Battle of Prague
The battle of Prague was a battle fought on May 6, 1757 during the Seven Years' War. A Prussian army of 65,000 men fought an Austrian army of 62,000 men. The Prussians lost 14,300 men, the Austrians lost ca. 13,400 men.
| Battle of Lobositz | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conflict | Seven Years' War | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | May 6, 1757 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Prague, Czech Republic | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Prussian victory | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| Table of contents |
|
2 The battle 3 Aftermath |
Prelude
After Frederick had forced the surrender of Saxony in the 1756 campaign, he spent the winter devising new plans for a defense of his small kingdom. It was completely impossible for his character to sit back and defend.
In early spring the Prussian army marched in 4 columns over the mountain passes separating Saxony and Silesia from Bohemia. The 4 corps would unite at the Bohemian capitol of Prague. Though risky, because it exposed the Prussian army to a defeat in detail, the plan succeeded. After Fredericks corps united with a corps under Prinz Moritz, and General Bevern performed his junction with Schwerin, both armies converged near Prague.
Meanwhile the Austrians had not been idle. Though initially surprised by the early Prussian attack, the able Austrian Marshall von Browne had been retreating skilfully and concentrating his armed forces towards Prague. Here he established a fortified position to the east of the town, and an additional army under Prince Charles of Lorraine arrived swelling the Austrian numbers to 60,000. The prince now took command.
The Austrian army under von Browne had taken up a near invincible position on the Ziska- and the Tabor mountains. The town was on their left flank, the North by a steep gorge, and to the west by a marshy slope with a brook at the bottom. The two Austrian commanders are in disagreement about the course of action: von Browne wants to attack, but Charles decides to wait for Konigseck, who got defeated at the battle of Reichenberg but is known to retreat towards Prague, and possibly even for the arrival of Daun.
On the 6th of May, around 5 a.m., the Prussian army assembled to the north on the Prosek heights, 115.000 men strong, and Frederick sent Keith with 30,000 to the west of the town to cut off any Austrian retreat. The Austrians drew up for battle facing north and east.
|
Schwerin, accompanied by general Winterfeldt, was finally prepared to attack. The attack was lead by the infantry of Winterfeldt. The Prussian infantry soon found themselves not in lusty meadows, but in the remains of fish ponds. While they struggled through, Winterfeldt was hit by a musketball. The Prussian infantry wavered and Schwerin rallied them, leading them from the front. He was hit several times by Austrian canister. Frederick, when he heard the news, ordered to press the assault.
The Austrian infantry smelled the Prussian confusion and started to press the Prussians back down the slope, opening a gap between them and the remainder of the Austrian line still facing north. At his time von Browne was killed by Prussian infantry fire and carried into Prague.
While King Frederick and General von Ziethen reorganised the Prussian infantry in the south for another attack, the generals Hautcharmoy and Bevern spotted the gap in the Austrian line and started to filter infantry into the gap. Austrian croats had engaged Prussians to the north of the Austrian left flank, but with the gap in the Austrian line being exploited by a steady strem of Prussians he pulled back and formed a new line running south from the west end of the Tabor mountain.
The final phase of the battle started around 3 p.m., with Prussians engaging the still forming Austrian line and outflanking them from he south. Charles withdrew into the town, the retreat being covered by his cavalry.
His calculation, however, did not take into account the relieve army Austria managed to field against him at the battle of Kolin.
Aftermath
The Austrians had lost 13,400 men and 5,000 prisoners. Having suffered over 14,000 casualties in his own army, losses hard to replace for the small Prussia, Frederick decided not to assault the city walls of Prague. He calculated that 40,000 soldiers in addition to 75,000 inhabitants would soon consume the city stores.