Background
1759 had seen severe reverses for Frederick; the Battle of Kunersdorf against the Russians on 12th August and the capture of General Fink’s Prussian force of around 12,500 men at Maxen in Saxony by Daun’s army on 20th November. The 1760 campaign season began with the capture of Fouqué’s Prussian force of 8,000 men after suffering 1,000 casualties at the hands of General Loudon on 23rd June.
On 3rd July 1760 Frederick set off from Gross-Dobritz, where he had wintered with his army, for Silesia. He then received information that Daun’s Austrian army would reach Silesia before him. Frederick turned back into Saxony and determined on an attempt to recover the Saxon capital of Dresden, surrendered to the Austrians by Count Schmettau after the disaster of Kunersdorf the previous year. Frederick reached Dresden with his army on 13th July 1760.
Frederick subjected Dresden to a damaging artillery bombardment which achieved little. There were further manoeuvrings against the city before Daun arrived with his army from Silesia on the Elbe River and made contact with the Austrian garrison in the city. Frederick was compelled to pull back.
During the withdrawal of the Prussian batteries out of reach of the Austrians a force of Prussian infantry was broken by a sudden attack. The Regiment of Alt-Bernberg, one of Frederick’s most reliable formations, broke and ran. Frederick was so enraged that he ordered the Bernberg regiment to be deprived of its swords and the officers and NCOs to be stripped of their lace embellishments.
Frederick lingered outside Dresden hoping that Daun would come down into the plain and give battle. On 29th July 1760 the Austrian General Loudoun captured the important Silesian arsenal of Glatz and advanced to threaten the Silesian capital of Breslau. Prince Henry, Frederick’s brother, was forced to leave his position east of the Oder River, cross to the west bank and relieve Breslau. This move left Saltykov with his Russian army free to advance from Posen in Poland to the Oder River and to cross into Silesia. Saltykov detached a corps of 25,000 men commanded by General Chernyshev with orders to cross the Oder River and join the Austrians. There was a clear danger that the Russian and Austrian armies would combine, the strategic aim of the Austrian and Russian Empresses throughout the war. Frederick was forced to march east into Silesia to prevent this combination coming about.
As soon as Frederick left the area of Dresden Daun set off in pursuit. The Prussians rested at Bunzlau, a pause which enabled Daun to pass the Prussians and join up with Loudoun’s force, creating an army more than double the size of Frederick’s. Frederick intended to march to the Schweidnitz-Breslau area to combine with his brother, Prince Henry’s, army. In order to do so Frederick had to evade the Austrian army which marched in parallel with the Prussians along the banks of the Katzbach River.
Frederick made attempts to evade the Austrians, cross the Katzbach and march to Breslau. He was unable to do so. On 14th August 1760 the Prussians were encamped on the heights to the West of the town of Leignitz overlooking the Katzbach. Frederick made the decision to abandon his attempt to cross the Katzbach in that area, to march down the northern, left bank, of the Katzbach to the town of Parchwitiz, near to its confluence with the Oder River, and attempt a crossing there.
The Prussian army began the march on the night of 14th August 1760. As was so frequently the practice the Prussians left their campfires burning to mask the move. The Prussian piquets remained in place to prevent any early discovery of the ruse. A drunken Irish officer, Captain Wise, who had been dismissed the Austrian service, arrived in the Prussian camp and warned Frederick that the Austrian army was on the move to attack him. The form of Daun’s intentions were not clear at this point.
Daun’s elaborate plan required Loudon’s force, which with 24,000 men was approximately the same size as the Prussian army, to cross the Katzbach to the East of Leignitz and cut off Frederick’s escape route while Daun crossed the Katzbach in the area of Dohnau and attacked the Prussian camp. A further force commanded by General Lacy was to circle round from the North and attack the Prussian camp in the rear, cutting off any retreat in that direction. The aim of Daun’s plan was to trap the Prussians on the western side of the Schwartzwasser and force the surrender of the whole army with its king.
After moving out of their camp the Prussians halted for the remainder of the night on the high ground to the East of Liegnitz and the Schwarzwasser. The focus of the Prussian position was the Reh-Berg hill overlooking the village of Panten. Meanwhile the Austrians were on the move. Loudon crossed the Katzbach and was advancing west along the Leignitz road. Austrian light troops were demonstrating from the far side of the Katzbach in the area of Leignitz with the aim of diverting the Prussians from Daun’s powerful force approaching from Dohnau where it was crossing the Katzbach. Lacy was approaching with his force from Arnsdorf to the North of Leignitz.
