Battle of Kesselsdorf | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Second Silesian War (War of the Austrian Succession) | |||||||
![]() | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
![]() | ![]() ![]() | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
![]() | ![]() | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
32,000 [2] 33 field guns additional battalion guns | 35,000:
| ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
5,100:
| 10,500:
|
The Battle of Kesselsdorf was fought on 15 December 1745, between the Kingdom of Prussia and the combined forces of the Archduchy of Austria and the Electorate of Saxony during the part of the War of the Austrian Succession known as the Second Silesian War. The Prussians were led by Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, while the Austrians and Saxons were led by Field Marshal Rutowsky. The Prussians were victorious over the Royal Saxon Army and the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor.
Two Prussian columns, one led by Frederick, the second by Leopold the 'Old Dessauer' were converging on Dresden, the capital of Saxony, which was at that time an Austrian ally. Interposed between Leopold and Dresden was Rutowsky with an army of Saxons and Austrians. Leopold moved slowly and deliberately forward entering Saxon territory on the 29 November and advanced on Rutowsky at Leipzig, whereupon Rutowsky retired towards Dresden. By the 12 December, Leopold reached Meissen and joined with a corps under Hans von Lehwaldt. Rutowsky was reinforced by some Austrians under Grünne and took up a position at Kesselsdorf, 5 miles west of Dresden. This position covered Dresden while leaving him closer to the advancing Austrians under Charles of Lorraine than Leopold was to Frederick. The Saxons deployed along a ridge that ran from Kesselsdorf to the river Elbe which was fronted by a stream and marshy ground. The 7,000 Austrians under Grünne formed on the right near the Elbe. The line was long and there was a considerable gap in its center between the Saxons and the Austrians. On the fifteenth, Leopold finally came up. There was much snow and ice on the field.
The Prussians were slightly outnumbered 35,000 to 32,000. Additionally, the Saxons and Austrians had the advantage of the ground. Dessauer, a long experienced general now sixty eight years of age perceived that by taking the town of Kesselsdorf, the enemies' flank could be turned and therefore concentrated his efforts against the Saxon portion of the army. The Saxons had Kesselsdorf defended with twenty-four heavy cannons, [4] their engineers and carpenters enhancing its defensibility. Leopold made dispositions for an attack by an elite force of infantry and grenadiers, however the ground was very difficult and the first attack was repulsed with considerable loss, including the officer leading the attack, General Hertzberg. A second, reinforced attack was made and this too failed with the Prussians fleeing in disorder. The Prussians had suffered some 1,500 casualties from the attacking forces of 3,500.
The Saxon grenadiers, seeing the flight of the Prussians, left their strong defensive position and made an impetuous pursuit of the Prussians which exposed them to a massed charge by the dragoons of the Prussian cavalry. The shock of the charge sent the Saxons tumbling back and through their former position in Kesselsdorf, driving them from the field. At this same time, Leopold's son, Prince Moritz, personally led an infantry regiment which broke through the Saxon center. The regiment, although isolated, held its ground while other Prussian regiments attempted but failed to link up with it due to the stubbornness of the Saxon defense. Eventually, Leopold's success in taking Kesselsdorf bore fruit and the Saxon flank was turned causing the Saxon line to collapse and their army to flee at nightfall.
The Prussians' losses amounted to over sixteen hundred killed and more than three thousand wounded, while the Saxon losses were less than four thousand killed and wounded with almost seven thousand Saxons taken prisoner as well as forty eight cannon and seven standards. [5] During the battle, the Austrians on the right never fired a shot, while Charles, who had reached Dresden and could hear the cannon, failed to march to the aid of his ally.
The Saxons fled in a wild panic into Dresden. There, despite the presence of Charles and his army of 18,000 and the Austrians' willingness to renew battle, they continued to flee. Leopold then linked up his forces with those of Frederick, who was so delighted by the victory that he embraced Leopold personally. The Saxons then abandoned Dresden, which Fredrick and Leopold occupied on the eighteenth after demanding its unconditional surrender. The Austrians subsequently began to negotiate the peace of Dresden immediately, ultimately ending the Second Silesian War and leaving Prussia's ally, France, to conduct the rest of the war of the Austrian Succession alone.
The Battle of Königgrätz was the decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War in which the Kingdom of Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire. It took place on 3 July 1866, near the Bohemian city of Hradec Králové and village of Sadová, now in the Czech Republic. It was the single largest battle of the war, and the largest battle in the world since the Battle of Leipzig in 1813.
The Silesian Wars were three wars fought in the mid-18th century between Prussia and Habsburg Austria for control of the Central European region of Silesia. The First (1740–1742) and Second (1744–1745) Silesian Wars formed parts of the wider War of the Austrian Succession, in which Prussia was a member of a coalition seeking territorial gain at Austria's expense. The Third Silesian War (1756–1763) was a theatre of the global Seven Years' War, in which Austria in turn led a coalition of powers aiming to seize Prussian territory.
The Battle of Lobositz or Lovosice also Lowositz on 1 October 1756 was the opening land battle of the Third Silesian War and the wider Seven Years' War. Frederick the Great's 28,000 Prussians were prevented by 33,000 Austrians under Maximilian Ulysses Count von Browne from continuing their invasion into the rich Bohemian plain, forcing Frederick to ultimately fall back north into Saxony for the winter.
