Battle of Kolin, 1757

 Picture I took of the 250th Anniversary commemoration/reenactment back in 2007

Today, after returning from holiday in Italy, Mrs. Goose, the wee one and I took a spin out into the Bohemian countryside. After a few days of heatwave, and the previous heat in Italy, we were blessed with one day of mild weather. We spent most of the day out in a lovely town called Kutna Hora, which is about 70km east of Prague, two images of which I include below:

This really is a cracking little town, a virtually unspoilt mixture of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture, the jewel of which has to be Saint Barbora's Cathedral. Anyway, by way of return, we took a detour via Kolin so that I could take a few quick pictures of the battlefield. Now I will try to spend a full day out in Kolin in the near future, and do a proper walk and photo shoot of the battle site, so these are just some quick preliminary highlights.

The battle took place on a ridge running West to East along the edge of a plateau overlooking the Elbe valley/flood plains to the North. The two main points are the Prerovsky and Krechor hills, which fixed the axis of the Austrian Battle line, which are about 700 metres behind the village of Krechor (where the main battle monument and an old Swedish fortified camp from the 30 Years' war are located). The logic of the battle was straightforward, Frederick and his Prussian Army had Prague under siege after defeating the Austrian Army of Von Browne outside the city. The second Imperial Army under Marshall Daun were marching to it's relief, and ostensibly to manoeuvre the Prussians into an ambush (for Daun had pre-picked this ground for his battle the previous year).

The pictures above shows the view from the Monument, looking down over grain fields to the old Kaiser Strasse (which you can see in the middle distance above), up from which the main Prussian attack came. This is more or less how the field would have looked on the day of the battle. The fields and the old Swedish camp were full of Croatian Grenzers, giving the Prussians a hard time as they sought to close with the main Austrian line on the ridge behind.

The advantage of the Austrian position was that as the Prussians marched up the hill, all they could see was the line of the hill where the Croatian Grenzers were positioned. This of course was a false ridge. The main ridge lay further back, with nearly 700 meters of dead ground in between, where Daun placed the bulk of his line. One can speculate that he fooled the Prussians (32,000 strong) into attacking what they though was a weak force, being fully committed before realising they were walking straight into the main Austrian army (with nearly 60,000 troops)

 

You can still see the height of the ditch of the old Swedish fortified encampment above. This ditch runs for nearly half a kilometre west from the village of Krechor, and gave the Croatian Grenzers great cover. The main battle monument is at the Western end of the ditch.

Looking from the top of the old Swedish camp North-East, Krechor Village is to the right of the photograph.

 Above you can see the view from the main ridge North (taken from the road between Krechor and Chocenice), the dead ground in front is apparent. To the left of the second picture you can just see the top of the monument. None of the ground was visible to the Prussians until they passed the old Swedish Camp.

Above you can see the view towards the main ridge (Krechor Hill) and Austrian line (looking South). The Prussian attack would have gone in over the immediate foreground, after they had pushed back the Croatian light infantry.

In the three pictures above you can see the view towards the Austrian right flank on the hidden ridge. This is where the original Oak wood stood which anchored the Austrian flank behind the village of Krechor. Here is where the Austrians flank (under General Wied) was driven back in the late afternoon (4pm) by Prussian combined infantry and cavalry attacks (including those by Seydlitz), and pushed almost to the reverse slope of the ridge. After almost 3 hours of charge and counter charge, the Prussians in turn were driven back eventually by the Austrian Cavalry and especially Saxon Cavalry Regiments bent on revenge (the Prussians had occupied Saxony the previous autumn). This began the general retreat of the Prussian army.

 

The images above are looking West along the Austrian lines from there right flank. The Oak Wood would have stood roughly in the area of the first picture, where you can already see the beginning of the reverse slope.
 

The painting by Knotel above of the Leibgarde probably best captures the scene late in the day with thousands of cavalry milling around, and Prussians being attacked on all sides.

 For a better understanding of the battle I borrowed this map image from the Internet.

Above you can see the main monument to the battle, on top of the ditch of the old Swedish Camp.

Above the start of Krechor village, and the Church, through which the Prussian General Hulsen's battalions attacked.

For more information I can recommend Osprey Campaign book of the battle which you can buy here:  Kolin 1757: Osprey Campaign 91
This really gives the best account of the battle I've seen, apart from that by Christopher Duffy of course.

In the next post I'll have some pictures of the River Piave battlefields from the Italian front in World War 1.

The Battle of Prague 1757

The weekend before the club made the trip to the Salute show in London, I had to drive Mrs.Goose out to a retail outlet on the east of Prague. Now a lot of this area is grim, with one or two industrial estates and a very large incinerator (which for navigation purposes can more or less be easily seen from most points in the city).

There are though some untouched open areas on the site of the main Prussian attack during the battle of Prague, which are situated in the Sterboholy district (this would be Sterbohol in any of the old Austrian maps of the battle).

Battle of Prague, 6 May 1757 - Attempted envelopment. 

