The Seven Weeks' War

by H M Hozier

  As soon as the cannonade in front became serious, the guns of the seventh division began to bombard the village of Benatek, on the Austrian right. The Austrians returned shot for shot, and neither side either gained or lost ground. In the centre, too, the battle was very even; the Prussians pushed battery after battery into the action, and kept up a tremendous fire on the Austrian guns, but these returned it, and sometimes with interest, for the Austrian artillery officers knew their ground, and every shell fell true; many officers and men fell, and many horses were killed or wounded. More krankenträgers were sent down to the batteries, and always returned carrying on stretchers men whose wounds had been hastily bound up under fire, but who seemed to be too much stunned to suffer much from pain.

  Gradually the Prussian cannonade appeared to get stronger, and the Austrian batteries between Dohalitz and Dohalicka retired higher up the hill, but the guns at Mokrovous still stood fast, and the Prussians had not yet crossed the Bistritz; many guns were now turned on Mokrovous, and at ten o’clock the battery there was also obliged to retire a little.

  While this cannonade had been going on, some of the infantry had been moved down towards the river, where they took shelter from the fire under a convenient undulation of ground.

  The eighth division came down on the left-hand side of the causeway, and, under the cover of the rising in the ground, formed its columns for the attack of the village of Sadowa; while the third and fourth divisions, on the right-hand side of the road prepared to storm Dohalitz and Mokrovous. A little before their preparations were complete the village of Benatek, on the Austrians’ right, caught fire, and the seventh division made a dash to secure it, but the Austrians were not driven out by the flames, and here for the first time in the battle was there hand-to-hand fighting. The 27th regiment led the attack, and rushed into the orchards of the village; the burning houses separated the combatants; they poured volley after volley at each other through the flames; but the Prussians found means to get round the burning houses, and, taking the defenders in reverse, forced them to retire with the loss of many prisoners.

  It was ten o’clock when Prince Frederick Charles sent General Stülpnagel to order the attack on Sadowa, Dohalitz, and Mokrovous. The columns advanced covered by skirmishers, and reached the river bank without much loss, but from there they had to fight every inch of their way. The Austrian infantry held the bridges and villages in force, and fired fast upon them as they approached. The Prussians could advance but slowly along the narrow ways and against the defences of the houses, and the volleys sweeping through the ranks seemed to tear the soldiers down. The Prussians fired much more quickly than their opponents, but they could not see to take their aim; the houses, trees, and smoke from the Austrian discharges shrouded the villages.

  Sheltered by these, the Austrian Jägers fired blindly where they could tell by hearing that the attacking columns were, and the shots told tremendously on the Prussians in their close formations; but the latter improved their positions, although slowly, and by dint of sheer courage and perseverance, for they lost men at every yard of their advance, and in some places almost paved the way with wounded. Then, to help the infantry, the Prussian artillery turned its fire, regardless of the enemy’s batteries, on the villages, and made tremendous havoc among the houses. Mokrovous and Dohalitz both caught fire, and the shells fell quickly and with fearful effect among the defenders of the flaming hamlets; the Austrian guns also played upon the attacking infantry, but at this time these were sheltered from their fire by the houses and trees between.

  In and around the villages the fighting continued for nearly an hour; then the Austrian infantry, who had been there, driven out by a rush of the Prussians, retired, but only a little way up the slope into a line with their batteries. The wood above Sadowa was strongly held, and that between Sadowa and Benatek, teeming with riflemen, stood to bar the way of the seventh division. But General Franzecky, who commanded this division, was not to be easily stopped, and he sent his infantry at the wood, and turned his artillery on the Austrian batteries. The seventh division began firing into the trees, but found they could not make any impression, for the defenders were concealed, and musketry fire was useless against them. Franzecky let them go, and they dashed in with the bayonet.

  The Austrians would not retire, but waited for the struggle, and in the wood above Benatek was fought out one of the fiercest combats which the war has seen. But the wood was carried. The Austrian line of advanced posts was now driven in on the Bistritz, but its commander had formed his main line of battle a little higher up the hill, round Lipa, still holding the wood which lies above Sadowa.

