Chapter 452: Defeat Is Just the Beginning
Heine fumbled to grab the binoculars handed to him by his attendant. What he saw made his heart skip a beat: the Prussian front was swarming with soldiers, and the line stretched as far as the eye could see.
"Hurry! Sound the alarm!" he shouted. "The Prussians are launching an attack!"
Even though the Liegnitz front had been relatively calm, both sides were still in a state of war, so the Austrian soldiers were always in a state of readiness. Soon, sharp whistles and the sound of drums signaling assembly filled the air.
Grumbling, the Austrian soldiers quickly assembled near the defensive line, only to be met with a barrage of cannon fire from the Prussian side. About 20 cannonballs rained down near the Austrian artillery positions, sending clouds of dust into the air.
The Austrian artillery hastily returned fire, but after only a few shots, they realized with shock that their ammunition was nearly depleted. Sensing the weakness of the Austrian response, the Prussians began boldly advancing their cannons, even dragging several heavy 24-pound fortress cannons to the front lines with teams of horses.
Duke Brunswick had already gathered all available cannons in the area, giving him nearly twice as many as the Austrian defenders. With plenty of ammunition, the Prussian artillery quickly pounded the Austrian gunners into submission.
Marshal Laessig also received word of the attack and rushed to the section of the line previously held by Davydov's troops. By the time he arrived, it was already 3 p.m.
What he saw was a disaster: only four cannons remained operational on the Austrian side, and they were firing so slowly that Laessig wanted to scream. Across the field, the Prussian infantry had fully deployed, their line stretching across the entire section of the former Davydov sector, with over 14,000 soldiers in the front line alone.
Meanwhile, Prussian skirmishers, taking advantage of the terrain, had advanced to within 400 paces of the Austrian defenses. The Austrians had only a thin line of infantry to hold the line, about 10,000 soldiers at most. Although reinforcements were arriving from both flanks, they were still exhausted from marching and not yet ready for battle.
Sweat poured down Laessig's back. He had taken a risk by moving Davydov and Conrad's corps, but he hadn't expected Brunswick to launch such a swift and targeted attack.
In fact, Laessig had tried to bolster the defense here, but with less than 100,000 troops to cover the entire front, he could only allocate about 15,000 to this critical section.
The Prussian artillery barrage began to slacken, replaced by the sound of trumpets. Laessig raised his binoculars and saw the Prussian skirmishers harassing his line, signaling that the main assault was imminent. Large columns of infantry would soon be charging.
"Damn it!" he cursed under his breath. "If it weren't for that French brat, my line wouldn't have this huge gap!"
Laessig had completely forgotten that his mission in Silesia was to defeat the Prussians and reclaim lost territory, not just to build a defensive line. If defense was the goal, Austria could have retreated to Bohemia and used the Sudeten Mountains for a much more effective defense.
But there was no time for regrets now. Laessig ordered his messengers to urge the reinforcements to hurry, then ignored his aides' protests and went to the front line himself, moving up and down the line to rally the troops.
Before long, a 12-pound cannonball whizzed past him, carving a massive hole in the infantry line and rolling nearly to the second rank before a small mound stopped it.
His aides, horrified by the sight of blood and mangled bodies, quickly dragged the Marshal to the rear.
Meanwhile, the Prussian army, led by four elite grenadier regiments, began advancing in a narrow formation towards the Austrian lines.
Laessig's efforts to boost morale had some effect. The Austrian soldiers, supported by skirmishers, managed to withstand the Prussian grenadiers' close-range volley and responded with their own volley at a range of just 40 paces.
In this era of line infantry battles, as long as the soldiers held their ground, the fight was far from over.
The two sides soon became locked in a brutal firefight—thousands of soldiers on a three-kilometer front, standing in tight formation, mechanically loading, aiming, and firing. Kill or be killed.
This was what people often referred to as a "shootout in formation."
After seven or eight volleys, it was the numerically superior Prussians who began to falter first. Some soldiers started to pull back, ducking their heads and retreating.
By this time, the Prussian army was no longer the fearsome force it had been under Frederick the Great. In fact, the average Prussian soldier's skills were now slightly inferior to those of the Austrians.
As the first wave of Prussian infantry fell back, the Austrian lines erupted in cheers of victory.
But Laessig didn't dare order a pursuit, knowing that the Prussians still held a significant numerical advantage.
Sure enough, Duke Brunswick quickly ordered a second wave of infantry to attack, giving the Austrians no time to regroup.
Laessig's forces, meanwhile, used their remaining skirmishers and three functional cannons to harass the Prussian left flank, barely holding the line.
The two sides fought to a standstill until nightfall, each retreating to their respective camps.
But the Austrians had suffered heavy losses after a day of brutal fighting, especially among their elite skirmishers.
After inspecting the wounded, Laessig began planning a fallback position to the west, preparing for the worst.
The next morning, Duke Brunswick launched a relentless assault. Under the weight of more than 50,000 Prussian troops attacking in waves, the Austrian line finally collapsed around 2 p.m. when a squad of Prussian cavalry found a gap and broke through the Austrian left flank.
As the cavalry continued to harass the flanks, the Austrian defense crumbled.
Duke Brunswick, showing no mercy, ordered his cavalry to press in on the Austrians from both sides, while large numbers of infantry blocked the north and south to cut off any reinforcements.
Marshal Laessig desperately tried to organize a retreat, but the next day, Prussian cavalry trapped his forces in a low-lying area 15 kilometers from the front.
Though Laessig himself managed to escape before the encirclement was complete, the gaping hole in his defensive line left him feeling hopeless.
At this point, his best hope was to stall the Prussians long enough for his troops to return from Ratibor and attempt to stabilize the front. But after such a devastating defeat, any dreams of recapturing Silesia seemed almost impossible.
As for the more than 10,000 soldiers trapped in the encirclement, he had little hope of saving them.
But as he sat on his horse, peering through his binoculars at the surrounded troops, his eyes suddenly widened—
In the distance, a cavalry unit was charging towards the Prussian flank at breakneck speed, and they appeared to be wearing white uniforms.
(Chapter ends)
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