1998 Frederick the Great
Battlefield Tour

May 21: Glatz (Klodzo)

by Fritz Mueller


This is the only fortress we were able to visit on the tour, and is perhaps the last remaining fortress of the era, other than the smaller fortress across the Neisse that the Prussians built in the 1740's. The town is larger than most we have visited, very charming and clean. It has a 'German' feel to it, and is distinctly different from Breslau. The fortress is a major tourist attaction so the town is a tourist spot and is teeming with people, especially school children. We walk through the twon center to get to the fortress. The approach is a steep set of steps leading to the main gate, which is smaller than I had expected. But then, this is a fortress and not a castle.

Walking up to the entrance, one gains an appreciation of the immensity and shear mass of the place. This is a Vauban style fortress and a survey of the fortification plans is necessary to appreciate the beauty and complexity. The structure is built to conform to the topography of the hill that it surmounts. It dominates a primary crossing point of the Neisse River in this area, and served to protect the upper Silesian plain from any invaders from the west.

We enter, the fortress and meet our Polish guide who speaks German, with a heavy accent. Fortunately he speaks clearly enough that translation is simplified. We get a brief history of the fortress and begin the tour by going through some of the mine tunnels. There are 25 miles of tunnels under the fortress. Fortunately we only tour about 1.5 miles of them.

The designers put much thought into the construction, placing ventilation shafts at intervals which provide air and some light. The walls of the tunnel are carved from the living stone, with the arched roof being made of brick. The tunnels are about four feet wide and vary in height from slightly more than six feet down to three feet or so toward the outer ring. Again we are fortunate in that the lowest tunnel we pass is about five feet high. Most of us stoop a lot.

Every few yards there are vertical slots about a foot wide and deep cut into the walls directly across one another. This allowed the miners to seal off specific sections of the tunnel with timbers and sandbags when they placed a charge of powder under their unsuspecting enemy. When the mine was detonated only the sealed section would collapse, making restoration and repair a quick affair. Very ingenious.

It is surprisingly dry in the tunnels and very cool (about 54 degrees Fahrenheit, I would guess). The tunnels are illurninated by electric lights (of low wattage) fastened to the walls, which flicker and go out occaisionally. This made for an exciting time and provided the opportunity for one of our group to slip into a side tunnel, wait for an unsuspecting passerby and leap out at him howling like a gelded Croat. This provided lots of laughs for the witnesses, with only the victim not appreciating the humor of the moment.

[Editor: I for one thought that we would never get out of this God foresaken labyrinth. The power outages were very frequent and one of them was too long for my taste. In total darkness, one begins to feel the walls closing in and for a brief moment I thought that I was on the verge of a panic. Then the light flickered on briefly and I felt better. The pitch in some of the tunnels was a bit steep and the stones under foot were sometimes slippery, so one had to keep focused on keeping one's balance at all times. We were told that individual teams of Prussians were assigned one particular stretch of tunnel, and they had to memorize its passageway and journey through it in the dark. Afterall, the spark from a lantern could set off a lot of gunpowder.]

We emerged from the tunnels with only a few bruises on our heads and a greater appreciation for the Engineer Corps and their Miner compatriots. The day has become cool and overcast and a light rain begins to fall. Undaunted, we press on to explore the upper levels of the fortress. The walls and works are in good condition. The designer set up some excellent crossing fields of fire for both cannon and musket. We use modern stairs to move from one level to the next and eventually reach the summit of the fortress.

From this point the countryside can be observed all around to the rim of the Bohemian hills. On the east we look directly down into the Neisse, about 200 feet below. To the south and west is the town and the fields beyond. To the north is "the Crane", the northern most extension of the fortress that follows the ridge line of the hill to its limit. It was at this point that the fortress was breached by the Croats on their second assault, which, combined with the treachery of a Prussian conscripted drummer boy, caused the Prussians to lose this seemingly impregnable stronghold.

The fortress also contained some souvenir shops which we scoured for artifacts. Ken Bunger and I were fortunate enough to obtain the last two [Editor.- this proved to be a recurring theme on the trip as Ken Bunger seemed to have a nose for the locations of choice bookstores full of maps and picture plates of SYW-related material. Accordingly, Bunger always got to the store first and invariably purchased the last SYW item in the store. Inevitably, we attached a name to this process: Bungering or getting Bungered. One goes bungering or exploring for books and bookstores, and if another SYWA member got the last book on Frederick the Great, then the other person was bungered out of getting said book. The terminology reached new heights when Phil Mackie and Bunger were found in a jewelry store looking for gifts for there wives, and Mackie was overheard to say, I can't believe it, I've been bungered in a jewelry store! Eventually, many tour members learned the fine art of discretely tailing Ken through Wroclaw and other cities in the hope of finding SYW treasures.]

These will make impressive wall hangings once properly framed. Along with these we found color posters of the fortress with a brief printed history in German and Polish. This part of the Continent does not see many English-speaking visitors.

The rain and cold eventually caused most of us to gather in a tunnel passage and finally give up the excursion. In pairs and small groups we made our way back to the coach for our return to the hotel. On the return trip we were entertained by Todd Fisher's fife and drum music which lulled many of us into an afternoon nap.

