only by the
appearance of two regiments of dragoons sent from the left. After an escalating cavalry
battle, Dohna continues the advance but can achieve little. His attack ends in intense but
indecisive fighting along the Galgen-Grund.
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- At the end of the day, the Russians have lost 18,000 men, the
Prussians 12,800. Despite these horrendous casualties, neither side had been able to
completely break the will of the other.
ONSLAUGHT: Opening Moves at Zorndorf, August 25, 1758
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- This scenario encompasses the initial attack by the Prussian
advance guard (some of the best units in the Prussian army, commanded by General
Manteuffel) and the cavalry attack by Seydlitz. Historically, aside from the canister and
musket fire delivered in the face of the Prussian assault, Manteuffel was additionally hit
by a Russian cavalry attack, his reward for having lost the protection of the stream on
his left. Once Manteuffel was defeated and the Russian infantry had advanced, Seydlitz
launched his attack, transforming the outcome into something less than a Russian victory.
It is interesting to note that Seydlitz delayed his attack despite persitent orders from
Frederick. ("Tell the king that after the battle my head is at his disposal, but
meantime I hope he will permit me to exercise it in his service!")
LAST ACT: The Attack of Dohna's Wing, August 25, 1758
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- As the title suggests, this is the last act of the bloody drama at
Zorndorf. As with any last act worth its salt, it is also the most compelling. It begins
with Dohna's infantry command advancing toward the position occupied by the Russian
Observation Corps and instead being taken in the flank by Demicoud's cavalry thundering
down upon them and being rescued by the timely arrival of dragoons (Plettenberg and
Alt-Platen) from the Prussian left. Infantry, cavalry and artillery are very closly
intermingled, making for some very desperate and costly fighting.
- THE BATTLE OF PALTZIG, July 23, 1759
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- In July, 1759 Lieutenant-general Kurt Heinrich von Wedel assumes
command of the 28,000-man Prussian army east of the Oder. His orders are to halt the
Russian advance and attack them from a strong position. However, it is the Russians,
60,000 men under the untested general Petr Semenovich Saltykov, who outmaneuver Wedel and
take up the strong position near the town of Paltzig. Not wanting to disobey direct orders
from the king, Wedel dutifully launches his assault on July 23.
The Russian position precludes an attack on a broad front, so Wedel makes for the high
ground upon which Saltykov has anchored his right flank. Relying on his powerful artillery
and a numerical advantage that allows the shifting of reserves from the left to right,
Saltykov repels three separate attacks, the first by Manteuffel and Hulsen, the second by
Kanitz and the third by Wobersnow. After initially driving some distance into the Russian
flank, an attack by four regiments of Prussian cuirassiers is also repulsed. The battle
ends at about 8 p.m.
Of the 40,500 men Saltykov has engaged in the battle, 4,700 are lost to about 8,000 for
the Prussians. Wedel retreats. The Russian advance continues, and three weeks later the
army would fight Frederick at the Battle of Kunersdorf.
Scenario Notes: This battle has been included to teach you humility. Actually, as the
Prussians, the "Battle of Kay" (as this battle is sometimes known) offers you an
excellent opportunity to exhibit the tactical skills you've acquired from the first
previous scenarios. If you can pull off a victory here, you're Greater than Frederick
himself.
THE BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF, August 12, 1759
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- Like Prague in 1757, the Battle of Kunersdorf would be shaped by
faulty reconnaissance. Having gotten his army behind the Russians, Frederick sees only
that the enemy army has fortified itself along a group of low hillocks. He plans to march
around this position to strike it in the "rear". But what he fails to see is
that this southern face of the enemy is actually its front, much more heavily fortified
than its rear, and that a line of ponds in the vicinity of Kunersdorf will inhibit the
deployment of the Prussian cavalry and crowd the infantry. Despite these unplesant
revelations, Frederick chooses to attack the head of the enemy formation, a little rise in
the ground called the "Muhl-Berge," the most heavily defended sector of the
defense.
The attack begins at 11:30 with a bombardment, followed at 12:30 by the assault of the
Muhl-Berge by Frederick's advance guard. Never an elite formation, the bombardment has
shaken the Russian Observation Corps and the advance guard takes the position in a matter
of minutes. The battle could end now and the Russians would be forced to retreat. But
Frederick is determined to press on.
