Prussia
Hochkirch, Saxony, 1758 Part I
Preliminaries to Battle at Hochkirch In the interim, the king laid plans to attack Laudon and, driving him from the road in from Bautzen, to shove him back towards his allies. He had to possess this route for two reasons: (1) It would put the main army astride the road to Görlitz, and thus into Silesia; (2) Perhaps less importantly,…
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The Battle of Tannenberg 1410 Part II
The Invasion of Prussia The strategies of the two commanders contrasted greatly. The grand master divided his forces in the traditional manner between East and West Prussia, awaiting invasions at widely scattered points and relying on his scouts to determine the greatest threats, his intention being to concentrate his forces…
Seven Years’ War: Swedes Launch Their Last Offensive I
Major-General Wilhelm Sebastian von Belling’s campaign Pomerania in 1761 against the Swedes. At the Northern Front, the Campaign 1761 had been a more involved one than usual, for the most part. The Prussian posts at the start of the campaign were: at Anklam, stood Major Alexander Friedrich Knobelsdorf, with three…
Seven Years’ War: Swedes Launch Their Last Offensive II
From Stettin, Eugene’s force made by Pasewalk aiming to recover Malchin. It was a decision by the bluecoats to try to regain the place before winter deepened. The sudden advent of the army of Prince Eugene, even badly used as it was by then, threw consternation into the minds of…
1761 Colberg I
At Colberg 1761, the Swedish and Russian enemy’s interminable delay had given the defenders time to prepare their positions. Eugene of WĂĽrttemberg had erected great entrenchments between the fortress and the enemy, now distant only some eight miles from Colberg. The defenders had also constructed a second wall round the…
1761 Colberg II
The capture of the Prussian fortress of Kolberg on 16 December 1761 (Third Silesian War/Seven Years’ War) by Russian troops Treptow was dotted with few real obstacles, like its low “walls” and gates, but did boast a river abutting on every side but the West. The Russian scheme was actually…
Franco-Prussian War 1870: High Command
Helmuth von Moltke Planning and organization were other Prussian strengths not conspicuous in the French army. General Helmuth von Moltke’s great general staff in Berlin was a European phenomenon. Comprised of sixty rigorously prepared officers, the best and the brightest of the Prussian Kriegsakademie, the Prussian general staff was famed…