Book: History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 20

T >> Thomas Carlyle >> History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 20




Fight SECOND (July 16th) was a kind of revenge on the Erbprinz's
part: Affair of EMSDORF, six days after, in the same neighborhood;
beautiful too, said the Gazetteers; but of result still more
insignificant. Hearing of a considerable French Brigade posted not
far off, at that Village of Emsdorf, to guard Broglio's meal-carts
there, the indignant Erbprinz shoots off for that; light of
foot,--English horse mainly, and Hill Scots (BERG-SCHOTTEN so
called, who have a fine free stride, in summer weather);--dashes in
upon said Brigade (Dragoons of Bauffremont and other picked men),
who stood firmly on the defensive; but were cut up, in an amazing
manner, root and branch, after a fierce struggle, and as it were
brought home in one's pocket. To the admiration of military
circles,--especially of mess-rooms and the junior sort. "Elliot's
light horse [part of the new 7,000], what a regiment! Unparalleled
for willingness, and audacity of fence; lost 125 killed,"--in fact,
the loss chiefly fell on Elliot. [Ib. ii. 109 (Prisoners got "were
2,661, including General and Officers 179," with all their
furnitures whatsoever, "400 horses, 8 cannon," &c.).] The BERG-
SCHOTTEN too,--I think it was here that these kilted fellows,
who had marched with such a stride, "came home mostly riding:" poor
Beauffremont Dragoons being entirely cut up, or pocketed as
prisoners, and their horses ridden in this unexpected manner!
But we must not linger,--hardly even on WARBURG, which was the
THIRD and greatest; and has still points of memorability, though
now so obliterated.

"Warburg," says my Note on this latter, "is a pleasant little
Hessian Town, some twenty-five miles west of Cassel, standing on
the north or left bank of the Diemel, among fruitful knolls and
hollows. The famous 'BATTLE OF WARBURG,'--if you try to inquire in
the Town itself, from your brief railway-station, it is much if
some intelligent inhabitant, at last, remembers to have heard of
it! The thing went thus: Chevalier du Muy, who is Broglio's Rear-
guard or Reserve, 30,000 foot and horse, with his back to the
Diemel, and eight bridges across it in case of accident, has his
right flank leaning on Warburg, and his left on a Village of
Ossendorf, some two miles to northwest of that. Broglio, Prince
Xavier of Saxony, especially Duke Ferdinand, are all vehemently and
mysteriously moving about, since that Fight of Korbach;
Broglio intent to have Cassel besieged, Du Muy keeping the Diemel
for him; Ferdinand eager to have the Diemel back from Du Muy
and him.

"Two days ago (July 29th), the Erbprinz crossed over into these
neighborhoods, with a strong Vanguard, nearly equal to Du Muy;
and, after studious reconnoitring and survey had, means, this
morning (July 31st), to knock him over the Diemel again, if he can.
No time to be lost; Broglio near and in such force. Duke Ferdinand
too, quitting Broglio for a moment, is on march this way;
crossed the Diemel, about midnight, some ten miles farther down, or
eastward; will thence bend southward, at his best speed, to support
the Erbprinz, if necessary, and beset the Diemel when got;--
Erbprinz not, however, in any wise, to wait for him; such the
pressure from Broglio and others. A most busy swift-going scene
that morning;--hardly worth such describing at this date of time.