The next phase of the battle centers on a little valley behind the Muhl-Berge called the
Kuh-Grund. Here Saltykov begins assembling a new defensive line, pulling reserves from
uncontested sectors. Frederick moves his heavy guns forward to renew the attack.
Meanwhile, the Prussian cavalry begins to stir. First, Frederick calls on Seydlitz to
support his attack on the Kuh-Grund. Seydlitz responds with a charge but is thrown back by
determined Russian infantry and Seydlitz himself is wounded.
After the defeat of the Prussian infantry at the Kuh-Grund, General Platen tries to
resuscitate the battle by launching a cavalry attack between the ponds south of
Kunersdorf. They are scattered, however, by Loudon with a large group of Russian and
Austrian cavalry who hits them while they are still forming up.
Seeing the fleeing cavalry and gripped by the fear of being transported to Siberia, the
Prussian infantry is reduced to a panicked mob. The end sees Frederick with only 3,000
formed troops still at his disposal.
Prussia takes 19,000 casualties, the Russians 13,500 and the Austrians 2,000 more. It is
the greatest Russian victory of the 18th century.
SALTYKOV'S STAND: The Defense of the Kuh-Grund, August 12, 1759
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- After the capture of the Muhl-Berge, the Prussians pause only long
enough to bring up their artillery, then renew the attack against the new Russians
position behind the Kuh-Grund, a little valley running northwest out of Kunersdorf. The
Prussians attempt to take the position from three sides, Finck on the right, the advance
guard in the center, and units from the main body attacking out of Kunersdorf itself. The
attacks are fierce, but the Russians still have plenty of artillery and even more reserves
to draw on. By 5 p.m., under a hail of canister fire, the Prussian infantry is reduced to
a panicked mob.
THE BATTLE OF TORGAU, November 3, 1760
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- In October 1760, Frederick seeks to force a decisive battle. With
48,000 men, he sets out after Austrian Field Marshal Daun and finds his 52,000-man army in
position near the strategically important town of Torgau.
As at Zorndorf and Kunersdorf in the previous two years, Frederick attempts to strike the
enemy in the rear by initiating a long flanking march. Unlike previous battles, however,
he decides to divide his already small army to attack Daun from two sides. Zieten commands
the detached corps, but the exact particulars of Frederick's orders are known only to the
great general and his king.
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- Daun catches wind of Frederick's movement around his flank, and by
the time Frederick's columns emerge from the woods, he has already turned to face him.
With the artillery still far behind, Frederick attacks at once. Daun's line is fronted by
powerful batteries. The guns shred the on-rushing Prussian grenadiers. Frederick attacks a
second time with whatever troops are at hand, but this attack meets the same fate as the
first. Prussian troops flee into the woods.
By this time, the cavalry has arrived on the field. General Holstein's troopers fight
through enemy dragoons and strike the Austrian infantry in the flank, achieving some
success, but General Lowenstein's troops force them back. Finally, Holstein's men are put
to flight by a counterattack by General O'Donnell and three regiments of Austrian cavalry.
- Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the hill, Zieten deploys in
front of Daun's main position. After attempting and failing to force a crossing of the
Rohr-Graben, Zieten's attack finally takes hold when Saldern's brigade finds an undefended
causeway and Zieten's corps crosses there without opposition.
With Zieten's attack pressuring the Austrian lines from the south, one last push by the
main army on the north, led by General Hulsen, makes the enemy position untenable. Daun is
wounded and General O'Donnell, assuming command, orders a withdrawal.
- The Prussians are victorious but the cost is horrendous. More than
20,000 Prussians are dead, wounded or missing. Austria surrenders the field and suffers
15,000 casualties. The battle of Torgau, while a victory, is not the decisive engagement
Frederick needed.
UPPERCUT: Zieten's Attack at Torgau, November 3, 1760
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- Once Zieten had deployed in front of Daun's main position, he
launches an attack up the hill. Tettenborn's brigade stalls trying to ford the defended
Rohr-Graben at Suptitz and Saldern's brigade, after suffering heavy casualties crossing
the same stream, is repulsed by canister fire. Finally, a junior officer discovers an
undefended causeway across the stream some distance beyond the town. So the weight of
Zeiten's attack is shifted to the west. As the Austrians concentrate forces on their
eastern flank, Zeiten moves into attacking position on the opposite end of their line...
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