The Opposing Forces

At this battle the Austro-Saxon army under the command of Rutowski had approximately 29,100 infantry from the Saxon regiments Allnpeck, Gfug, Kosel, Bruggen, Rochow, Hetterodt, Bruhl, Gersdorf, Weissenfels, Friesen, Konigin, Winkelman, II. Garde, F. Pirch, Leibgrenadier, and N. Pirch. This total included the Austrian Regiments Niesenmeuschel, Kheul, Wurmbrand, Bethlen, Waldeck and Le Fee. There were also 5,600 horse from the Saxon regiments L' Annonciade, Rechenberg, Ronnow, Plotz, Minkwitz, Sondershusen, Konig, Prinz, Arnim, Leibregiment, Karabiniers, Garde du Korps (all Cuirassier), Sybilski, Prinz Karl, Rutowski (chevaulegers), and the Austrian Regiments Hohenzollern Cuir. and Bentheim Dragoons. Finally, there were two groups of Saxon Ulans and General Morocz' Croatians which added approximately 3000 additional horse to the Allied army. The Artillery park totalled 73 guns of which 22 were heavy caliber.

To face this force, the Hereditary Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau (the "Old Dessauer") had the following forces: about 25,900 infantry from the regiments Anhalt, Jeetze, Leps, Prince Moritz, Herzberg, Bredow, Bonin, Prince von Preussen, Prinz Dietrich, Prinz Leopold, Erbprinz von Hesse-Darmstadt, Prince George, Wurttemberg, Prinz Ferdinand, Polenz (all line), and the grenadier regiments of Kleist, Schoning, Plotho, and Munchow. Leopold's cavalry numbered 6900 horse from the cuirassier regiments Leibregiment, Carabineers, Bredow, Kyau, Rochow, Prinz Ferdinand,Stille, and Buddenbrock; the dragoon regiments Bayreuth, Stosch, Jung Mollendorf, Holstein, Roell, and Bonin; and the, Soldan and Dieury hussar regiments. For Artillery, he had 88 guns of which 33 were heavy caliber. This was some of the best infantry Frederick ever had, only to be equalled by the regiments available at the beginning of the Seven Years War in 1755-56

The Battlefield Terrain

The Saxons rested their right flank on the swampy ground of the Zschoner brook. As it was December this would pose no problem to the attacker. However, from Zollmen to Pennrich the ground behind the brook got progressively steeper, from being accessible only to infantry in dispersed order to making attacks virtually impossible. Accordingly,the Saxons saw little need to extend their battle line beyond Zollmen. The Saxon left rested on the village of Kesselsdorf.

To the north of the brook and northeast of Kesselsdorf is a high plain bounded by many gorges. Along this plain runs the road from Kesselsdorf to Wilsdruff. Kesselsdorf itself lies in a sunken valley running from west to east of this high ground on the road DresdenFreiburg. On the western, higher part of ,the place, there where the road forks to Wilsdruff, the road falls off slightly to Wilsdruff only to rise again south of the Kaufbach. Kesselsdorf has its west end dominating the terrain in the direction of Wilsdruff out to about 600 m. while the ground south of Kesselsdorf limits the field of fire to about 300m.

Battle of Kesseldorf

Introduction
Opposing Forces and Terrain
The Battle of Kesseldorf
Kesseldorf Jumbo Map (slow: 166K)