"The Erbprinz, who is still rather to northeastward, that is to
rightward, not directly frontward, of Du Muy's lines; and whose
plan of attack is still dark to Du Muy, commences [about 8 A.M., I
should guess] by launching his British Legion so called,--which is
a composite body, of Free-Corps nature, British some of it
('Colonel Beckwith's people,' for example), not British by much the
most of it, but an aggregate of wild strikers, given to plunder
too:--by launching his British Legion upon Warburg Town, there to
take charge of Du Muy's right wing. Which Legion, 'with great
rapidity, not only pitched the French all out, but clean plundered
the poor Town;' and is a sad sore on Du Muy's right, who cannot
get it attended to, in the ominous aspects elsewhere visible.
For the Erbprinz, who is a strategic creature, comes on, in the
style of Friedrich, not straight towards Du Muy, but sweeps out in
two columns round northward; privately intending upon Du Muy's left
wing and front--left wing, right wing, (by British Legion), and
front, all three;--and is well aided by a mist which now fell, and
which hung on the higher ground, and covered his march, for an hour
or more. This mist had not begun when he saw, on the knoll-tops,
far off on the right, but indisputable as he flattered himself,
--something of Ferdinand emerging! Saw this; and pours along, we
can suppose, with still better step and temper. And bursts, pretty
simultaneously, upon Du Muy's right wing and left wing, coercing
his front the while; squelches both these wings furiously together;
forces the coerced centre, mostly horse, to plunge back into the
Diemel, and swim. Horse could swim; but many of the Foot, who
tried, got drowned. And, on the whole, Du Muy is a good deal
wrecked [1,600 killed, 2,000 prisoners, not to speak of cannon
and flags], and, but for his eight bridges, would have been
totally ruined.

"The fight was uncommonly furious, especially on Du Muy's left;
'Maxwell's Brigade' going at it, with the finest bayonet-practice,
musketry, artillery-practice; obstinate as bears. On Du Muy's
right, the British Legion, left wing, British too by name, had a
much easier job. But the fight generally was of hot and stubborn
kind, for hours, perhaps two or more;--and some say, would not have
ended so triumphantly, had it not been for Duke Ferdinand's
Vanguard, Lord Granby and the English Horse; who, warned by the
noise ahead, pushed on at the top of their speed, and got in before
the death. Granby and the Blues had gone at the high trot, for
above five miles; and, I doubt not, were in keen humor when they
rose to the gallop and slashed in. Mauvillon says, 'It was in this
attack that Lord Granby, at the head of the Blues, his own
regiment, had his hat blown off; a big bald circle in his head
rendering the loss more conspicuous. But he never minded; stormed
still on,' bare bald head among the helmets and sabres; 'and made
it very evident that had he, instead of Sackville, led at Minden,
there had been a different story to tell. The English, by their
valor,' adds he, 'greatly distinguished themselves this day.
And accordingly they suffered by far the most; their loss amounting
to 590 men:' or, as others count,--out of 1,200 killed and wounded,
800 were English." [Mauvillon, ii. 114. Or better, in all these
three cases, as elsewhere, Tempelhof's specific Chapter on
Ferdinand (Tempelhof, iv. 101-122). Ferdinand's Despatch (to King
George), in Knesebeck, ii. 96-98;--or in the
Old Newspapers ( Gentleman's Magazine, xxx.
386, 387), where also is Lord Granby's Despatch.]

This of Granby and the bald head is mainly what now renders Warburg
memorable. For, in a year or two, the excellent Reynolds did a
Portrait of Granby; and by no means forgot this incident; but gives
him bare-headed, bare and bald; the oblivious British connoisseur
not now knowing why, as perhaps he ought. The portrait, I suppose,
may be in Belvoir Castle; the artistic Why of the baldness is this
BATTLE OF WARBURG, as above. An Affair otherwise of no moment.
Ferdinand had soon to quit the Diemel, or to find it useless for
him, and to try other methods,--fencing gallantly, but too weak for
Broglio; and, on the whole, had a difficult Campaign of it, against
that considerable Soldier with forces so superior.



Chapter III.

BATTLE OF LIEGNITZ.

Friedrich stayed hardly one day in Neissen Country; Silesia, in the
jaws of destruction, requiring such speed from him. His new Series
of Marches thitherward, for the next two weeks especially, with
Daun and Lacy, and at last with Loudon too, for escort, are still
more singular than the foregoing; a fortnight of Soldier History
such as is hardly to be paralleled elsewhere. Of his inward gloom
one hears nothing. But the Problem itself approaches to the
desperate; needing daily new invention, new audacity, with imminent
destruction overhanging it throughout. A March distinguished in
Military Annals;--but of which it is not for us to pretend
treating. Military readers will find it in TEMPELHOF, and the
supplementary Books from time to time cited here. And, for our own
share, we can only say, that Friedrich's labors strike us as
abundantly Herculean; more Alcides-like than ever,--the rather as
hopes of any success have sunk lower than ever. A modern Alcides,
appointed to confront Tartarus itself, and be victorious over the
Three-headed Dog. Daun, Lacy, Loudon coming on you simultaneously,
open-mouthed, are a considerable Tartarean Dog! Soldiers judge that
the King's resources of genius were extremely conspicuous on this
occasion; and to all men it is in evidence that seldom in the Arena
of this Universe, looked on by the idle Populaces and by the
eternal Gods and Antigods (called Devils), did a Son of Adam fence
better for himself, now and throughout.

