The Seven Weeks' War

by H M Hozier

  The Austrian first corps and the Saxons held an excellent position along this range of hills, the right flank of which rested on Eisenstadt, and the left on the Anna Berg, a prominent elevation on the south side of the Sobotka road. In the centre were the heights of Brada, which had been strengthened. The reserve was drawn up between these hills and the town of Gitschin.

  Where the road from Sobotka passes through the hills they dip down so as to form a narrow pass, and the fir forests on each side run down close to the road. On the Sobotka side of the woods there is a ravine about 100 feet deep, but with banks not so steep but that the road can descend and ascend them in a direct line. A quarter of a mile from this ravine, and nearer Gitschin, the road drops again into a similar hollow, but here the forest has retired from the side of the chaussée, and the ground is covered with standing crops, among which fruit trees are thickly studded. At about the same distance further on towards the town, a third break in the ground causes another sharp undulation of the roadway.

  On the Gitschin side of this hollow ground, partly on the bank, but more on the brow of the slope, and on the more level country beyond, stands the little village of Lochow, forming a clump of houses with low walls, but having high thatched roofs, which just rise above the tops of the orchard trees that cluster closely among and around the cottages. A quarter of a mile beyond the village lies the last break in the ground, for beyond this a flat plain stretches to the little river which, passing the town of Gitschin on its Lochow side, falls into the Iser near Türnau. This last ravine is rather deeper and wider than the others; at the bottom there is a rivulet, which the road, after descending the Lochow bank, crosses by a low stone bridge, and then runs straight up the opposite side of the nullah, as it might be termed in Indian phrase, to gain the level plain.

  The 2nd corps of General von Schmitt, which marched from the neighbourhood of Podoll, struck at Sobotka the road from Münchengrätz to Gitschin. General von Schmitt there changed the direction of his march to the left, and advanced towards Gitschin. He moved with his two divisions at some distance apart; that of General von Werder, or the 3rd division, led the way. Von Werder’s advanced guard consisted of the 2nd battalion of Jägers and the 3rd battalion of the 42nd regiment. In the rear of these followed the three battalions of the regiment of the late King of Prussia (the 2nd), the two remaining battalions of the 42nd, and one battalion of the 14th regiment, with one six-pounder and two four-pounder field batteries.

  A strong Austrian force held the wood behind the first ravine, with its sharpshooters behind the trunks of the fir-trees, with the view of compensating for the inferiority of their rifle to the Prussian needle-gun. Behind each marksman two soldiers were placed, whose only duty was to load their rifles and hand them to the picked men to whom the firing was entrusted. The Austrian artillery was placed behind the wood, so that it could bring a cross-fire on the opening in front through which the chaussée passes, and strike heavily on the Sobotka bank of the ravine and the open country beyond. As the Prussian advanced guard approached the ravine, the Austrian batteries opened fire upon them, and the marksmen from behind the trees also soon commenced a biting fire. The Jägers and the men of the 42nd quickly spread out as skirmishers, and, regardless of the withering fire to which they themselves were exposed, showered bullets from their quickly-loaded arms against the defenders of the wood, while some of their artillery, quickly brought into action, tried to silence the Austrian guns.

  But the fight was unequal, the sharpshooters behind the trees could rarely be seen, and the fire of the Prussians did not tell much upon their concealed enemies; nor were their guns in sufficient force to engage successfully the more numerous Austrian pieces. The Jägers from among the trees were aiming well; the men of the 42nd were falling fast, and it seemed that the defenders would be able to hold the wood. But the rest of the Prussian division was coming up; more artillery was already in action; and the Austrian gunners began to fire with less effect The regiment of the King of Prussia soon arrived. The Prussian soldiers, unable to make much impression with their fire on the riflemen in the trees, were already anxious to come to close quarters, and then General von Werder sent his men forward to take the woods with the bayonet They were carried, but not without loss, for the Austrians retired from tree to tree, and only when pressed beyond the last skirt of the wood retired under cover of their guns and reserves to take up a position on the further brow of the next ravine.

