As related by the Baron de Jomini in his Traite des Grandes Operations Militaires, the story is as follows:

While these events were unfolding, Generals Wedel and Dohna, having received the orders of the King, were in movement; the first mentioned from Suchow on thc 28th, arriving at Berlin on October 31st; there he joined with General Dohna, and the two corps marched on Torgau; they were composed of 23 battalions and 32 squadrons.

The Army of the Circles (a.k.a. the Reichsarmee), who had remained throughout in its camp at Freiberg, had detached General Hadik to take possession of Torgau; that town, which contained one of the main magazines of the King, was garrisoned by only two battalions. General Wedel had sent ahead a detachment under Major Lossow, to reconnoitre the right bank of the Elbe. That officer, having taken several prisoners, was infomed of the project of General Hadik, and sent an account of it to General Wedel, who had arrived at Hertzberg on November l0th. Meanwhile, Hadik had appeared before Torgau.

The commandant of that place, Colonel Grolmann, took the audacious resolution to sortie out and engage Hadik, since he believed that if he could hold him up for a few hours, then it would buy enough time for General Wedel to arrive with the relief force. This audacity paid off. The Austrians could not believe that the garrison would act in this way. They assumed that Wedel must be in Torgau as well, and fearing a Prussian trap, they suspended their attack.

While this was happening, five squadrons entered the town, with the rest of the corps close behind. The corps of General Dohna arrived at Torgau on the 14th. On the 15th, Hadik was attacked at Eilenburg, beaten and repulsed to Grimma, with the loss of 250 men. He drew to him generals Kleefeld, Lichtenstein, Reid and Luschinsky, who was at Meissen. The army of Dohna then encamped near Eilenburg.

Conclusion

So, as it turned out, there was no battle at Torgau on November 13, 1758. Perhaps that was the case with your tabletop recreation as well. Wars are full of battles that were not fought. The hold action of Colonel Grohmann, followed by the affair at Eilenburg on the 15th, was decisive for the campaign. If you wish to recreate the action at Eilenburg, you should note that, for the encounter, Hadik had been reinforced by the German cavalry brigade of Courcy consisting of 11 squadrons of the Lichtenstein cuirassiers and Palatine dragoons as well as by the infantry brigade of Nagel (5 battalions and 5 grenadier companies of Koln troops).

The action of Hadick in declining to pick up the gauntlet outside of Torgau appears uncharacteristic of that energetic hussar. Certainly, amongst the Austrian generals, Hadik would not be described as a lightweight commander in any sense of the word. How then are we to understand his actions? Was it that Mrs. Hadik, who accompanied him on most of his campaigns, decided that she did not want to do her Christmas shopping in Torgau? To gain some insight, it is interesting to read the account in the Journal of the Army of the Empire.

Historical Excerpts on the Reichsarmee

The following is extracted from the Journal of the Imperial Army of Execution under the Orders of His Most Serene Highness the Prince von Pfalz Zweybrucken - 1758.

November 10th: At Grimma, General Hadik awaited the arrival of some heavy cannon and howitzers. These were being sent from the army for the expedition against Torgau.

November 12th: We received news of General Hadik who on the 11th, had marched to Eilenburg. From there, he completed his march, arriving this morning in the neighborhood of Torgau. He was to invest that place, where, if it was necessary, he would be joined by the Reserve Corps and also by the troops under the orders of General Kleefeld. The latter, having left some posts at Borna and Duben, was marching to reinforce the corps of General Hadik before Torgau.

November 14th: General Reid, having left a garrison at Meissen, moved to Hoff.

Meanwhile, the Commandant-General. the Prince von Pfalz Zweybrucken, received a report from General Hadik, who on the 15th, had moved closer to Torgau. That general had detected the advanced guard of the Prussian corps coming from Pommerania under the orders of General Wedel. It was formed up in battle array beside the Elbe. General Hadik attacked that advance guard with his hussars and Croats, beat them, and pursued them under the cannon of the town, which favored the retreat of the fugitives. A considerable number were sabered.

Amongst the 15 prisoners were 12 troopers from the hussar regiments Moring and Ruesch and from the dragoons of Finkenstein. Unfortunately, General Hadik, finding that all the infantry of that corps, to the strength of 10 battalions. had entered Torgau, judged that it was impossible to form an attack since the strength of the enemy more than matched his own.

General Hadik then retired to Eilenburg, where he encamped on the Mulde in order to be able to dispute the passage of that river with the enemy. To this effect, he broke all the bridges except that at Eilenburg, and placed diverse detachments along the river to constrain any attempts by the enemy to pass it, and to give early warning of their movements. General Hadik also detached Colonel the Princc of Lichtenstein, with 800 German horse, 300 hussars and 400 Croats towards Leipzig in order to prevent the enemy from throwing any sucours into that town.

November 15th: We received news that all of the Prussian corps under the orders of General Dohna, who had been opposing the Prussians, had arrived at Torgau. These troops were defiling out of the town to attack General Hadik.

The Commandant-General considered that this news disrupted the proposed enterprise against Leipzig. He judged that it would not be possible to make headway against the combined strength of the united corps of Dohna and Wedel. Together, those formed a considerable army and would easily be able to help Leipzig. Accordingly, he directed General Hadik to prevent the enemy from passing the Mulde if it was at all possible, and finally to make his retreat on Grimma.

The enemy, having passed the Elbe, under the guns of Torgau, marched with all of his forces, to attack the bridge at Eilenburg. Licutenant-General the Prince of Stolberg, who was with Major General the Baron von Nagel commanding the Gjulay regiment and the troops of Koln, put up the most vigorous resistance. Three times they repulsed the enemy with much less, but finally, the enemy cavalry and hussars, who were more than double the strength of our own, forced a crossing of the river and disposed themselves to make a general attack. In these circumstances, General Hadik judged it necessary to make his retreat, since it would have been inadvisible to engage in a general action with a force that was so inferior in numbers to that of the enemy.

After having set fire to the bridge, the withdrawal was carried out in the best order despite all the enemy cavalry which followed ours and tried to put it into disorder. The several squadrons, who made up the rear guard, put up such an imposing appearance that the enemy were obliged to follow the march quietly to Grimma. In that town, the troops under the orders of Generals Reid and Luschinsky (10 squadrons of the Splenyi and Szeczeni hussars) rejoined the corps of General Hadik.

The loss, which General Hadik sustained in the events of lhe last few days, amounted to 250 men killed, wounded, and missing. Amongst these was the major of the Savoy Dragoons, Baron de Laisser, who was wounded by several saber cuts. The loss of thc enemy was more considerable; they suffered severely during the attack on the bridge, where the fire of our artillery was especially well served and caused great havoc.

First Battle of Torgau, with Order of Battle

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