This, his Third march to Silesia in 1760, is judged to be the most
forlorn and ominous Friedrich ever made thither; real peril, and
ruin to Silesia and him, more imminent than even in the old Leuthen
days. Difficulties, complicacies very many, Friedrich can foresee:
a Daun's Army and a Lacy's for escort to us; and such a Silesia
when we do arrive. And there is one complicacy more which he does
not yet know of; that of Loudon waiting ahead to welcome him, on
crossing the Frontier, and increase his escort thenceforth!--Or
rather, let us say, Friedrich, thanks to the despondent Henri and
others, has escaped a great Silesian Calamity;--of which he will
hear, with mixed emotions, on arriving at Bunzlau on the Silesian
Frontier, six days after setting out. Since the loss of Glatz (July
26th), Friedrich has no news of Loudon; supposes him to be trying
something upon Neisse, to be adjusting with his slow Russians;
and, in short, to be out of the dismal account-current just at
present. That is not the fact in regard to Loudon; that is far from
the fact.


LOUDON IS TRYING A STROKE-OF-HAND ON BRESLAU, IN THE
GLATZ FASHION, IN THE INTERIM (July 30th-August 3d).

Hardly above six hours after taking Glatz, swift Loudon, no Daun
now tethering him (Daun standing, or sitting, "in relief of
Dresden" far off), was on march for Breslau--Vanguard of him
"marched that same evening (July 26th):" in the liveliest hope of
capturing Breslau; especially if Soltikof, to whom this of Glatz
ought to be a fine symbol and pledge, make speed to co-operate.
Soltikof is in no violent enthusiasm about Glatz; anxious rather
about his own Magazine at Posen, and how to get it carted out of
Henri's way, in case of our advancing towards some Silesian Siege.
"If we were not ruined last year, it was n't Daun's fault!" growls
he often; and Montalembert has need of all his suasive virtues
(which are wonderful to look at, if anybody cared to look at them,
all flung into the sea in this manner) for keeping the barbarous
man in any approach to harmony. The barbarous man had, after haggle
enough, adjusted himself for besieging Glogau; and is surly to
hear, on the sudden (order from Petersburg reinforcing Loudon),
that it is Breslau instead. "Excellenz, it is not Cunctator Daun
this time, it is fiery Loudon." "Well, Breslau, then!" answers
Soltikof at last, after much suasion. And marches thither;
[Tempelhof, iv. 87-89 ("Rose from Posen, July 26th").] faster than
usual, quickened by new temporary hopes, of Montalembert's raising
or one's own: "What a place-of-arms, and place of victual, would
Breslau be for us, after all!"

And really mends his pace, mends it ever more, as matters grow
stringent; and advances upon Breslau at his swiftest:
"To rendezvous with Loudon under the walls there,--within the walls
very soon, and ourselves chief proprietor!"--as may be hoped.
Breslau has a garrison of 4,000, only 1,000 of them stanch;
and there are, among other bad items, 9,000 Austrian Prisoners in
it. A big City with weak walls: another place to defend than rock-
hewn little Glatz,--if there be no better than a D'O for Commandant
in it! But perhaps there is.

"WEDNESDAY, 30th JULY, Loudon's Vanguard arrived at Breslau;
next day Loudon himself;--and besieged Breslau very violently,
according to his means, till the Sunday following. Troops he has
plenty, 40,000 odd, which he gives out for 50 or even 60,000;
not to speak of Soltikof, 'with 75,000' (read 45,000), striding on
in a fierce and dreadful manner to meet him here. 'Better surrender
to Christian Austrians, had not you?' Loudon's Artillery is not
come up, it is only struggling on from Glatz; Soltikof of his own
has no Siege-Artillery; and Loudon judges that heavy-footed
Soltikof, waited on by an alert Prince Henri, is a problematic
quantity in this enterprise. 'Speedy oneself; speedy and fiery!'
thinks Loudon: 'by violence of speed, of bullying and bombardment,
perhaps we can still do it!' And Loudon tried all these things to a
high stretch; but found in Tauentzien the wrong man.