  Then the Prussian artillery was sent across the Bistritz, and began to fire upon the new Austrian position. At the same time the smoke of General Herwarth’s advance was gradually seen moving towards the Austrian left. He had at Nechanitz found the brigade of Saxon troops which formed the advanced front of the corps at Problus, with some Austrian cavalry, and was driving them towards Problus and Prim, himself following in such a direction that it appeared he would turn the Austrian left flank. But the Austrian commander seemed determined to hold his position, and heavy masses of infantry and cavalry could be seen on the upper part of the slope.

  By eleven o’clock the eighth division of the Prussian infantry had taken the village of Sadowa, the fourth that of Dohalitz, and the third that of Dohalicka. The eighth division was now sent against the wood, which, above these places, runs along the side of the Sadowa and Lipa road, while the third and fourth divisions attempted to bear the battle up the hill towards Lipa, and to attack the left flank of the wood. The Prussians advanced against the nearest trees, but did not at first make much impression, for the Austrians being here again concealed, the fire of the needle-gun did not tell, and a whole battery placed at the far end of the wood fired through the trees, and told on their ranks with awful effect.

  But the assailants fought on, at last broke down the obstacles at the entrance, and then dashed in. The fighting continued from tree to tree, and the Austrians made many a rush to recover the lost position of the wood, but in this close fighting their boyish troops went down easily before the strong men of the eighth division; but when the defenders drew back a little, and their artillery played into the trees, the Prussians suffered fearfully, and about halfway up in the wood the fight became stationary.

  For two hours more it continued so; in vain Horne, who commanded the eighth division, strove to push along the road or through the trees to storm the battery beyond. The fire was too terrible, and his men became gradually exhausted.

  A few minutes after the Prussians had occupied the villages along the Bistritz, Feldzeugmeister Benedek was informed that the sixth Prussian corps belonging to the army of the crown prince was threatening his right flank. He sent orders that this attack should be checked or detained, and appears to have calculated that the crown prince could be held in check until he had time to inflict a severe blow upon the army of Prince Frederick Charles. With this aim he made his preparations for a counter-attack between Problus and Lipa, which was to be made as soon as his artillery had shaken the Prussian line sufficiently. Sixty-four guns were stationed between Lipa and Streselitz to fire on the third and fourth Prussian division, and some of the reserves of cavalry and infantry were moved up to positions favourable for making the counter-attack.

  At this time the Austrian artillery were making splendid practice, and about one o’clock, the whole battle line of the Prussians could gain no more ground, and was obliged to fight hard to retain the position it had won. At one time it seemed as if it would be lost, for guns had been dismounted by the Austrian fire, and in the wooded ground the needle-gun had no fair field, and the infantry fight was very equal.

  Then Prince Frederick Charles sent the fifth and sixth divisions forward. They laid down their helmets and knapsacks on the ground, and advanced to the river. The king was now near to the Bistritz, and the troops cheered him loudly as they marched into the b
attle. They went over the Sadowa bridge, disappeared into the wood, and soon the increased noise of the musketry told they had begun to fight; but the Austrian gunners sent salvo after salvo among them, and they did not push the battle forwards more than a few hundred yards, for they fell back themselves, and they could not reach the enemy. Not only did the fragments of the shells fly about among them, scattering death and awful gashes among their ranks, but the portions of the trees, torn by the artillery fire, flew thickly about, huge ragged splinters that caused even more frightful wounds.

  Herwarth, too, was checked upon the right The smoke of his musketry and artillery, which had hitherto been pushing forward steadily, stood still.

  He had marched with his three divisions from Smidar to Nechanitz, and had made himself master of this village at the same time as the divisions of Prince Frederick Charles had occupied the hamlets further up the Bistritz. The Saxon artillery withdrew to the heights by Problus and Prim, and to an entrenchment beside the Hradek wood. Then here also the battle came to a standstill. It required a long time to bring the artillery over the Bistritz, for the Saxons had broken the bridge at Nechanitz, no ford could be found, and the banks of the river were too marshy to allow of the guns being dragged through the stream.

