Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf

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Date	August 30, 1757
Location	Gross-Jägersdorf, East Prussia
Result	Russian victory

Combatants

Prussia

Russia

Commanders

Field Marshall Hans von Lehwaldt

Field Marshall Stepan Fedorovich Apraksin

Strength

25,000 men

70,000 men

Casualties

5,000 men

5,400 men

Seven Years' War: European theatre
Minorca – Lobositz – Reichenberg – Prague – Kolin – Hastenbeck – Gross-Jägersdorf – Moys – Rossbach – Breslau – Leuthen – Krefeld – Domstadtl – Zorndorf – Tornow – Hochkirch – Bergen – Kay – Minden – Kunersdorf – Hoyerswerda – Maxen – Meissen – Landshut – Warburg – Liegnitz – Kloster Kampen – Torgau – Villinghausen – Kolberg – Burkersdorf – Lutterberg – Freiberg

The Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf was a bloody battle fought on August 30, 1757 during the Seven Years' War.

An invading Imperial Russian army of 70,000–75,000 men, led by Field-Marshal Stepan Fedorovich Apraksin, took Memel after a five-day bombardment and, using the fortress as a place d'armes, invaded East Prussia. Apraksin, cautious and lacking war experience, was reluctant to commit his troops to battle. Instead of marching on Wehlau, as was expected, he ordered his forces to cross the Pregel River in safety, near the village of Gross-Jägersdorf. The Russians set the surrounding villages on fire in order to conceal their actions.

A Prussian army of 25,500 men, led by Field-Marshall Hans von Lehwaldt, decided to surprise the much larger enemy and attacked a corps of General Vasily Lopukhin when it was crossing the Pregel. The general was bayoneted by the Prussians and died in the arms of his comrades. General Pyotr Rumyantsev, on hearing about Lopukhin's plight, scrambled through a thicket and fell upon the right wing of the Prussian infantry. Another detachment attacked the rear of Lehwaldt's army.

While the Prussians retreated slightly, the centre of the Russian army recovered from the shock of the initial assault and counter-attacked. Kalmyk Cavalry and the Don Cossacks, on the German left, pretended to retreat so as to trap the attacking Germans under heavy artillery fire. By the end of the day it became clear that the Russians won the battle and the Prussians had to abandon the battlefield. The Austrians present in the Russian army reported to Vienna that it was the bloodiest battle that "the 18th century has yet seen". The Prussians lost 5,000 men, the Russians lost over 5,400 men.

Although Frederick II of Prussia blamed his army's defeat on the smoke from burning villages, which made it hard to distinguish friend from foe, the battle demonstrated that the Prussians were not capable of prolonged bayonet fighting, a notion which the Russians would exploit to great advantage in battles to come. In the aftermath of the victory, it was widely expected that Apraksin would overrun all of East Prussia, but the cautious general stopped his advance on to Königsberg and withdrew back into Russia, apparently to support Peter III as heir to the throne. Another explanation for his retreat is an epidemic of smallpox, which hit the Russian army, especially Kalmyks, and resulted in 8.5 times more deaths than all the battles fought in 1757.

In commemoration of the 240th anniversary of the Russian victory, a panoramic painting representing the battle was installed in the Friedland Gate of Kaliningrad (former Königsberg).