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Prague, 6th May 1757 This Volley & Bayonet scenario has been developed by Mike Kirby. The Campaign of 1757 The results of the previous years' campaign in Saxony and Bohemia, had brought the Prussian army to a high state of war readiness. The Austrians and their allies, Russia and France had started the war somewhat caught on the back foot by the aggressive Prussian monarch. The Russians in particular, still had not fully mobilised their army or found the supplies and other resources necessary to project their forces forward into the western theatre of war. Despite these shortcomings, the Allies did attempt to co-ordinate their plans for offensive operations against the Prussians. Frederick, never one to sit and wait to be attacked, re-wrote his plans for the invasion of Bohemia. The Prussian attack would take the form of four powerful columns of troops who would march separately and then combine just prior to meeting the enemy. This principle was sound in theory, but could prove to be difficult to achieve in practice. The Prussian King hoped to mobilise his army early in the spring and strike at the enemy before they could mobilise for their offensives against him. Frederick's objectives would be the Austrian magazines at Pardubitz and Koniggratz, if he could capture these, his army would not have to be totally reliant upon the fleet of supply barges operating on the Elbe. Frederick's initial plan called for over 116,000 troops for the invasion of Bohemia, while he maintained substantial forces in order to guard Prussian possessions in East Prussia, Pomerania and the Rhineland. The Prussian preparations were carried out under a cloak of strict security, whilst the Austrian army still languished in winter quarters. The final version of the invasion plan involved four marching columns[1], two to the west of the Elbe and two to the east, marching within supporting distance of each other and uniting when faced by the enemy. In the early days of April 1757, Prussian light forces conducted several raids into northern Bohemia. These incursions were intended to distract the Austrians from the powerful forces that were moving up to the border with Saxony. The Austrians refused to be goaded by these raiders, however some steps were taken to shake off the winter's lethargy and Browne issued orders for his scattered forces[2] to begin to close up around Prague. By the time that the Prussians had crossed the Mittel-Gebirge on 18 April the Austrians had still not organised themselves into a defensive line and on 21 April the forces of Konigsegg were ejected from Reichenberg in a spirited action led by Bevern. On 25 April the Prussian King met up with the detachment commanded by Prinz Moritz at Lobositz, bringing their combined strength up to some 60,000 men. Three days later, Bevern performed his junction with Schwerin at Jung-Bunzlau on the River Iser, Frederick's plan appeared to be coming together. Meanwhile, Frederick decided to take advantage of the Austrian lack of activity. During the night of 26 April, and through the morning of the next day, the main Prussian army threw two pontoon bridges across the Eger at Koschtitz, upstream of the Austrians at Budin, and established themselves to the west of Browne's army. Outflanked, Browne began to retreat southwards towards Prague leaving his supplies in the grateful hands of the enemy. For two days, Frederick allowed his tired men to rest, but on 30 April the pursuit of Browne re-commenced. On 1 May, Browne was joined by Prinz Karl of Lothringen,[3] who had been sent to command the entire Austrian army. The two field marshals immediately entered into a heated argument about what actions to take, meanwhile reinforcements from Arenberg's command joined their army, mustering east of Prague. The following day, 2 May, a heavy rainstorm was responsible for the delay of the Prussian advance, but by the afternoon they halted just to the north-west of the city. On 3 May, Frederick again rested his troops in preparation for the inevitable clash of arms. Schwerin, now trying to catch up with his monarch, crossed the Elbe on 4 May at Brandeis and they advanced towards Prosek. Browne reinforced the garrison of Prague and took the Austrian army into camp just east of the city ramparts, there to await his foe. Frederick moved again on 5 May, his pontoon train laying bridges over the Moldau at Seltz, four miles north of the city. Keith was detached with 32,000 men with orders to cut off the Austrian retreat from Prague, should Frederick defeat them in battle. By the afternoon of 5 May, the Prussian King found himself only three miles from the Austrian camp. That night the Prussians rested, but by 5am the army was in motion, marching across the heights of Prosek. At about 6am, a darkly clad force was seen on the Prussian left wing. It was the corps of Schwerin, swelling the Prussian manpower on the battlefield to over 64,000 men, the re-united Prussian army marched on towards the Austrian position. Frederick would have his Armageddon in Bohemia, almost within cannon shot of the principal city.
