1998 Frederick the Great
Battlefield Tour

May 17: Leuthen

by Fritz Mueller


Today is one I've looked forward to for years. The "mother of all battlefields" is a short ride west of Breslau. We stop along a roadside within sight of the twin church spires of Leuthen (Lutynia), and march down a curiously placed paved road between fields to a stone monument in the midst of farm land. This 15 foot tall granite block appears to have been used for target practice for modern weapons, with so many chips and pock marks defacing the remains of an inscription. We can make out that this is a monument for the Prussian victory at Leuthen, and that it was constructed by a German engineer unit, probably during WWII. This is the only remaining monument to Frederick's battles that we shall see during our time in Silesia. All others have been systematically destroyed or removed by the Poles, who now own Silesia. It was in this area that Frederick performed his initial recon of the Austrian positions in front of the village of Leuthen.

[Editor: battlefield monuments are particularly rare in Europe. At one time though, nearly all of Frederick's major battles had at least a single monument dedicated to the battle. I am told that some of these were marked on the Prussian General Staff maps of SYW battlefields, prior to WWI.]

Back on the coach and into Leuthen. The road carries us through the right center of the Austrian line at the village of Frobelwitz. The modern road into Leuthen parallels the Austrian center and deposits us in the center of the village. We walk to the old church, immortalized by the Rochling drawing depicting the storming of the church by the Prussian Gardes, and tour the grounds and inspect the walls. The Muhlenberg Gate still stands, and becomes the focal point of numerious group photos, courtesy of our tour coordinator, Steve Howe (from Tour de Force Travel). Good sport Steve!

I notice curious half ball-shaped objects protruding from the church walls in several places. Many of us wonder if these are cannon balls that the Prussians fired into the church while trying to breach the walls. Within the walls are many gravesites, which is common in Europe. The graves serve as an appropriate reminder of the terrible battle that occurred in this place. However, the graves are Polish civilians, rather than Austrian or Prussian soldiers.

The village has grown since 1757, but some of the original buildings remain. It is one of the nicer villages we will be visiting during our tour. We walk to the western end of the village and into the fields where Serbeloni's cavalry was initially deployed. From here we can just make out Sagschutz and what may be the Kaul Busch, where the battle began. It is easy to see how the Austrians were caught unawares by the Prussian advance. The ground in the area is rolling, containing many dips, rises and folds that could conceal an approching enemy until it was too late to react (at least in an 18th Century maneuver time frame).

After some photos, we board the coach and head west to Radaxdorf, just south of the Butter Berg. [Editor: at this point, the tour is following the flanking march that the Prussians were making around the left end of the Austrian line. Stops were made near each of the little villages along the route so that we could look back at Leuthen and determine for ourselves the extent to which the Prussian march was obscured by terrain from Austrian eyes.]

Here we view the fields where Driesen's Prussian cavalry charge caught the Austrian cavalry in the flank and rear, forcing them back on Leuthen and their own infantry. Heading further south, we enter Lobetinz, the left wing of the Prussian deployment area near the Wach Berg. Then further south through Kertschutz and east into Schriegwitz, roughly paralleling the Prussian center positions. Here we disembark and follow the axis of the Prussian advance over the Glanz Berg, down a trail through the fields and across "the ditch" in front of the Kiefern Berg, and then ascending the Kiefern Berg where we enter the village of Sagschutz.

At this point we turn around and looking back from whence we came, view the fields over which the Prussians advanced [led by the regiment Meyerinck] and the ground that the Wurttembergers and Bavarians defended to no avail. We try to locate the Kaul Busch, the area of von Ziethen's "end run" attack and Bevern's supporting infantry attack. It is hard to know for sure which trees are which, but one's imagination easily fills the gaps. We know that this is where the opening attack happened, where the first dominoes fell.

I try to imagine thefeelings of the Wurttembergers as they stood watching the entire Prussian army advancing on their positions. Outmanned, out-gunned and out-classed, it took much courage on their parts to even stand up to the initial assault, though they did not stand long. Lives must have passed before many eyes that day and, judging the distance of the advance before the initial onslaught, many had time for a rerun or two.

For some reason many of us continued to walk toward Leuthen, another mile and a half away. Talking, observing, or caught up in our own thoughts. Steve Howe went back and got the bus which caught up with us, but most of us preferred to hoof it into Leuthen. We were retracing the steps of the Prussians from the junp-off point to the point of the final assault on Leuthen. I think that many of us just wanted to be able to say that we had done it. As we entered the outskirts of the village, we discussed the possibility of forming up and marching in, but since it was a Sunday and we weren't in uniform, we straggled in like rabble. Altogether it was most invigorating and a memory that I will cherish.

