The 1998 Frederick the Great
Battlefield Tour

a.k.a. "The Silesian Victory Tour"

by Fritz Mueller


The following is an account of the 1998 SYWA Battlefield Tour spanning 15 May through 24 May 1998. This account is based upon my journal entries for the corresponding dates and includes records of what I observed and my impressions at the time. Any errors in fact or by omission are my own and should not reflect upon the editor or the SYWA Journal.

[Editor: I have added a brief summary of each of the battlefields that we visited on the trip for your information. For more detailed accounts, refer to Christopher Duffy's The Military Life or Frederick the Great or his book The Army of Frederick the Great].

On 15 May, 24 of us met at the Maritim proAtre Hotel in Berlin for our first evening together. A few of us who arrived early made the trek to the Berliner Zinnfiguren Haus in Charlottenburg for a "raid" on Herr Schultz's inventory of fabulous flats, maps, posters and books. Many Deutsch Marks were spent and much booty was gathered. Then our small band made its way to the Zuge Haus Museum on Unter-den-Linden near our hotel. This is an old armory that now houses centuries of military history and memorabilia, including paintings, suits of armor, uniforms, flags, weapons and all the other stuff that makes military historians quiver with excitement.

Of special note is the display containing one of Frederick's uniforms, a cane and a collection of snuff boxes. This is a must see stop if you happen to visit Berlin. There are lots of books, postcards and other souveniers in the lobby - take money; lots of it.

SYWA tour members were quite eager to plunder the offerings at the Berliner Zinnfiguren store of Herr Schultz

At 7:00 PM we met as a group for the first time in the hotel bar, Checkpoint (Charley). We sampled the local pilsner as we got acquainted with one another and then convened to the dining room for a tasty dinner. After dinner, Christopher Duffy introduced himself, handed out a packet of battlefield maps, and gave us a briefing on the coming tour. As you might expect, Dr. Duffy's talk fired our imaginations and spirits as much as the pilsner was firing up other parts of our anatomies.

More 1998 Frederick the Great Tour

Jumbo Silesia Map (very slow: 243K)

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© Copyright 1998 by James E. Purky

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