"THURSDAY, 3lst, Loudon, who has two bridges over Oder, and the
Town begirt all round, summons Tauentzien in an awful sounding
tone: 'Consider, Sir: no defence possible; a trading Town, you
ought not to attempt defence of it: surrender on fair terms, or I
shall, which God forbid, be obliged to burn you and it from the
face of the world!' 'Pooh, pooh,' answers Tauentzien, in brief
polite terms; 'you yourselves had no doubt it was a Garrison, when
we besieged you here, on the heel of Leuthen; had you? Go to!'--
Fiery Loudon cannot try storm, the Town having Oder and a wet ditch
round it. He gets his bombarding batteries forward, as the one
chance he has, aided by bullying. And to-morrow,

"FRIDAY, AUGUST 1st, sends, half officially, half in the friendly
way, dreadful messages again: a warning to the Mayor of Breslau
(which was not signed by Loudon), 'Death and destruction, Sir,
unless'--!--warning to the Mayor; and, by the same private half-
official messenger, a new summons to Tauentzien: 'Bombardment
infallible; universal massacre by Croats; I will not spare the
child in its mother's womb.' 'I am not with child,' said
Tauentzien, 'nor are my soldiers! What is the use of such talk?'
And about 10 that night, Loudon does accordingly break out into all
the fire of bombardment he is master of. Kindles the Town in
various places, which were quenched again by Tauentzien's
arrangements; kindles especially the King's fine Dwelling-house
(Palace they call it), and adjacent streets, not quenchable till
Palace and they are much ruined. Will this make no impression?
Far too little.

"Next morning Loudon sends a private messenger of conciliatory
tone: 'Any terms your Excellency likes to name. Only spare me the
general massacre, and child in the mother's womb!' From all which
Tauentzien infers that you are probably short of ammunition;
and that his outlooks are improving. That day he gets guns brought
to bear on General Loudon's own quarter; blazes into Loudon's
sitting-room, so that Loudon has to shift else-whither.
No bombardment ensues that night; nor next day anything but
desultory cannonading, and much noise and motion;--and at night,
SUNDAY, 3d, everything falls quiet, and, to the glad amazement of
everybody, Loudon has vanished." [Tempelhof, iv. 90-100;
Archenholtz, ii. 89-94; HOFBERICHT VON DER BELAGERUNG VON BRESLAU
IM AUGUST 1760 (in Seyfarth, Beylagen,
ii. 688-698); also in Helden-Geschichte,
vi. 299-309: in Anonymous of Hamburg
(iv. 115-124), that is, in the OLD NEWSPAPERS, extremely particular
account, How "not only the finest Horse in Breslau, and the finest
House [King's Palace], but the handsomest Man, and, alas, also the
prettiest Girl [poor Jungfer Muller, shattered by a bomb-shell on
the streets], were destroyed in this short Siege,"--world-famous
for the moment. Preuss, ii. 246.]

Loudon had no other shift left. This Sunday his Russians are still
five days distant; alert Henri, on the contrary, is, in a sense,
come to hand. Crossed the Katzbach River this day, the Vanguard of
him did, at Parchwitz; and fell upon our Bakery; which has had to
take the road. "Guard the Bakery, all hands there," orders Loudon;
"off to Striegau and the Hills with it;"--and is himself gone
thither after it, leaving Breslau, Henri and the Russians to what
fate may be in store for them. Henri has again made one of his
winged marches, the deft creature, though the despondent; "march of
90 miles in three days [in the last three, from Glogau, 90; in the
whole, from Landsberg, above 200], and has saved the State," says
Retzow. "Made no camping, merely bivouacked; halting for a rest
four or five hours here and there;" [Retzow, ii. 230 (very vague);
in Tempelhof (iv. 89, 90, 95-97) clear and specific account.] and
on August 5th is at Lissa (this side the Field of Leuthen);
making Breslau one of the gladdest of cities.

