Battle of Leuthen

The battle of Leuthen was a battle fought on December 5, 1757 during the Seven Years' War.

A Prussian army of 39,000 men and 167 cannon fought an Austrian army of 58,500 men and 210 cannon. The Prussians casualties amounted to 1,175 killed and 5,207 wounded, the Austrians lost ca. 3,000 men dead, 6,000-7,000 wounded, ca. 12,000 captured, and 131 of their 210 guns.

Frederick the Great, intent on ejecting the Austrians out of Silesia, marched directly toward the Austrian army with its center at Leuthen, its front streching an amazing 5 1/2 miles. Screening his army with his cavalry, he moved his well-disciplined infantry toward the Austrian left in columns, while falsely menacing the Austrian right. The infantry marched out of sight of the Austrians, behind a line of low hills. Prince Charles 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. 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 Austrian flank. Then, on command, the platoons of the columns turned left, 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 analogous to that used by the Spartans to attack their enemy in flank.

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 did Prince Charles moved the cavalry from his army's left to the right, but the infantry on the right where 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 pdr. 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 long Prussian line, still advancing, assaulted Leuthen with artillery support. The determined Prussians, in forty minutes of hell, took the village while both armies' artillery pounded away at each other. 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 confusing and havoc. The Austrian line then broke; the battle lasted a little more than three hours.

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. Maria Theresa required the resignation of Prince Charles, her inept double brother-in-law.

Missing image
Leuthen_1.JPG
Image:Leuthen_1.JPG

Missing image
Leuthen_3.JPG
Image:Leuthen_3.JPG

de:Schlacht von Leuthen