Battle of Leuthen

Battle of Leuthen
Part of the Seven Years' War

Frederick's forces march around the hills to attack the Austrian flank.
Date5 December 1757
LocationLeuthen, Prussian Silesia, present-day Poland
Result Prussian victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Prussia Prussia Holy Roman Empire Austria
Commanders and leaders
Frederick the Great Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine
Strength
36,000
167 guns		 66,000[1]
210 guns
Casualties and losses
Total: 6,344
1,141 dead
5,118 wounded
85 captured		 Total: 22,000
3,000 dead
7,000 wounded
12,000 captured
51 flags
116 cannons

In the Battle of Leuthen, fought on 5 December 1757, Frederick the Great's Prussian army used maneuver and terrain to decisively defeat a much larger Austrian army under Charles of Lorraine, thus ensuring Prussian control of Silesia during the Seven Years' War.

Background

While Frederick the Great was campaigning out in central Germany defeating a combined Franco-Imperial army at the Battle of Rossbach, the Austrians had managed to slowly retake Silesia. Frederick had arrived on November 28 to find that the primary city in Silesia, Breslau (Wrocław), had just fallen to the Austrians. He arrived near Leuthen (Lutynia) to find an army that was twice his size. He realized that he must either win a great victory or suffer a horrible defeat. The commanders in charge of the Austrian army had earlier argued about whether to march out of Breslau to face Frederick, and Prince Charles of Lorraine had won the argument. The weather was foggy and the entire area had once been a training ground for the Prussian army, and so Frederick the Great knew the terrain intimately.

Diversion

Frederick marched directly toward the Austrian army with its center at Leuthen, its front stretching an amazing 4 miles, quite larger than the average front of the time. Until the Napoleonic Wars the European armies were quite small for a number of reasons: disease, quality of food and medicine and the levée en masse had not yet been introduced. The Austrian army was stretched out to such an incredible length in order to prevent it from being flanked by Frederick, as it was his favorite tactic to apply, but this would ultimately be a massive mistake. Frederick had his cavalry launch an assault on Borna as a feint and then face the Austrian right flank, appearing as though it would act as a spearhead for a right flank attack. Screening his army with his cavalry, Frederick moved his well-disciplined infantry toward the Austrian left in columns.

Maneuver

Prussian infantry advance at Leuthen, by Carl Röchling (c.1890)

The infantry marched to the south, out of sight of the Austrians, behind a line of low hills. Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, although in the tower of the church at Leuthen, could see nothing and responded by moving his reserve to his right flank instead of the soon-to-be imperilled left. The Prussian army had seemed to simply vanish, appearing to the Austrians as nothing but a mere retreat, and Prince Charles of Lorraine was heard to say "The good fellows are leaving, let's let them go." But when the heads of the two superbly drilled Prussian columns, the distances between the marching platoons remaining exactly the width of each platoon's front, had passed the Austrian left flank, the columns veered left toward the enemy and continued their march until the heads of the two columns had passed beyond the left Austrian flank. Then, on command, the platoons of the columns turned left at Lobetinz, and the whole Prussian army lay in line of battle at nearly a right angle to the left flank of the Austrian position. The Prussians had carried out with their whole army a maneuver to attack their enemy in flank. This is often compared with the tactic used by Epaminondas against the Spartans at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC,[2] although there the flank attack was accomplished through force disposition more than through movement. In the age of linear warfare as in the days of Epaminondas, such a flanking maneuver can be lethal to the victim. The weakest soldiers of the Austrian army had been put on the left flank in a position protected by the hills as their fighting ability was doubted.

Austrian collapse

The Prussian infantry, arrayed in the conventional two lines of battle, then advanced and rolled up the Austrian flank. Frederick was superbly lucky that day; not only had Prince Charles moved the cavalry from his army's left to the right, but the infantry on the left were Protestant Wurttemberg troops sympathetic to the also-Protestant Prussians. After firing a few half-hearted volleys, they broke ranks in front of the advancing Prussian line. The other Austrian infantry on their left, when beset with murderous 12 pounder Prussian artillery and devastating volleys from the advancing Prussians, quickly broke ranks as well. Prince Charles rushed troops from his right to his left, forming a hastily-made line along the town of Leuthen (formerly the Austrian center). The Austrians desperately attempted to realign themselves, but since their line of battle was so long, it took soldiers from the right flank one and a half hours to get into place. The long Prussian line did not halt their advance, assaulting Leuthen with artillery support. The determined Prussians, in forty minutes, took the village while both armies' artillery pounded away at each other. Prussian Grenadiers stormed the church and many of the defenders were killed. Now the Austrian cavalry, seeing the exposed Prussian line, hurried to take them in the flank and win the battle. Unfortunately for them, the Prussian cavalry intercepted them in a devastating charge. The cavalry melee soon swirled into the Austrian line behind Leuthen, causing widespread confusion and havoc. The Austrian line then broke; the battle lasted a little more than three hours. After seeing his army defeated, Prince Charles of Lorraine was heard to have said "I can't believe it!"

Aftermath

The key to victory in this battle was the pre-battle operational maneuvers. Frederick the Great was able to hide his intentions, achieve complete surprise, and strike a massive blow on the enemy's weakest point, a tactic reminiscent of Bewegungskrieg, or more commonly known as Blitzkrieg. The Austrians fell back into Bohemia, saving Silesia for the Prussian state. It was Frederick the Great's greatest victory ever, and again showed the world of the superiority of Prussian infantry at the time. Soon after, Maria Theresa demanded the resignation of Prince Charles, her inept double brother-in-law.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Osprey Seven Years' War pg. 43
  2. ↑ Bevin 2002

References

External links