So that Soltikof, on arriving (village of Hundsfeld, August 8th),
by the other side of the River, finds Henri's advanced guards
intrenched over there, in Old Oder; no Russian able to get within
five miles of Breslau,--nor able to do more than cannonade in the
distance, and ask with indignation, "Where are the siege-guns,
then; where is General Loudon? Instead of Breslau capturable, and a
sure Magazine for us, here is Henri, and nothing but steel to eat!"
And the Soltikof risen into Russian rages, and the Montalembert
sunk in difficulties: readers can imagine these.
Indignant Soltikof, deaf to suasion, with this dangerous Henri in
attendance, is gradually edging back; always rather back, with an
eye to his provisions, and to certain bogs and woods he knows of.
But we will leave the Soltikof-Henri end of the line, for the
opposite end, which is more interesting.--To Friedrich, till he got
to Silesia itself, these events are totally unknown. His cunctatory
Henri, by this winged march, when the moment came, what a service
has he done!--

Tauentzien's behavior, also, has been superlative at Breslau;
and was never forgotten by the King. A very brave man, testifies
Lessing of him; true to the death: "Had there come but three, to
rally with the King under a bush of the forest, Tauentzien would
have been one." Tauentzien was on the ramparts once, in this
Breslau pinch, giving orders; a bomb burst beside him, did not
injure him. "Mark that place," said Tauentzien; and clapt his hat
on it, continuing his orders, till a more permanent mark were put.
In that spot, as intended through the next thirty years, he now
lies buried. [ Militair-Lexikon, iv. 72-75; Lessing's Werke; &c. &c.]


FRIEDRICH ON MARCH, FOR THE THIRD TIME, TO RESCUE SILESIA
(August 1st-15th).

AUGUST 1st, Friedrich crossed the Elbe at Zehren, in the Schieritz
vicinity, as near Meissen as he could; but it had to be some six
miles farther down, such the liabilities to Austrian disturbance.
All are across that morning by 5 o'clock (began at 2); whence we
double back eastward, and camp that night at Dallwitz,--are quietly
asleep there, while Loudon's bombardment bursts out on Breslau, far
away! At Dallwitz we rest next day, wait for our Bakeries and
Baggages; and SUNDAY, AUGUST 3d, at 2 in the morning, set forth on
the forlornest adventure in the world.

The arrangements of the March, foreseen and settled beforehand to
the last item, are of a perfection beyond praise;--as is still
visible in the General Order, or summary of directions given out;
which, to this day, one reads with a kind of satisfaction like that
derivable from the Forty-seventh of Euclid: clear to the meanest
capacity, not a word wanting in it, not a word superfluous, solid
as geometry. "The Army marches always in Three Columns, left Column
foremost: our First Line of Battle [in case we have fighting] is
this foremost Column; Second Line is the Second Column; Reserve is
the Third. All Generals' chaises, money-wagons, and regimental
Surgeons' wagons remain with their respective Battalions; as do the
Heavy Batteries with the Brigades to which they belong. When the
march is through woody country, the Cavalry regiments go in between
the Battalions [to be ready against Pandour operations
and accidents].

"With the First Column, the Ziethen Hussars and Free-Battalion
Courbiere have always the vanguard; Mohring Hussars and Free-
Battalion Quintus [speed to you, learned friend!] the rear-guard.
With the Second Column always the Dragoon regiments Normann and
Krockow have the vanguard; Regiment Czetteritz [Dragoons, poor
Czetteritz himself, with his lost MANUSCRIPT, is captive since
February last], the rear-guard. With the Third Column always the
Dragoon regiment Holstein as head, and the ditto Finkenstein to
close the Column.--During every march, however, there are to be of
the Second Column 2 Battalions joined with Column Third; so that
the Third Column consists of 10 Battalions, the Second of 6, while
on march.

"Ahead of each Column go three Pontoon Wagons; and daily are 50
work-people allowed them, who are immediately to lay Bridge, where
it is necessary. The rear-guard of each Column takes up these
Bridges again; brings them on, and returns them to the head of the
Column, when the Army has got to camp. In the Second Column are to
be 500 wagons, and also in the Third 500, so shared that each
battalion gets an equal number. The battalions--" [In TEMPELHOF
(iv. 125, 126) the entire Piece.] ... This may serve as specimen.