It is worthy to note that the current residents of this area have little idea what happened here on that cool day in December 1757. As the original German population was evicted decades ago (after 1945), there is no sense of history in the minds of the current residents. They had no idea who we were or why we had invaded their villages. It is sad to know that so much has been lost in so short. a space of time. It is an even greater misfortune that we know more of the history of this land than do the current inhabitants.

Editor's Additional Comments:

We travelled through Silesia in a yellow and blue "psychodelic-patterned" motorcoach that was quite a sight to behold in and of itself. Add to this the fact that many of the small villages visited were well off the beaten path and therefore the citizens were not used to seeing tour buses. Undoubtedly they wondered what we were up to and why we would even bother to visit such a remote village. Their curiosity or suspicions would be quite natural. Occaisionally, we would be approached by an older man who could speak a little bit of German, and we had several members who could also speak some German, so at times, we were able to explain the reason for our visit. Some of the older inhabitants knew that a battle had been fought in a particular village, but nothing more.

In Hohenfriedberg, some school boys assumed that we were Germans, and as our bus motored out of town, I looked out the back window and watched as they gave us a Nazi hand salute. That gives you an indication of the Poles' feelings towards the Germans, and also explains why the Poles have been so thorough in eradicating German/Prussian historical monuments. It's their land now and they don't want any mention of the time when Germans lived in Silesia.

Some additional comments on Leuthen:

Much is made of the fact that. the Austrians outnumbered the Prussians nearly two to one (65,000 Austrians to 33,000 Prussians). However, the odds were not as different as one would imagine, according to Professor Duffy.

First of all, only 52,000 Austrians and allies were actually engaged, the balance of the army being out of play on the far right end of an Austrian line that stretched over 7 to 8 miles in length. Another 10,000 men engaged were allied troops of dubious quality and a further 2,000 were Croats and other light infantry that would not be a factor once the battle began. This leaves the Austrians with approximately 40,000 men to some 33-35,000 battle-tested Prussians.

Accordingly, the numbers of quality troops were similar, while the Prussians had the added advantage of deploying on the Austrian left flank. This gave the Prussians local superiority in numbers and nullified the effect of the larger Austrian army.

Prince Charles did not want to fight the battle, but it was forced on him by Frederick. Charles had wanted to make winter quarters in Breslau and thought that he was entering a short campaign to keep the Prussians out of Breslau. The Austrian plan was to move north to a defensive line along the Katzbach stream, but Charles hadn't counted on the swiftness of Frederick's advance. The Austrian's problems were enlarged by the decisive action at the village of Borne on the morning of December 5, 1757.

The Prussians surprised the force of Croats and Hussars that were acting as a screening force and picket line. Once the Austrian light troops were driven off, the Austrian generals were completely blind to the Prussians intentions. This is what enabled Frederick to march his army across the front of the Austrian position at Leuthen and redeploy unhindered on the Austrian left flank at Sagschutz.

The modern day highway follows the path of the Prussian advance from Borne to Grosse Heidau. Here, the Prussians turned left (south), but the modern road continues through Frobelwitz, bisecting the battlefield and continues on into Breslau. The monument mentioned by Fritz Mueller is easily seen from the road on the right-hand (south) side of the road between Borne and Gross Heidau. The consensus seemed to be that it was located on the Schon-Berg. Looking across the field towards Leuthen, one can see the church and roof tops of the village. Looking behind, one can view Gross Heidau, but neither of these villages are visible from the other due to the slight fold in the ground, which is indeed enough of a rise to conceal an army.

Finally, a word about the Leuthen churchyard. It is a smallish church raised about three feet above the road level. The church is surrounded by a thick stone wall with little round turrets in each corner. The walls are about six feet in height. The Rot Wurzburg regiment would have had to build firing steps in order to fire their muskets over the walls. Someone suggested that they might have used church pews, but Duffy opined that there were probably no pews in the church and that the defenders probably scrounged up wood from the town to build firing platforms.

There is a section alone the south wall obscured by a religious shrine, believed to be the point where the wall was breeched with cannon fire. One can still make out the existence of a plack, since covered over with concrete, but the word "Koenig" is still visible. We inferred that the Germans set a memorial plaque at this position in the wall. There is a similar church in Borne, which suggests that walled churches with corner turrets may be common in this part of the world.

Jumbo Leuthen Map (very slow: 478K)

More 1998 Frederick the Great Tour

Back to Seven Years War Asso. Journal Vol. X No. 3 Table of Contents
Back to Seven Years War Asso. Journal List of Issues
Back to Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1998 by James E. Purky

This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com