The Battle of Prague 6 May 1757 "It seemed like
the end of the world"[4]. Schwerin and his subordinates
joined the King up on the Prosek heights, where they viewed the enemy
who had deployed out of their camp and were forming up to the east of
the city. Although suffering from a stomach complaint, Frederick
appeared to his generals to be in a buoyant mood as he informed them of
his decision to attack immediately. He did however, allow Schwerin and
Winterfeldt to ride around to the Austrian right flank in order to see
what lay ahead. When they had completed this task, they reported back
that lush green meadows in the valley below led up to the rear off the
enemy army deploying on the plateau beyond. Soon after 7am, the Prussian
army, arranged in three columns began its march southwards past the
village of Hlaupetin. The troops would benefit from the cover of dead
ground until around 10am when the Prussian movements became evident to
the Austrian generals, who now realised the developing threat to their
right flank. It was
Field Marshal von Browne who reacted to this danger, sending six
battalions of grenadiers under Guasco followed by a whole corps of
cavalry.[5] These troops took up positions effectively blocking the gap
between Sterbohol and the southernmost of the ponds. Schwerin ordered
his cavalry, under Schonaich, to engage the Austrian cavalry while
Schwerin organised his infantry lines for the attack. Some of the
Prussian artillery was still struggling to pass through the town of
Unter-Poczernitz, the narrow streets creating a natural bottleneck to
the horse-drawn guns and ammunition wagons. The Prussian infantry also
had its' problems as the foot soldiers deployed into line, the men on
the left wing found themselves standing not on lush green grass, as
observed by their generals, but sinking into knee-deep stinking mud.
This was the residue left when the carp-ponds had been drained in order
for the fish to be harvested and the beds re-seeded prior to re-filling.
This began to delay the Prussian attack, thereby allowing Prince Charles
and Browne to move more men from the main Austrian position along the
north edge of the plateau, further eastwards to face the corps of
Schwerin. When
these reinforcements arrived, they formed up above the Roketnitzer Bach
and waited for the Prussian infantry to emerge from the morass.
Schwerin, in company with Winterfeldt, proceeded to the front line of
his corps and urged them on to the attack. As the Prussians pressed on,
they came into range of the Austrian artillery battery on the
Homole-Berg, which added its firepower to the musketry of the infantry
deployed on this wing. During the ensuing fire-fight, the Prussian IR37
broke and fled, followed by IR33 some of whose men deserted to the
Austrians.[6] Winterfeldt, at the head of IR24, was hit in the throat by
a musket ball and fell from his horse mortally wounded. This event
seemed to shake the men of IR24, Schwerin's own regiment, so grasping
the colour of the second battalion, Schwerin trotted to the front of the
line. No sooner had he done this, he was hit several times by canister
shot and killed outright. Frederick was informed of the deaths but
although clearly upset, ordered the troops to march on. The Austrian
infantry on this wing, having gained the initiative began to push the
Prussians back down the slope into the stream. However it was this
movement, coupled with the shifting of reserves from the main army to
the eastward-facing front, that began to open up a gap at the elbow
between the two parts of the Austrian army. It was
during the firefight here that von Browne also was mortally wounded and
carried from the field. The gap created in the Austrian line was not to
be exploited by the Prussian King, who had placed himself far away to
the south. Rather, it was to the credit of his generals Hautcharmoy and
Bevern who recognised the weakness and who were filtering their troops
between the lakes of Kej and Hostawitz in order to take advantage of the
break in the Austrian lines. When these units emerged into the gap they
realised just how vulnerable the two separated halves of the enemy had
become, led by the colonel of IR12 they attacked the exposed left flank
of the main Austrian line. The Austrian regiment of Wied (IR28) broke
under the pressure, as did the Kreis regiment of Mainz. Meanwhile the
cavalry battle on the left of the Prussian line was turning in favour of
the Prussians as Ziethen swung his hussars out in a sweeping attack upon
the Austrian right flank. The eastward facing Austrian line now found
itself under pressure from both flanks and they began to fall back, many
men fleeing to the rear. The units belonging to von
Manstein contacted the Croat detachments manning the fleches on the
Prosek heights at around noon and pushed them from their positions.
Prince Charles was now forced to withdraw his infantry and form them up
in a new defensive line astride the Kaiser-Strasse between Hrdlorzez and
Maleschitz. The Prussian IR1 lost heavy casualties as they attempted to
assault the new position when they were caught in a small ravine in
front of the enemy line. At this point Prinz Henry took a ducking in the
Roketnitzer-Bach as he lead units of the Prussian reserve to attack the
vulnerable angle of the enemy line. Again the Austrians found themselves
under pressure from both flanks as Frederick and Ziethen pushed up from
the south. At 3pm Prince Charles ordered a general retreat of the
infantry back into the city. The Austrian cavalry putting in fanatical
charges upon the Prussians in order to cover the retreat of their
infantry. By 4pm the battle was over, the Austrians lost 14,000 men, of
whom some 5,000 were taken prisoner. The Prussians also lost 14,000 men,
losses that the king could ill afford. Frederick had won a great
victory, but at great loss. After the battle, Frederick found that the bulk of the Austrian army had retreated into Prague. He knew that the 46,000 soldiers would be added to the 70,000 citizens inside which he hoped would make short work of the provisions stored therein. Frederick planned to invest the city and hasten the inevitable starvation of the populace with a large-scale bombardment. It took the Prussians some time to bring up the siege train by river, but these were able to open the bombardment on 29 May. Many shot and shell were fired at the city and indeed some damage was inflicted, but 6 days later the garrison was relatively unaffected. Meanwhile, in the east of Bohemia, the Austrians were forming an army of relief under the command of the wily Marshal Daun.
