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rheinsberg2020-10-18 01:44 pm
mildred_of_midgard) wrote in rheinsberg2020-10-18 01:44 pm
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Retreat from Bohemia
In 1757, the Prussian army was defeated at Kolin and had to retreat from Bohemia. This triggered the public humiliation and cashiering of August Wilhelm. This post presents some of the military history details.
I'm going to simplify the military history quite a bit, for educational purposes.
We start at the bottom of the map.
Prague
Belongs to MT. Austrians are inside. Fritz attacks. Wins battle. Has higher casualties than the enemies. Austrians withdraw inside the city, decide to wait him out. Fritz tries to besiege them, starve them out. Lacks the artillery and manpower to take the city.
Kolin
To the east of Prague. Austrian relief army comes marching up. Fritz leaves part of his army (inc. Heinrich) at Prague, trying to shell them and starve them out, while he marches off to fight a decisive battle. Shock defeat, the first for Fritz.
It's no longer feasible to besiege Prague or try to hold Bohemia at all. They need to get back to protecting Saxony (up north) and Silesia (northeast). Heinrich plans a retreat north. They divide the army.
Litomerice
Northeast of Prague, in the direction of Saxony. Fritz & co. go here first. All has gone reasonably well (for a retreat) so far. Then AW is sent east to take command of Prince Moritz's army. We're still in Bohemia.
Mladá Boleslav
That's the modern-day name on the map. The 18th century German name was Jung-Bunzlau. AW arrives here. Still in Bohemia.
Ceska Lipa
This is known Leipa in German, to the northwest of Mlada-Boleslav/Ceska Lipa. Still in Bohemia.
Zittau
Quite a bit north, not in Bohemia but in in Saxony. This is an important Prussian stronghold.
Now AW has four objectives.
1) Don't abandon Fritz west in Litomerice, because then the two armies will have to operate separately and won't be able to back each other up. They don't have enough manpower to be secure like this.
2) Keep the Austrians from getting to Silesia, in the northeast, because Silesia is what everyone is fighting for.
3) Don't let the Austrians take Zittau, to the north, because that's a wonderful invading point for both Saxony (which is involuntarily funding the Prussian war effort) and Silesia.
4) Stay in Bohemia as long as possible, because Fritz wants to consume as much local food and horse fodder as possible, to feed his army at the expense of the enemy's.
I'll spare you the back and forth of marching hither and yon, splitting the army, asking Fritz repeatedly for orders, but the key point is that Zittau ended up being threatened by the Austrians. After some head-scratching over whether to stay where he was (as ordered), march to join Fritz in Litomerice (to unite the armies), cover Silesia, or march north to protect Zittau, AW went to Leipa. This made Fritz unhappy on two counts: it was neither staying in Jung-Bunzlau as ordered, nor was it a forced march to protect Zittau.
After some more back and forth, AW finally marched to Zittau, but by the time he got there, it was too late to protect it from the Austrians. At this point, not only are the Prussians not holding Bohemia, both Saxony and Silesia are open to invasion by the Austrians.
Fritz loses his shit.
If you look way up at the top of the map, north of Zittau, there's Löbau. This is not far from Bautzen, where AW was disgraced in front of the army and whereselenak kindly took pictures for us. To the west of it you can see Dresden.
June 18: Prussian defeat at Kolin.
June 20: Prussians start retreating north.
June 27: Fritz reaches Litomerice/Leitmeritz.
June 28: SD dies.
June 29: AW leaves Leitmeritz, headed for Jung-Bunzlau.
July 1: AW arrives in Jung-Bunzlau.
July 2: Fritz gets news of SD's death.
July 3: AW decides he can't hold Jung-Bunzlau in the face of the approaching Austrians, and heads north. Fritz will later get mad at him for retreating in the face of the enemy.
July 6: AW decides to head for Leipa, at Winterfeldt's suggestion. This will again be considered by Fritz to be a retreat in the face of the enemy (remember that Fritz had told him to hold Jung-Bunzlau as long as possible).
July 7: Winterfeldt arrives with a detachment in Leipa.
July 8: AW asks Fritz whether to stay in Bohemia and cover Zittau, or move to Silesia. Fritz suggests moving south again, toward Jung-Bunzlau, because Fritz wants to hold Northern Bohemia a while longer.
July 11: AW asks Fritz for a definitive answer on whether he should advance south in the direction of Jung-Bunzlau or retreat north to Gabel (near Zittau).
July 15: AW has a council of war to decide what now: join Fritz at Leitmeritz, go to Gabel (which is under attack by the Austrians), or march to Zittau. Winterfeldt says to march to Gabel. AW agrees, but waits until enough bread is baked to supply the army for 3 days.
July 15 (evening): Prussians at Gabel surrender, leaving the road to Zittau open for the Austrians.
July 16: AW sends Prussian detachment to Gabel, they find out it's too late, they come back. AW decides to retreat more, but takes a road that avoids the Austrians, but is the long way around, through bad terrain.
July 17-18: Very slow movements of AW's troops, bogged down by wagons. AW sends urgent messages to Fritz describing his situation. Most don't reach him. Fritz blows off the few that do.
July 18: Austrian siege of Zittau begins.
July 19: The pandur attack on AW's marching column that Hannibal describes. Wagons break down.
July 21: AW learns that the situation at Zittau is dire.
July 22: Winterfeldt and then AW arrive in the vicinity of Zittau. Fritz finally leaves Leitmeritz and continues his retreat north.
July 23: Austrian shelling of Zittau begins. It's almost completely destroyed by sundown. The Prussian soldiers flee, either deserting or getting captured. The Prussian commander surrenders.
July 24: AW heads for Saxony.