Due to the Prussian move Loudoun’s force was the first to make contact. Major Hundt of the Zieten Hussars was patrolling the road in advance of the Prussian march to the East when he encountered Loudoun’s force marching down the road towards him. It was not yet dawn. Hundt rode hard to the Prussian encampment and found the King. Frederick asked “What is going on?” Hundt said “As God is my witness the enemy is here.” Frederick called for his horse and began the task of organising his army in the face of this unexpected assault. The Prussian deployment began at around 3am.
General Zieten was given the task of holding the ground above the Schwartzwasser and Leignitz facing west against Daun with a substantial portion of the army while Frederick fought off Loudoun. It had to be expected that Daun would attack across the Schwarzwasser with a substantial number of men and so Zieten’s force comprised around two thirds of the Prussian army.
Preparing to face the swiftly advancing Austrians commanded by Loudon Frederick positioned a battery of 12 pounder guns on the Reh-Berg with infantry holding each flank of the hill.
Both sides were taken by surprise to encounter their enemy at this point. Frederick did not expect any Austrians to have circled round and come up in his rear. Loudoun believed that the Prussians were still in their camp on the far side of the Schwartzwasser. But Loudoun was not the sort of general to shirk a battle, particularly once it had been joined.
The Prussians were still forming their line when Loudoun’s right hand column comprising a powerful cavalry force charged Frederick’s left near the village of Humeln. Initially successful against the Zieten Hussars and the Krockow Dragoons the Austrians were driven back by a charge of Prussian Cuirassiers and the infantry regiment of Alt-Bernberg.
https://www.britishbattles.com/frederick-the-great-wars/seven-years-war/battle-of-liegnitz/
The Game
It was time for our next SYW game and I decided to run Liegnitz at grand tactical scale. From my invite, it looked like I would only have two players, so I wanted to keep the forces small and the terrain light. I have the various Charles S Grant scenario books and found the enlarged map for the battle contained in the one on Liegnitz. This was perfect, as it would give a larger potential battlefield and decisions on the Austrians on how to approach and deploy. The restrictive nature of the terrain would set a number of potential traps for each side in how they committed their troops, so I thought it would be interesting to see how the players responded versus the historical fight.
The table was set up on a five foot deep by three and a half foot wide table. I placed the main roads and trails, the main hilly terrain, plateau, towns, Katzbach river, etc. I went with the 500 man per base grand tactical scale for the brigades. I had the set up based on the 1:00 am start points for both sides, with the Prussians lagered on the plateau and the Austrians crossing the Katzbach.
The Prussians rear guard under Frederick started on the table, with another brigade entering later from Zieten’s forces. As these did not take part in the actual fight, I did not include them (I might do a what if on that side to represent a later day attack by Daun at some future date). The Austrians under Loudon started with their forces partially on the table, with the remainder entering in using road columns.
The Austrians would cause Prussia morale loss by taking objectives on the plateau and destroying Prussian units. The Prussians would get victory points by destroying Austrian units. In addition, starting on turn six, they would get them by holding the rear crossing over the Katzbach at Panten. Neither side knew about this condition. The intent was to get the Austrians forward for the win and the Prussian thinking about a counter attack later. Starting on turn eight, the Prussians would start getting more brigades to reinforce their position (using eliminated units) and would pull an objective every other turn, making to impossible for the Austrians to win if the battle went into the day. The battle would be fought at night, with dawn starting on turn nine.
The Austrian plan was to send their light troops around to the north and threaten the Prussian positions through the forest trails. The hope was this would cause the Prussians to over commit to defend against these forces. The main army would approach the open gap to the plateau. However, they decided to send their artillery forward and use it to clear the Prussians.
The Prussians decided to react the the Austrian movements. The kept their cavalry back to protect the forest passes and bravely moved forward into the valley to protect their positions, using the town of Panten as an anchor.
The Austrians moved up their forces and deployed their guns, starting the bombardment. Being night, it helped the Prussians weather the storm. As hours went by, the Prussians received their first reserved and strengthened their defense with the appearance of the extra objective. The Austrians kept up the bombardment, as their morale cards started to pile up. They continued to pressure the forest path and tied up the Prussian cavalry.
As the cards started to pile up and the risk to the Austrians of Zieten intervening started to come into play, the Austrians decided to launch their assault. The number of Prussian guns firing canister in during the morning raked the Austrian units. However, between artillery fire and the attack of fresh Austrian brigades started to wear down the Prussians. However, the Prussians continued to funnel more brigades into the fight, causing the Austrians casualties to mount. By 7:00 am the Austrian army had finally had enough and had to quit the field with their battered brigades and fall back. The Prussians had won the day, but the butchers bill was large.
The game ended as a Prussian minor victory. They had won the fight, but two hours later that historically!
- Manteuffel