  About one o’clock Herwarth’s pioneers had repaired the bridge, and his artillery had been brought across the river. He then directed the fourteenth division, commanded by General Münster, against Problus through Lubno as his left wing. In his centre he sent the fifteenth division, under General Canstein, against Prim, while the sixteenth division, under General Etzel, made a wide sweep to the right, in order to turn the left of the Austrian position at the Castle of Hradek. Problus and Prim were strengthened with barricades and abattis. The Saxons and the eighth Austrian corps fought nobly. A hot battle ensued here, which lasted till past three o’clock.

  Affairs did not apparently go more favourably for the Prussians in the centre. The whole of the First Army was severely engaged, with the exception of eight batteries of artillery and the cavalry which was still held in reserve. The reserve artillery of Prince Frederick Charles was sent a little distance up the Bistritz, in order to bring a fire against the flank of the Sadowa wood, to search out the defenders, and if possible to dismount the guns in the batteries in front of Lipa. But, notwithstanding, the Austrians clung obstinately to the trees.

  Franzecky’s men, cut to pieces, could not be sent forward to attack the Sadowa wood, for they would have exposed themselves to be taken in rear by the artillery on the right of the Austrian line formed in front of Lipa. The First Army was certainly checked in its advance. The Prussian commanders began to look anxiously to the left for the coming of the crown prince. Some Austrian guns near Lipa were seen to be firing towards the Prussian left, and it was hoped they might be directed against the advanced guard of the Second Army, but at three o’clock there were no signs of Prussian columns advancing against Lipa. The generals became manifestly uneasy, and they drew Horne’s division out of the Sadowa wood. Cavalry was also formed up, so that it would be available either for the pursuit of the Austrians, or for retarding their pursuit.

  When Prince Frederick Charles sent the night before the battle to request the co-operation of the crown prince, the latter sent back an answer that he would be on the field at two o’clock. More than faithful to his promise, he was there with two corps at half-past twelve, and his artillery was engaged with the batteries on the Austrian right at that hour. But the fire from the Austrian batteries was so terrible that he could not attack with his infantry till something had been done towards silencing the enemy’s guns. The generals directing the first attack could see nothing of the crown prince’s infantry, as they were hidden in the undulations of the ground. The aide-de-camp despatched from the Second Army to tell the king that the crown prince was engaged had to make a long detour, and did not reach the generals directing the front attack till late in the afternoon.

  Hence arose great uneasiness in the front, for from the direction of the Austrian guns they might have been firing against the seventh division, which formed the left of the front attack, and as nothing could be seen of the crown prince’s troops it began to be feared that he had been stopped by some accident As time went on anxiety increased, for it was felt that the Austrian position was too strong to be taken by a front attack alone. Glasses were anxiously directed to the left, but the day being wet there was no dust to show where columns marched, and nothing could be seen to indicate the advance of the Second Army against the Austrian right. The king himself gazed steadfastly through his glass, looking in vain through the misty air. No glimpse could be caught of Prussian riflemen on the slope to the left of Lipa, and no battalions could be seen; the guns also were out of sight, for they were on the reverse side of the Lipa ridge, or were hidden from the position of the staff by the wood that runs from Benatek up the slope towards Lipa.

  The anxiety of the Prussian generals at Sadowa was, however, groundless. While they were still unaware that the crown prince was upon the field of battle, some of his soldiers were already in the very heart of the Austrians’ position, and holding their ground against repeated attempts by superior numbers to dislodge them.

  Advance of the Crown Prince.—On receiving the request from Prince Frederick Charles to move against the Austrians’ right, and the subsequent order from the king to the same effect, the crown prince issued orders to the troops to march early on the 3rd July. His orders were not sent out till nearly five in the morning, but before seven the heads of his columns had begun to move. On his left wing the sixth corps crossed the Elbe above Jaromir, and marched in two columns towards the Trotinka.

