1998 Frederick the Great
Battlefield Tour

May 23: Zorndorf

by Fritz Mueller


Today we vacate Hotel Wroclaw and return to Berlin via Zorndorf (Sarbinowo) and Kustrin. The weather is cool and overcast as the coach heads north. Many of us nap until our first rest break at Grunwald (Zalona Gora), where we refresh at a very modern bar and grab a light lunch of cold cuts, cheese and bread plus some excellent coffee. We arrive at Zorndorf around noon.

We approach the field from the south through the old village of Zorndorf. We park at the approximate point where the Prussian Advance Guard passed through the village as it deployed into line. Here we look around a bit and get our bearings. We move west out of the village and up a road to the north where we pull off and park.

Facing north, Seydlitz deployed his cavalry to our left and we are standing on the spot where the 2nd Regiment of the Prussian infantry stood before they attacked the Russians.

We walk down the road to the south until we come to what we later discovered was a driveway into a farm. We follow the driveway up to the farmhouse where Mike Kirby, our diplomatic envoy, speaks to the owner in German and gains admittance to the farm for our tour. We fan out into the fields where Seydlitz's cavalry wing deployed just out of sight of the Russians.

From this vantage point we can see the Zabern-Grund and gain an appreciation of the significance of this great winding ditch broken up by ponds at various points. This is not a terrain feature that any military formation wishing to maintain its integrity would try to attack through. (Steep slopes of up to 100 feet and lots of water hazards guarded by trees.) This feature served the Russian right right flank as if it were a wall. We march back to our jump-off point and, in the process, I realize that the big dip in the driveway we are passing through is part of the Zabern-Grund at its shallower end on the south.

Back at the coach, we discover a sign post that turns out to be a map of the battlefield, complete with troop positions, and a brief history of the battle in both Russian and Polish. On the map a monument is shown directly to the east. We follow a lane to the east, roughly parallelling the position of the Prussian Advance Guard's line, toward a grove of trees in the midst of farm fields filled with what I am told is Rape Seed (a source of vegitable oil). We enter the grove which conceals a stone base for a monument. The statue that once stood here is now missing. A plowman whom we had met earlier told us that the Russians removed the statue in 1982, and that is was a statue of Frederick the Great on horseback. These people had a distinct aversion to Alte Fritz. As we walk further east through the fields the ground reveals it various features at each step. There are many little dips and blips in this field that, from a distance, appear s to be flat. We reach the southern end of the Glagen-Grund, at which point we stop. The Galgen-Grund is not nearly as formidable a feature as the map would have you believe, at least on this part of the battlefield. But at its northern end it becomes more of a valley rather than a dip in the ground.

From this vantage point one can take in the entire battlefield. The Stein Busch has been cut down, and a farmstead now stands in its place. Once again we stand in the middle of what once was a killing field. Thousands died within a stones throw in any direction. This is hard to believe as I stand here taking in the peaceful silence of the land.

We return to the coach for the final round of the battlefield. We follow, via our coach, the path of Frederick's initial march around the flank of the Russian army via. Heading north we pass through Quartschen, then Darrmietzel and turn east. We pass behind Frederick's camp of the night before the battle and head south again through Neudammer Mill and past Zicher. The road takes us through the left flank of the Corps of Observation by the Langer-Grund and between the lines of Kanitz, in the Prussian center, and Dohna, on the Prussian right flank. We stop one last time in Zorndorf for some photos and a walk-around. Then finally it's time to depart for Berlin.

More 1998 Frederick the Great Tour

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© Copyright 1998 by James E. Purky

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