The March proceeded through the old Country; a little to left of
the track in June past: Roder Water, Pulsnitz Water;
Kamenz neighborhood, Bautzen neighborhood,--Bunzlau on Silesian
ground. Daun, at Bischofswerda, had foreseen this March; and, by
his Light people, had spoiled the Road all he could; broken all the
Bridges, HALF-felled the Woods (to render them impassable).
Daun, the instant he heard of the actual March, rose from
Bischofswerda: forward, forward always, to be ahead of it, however
rapid; Lacy, hanging on the rear of it, willing to give trouble
with his Pandour harpies, but studious above all that it should not
whirl round anywhere and get upon his, Lacy's, own throat. One of
the strangest marches ever seen. "An on-looker, who had observed
the march of these different Armies," says Friedrich, "would have
thought that they all belonged to one leader. Feldmarschall Daun's
he would have taken for the Vanguard, the King's for the main Army,
and General Lacy's for the Rear-guard." [ OEuvres de
Frederic, v. 56.] Tempelhof says: "It is given only to
a Friedrich to march on those terms; between Two hostile Armies,
his equals in strength, and a Third [Loudon's, in Striegau Country]
waiting ahead."

The March passed without accident of moment; had not, from Lacy or
Daun, any accident whatever. On the second day, an Aide-de-Camp of
Daun's was picked up, with Letters from Lacy (back of the cards
visible to Friedrich). Once,--it is the third day of the March
(August 6th, village of Rothwasser to be quarter for the night),--
on coming toward Neisse River, some careless Officer, trusting to
peasants, instead of examining for himself and building a bridge,
drove his Artillery-wagons into the so-called ford of Neisse;
which nearly swallowed the foremost of them in quicksands.
Nearly, but not completely; and caused a loss of five or six hours
to that Second Column. So that darkness came on Column Second in
the woody intricacies; and several hundreds of the deserter kind
took the opportunity of disappearing altogether. An unlucky,
evidently too languid Officer; though Friedrich did not annihilate
the poor fellow, perhaps did not rebuke him at all, but merely
marked it in elucidation of his qualities for time coming."
This miserable village of Rothwasser" (head-quarters after the
dangerous fording of Neisse), says Mitchell, "stands in the middle
of a wood, almost as wild and impenetrable as those in North
America. There was hardly ground enough cleared about it for the
encampment of the troops." [Mitchell, ii. 190; Tempelhof, iv. 131.]
THURSDAY, AUGUST 7th, Friedrich--traversing the whole Country, but
more direct, by Konigsbruck and Kamenz this time--is at Bunzlau
altogether. "Bunzlau on the Bober;" the SILESIAN Bunzlau, not the
Bohemian or any of the others. It is some 30 miles west of
Liegnitz, which again lies some 40 northwest of Schweidnitz and the
Strong Places. Friedrich has now done 100 miles of excellent
marching; and he has still a good spell more to do,--dragging
"2,000 heavy wagons" with him, and across such impediments within
and without. Readers that care to study him, especially for the
next few days, will find it worth their while.

Tempelhof gives, as usual, a most clear Account, minute to a
degree; which, supplemented by Mitchell and a Reimann Map, enables
us as it were to accompany, and to witness with our eyes.
Hitherto a March toilsome in the extreme, in spite of everything
done to help it; starting at 3 or at 2 in the morning; resting to
breakfast in some shady place, while the sun is high, frugally
cooking under the shady woods,--"BURSCHEN ABZUKOCHEN here," as the
Order pleasantly bears. All encamped now, at Bunzlau in Silesia, on
Thursday evening, with a very eminent week's work behind them.
"In the last five days, above 100 miles of road, and such road;
five considerable rivers in it"--Bober, Queiss, Neisse, Spree,
Elbe; and with such a wagon-train of 2,000 teams. [Tempelhof, iv.
123-150.]

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25

Copyright (c) 2007. knowncrafts.net. All rights reserved.