  The musketry fire recommenced. The opponents stood on either bank of the hollow, and poured volley after volley into each other’s ranks, while the artillery, from positions on the flanks of both lines, sent their shells truly among their adversary’s infantry. But here the needle-gun had more success, for the Austrians stood up clear against the sky, and soon the white uniforms began to go down quickly. No troops so ill-armed could have stood before the murderous fire which the Prussians directed against the opposite line. The Austrians did all that men could do; but, after losing fearfully, were obliged to fall back, and take up their third position in the village of Lochow, and on the Anna Berg. The 42nd regiment and the second Jäger battalion were sent against the Anna Berg, while the 2nd and the 14th attacked the village.

  It was now about seven o’clock in the evening; the combat had already lasted almost two hours, but here it was renewed more fiercely than ever. The Prussians, encouraged by their success—brave soldiers and bravely led—eagerly came to the attack. With hearts as big, and with officers as devoted, the Austrians stood with a desperate calmness to receive them. On both sides the fighting was hard; but at any distance the Austrian rifle had no chance against the needle-gun, and at close quarters the boyish soldiers of the Kaiser could not cope with the broad-shouldered men of Pomerania, who form the corps d’armée, one division of which was here engaged. Yet for three-quarters of an hour the little village of Lochow was held, and the continuous rattle of the rifles and the heavy cannonade of the guns remaining almost stationary told the determination of the assault and the stoutness of the defence. But the Austrians were slowly forced from house to house and from orchard to orchard, and had to retreat to their last vantage ground on the top of the Gitschin bank of the fourth ravine.

  And here both sides re-engaged in the fight with the utmost fury. The defenders felt that this was their last standing point, and on its maintenance depended the possession of Gitschin; the assailants knew that success here would almost certainly bring them to the object of all their exertions. The Prussian line soon formed on the top of the opposite bank to that held by the Austrians, and then began to fire rapidly against the brow where the Austrians stood. The latter returned the fire, but from necessity more slowly; still their guns smote the Prussian troops heavily, and the shells bursting in front of the assailants’ line, caused many casualties. But the Pomeranians were highly excited, and it is said that a heavy mass of the Prussians dashed down the road and rushed up the opposite slope with their rifles at the charge. A fierce struggle ensued. The strong men of Pomerania pressed hard against their lighter opponents, and pushed them beyond the brow of the slope on to the level plain; yet the lithe and active Austrians fought hard, and strove to drive their bayonets into the faces of their taller antagonists; but strength and weight told, for their more powerful adversaries urged them back foot by foot till a gap was clearly opened in the defenders’ line.

  The musketry bullets had also told sharply on the Saxons and Austrians, and they were obliged to retire. They drew off across the plain towards Gitschin, but not in rout; slowly and sullenly the Saxon rearguard drew back, suffering awful loss in the open plain, where the needle-gun had a fair range; but they fought for every yard of ground, ever turning to send among the advancing Prussians shots which were often truly aimed, but which formed no sufficient return for the showers of bullets which were rained upon themselves. For long the plain was the scene of the advancing combat, and it was not until near midnight that General von Werder occupied Gitschin. In the town the Austrians
did not stand; they held some houses at the entrance for a short time, but these were carried, and then they retired rapidly towards the south. In their haste they left their hospitals, and here, as in Lochow, Von Werder’s division took a large number of prisoners.

  But this was not the only combat that evening. On the northern side of Gitschin the Austrian position extended beyond the Türnau road, to cover the town against the Prussians advancing from the direction of Türnau. The range of hills which runs round the northwestern side of Gitschin drops with a steep slope down to the Türnau road, near the village of Brada, and sends out a much lower prolongation of the range which runs at right angles to the direction of the road, and beyond it, as far as the river that passes by Gitschin and joins the Iser near Türnau. Over this lower spur the road runs, and on its summit lies on the Prussian right of the road, and close to it, the village of Podultz; while further to the right and on the top of the high hills is the village of Brada, standing about 300 yards further southwards than Podultz.