Editor's Notes on the Storming of Glatz

In the Spring of 1760, the Austrians decided that they would leave the main army, commanded by Daun, in Saxony and allow Loudon to operate in Silesia with a force of 50,000 men. The plan called for a corps of Russians to join Loudon. The Russians never appeared, but Loudon proceded with his plans and captured Fouque's detachment at Landeshut, as discussed earlier.

Following that victory, Loudon advanced to Glatz where he hoped to capture the other key route into Silesia from Bohemia (the other being at Landeshut).

On July 23, 1760 Loudon began digging siege works around Glatz. The fortress is located atop a steep mountain that overlooks the narrow Neisse River valley and is positioned on the west side of the river. A narrow ridge juts north from the fortress and here the Prussians built a narrow extension of fortifications, culminating in a pentagonal-shaped redoubt, These works were called Der Kranich or "the Crane". On the opposite or east bank of the Neisse, there is another steep mountain called the Schafer Berg, which was also fortified by the Prussians. Presumably, this was to keep the Austrians from capturing high ground across from the festung of Glatz and lobbing cannon balls into the fort from an equal elevation.

As Loudon built his siege works, a party of Croats attempted to sneak up the hillside and capture the Crane. They were not successful, but they almost pulled it off and this encouraged Loudon to attempt an organized storming of the fortress rather than conducting a time-consuming siege.

On July 26th, 114 Austrian guns opened a bombardment of Glatz and silenced the Prussian's return fire within two hours. A number of low quality Prussian garrison troops deserted after the lull in the artillery fire, rushing out of the Crane and into the town of Glatz below. Loudon siezed upon this opportunity to launch a strike force of 200 grenadiers (commanded by Lt. Mylius) into the Crane, which was now unoccupied. They then carried the attack on into the festung. This was the first phase of the Austrian attack.

The Prussian grenadier regiment Unruh (IR45/Gar. 9), the best unit in the Glatz garrison, counter- attacked under the direction of Lt. Colonel Bartholemew Oh (spelling?). The Prussian grenadiers swept the Austrians out of the Crane and other parts of the fortress.

The second phase of the Austrian attack was focused on the Feld Tor on the north end of the fortress, a short distance away from Der Kranich. Lt. Colonel Thelliers, a Dutchman, led 200 Austrians through one of the covered ways and captured the Feld Tor. The Unruh Grenadiers, now positioned in Der Kranich, saw that this development could cut them off from the fortress, so they abandoned the Crane and retreated back to the fortress.

My recollection is that the rest of the 3,200 man Prussian garrison was in the process of deserting the fort or surrendering to the Austrians. A Prussian drummer apparently took the initiative to beat a surrender or laying down of arms tattoo on his drum. By 10 A.M., most of the garrison had surrendered.

Phase three of the action consists of Lt. Colonel Oh trying to recapture the fortress without success. The battle is now over and Loudon has captured this key fortress with minimal effort. The Austrians captured 33 colors and nearly 3,200 low quality Prussian conscripts. Lt. Myulius won the Order of Marie Theresa for his valiant efforts. We now return to Fritz Mueller's commentary.

Breslau / Wroclaw (Vroslav)

That evening a group of us, somewhat tired of the hotel's cuisine, made our way to the Market Square in downtown Breslau and visited a local restaurant. The beer, food and coffee were very good and reasonably priced. The atmosphere was excellent as this was an 18th Century structure and reminded me of the "old inn" that you see in the movies. We were entertained by a violin and accordian duet who played traditional and modern tunes that helped complete the effect.

After dinner, we took a leisurely stroll around the town square looking in shop windows and chatting about a variety of subjects. We were accosted by some Polish basketball fans who were expressing their joy at the Polish team's victory in the European Cup tournement. Being a basketball fan myself (from Indiana) I was empathetic and admired their fierce loyalty and excitement. However, I had watched part of the championship game before leaving the hotel for dinner, not knowing that it was a championship game. My impression of the players was one of lumbering giants who couldn't dribble, pass or shoot the ball very well, let alone set up offensive plays, and whose idea of defense was knocking the opponent to the floor. I digress.

The downtown area of Breslau is undergoing renovation and is very 18th Century-ish. The rest of the city is just very old and run down, circa 1940's to 1950's. This is a poor land that suffered under forty years of domination by the Communists, and it is evident. All evidence of any German heritage or influence has been removed or destroyed. The residents are largely transplanted Poles from Lvov who came after WWII.

The one source of history and national pride we found was a cyclorama painting near the downtown area that honors the Polish Insurrection of 1794 under the leadership of Thaddeus Kosciusko [Editor: more specifically, it depicts the Polish victory over the Russians at Raclowice, near Krakow, in April 1794. A combined force of Polish regulars and scythe-armed peasants defeated a Russian force of about 5,000 men. The painting is very stirring, especially the part depicting the peasants overwhelming a battery of Russian artillery and hacking the Russians to death with scythes. Another scene depicts Polish Uhlans driving off the Russian Cossacks and dragoons while Polish regulars in colorful uniforms pop the Russians in the flank for good measure. Good wargaming potential here].

The Russians and Prussians appear to have won every other battle. Breslau served as a good logistical base for our various day trips and provided ample entertainment. in the off hours. It is not, however, a city that I would visit again for its own sake.

Jumbo Glatz Map (very slow: 251K)

More 1998 Frederick the Great Tour

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© Copyright 1998 by James E. Purky

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