1st Army (German War)

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The 1st Army was a short-term formed Prussian army unit in the German War of 1866. The army consisted of the II., III. and IV. Corps and a cavalry corps specially set up for this campaign.

According to the strategy of Moltke should Prussian Army in three own previous associations in Bohemia invaded and there the northern army of Austria fight. The division into three armies was heavily criticized by contemporaries, but remained victorious.

composition

The commander-in-chief of the 1st Army was Friedrich Karl von Prussia , while Lieutenant General Konstantin Bernhard von Voigts-Rhetz was Chief of the General Staff . A special feature of the 1st Army was that two of the three corps did not have their own general command , but were directly subordinate to the Army High Command. Before the war, the Commander -in-Chief Friedrich Karl was the commanding general of III. Army Corps, General Hans Wilhelm von Schack of the IV Army Corps was transferred to the position of governor of the Saxon country with his seat in Dresden at the beginning of the war. Both posts were not filled again for the duration of the campaign.

II Corps

The commanding general was Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Schmidt , and Chief of the General Staff was Georg von Kameke , who later became Minister of War .

The II Corps had a total of twelve batteries , four each in a division and in the reserve with a total of 72 rifled guns.

III. corps

IV Corps

Cavalry Corps

The commander of this unit set up for the war was General of the Cavalry Prince Albrecht of Prussia . The corps consisted of a total of six brigades, of which, however, the 1st Heavy Brigade was assigned to the 2nd Army. The 3rd Heavy Brigade remained in the 1st Army, but was assigned to the above. II Corps assigned. Thus the cavalry corps operated as a closed unit with only four brigades.

The following detached units also belonged to the corps:

Course of war

The 1st Army was gathered in the Görlitz area and marched from here on the morning of June 17, 1866 over the border into Saxony. The advance took place via Bautzen and Löbau to Zittau. On June 22nd the army was in the Zittau , Ostritz and Seidenberg area. On the morning of June 23rd, the invasion of Bohemia took place.

The task of the first army was to invade Bohemia from Saxony, cross the Iser and unite with the Crown Prince's second army in the Gitschin area. To the right of the 1st Army, the Elbarmee advanced. The first major goal was Reichenberg , which was occupied on June 24th. Contrary to the express orders of the Chief of Staff Moltke, the army stayed here for two days. In the first four days the army had only covered 46 km. Only after an express order from Berlin did the advance continue.

On the way to the Iser there was a battle at Liebenau on June 26th from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. , and the army then crossed the Iser at Eisenbrod , Turnau and Podol . The Austrian corps ordered to defend these river crossings was thrown back on the night of June 26th to 27th in the battle of Podol . The next day, however, the army marched south in the direction of Münchengrätz instead of east on Gitschin . In the battle of Münchengrätz , the united Austrians and Saxons were forced to retreat and thereby separated. At the same time, the first union with the Elbarmee took place here. Despite his success, Friedrich Karl was severely criticized for this deviation from the deployment plan and the associated loss of time, as it delayed the unification of the two main Prussian armies. In order not to hinder the further advance further, the two Prussian armies had to divide again. Thus it was the first army alone that fought in the Battle of Gitschin . Gitschin was reached by two divisions in the late afternoon of June 29, 1866, and taken during the night after a long battle. A possible pursuit of the defeated enemy did not take place because the divisions (3rd and 5th) had not been given any additional cavalry units.

From June 30th to July 2nd the advance towards Königgrätz took place. The battle of Königgrätz took place here on July 3, 1866 . Although outnumbered, the Prussians attacked, conquered the Bystritz valley and were able to throw back the Austrian Northern Army in their counterattacks, especially in the Swiep Forest. A separate advance against the superior artillery of the Austrians was not possible, and the army suffered heavy losses until the 2nd Army intervened in the battle and forced the Austrians to retreat. The joint attack of all three Prussian armies pushed the Austrians back to the Elbe, where the remaining Austrian artillery then held up the further advance of the Prussians. There was no longer any major pursuit beyond the Elbe, the own heavy cavalry was always too far behind.

After July 4, 1866, the dead of the battle were buried and, where possible, the wounded were treated, took place from July 5, the further rise over Prelautsch , Brno (July 12 to 15) until after Ebental that on 20 July was reached. During this time there were only individual battles between smaller Prussian and Austrian units sent to investigate.

literature

  • Theodor Fontane : The German War of 1866. (Complete edition in 2 volumes :) Volume 1: The campaign in Bohemia and Moravia. (Reprint from 1871/2009), ISBN 3-936-03065-0 .
  • Geoffrey Wawro: The Austro-Prussian War. Austria's was with Prussia and Italy in 1866. Cambridge Univ. Press 1996, ISBN 978-0-521-62951-5 .
  • Carl von Winterfeld: History of the Prussian campaigns of 1866. Döring, Potsdam 1867 ( digitized version )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Friedrich Engels : Considerations on the war in Germany. Section 4. Engels only speaks of two armies here
  2. ^ Theodor Fontane: The German War of 1866 . Volume 1: The campaign in Bohemia and Moravia , pp. 105 ff.
  3. ^ Theodor Fontane: The German War of 1866. Volume 1: The campaign in Bohemia and Moravia. P. 135.
  4. ^ Theodor Fontane: The German War of 1866. Volume 1: The campaign in Bohemia and Moravia. P. 131.
  5. ↑ Times according to Fontane, pp. 79 and 139 f.
  6. ^ Official press of Prussia from June 27, 1866.
  7. ↑ Geoffrey Wawro: The Austro-Prussian War. Austria's was with Prussia and Italy in 1866. Cambridge Univ. Press 1996, p. 131.
  8. ^ Official press Prussia of July 4, 1866 , p. 1.