Source : The Department of History, United States Military Academy

Sterboholy is at the southern end of a low rise/hill that runs south for a couple of kilometres from Malesice (Maleschitz) . It was on the line of this that Browne relocated the right wing of his army to face the Prussian flanking manoeuvre by the General von Schwerin.

Here is a view from the Austrian positions on higher ground overlooking the plain on which the Prussians approached.

The old story goes that von Schwerin mistook the green landscape in this district for meadows, when in fact the area was a patchwork of drained fish ponds, water meadows and streams. As the Prussians ploughed through the fields they quickly became bogged down in the mud, whilst the Austrians surveying the scene from drier heights opened up a murderous artillery barrage upon them. 

Here are the water meadows passed over by the Prussians when attacking the Austrian position

 The Prussians would have attacked from right to left in these pictures

As you can see the fields are still drained by numerous stream beds, and often flood after heavy rain.

It was during this point that von Schwerin was hit by a cannonball and killed outright.

 

Memorial to General von Schwerin on the battlefield at Steboholy

If the Austrians had held their ground here they would have won the day. They held the commanding grounds, with well-placed artillery and secure flanks. Unfortunately for them, around the same time as von Schwerin’s death, General von Brown (this blogs patron) was mortally wounded and carried back into to Prague (to die from his wounds days later)

The memorial to von Browne on the battlefield

With effective command passed to junior officers, the Austrians decided to attack the weakened Prussians, but in doing so opened up both their flanks. The Prussian brigades under General Bevern saw the opportunity and poured infantry through the gap on their left flank to the north, while the Prussian cavalry under von Ziethen did the same to their south. Their flanks turned and with the Prussians pushing at them again form the centre, the Austrians crumbled and fell back within the walls of Prague.

 The Prussians attacked up the rising ground here towards the Austrians (roughly in the direction of the chimney in this photo)

Above you can see the ground the Prussians marched over coming from Dolni Pocernice (Unter Pocernitz)

Though the Prussians won the day (just), they did not have enough troops left to storm the city, and their now depleted numbers would be completely routed the following month at the Battle of Kolin by General Daun (a post I promise in the coming months once I get a chance to drive back out to Kolin to take some pictures). This more or less put paid to Frederick the Great's attempt to snatch Bohemia away from the Austrians, as he had done with Silesia. For the rest of the Seven Year's war the Prussians were on the defensive, and it was only the inability of the Austrians and Russians to effectively cooperate in the east which saved Prussia.

Today there is a small memorial to the fallen of the battle on the site of the main Prussian attack, the fields around full of horse paddocks.

You can get here easily by bus from the last metro station on the green line, though a car is obviously better.

Introduction

This is a blog that is dedicated to my interest in Military history, and in particular, walks, impressions and photos of various battlefields and museums both near (to Bohemia) and afar. Given my base in Bohemia (that's Czech Republic to the uninitiated) I’m quite spoilt for choice when it comes to some major armed altercations between various Emperor’s, Winter Kings and other downright chancers (the battles of Austerlitz, White Mountain, Jankau, Prague, Kolin and Konigratz to name but a few), while various museums and country Chateaus in and around Prague are stuffed to the gills with Military memorabilia, flags, banners and weapons from the Hussite wars right through to WW2. Very much the crossroads of Europe with all its attendant wars.

The title of this blog and the picture above are of course related. Maximillian Ulysses, Reichsgraf Von Browne, a member of the "Wild Geese" those Irish professional soldiers, exiled from their homeland, and in the service of the Sovereigns of Continental Europe. I have alot of time for this particular historical figure, and like the Empress he served, was notable for his integrity and humanity, in contrast to his opponent Frederick of Prussia. This particular Goose was probably one of the more famous and accomplished; ending his days as the commander of the Austrian Army of Empress Maria Theresa, battling and outmanoeuvring Frederick the Great at the Battle of Lobositz (today Lovosice in the Czech republic), and finally dying of his wounds after the battle of Prague in 1757. He is still buried in the Loreto Chapel in Prague. Anyway, he is appropriate motif for the blog. There will be more about this extraordinary gentleman in future posts.

Originally I had toyed with the idea of dedicating this blog to a particular period, but as my interest spans a diverse number of wars and conflicts, I thought it better to keep the focus a bit broader (though it is fair to say that to a large degree it will involve the horse and musket period, and one or two defenestrations).

Apart from the history bug, I was also infected at an early age with the wargaming bug, so will also be posting titbits from various games, rules we have tried (mostly General De Brigade and its variants), figures I like and pictures of those that I have painted. That is to say, a lot of Napoleonic’s, more Seven year’s War, some Thirty Year’s War, and new forays into the worlds of American War of Independence, Napoleonic Skirmish, First Carlist War and 28mm English Civil War. I hope to be able to post something each week and photos of games or figures every other week.

Given that I should have started this blog a least a year ago, I have a backlog of items that I will start posting quite soon. So please read on….