  The 5th division, under General Tümpling, on the afternoon of the 29th, advanced from Rowensko, and about half-past four o’clock came within 2,000 yards of the village of Podultz. His division consisted of the 8th, 12th, 18th, and 48th regiments, with four batteries of artillery. As the Prussians advanced they saw the village of Podultz close to the road, and on their right, standing on the top of the gentle ascent by which the road rises to the top of the lower spur, on the other side of the road, and about three hundred yards from it nearer to the advancing division by two hundred yards than Podultz, the village of Diletz lying in the plain; while high on their right they could see the chimneys of Brada above the thick fir wood which, lying on the hill side, in front of that village, runs down nearly to Podultz, and trace by the different colour of the foliage the ground occupied by its orchards.

  The three villages and the fir wood were held by Austrian and Saxon troops, supported by seven batteries of artillery, which were placed both on the spur and on Brada hill, while behind the spur were hidden three of Austria’s finest cavalry regiments—the hussars of Radetzky, of Lichtenstein, and of the Austrian regiment of the King of Prussia. In front of the village of Brada and of the fir wood an abattis was constructed which ran down the steep slope nearly as far as Podultz. As soon as the Prussians came within range the Austrian batteries opened upon them; the Prussian guns replied, and under the cover of their artillery the columns advanced to the attack of the position. The 8th and 48th regiments advanced against the village of Diletz, which was garrisoned by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Saxon battalions, and where, as the prisoners reported, the Crown Prince of Saxony himself took part in the fight The Fusilier battalion of the 48th engaged the garrison of the village, while the rest of the regiment with the 8th turned towards Eisenstadt, but were sharply attacked by an Austrian column, and driven back to Zames. Both columns were exposed to a very hot fire.

  After a severe struggle both villages were carried, though that of Podultz, set on fire by a shell, was burning when the Prussians occupied it Then General Edelsheim, who commanded the Austrian cavalry, with a desperate valour attacked the burning village, but the horses would not face the flames,, and the Prussian infantry from behind the blazing houses fired on the disordered squadrons and killed many troopers. After taking Podultz the 12th and 18th regiments pushed past Brada, leaving it to their right, and made for the Lochow road, in order to cut off the retreat of the Austrians, who were retiring from Lochow on Gitschin. The Austrian cavalry charged the advancing Prussians, but the latter received them without forming square, and the horsemen recoiled broken by their steady fire. The Austrian troops in Brada and the Saxons and Austrians in Diletz were quite separated by the capture of the village of Podultz, and the former were almost entirely taken; the latter were cut off from retreat in large numbers, for Von Werder was pressing towards Gitschin, the roads were crowded, and the little river formed on the right of the broken allies a wide extent of marshy ground, which it was almost impossible to cross. The loss of the Saxons between Diletz and Gitschin was tremendous; they fell thickly, and the ground was covered with corpses.

  The Prussians suffered much, but they fought most bravely, and, with only four regiments and half as many guns as their opponents, carried a very strong position held by a much superior force; for the Prussians had in the field but 16,000 men, and the allied strength in the first line was estimated at 30,000. Under a crushing fire they advanced to the attack of Podultz and Diletz, and the vacancies in the muster-roll show how fearfully they suffered; but every man who fell on the Prussian side was trebly avenged, and a long broad track of fallen enemies marked the line of march of the four regiments who fought near Diletz. But though the Austrian position was strong, it was badly occupied. The troops on the hill of Brada seem to have been so enclosed in their defensive works that they could make no counter attack on the Prussian columns engaged at Podultz, nor could they attack in flank the 12th and 18th regiments as they passed. Many officers fell on both sides. General Tümpling, who commanded the Prussian division, was wounded, fortunately not severely.