July 27: AW arrives in Bautzen, in Saxony.
July 29: Fritz arrives in Bautzen. AW cashiering and public humiliation happens.
Believe it or not, this is simplified!
I'm going to simplify the military history quite a bit, for educational purposes.
We start at the bottom of the map.
Prague
Belongs to MT. Austrians are inside. Fritz attacks. Wins battle. Has higher casualties than the enemies. Austrians withdraw inside the city, decide to wait him out. Fritz tries to besiege them, starve them out. Lacks the artillery and manpower to take the city.
Kolin
To the east of Prague. Austrian relief army comes marching up. Fritz leaves part of his army (inc. Heinrich) at Prague, trying to shell them and starve them out, while he marches off to fight a decisive battle. Shock defeat, the first for Fritz.
It's no longer feasible to besiege Prague or try to hold Bohemia at all. They need to get back to protecting Saxony (up north) and Silesia (northeast). Heinrich plans a retreat north. They divide the army.
Litomerice
Northeast of Prague, in the direction of Saxony. Fritz & co. go here first. All has gone reasonably well (for a retreat) so far. Then AW is sent east to take command of Prince Moritz's army. We're still in Bohemia.
Mladá Boleslav
That's the modern-day name on the map. The 18th century German name was Jung-Bunzlau. AW arrives here. Still in Bohemia.
Ceska Lipa
This is known Leipa in German, to the northwest of Mlada-Boleslav/Ceska Lipa. Still in Bohemia.
Zittau
Quite a bit north, not in Bohemia but in in Saxony. This is an important Prussian stronghold.
Now AW has four objectives.
1) Don't abandon Fritz west in Litomerice, because then the two armies will have to operate separately and won't be able to back each other up. They don't have enough manpower to be secure like this.
2) Keep the Austrians from getting to Silesia, in the northeast, because Silesia is what everyone is fighting for.
3) Don't let the Austrians take Zittau, to the north, because that's a wonderful invading point for both Saxony (which is involuntarily funding the Prussian war effort) and Silesia.
4) Stay in Bohemia as long as possible, because Fritz wants to consume as much local food and horse fodder as possible, to feed his army at the expense of the enemy's.
I'll spare you the back and forth of marching hither and yon, splitting the army, asking Fritz repeatedly for orders, but the key point is that Zittau ended up being threatened by the Austrians. After some head-scratching over whether to stay where he was (as ordered), march to join Fritz in Litomerice (to unite the armies), cover Silesia, or march north to protect Zittau, AW went to Leipa. This made Fritz unhappy on two counts: it was neither staying in Jung-Bunzlau as ordered, nor was it a forced march to protect Zittau.
After some more back and forth, AW finally marched to Zittau, but by the time he got there, it was too late to protect it from the Austrians. At this point, not only are the Prussians not holding Bohemia, both Saxony and Silesia are open to invasion by the Austrians.
Fritz loses his shit.
If you look way up at the top of the map, north of Zittau, there's Löbau. This is not far from Bautzen, where AW was disgraced in front of the army and where
selenak kindly took pictures for us. To the west of it you can see Dresden.June 18: Prussian defeat at Kolin.
June 20: Prussians start retreating north.
June 27: Fritz reaches Litomerice/Leitmeritz.
June 28: SD dies.
June 29: AW leaves Leitmeritz, headed for Jung-Bunzlau.
July 1: AW arrives in Jung-Bunzlau.
July 2: Fritz gets news of SD's death.
July 3: AW decides he can't hold Jung-Bunzlau in the face of the approaching Austrians, and heads north. Fritz will later get mad at him for retreating in the face of the enemy.
July 6: AW decides to head for Leipa, at Winterfeldt's suggestion. This will again be considered by Fritz to be a retreat in the face of the enemy (remember that Fritz had told him to hold Jung-Bunzlau as long as possible).
July 7: Winterfeldt arrives with a detachment in Leipa.
July 8: AW asks Fritz whether to stay in Bohemia and cover Zittau, or move to Silesia. Fritz suggests moving south again, toward Jung-Bunzlau, because Fritz wants to hold Northern Bohemia a while longer.
July 11: AW asks Fritz for a definitive answer on whether he should advance south in the direction of Jung-Bunzlau or retreat north to Gabel (near Zittau).
July 15: AW has a council of war to decide what now: join Fritz at Leitmeritz, go to Gabel (which is under attack by the Austrians), or march to Zittau. Winterfeldt says to march to Gabel. AW agrees, but waits until enough bread is baked to supply the army for 3 days.
July 15 (evening): Prussians at Gabel surrender, leaving the road to Zittau open for the Austrians.
July 16: AW sends Prussian detachment to Gabel, they find out it's too late, they come back. AW decides to retreat more, but takes a road that avoids the Austrians, but is the long way around, through bad terrain.
July 17-18: Very slow movements of AW's troops, bogged down by wagons. AW sends urgent messages to Fritz describing his situation. Most don't reach him. Fritz blows off the few that do.
July 18: Austrian siege of Zittau begins.
July 19: The pandur attack on AW's marching column that Hannibal describes. Wagons break down.
July 21: AW learns that the situation at Zittau is dire.
July 22: Winterfeldt and then AW arrive in the vicinity of Zittau. Fritz finally leaves Leitmeritz and continues his retreat north.
July 23: Austrian shelling of Zittau begins. It's almost completely destroyed by sundown. The Prussian soldiers flee, either deserting or getting captured. The Prussian commander surrenders.
July 24: AW heads for Saxony.
July 27: AW arrives in Bautzen, in Saxony.
July 29: Fritz arrives in Bautzen. AW cashiering and public humiliation happens.
Believe it or not, this is simplified!