Battle of Mollwitz
The
Battle of Mollwitz was a
Prussian battle with
Austria on
April 10,
1741. It was the first battle of the new Prussian King
Frederick II, in which both sides made numerous military blunders but Frederick the Great still managed to attain victory. This battle cemented his authority over the newly conquered territory of
Silesia and gave him valuable military experience.
After the ascension of Maria Theresa of Austria to the Holy Roman Empire, Frederick II saw an opportunity to quickly invade and annex the province of Silesia, which would have added much needed land and population to his kingdom. He took it by storm and nearly had the entire province occupied. His troops settled down into
winter quarters and were expecting an easy land-grab when Maria Theresa sent an army of about 20,000 men led by Phillip von Neipperg to take back the province and assert herself as a strong monarch.
This army led by Neipperg caught Frederick II completely off-guard as he lingered in the province, and Neipperg's forces surged northwards past Frederick and his army in order to relieve the city of
Neisse, which was being besieged by a small Prussian force and had not yet fallen. Both Neipperg and Frederick raced northwards in a rush to reach the city first, in parallel columns. The weather was extremely atrocious for both sides but von Neipperg reached Neisse first and set up camp there. Frederick II and his entire army were now caught behind enemy lines with a large Austrian force lying between him and the rest of his kingdom and his supply and communication lines cut off. Both sides knew that battle was now inevitable.
Information from captured Austrian
POWs allowed Frederick to determine the exact location of Neipperg's forces and position at Mollwitz. The morning fog and snow allowed Frederick's army to advance undetected all the way to within 2000 paces of Neipperg's army camp. Most commanders would have then given the order to charge the camp and rout the Austrian army, but since Frederick had never fought a campaign or a battle before, he instead decided to deploy his army in a battle line. There was very heavy snow on the ground which caused snow-blindness and so Frederick miscalculated the distance between the river on his right. He deployed several of his units behind a bend in the river where they would be unable to take part in the battle, and several more units were deployed perpendicular to his two battle lines on the right side. It is said that Schwerin commented early on that Frederick made a mistake in his calculation of the distance but was ignored.
Neipperg was in just as bad a situation as he had discovered Frederick's entire army at his doorstep by simply looking out his window and not only were most of his soldiers still sleeping, his entire army was facing to the Northwest, away from the Prussians. The Austrian army was waking up, desperately rushing from its camp and trying to form into a cohesive fighting force. Eventually around 1:00 PM, both sides had formed up lines of battle and were now ready to engage each other.
The Prussian forces advanced on the Austrian line in two sections, but 6 regiments of Austrian cavalry numbering 4,500 to 5,000 men and horses crashed into the cavalry of the right wing of the Prussian Army and shattered it. This left the Prussian flank open to attack and the Austrian cavalry then turned on the unprotected infantry. Schwerin, the Prussian military commander under Frederick, now advised Frederick II to leave the battlefield because it looked as though the Prussian army was about to be defeated, and the king heeded this warning and was almost shot or caught leaving the battle. Many historians believe that Schwerin advised Frederick to leave so that Schwerin could take command of the troops himself since he was a veteran general who had served in other armies. The scene was very chaotic because the perpendicular infantry units deployed in between the two Prussian lines were fleeing or firing on other Prussian troops as the Austrian cavalry drove into their flank, but at some point the Prussian infantry, drilled and trained to perfection under
Frederick William I, began spontaneously turning right and firing volley after volley at the Austrian cavalry, causing tremendous losses. The leader of the Austrian cavalry received a fatal head shot from a Prussian musket ball and with both leaders of the wings dead, an officer asked Schwerin where they should retreat to. Schwerin famously replied "We'll retreat over the bodies of our enemies" and soon restored the situation on the Prussian right wing. A second Austrian cavalry attack on the left side was beaten back and Schwerin ordered a general advance of all Prussian forces. The Prussian infantry soon engaged the Austrian battle line and since they were some of the most well-drilled infantry of the period, were able to fire 4-5 shots a minute with their flintlock muskets, seriously outgunning their opponents. Soon the Austrians were routed off the field and Frederick the Great stood victorious.
The victory was actually the responsibility of Field Marshal
Schwerin. The Prussian king had fled from the battlefield when the Austrians seemed to be winning. Later Frederick the Great swore never again to leave his troops behind in battle and adheared to this promise faithfully until his death in the late 18th century. He annexed the province of Silesia from the Holy Roman Empire and learned a number of valuable lessons from Mollwitz. He is quoted as saying "Mollwitz was my school". Frederick had made several mistakes but still managed to win the battle due to the superior training of his soldiers. From now on he was committed to aggressiveness, and geared his entire army towards an aggressive approach. He gave a standing order that his cavalry commanders would never receive a cavalry charge while standing still. He greatly increased the use of light cavalry,
Hussars, who would act as skirmishers and scouts. Afterwards he is quoted as saying "The Prussian army always attacks."
The German Way of War: From the Thirty Years War to the Third Reich (Robert M. Citino: Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2005)
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Battle of Mollwitz