Prague
1757 - A Scenario for Volley & Bayonet This battle is fought at the ‘Regiment’ (1.500) scale. Each map square contains 9 grid squares and therefore represents 1000 x 1000 paces of ground. Turn 1 is 10am, night falls at 9pm for a total of 12 turns. The Prussian Advance Guard deploys up to one map square east of Sterbohol. Schwerin’s corps deploys south of Hostawitz and east of the Roketnitzer-Bach. The Prussian Army Right Wing enters from the north-east map square on turn 1, the divisions of the reserve and Penavaire’s cavalry, enter from the north-east map square on turn 2. The Prussians are the attackers. The Austrian army deploys as noted in the order of battle. The fleches on the spur of the
Prosek heights count as ‘hasty works’. All woods are open. All
watercourses are streams with marshy banks as shown, the water-filled
ponds are deep and unfordable, the drained carp ponds count as
‘marshy-banked streams’. All buildings are wooden. All Infantry Regiments and the Prussian Grenadier battalions have battalion guns. No Infantry Regiments have their grenadiers present. Victory Conditions The Prussians must collapse four of the Austrian infantry divisions before nightfall. The Austrians win by exhausting five of the Prussian divisions before nightfall.
Order of Battle The Prussians King Frederick II, AC. Monarch. Army Commander, FM v Schwerin, AC. Advance Guard, LG v Zieten, CC. Ex = 5
Left Cavalry Wing, LG v Schonaich, DC. Ex = 6
Schwerin’s Corps. First Line Left Wing, LG v Winterfeldt, DC. Ex = 10
Second Line Centre, MG Pz v Braunschweig, DC. Ex = 10
Second Line Left Wing, MG v Kalckreuth, DC. Ex = 9
Army Right Wing. First Line Right Wing, LG v Hautcharmoy, DC. Ex = 7
Second Line Right Wing, LG v Bevern, DC. Ex = 8
Reserve, LG Pz Ferdinand, DC. Ex = 6
Reserve, LG Pz Heinrich, DC. Ex = 8
Right
Cavalry Wing, LG v Penavaire,
DC. Ex = 6
The Austrians Main
Army. (Deployed off-table on the Schanzenberg, west of Hrdlorzez, throw
two D6 in order to determine which turn each division will arrive at
Hrdlorzez) Army
Commander,
FM Pz Karl v Lothringen,
AC.
Gen Baron Kheul,
CC. First Line Left Wing, LGs Sprecher & Forgach, DC. Ex = 7
First Line Right Wing, LG Graf d'Arberg, DC. Ex = 5
Second Line, LG Clerici, DC. Ex = 5
Left Wing Cavalry. Gen Esterhazy, DC. Ex = 2
Detached
Division
Eastward
facing Corps ,
FM
Graf v Browne.
AC. Gen
Konigsegge,
CC. Extreme Left Wing, LG Graf v Wied, DC. Ex = 4
Left Wing, LG v Baden-Durlach, DC. Ex = 7
Right Wing, MG Guasco, DC. Ex = 10
Second Line Left Wing, LG Arenberg, DC. Ex = 6
Fleches on Prosek ridge, LG Graf Petazzi, DC. Ex = 2
Cavalry Corps. (Deploys south of Sterbohol) First
Line Right Wing, LG Graf v Hadik,
DC. Ex = 3
First Line Left Wing, Gen Lucchese, DC. Ex = 3
Second Line, Gen Bretlach, DC. Ex = 3
Third Line, Gen Stampach, DC. Ex = 2
[1] Frederick 40,000, Moritz 19,000, Schwerin 34,000 and Bevern 20,000. [2] Serbelloni at Koniggratz 27,000, Browne north of Prague 30,000, Arenberg at Plan 24,000 and Konigsegg at Reichenberg 28,000. [3] AKA, Prince Charles of Lorraine. [4] Quoted in Duffy, 'The Army of Frederick the Great'. [5] The divisions of Hadik and Stampach comprising of 5 hussar and 12 heavy cavalry regiments. [6] Duffy quotes Frederick who blamed the desertions on recruits who were “Catholics from Silesia”. |
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