  The twelfth division, under General Proudzinsky, which moved down the Elbe close to the river, was fired upon by the fortress of Josephstadt, and had to leave one brigade to observe the garrison of that place. On the right wing the first corps, followed by the cavalry division, was ordered to march in two columns by Zabres and Grosz-Trotin to Grosz-Bürglitz. In the centre, the corps of the Guards was to move from Königinhof on Jericek and Lhota. The fifth corps was to follow the sixth corps as a reserve, and to march two hours later from the Elbe to Choteborek. All baggage and train were to be left behind.

  The crown prince knew nothing of the Austrian position. Where he should find the Austrian flank, in what force, and how defended, were questions which he and his chief of the staff could only answer on the actual field of battle, and on the spur of the moment. The rain had already fallen heavily for some time when the Second Army commenced its march. The crown prince witnessed the passage of the Elbe at Königinhof by a portion of the Guards, and then hastened forward with his staff to place himself at the head of the column. The steep roads leading up the high bank of the valley of the Elbe to the plateau of Daubrowitz, slippery and heavy with the rain, tried severely the strength of both men and horses.

  Directly after passing Daubrowitz the commander-in-chief of the Second Army saw from smoke arising from a cannonade, and from burning houses in the direction of Sadowa, that the First Army was already engaged. The wind was blowing towards the battle, so that he could not hear the cannonade, and could not tell in which direction it was moving. He directed the head of his column upon Choteborek. The view extended with every step forward, and it soon became apparent that a great battle was being waged. At a quarter-past eleven the crown prince had reached the chain of hills to the west of Choteborek with the first division of the corps of the Guards close behind him.

  In front of Choteborek the ground formed a low trough about two miles wide, in which there were many soft and marshy places. Beyond this trough lay the hill of Horenowes, conspicuous with its single tree, and at its foot the village of that name. Beyond this hill the view was shut out, but on its western side the eye could range clearly down the valley of the Bistritz, where it was easy to distinguish the situations of the antagonistic lines of battle by the smoke of a great number of batteries in action, and by the flames of several
burning villages. It could be seen that the seventh division, which formed the left wing of the First Army, was fighting an unequal battle in front of Benatek, and was already in need of support.

  Towards Grosz-Bürglitz and Welchow, where the two wings of the Second Army were to debouch, heavy woods shut out the view. It was certain, however, that if these two corps, in execution of the orders which had been given them, had reached those places, the further march of the Second Army would conduct it against the right flank and partly into the rear of the enemy’s position. Already the army of the crown prince occupied a similar position with regard to the First Army, as that of Blücher to the British line on the day of Waterloo.

  The crown prince despatched officers to ascertain the real positions of the first and sixth corps. Hardly had they left his side when a report came in from General Von Mutius with the intelligence that the sixth corps had already reached Welchow, and in consequence of the heavy cannonade he had ordered it to push on in the direction of the firing. It was this advance which, reported to Benedek, was his first intimation of the advent of the crown prince, and which he ordered to be held in check by his second corps. Fortune had ordained that the sixth corps should have been casually prepared to advance, because, in consequence of the order which it had received to make a reconnaissance against Josephstadt, it had already crossed the Elbe when the second order for an advance beyond Josephstadt reached it.

  In a short time the fifth corps was also reported by General Steinmetz to be approaching Choteborek. No news had come in from the first corps, but it was known that on account of its longer march its arrival could hardly yet be expected.

  The crown prince determined, with the first division of the Guards, which he held available, to seize the hill of Horenowes. In order to do so, he was obliged to advance across the marshy hollow, where his troops would be exposed, without any cover, to the fire of the Austrian guns, which would have plenty of time to collect on the hill in large quantities while the Prussians were traversing the low ground. To save his men as much as possible, the regiments were ordered to spread out and to march singly on the Horenowes hill, where their chief pointed out the conspicuous trees as their goal.