The Battle of Maxen was a battle at Maxen, in the Electorate of Saxony during the Third Silesian War. It resulted in surrender of a Prussian corps.
In the Battle of Torgau on 3 November 1760, King Frederick the Great's Prussian army fought an Austrian army under the command of Field Marshal Leopold Josef Graf Daun. The Prussians won a costly victory in one of the bloodiest battles of the Third Silesian War.
The Battle of Hohenfriedberg or Hohenfriedeberg, also known as the Battle of Striegau was one of Frederick the Great's most admired victories. Frederick's Prussian army decisively defeated an Austrian army under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine on June 4, 1745, during the Second Silesian War – part of the War of the Austrian Succession.
Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the Principality of Anhalt-Dessau from 1693 to 1747. He was also a Generalfeldmarschall in the Prussian Army. Nicknamed "the Old Dessauer", he possessed good abilities as a field commander, but was mainly remembered as a talented drillmaster who modernized the Prussian infantry.
The Second Silesian War was a war between Prussia and Austria that lasted from 1744 to 1745 and confirmed Prussia's control of the region of Silesia. The war was fought mainly in Silesia, Bohemia, and Upper Saxony and formed one theatre of the wider War of the Austrian Succession. It was the second of three Silesian Wars fought between Frederick the Great's Prussia and Maria Theresa's Austria in the mid-18th century, all three of which ended in Prussian control of Silesia.
The Battle of Soor was a battle between Frederick the Great's Prussian army and an Austro-Saxon army led by Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine during the Second Silesian War. The battle occurred in the vicinity of Soor, also known as Hajnice, in the modern day Czech Republic. The battle started with a failed Austrian surprise attack on the outnumbered Prussians. Despite initial setbacks the Prussian army managed to defeat the Austrians, due to an unexpected attack from a reserve regiment that refused to follow Frederick's orders.
The Battle of Gitschin or Jičín took place during the Austro-Prussian War on 29 June 1866, ending with a Prussian victory over the Austrian forces. There is a memorial there today at Jičín in the Czech Republic.
The Battle of Freiberg was fought on 29 October 1762 and was the last great battle of the Third Silesian War.
The 23rd Division, also known as the 1st Division No. 23 was a unit of the Saxon and then Imperial German Army. The division was headquartered in Dresden. The division was subordinated in peacetime to the XII Army Corps.
The Royal Saxon Army was the military force of the Electorate (1682–1807) and later the Kingdom of Saxony (1807–1918). A regular Saxon army was first established in 1682 and it continued to exist until the abolition of the German monarchies in 1918. With the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon the Royal Saxon Army joined the French "Grande Armée" along with 37 other German states.
The Battle of Hennersdorf, sometimes referred to as Catholic-Hennersdorf, was a minor encounter that took place on 23 November 1745 in Katholisch-Hennersdorf in Silesia during the Second Silesian War. The Prussians under Frederick II defeated the Austrians under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine. The Prussians surprised the Austrians and Saxons in their cantonments in Lusatia with the most success at Hennersdorf. There a force of two regiments of hussars and two regiments of cuirassiers under Zieten attacked a small force of two battalions of Saxon infantry and three regiments of Saxon cavalry. The Saxons, after making a desperate stand, were overwhelmed by the arrival of additional Prussian cavalry, infantry and artillery.
Frederick Augustus, Count Rutowsky, was a Saxon field marshal who commanded Saxon forces in the Siege of Pirna during the Seven Years' War.
The Battle of Münchengrätz or Battle of Mnichovo Hradiště was fought near Mnichovo Hradiště, modern day Czech Republic, on 28 June 1866 during the Austro-Prussian War. It ended in a Prussian victory over the Austrian Empire.
The Battle of Sahay or Zahájí was fought on 24 May 1742 near village of Zahájí, about 15 km (10 mi) northwest of České Budějovice in southern Bohemia, between the French under the Duc de Broglie and the Austrians under Lobkowicz. The battle was part of the War of the Austrian Succession and was conducted in cooperation with the Prussians under Frederick the Great who had defeated the Austrians a week previously at the battle of Chotusitz. Broglie won a small, but politically important, victory which combined with Frederick's success at Chotusitz disposed Maria Theresa to cede Silesia in the Treaty of Breslau on 11 June 1742.
In the Battle of Halle on 17 October 1806 a French corps led by Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte fought the Prussian Reserve under Eugene Frederick Henry, Duke of Württemberg. The French defeated their opponents, forcing the Prussians to retreat northeast toward Dessau after suffering heavy losses. The clash occurred in the War of the Fourth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The city of Halle is located about 30 kilometers northwest of Leipzig on the Saale River.
Karl Ludwig d'Elsa was a Royal Saxon army officer who was a Generaloberst in the First World War and awarded the Pour le Mérite.
The Army of the Elbe was a Prussian formation during the Austro-Prussian War. Being a wartime organization of the Prussian Army; it afterwards was demobilized. According to von Moltke's strategy, the Prussian Army was to march into the Kingdom of Bohemia in three independently operating units and fight Austria's northern army there. The division into three armies was heavily criticized by contemporaries, but remained victorious.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Alexander Querengässer: Kesselsdorf 1745. Eine Entscheidungsschlacht im 18. Jahrhundert, Berlin 2020.