Battle of Hochkirch

Background

Frederick had won at Rossbach and Leuthen in 1757, but by late summer 1758 the fighting in the east had settled into a draw. He left half his army in Pomerania to face the Russians and marched the rest about 180 km in seven days into Saxony, reaching about 45,000 men. The Austrian commander, Leopold von Daun, had brought some 80,000 men 120 km from Görlitz to the Stolpen area in ten days, under pressure from the court in Vienna to act.

What followed was a game of cat and mouse. Daun refused battle unless he had a perfect position, and Frederick's pursuits were driven off by his rearguard. Frederick called him 'die dicke Exzellenz', the fat Excellency. In late September he sent General Retzow's corps to the hills, but Retzow failed to attack the Strohmberg, which the Austrians already held; Frederick removed him from command and arrested him. Daun made a camp in the hills east of Hochkirch, with Frederick's army to the west, between the Austrians and the magazine at Görlitz.

On 10 October Frederick camped around Hochkirch, extending his line north towards the Kuppritzerberg. His generals were uneasy. Keith, according to the English account, called staying in the village suicide. Frederick set out his troops in an S-shaped line facing east, convinced that Daun would not attack. Daun, for his part, planned a sweep through the woods before dawn to turn the Prussian flank.

The armies

Daun had about 80,000 men and 340 guns on paper, of whom perhaps 60,000 were engaged, and the night strike itself was made by about 30,000 picked troops. Lacy and Laudon were among his commanders, and Croats and other irregulars led the first onslaught.

Frederick had about 30,000 men and 200 guns on the field. He had arrived with perhaps 45,000, but Retzow's corps of about 6,000 was not present. His commanders included Keith, Prince Francis of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Moritz of Anhalt-Dessau, Zieten and Seydlitz. The Prussians were laid out on a front that ran from the village to the Kuppritzerberg, with a battery on the eastern side. Frederick's army was already tired and smaller than it had been, having covered about 180 km in seven days with half the army left behind in Pomerania, and Frederick showed little respect for his opponent. Zieten and Seydlitz, against the king's advice according to the German article, left their cavalry saddled, which allowed a half-orderly withdrawal.

The battle

CDB90 records a single engagement, number 73 (HOCHKIRCH), from 05:00 to 08:00; the sources have the fighting lasting until about 10:00. Times below are those in English Wikipedia and are approximate. Fog and darkness covered the opening; CDB90 codes the weather as light rain.

The night (13-14 October). The Prussian line faced east in an S-shape. Frederick took no extra precautions despite Keith's warnings, and Daun planned a pre-dawn sweep through the woods to turn the Prussian flank. Austrian irregulars and picked troops moved in the dark, and the Prussian camp slept.

The surprise (about 05:00). Using the dark and the fog, the Austrians struck the eastern side of the camp and the Prussian battery as the church bell rang. Croats and irregulars set the village on fire, cut tent ropes and bayoneted men trapped in the canvas. The lane is still called the Blutgasse, Blood Alley. Frederick at first took the gunfire for skirmishing, and captured Prussian guns, not spiked, were turned on the camp. His generals had stayed alert and began organising a defence.

The village (about 06:00). Keith led a counter-attack that briefly retook the battery, and three regiments rushed through Hochkirch, but they lost cohesion and Austrian fire wrecked the attack. Keith was killed. When the fog lifted Prussian cavalry counter-attacked by regiments. A battalion of the 23rd Infantry charged and was surrounded. Major von Langen's 19th Regiment held the walled churchyard, covering retreating troops and buying time; the German article says the battalion held out for several hours before it surrendered. Several infantry regiments fought for their lives in the dark.

Frederick's counter-attack (about 07:00). The king, now awake and in the fight, sent infantry back into the village with reinforcements under Prince Francis of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who was killed by Austrian cannon fire. The troops faltered until Frederick rallied them.

The village falls (about 07:30-09:00). The Austrians retook the burning village, though their hold was shaky. Moritz of Anhalt-Dessau was wounded and captured. At about 09:00 the Prussian left collapsed, and the last battery was overrun and turned on them. Frederick led a counter-attack against Lacy's hussars, his horse was shot, and his own hussars rescued him.

The retreat (about 10:00). Frederick withdrew north-west and formed a line on which the survivors rallied; once clear of the burning village the army recovered its discipline. Zieten and Seydlitz led a rearguard action, and musketry stopped the Austrian pursuit, while the Croats turned to plundering the village and the dead.

Aftermath

Frederick lost 9,400 men of 30,000, five generals, 101 guns, nearly all his tents and 28 flags. Keith and Prince Francis of Brunswick were dead, and Moritz of Anhalt-Dessau was captured. Hagen died of his wounds and Krockow in February 1759. The Austrian loss is put anywhere from 5,400 to about 8,300, depending on whether prisoners and missing men are counted.

Daun did not pursue. He rested his men for six days and then moved to a new position between Belgern and Jesewitz, while Frederick stayed at Doberschütz. Vienna celebrated on Maria Theresa's name day; Pope Clement XIII sent Daun a blessed sword and hat, and the empress gave him 250,000 florins. Daun and Lacy are said to have wept when they found Keith's body in the church. The same day Frederick received news that his sister Wilhelmine had died. The British envoy, Mitchell, blamed Frederick's contempt for Daun's caution.

Strategically little changed. Frederick rebuilt with weaker recruits and foreigners, paid for by British gold. On 5 November he marched towards Neisse, and the Austrians abandoned their siege; Daun went into winter quarters in Bohemia, and Frederick kept Saxony and Silesia at the end of the year. Retzow, ill with dysentery, died at Schweidnitz on 5 November. A granite monument to Keith stands at Hochkirch, with a memorial to Langen's soldiers in the churchyard, and the Blutgasse keeps its name.

Wargaming it

Hochkirch is a night action, and the interest is how to play a surprise. A battalion-level game of about 30,000 against 80,000 men, or a brigade-per-base game of the whole field, needs rules that deny the Prussian player knowledge and orders at the start: troops asleep, units unformed, command breaking down. The village, the walled churchyard and the Prussian battery are the key terrain; Langen's 19th Regiment in the churchyard is a classic last-stand scenario by itself.

The Austrians should have to keep their columns together in the dark and fog and to get the Croats to do what they are told rather than plunder. The Prussians face the decisions of when to commit cavalry by regiment, whether to counter-attack in the village or fall back, and when to save the army and leave the camp. Keith and Francis of Brunswick are both likely to be killed, which makes command-loss rules worth having.

What ifs: Frederick listens to Keith and camps elsewhere; Zieten and Seydlitz have their horses unsaddled; Retzow is on the field with 6,000 men; or Daun pushes the pursuit on 14 October instead of resting his troops.

Maps and pictures