  The field of Diletz was thickly strewn with killed and wounded. Here the Prussians lay more thickly than at Lochow, for the more numerous artillery of the defenders ploughed with terrible effect through the dense columns of the assailants as they advanced to the attack. But between Diletz and Gitschin the ground was covered with broken arms, knapsacks, shakos, and fallen men, who were mostly either Saxons or Austrians, for here the needle-gun was more used than artillery.

  The Prussians took about 7,000 prisoners in the two combats, many officers, and the Austrian loss in killed and wounded was about 3,000, so that the actions of that evening withdrew 10,000 soldiers from under the Austrian colours.

  The Prussian headquarters were moved to Gitschin. The town had been almost entirely deserted by the inhabitants, the streets were filled with military carriages and marching troops, while a Prussian garrison bivouacked under the colonnade which runs all round the market-place.

  On the afternoon of the 30th, the strategic object of the movements of the two Prussian armies was achieved, for communications were opened in Bohemia between Prince Frederick Charles and the crown prince. A regiment of dragoons sent from Gitschin that day to feel for the Second Army found the advanced troops of the crown prince at Arnau, and sent back intelligence that he had secured the passages of the Upper Elbe at Arnau and Königinhof. The Ziethen regiment of hussars in the front defeated an Austrian regiment, and captured a convoy of about fifty waggons on the same day.

  Count Clam Gallas sent to Benedek to announce the defeat of his force at Gitschin, his incapability of any longer holding the First Prussian Army in check, and that he was retreating hastily on Königgrätz. This report reached the Austrian commander-in-chief early on the morning of the 30th, and had an important effect on the dispositions which he was making against the army of the crown prince. It is now necessary to trace the course by which the Second Army gained the position in which its outposts were found by the cavalry of Prince Frederick Charles on the 30th June.

  BOOK 6

  CHAPTER 1: Passage of the Army of Silesia Through the Mountains

  The First Army and the Army of the Elbe, united under the command of Prince Frederick Charles, on the 30th June, opened communication in Bohemia with the Second Army, which had marched through the mountains from Prussian Silesia, under the command of the Crown Prince of Prussia. It is necessary now to follow the steps by which the Crown Prince brought his army successfully through the passes of the Sudetic Hills.

  The crown prince had been appointed commander-in-chief of the Second Army on the 19th May, and on the 2nd June was also named Military Governor of Prussian Silesia. On the 4th June he moved his headquarters from Berlin to that province. The Second Army consisted of the corps of the Guards, and the first, fifth, and sixth corps d’armée of the line.

  When the crown prince assumed the command in Silesia, he fixed his headquarters at
the castle of Fürstenstein. At this time the fifth corps lay round Landshut, the sixth round Waldenburg, the cavalry division round Striegau, and the first corps, which was on the line of march from Görlitz, was moving to Hirschberg and Schönau. The independent corps, under General Knobelsdorf and Count Stölberg, had pushed detachments close up to the Austrian frontier. (See Book 5 end of chapter 1). The fortresses of Glatz, Neisse, Cosel, and Glogau were armed, and new fortifications were thrown up round Schweidnitz.

  As has been already noticed, the Army of Silesia in the course of the second week of June, in order to deceive the Austrian commander, and to secure the safety of Prussian Silesia against a hostile invasion, took up a defensive position, on the 10th of that month, near the fortress of Neisse, behind the line of the river of that name. At the same time the corps of the Guards joined the Second Army from Berlin, and was posted at Brieg, but left one division to watch the passes of the mountains on the west of the county of Glatz, and to keep open the communications with the First Army, which was near Görlitz. (See Book 4, chapter 4).

  At this time six of the Austrian corps which Feldzeugmeister Benedek held at his disposal were posted in Austrian Silesia and in Moravia. Political events developed themselves rapidly. The decree of the diet, the declaration of war by Prussia against Saxony, and the irruption of General Herwarth von Bittenfeld and of Prince Frederick Charles into that country, followed each other in quick succession. The Saxon Army retired into Bohemia, and the Austrian troops began moving towards Josephstadt.