Battle at the Königinhof

Battle at the Königinhof

Part of: German War

date	June 29, 1866
place	Queen's Court , Bohemia
output	Victory of the Prussians

Parties to the conflict
Prussia	Austria
Commander
August of Württemberg	Tassilo Festetics Ludwig von Gablenz
Troop strength
5000 men	800 men
losses
about 50 dead and wounded	600 dead, wounded and prisoners

The battle at Queen's Court on June 29, 1866 was the penultimate battle between Prussians and Austrians before the battle of Königgrätz four days later.

initial situation

The Prussian I. Corps was defeated on June 27th in the battle of Trautenau by the Austrian X. Army Corps under FML Ludwig von Gablenz . General von Bonin's troops lost their role as leadership formation and were replaced the next day by the Prussian Guard Corps under Prince August von Württemberg . Gablenz withdrew his exhausted corps from Trautenau to Soor and asked his superior FZM Benedek for reinforcements. Gablenz tried to direct the advance of the guard troops through concentrated artillery fire from the north and east on Staudenz and hold it there. He wanted to give units of the approaching IV Corps under FML Tassilo Graf Festetics the opportunity to hit the guard from the south in the flank. On June 28th the battle between Thrush and Burkersdorf broke out . The Prussian 1st Guards Division, led by Lieutenant General Wilhelm Hiller von Gärtringen , successfully pushed back the Austrian defenders at Staudenz. At the same time, further north, the 2nd Guard Division under General Heinrich von Plonski was able to cut off the Austrian Brigade Grivicic from the rest of the X. Corps and almost completely wipe it out in the battle near Burkersdorf.

Following the orders of the Chief of the General Staff von Moltke , the Guard Corps sought contact with the 1st Army Corps and the V Army Corps on the Elbe near Königinhof after the battles at Burkersdorf and Alt-Rognitz . General von Moltke expected the unification of the entire Prussian II Army between Gradlitz and the Königinhof in the next few days . The defeated and retreating Austrians offered only weak forces against the further advance of the Prussian guard troops on the Elbe.

The battle

The bulk of the Austrian IV Corps had moved further south-westerly to the Koniginhof. Under the orders of Colonel von Stocklin, the Coronini Infantry Regiment No. 6 (Hungary) awaited the Prussians from the Fleischhacker Brigade in the northeastern apron and in the city itself. In the southwest of the city, with the Elbe as a natural obstacle, there were also several artillery batteries. These belonged to the retreating Austrian Xth Army Corps.

The Prussians approached the Königinhof with its two important Elbe crossings from the north-east, coming through the Kingdom Forest on the Königinhofer Chaussee . In the forest itself, on both sides of the Königinhofer Chaussee, the guard troops were already presented with a picture of defeated troops of the enemy. All kinds of equipment left behind could be seen.

At around 3 p.m. the avant-garde under Colonel von Kessel emerged from the Kingdom-Forest. Detecting withdrawing enemy columns on the other side of the Elbe, von Kessel had two batteries put into position and the enemy under fire. While the avant-garde continued their advance, the cannonade was ineffective due to the excessive distance. Meanwhile there was a first skirmish between the units of Stocklins waiting in the apron of the city. These had taken cover in cornfields and now took the first Prussians under fire. Lieutenant Colonel Waldersee, at the head of the preceding 2nd Jäger Company and the 9th Company of the Guard Fusilier Regiment , immediately deployed his men and tried for his part to bypass the Austrians. Since Waldersee quickly followed suit with the 10th, 11th and 12th companies, the Austrians gave up their position in the apron of the city. They withdrew into the city in an orderly fashion, albeit with considerable losses.

Colonel von Stocklin's men had holed up at the north entrance of the city, but the Prussians broke into the city in the first attack. The 10th and 11th companies of the Guard Fusiliers were able to take their first prisoners here and even reached the market square . When the two 12th companies of the 1st Guard Regiment and the Guard Fusiliers of the Prussians pushed into the city by other routes, lively skirmishes developed , as a result of which the Austrians were increasingly crowded together. Due to a confusing situation, the Coronini infantry regiment even lost the flag of its 3rd battalion. Surprised by this incident, most of the regiment surrendered. Few of them escaped to their own troops over the Elbe bridges that were still open.

The Prussians then advanced to the Elbe bridges. First, the western Elbe bridge was taken without a fight by the 12th Company of the Guard Fusiliers. The 9th Company of the 2nd Guards Regiment was ordered to go to the southern bridge with the task of taking the bridge, which they did. The company consisted of guards pioneers , under Captain von Adler, who had to blow up the bridge if necessary, in case the Austrians should push into the city again after taking it. The 9th Company of the 2nd Guards Regiment held out bravely at the bridge, under fire from the enemy batteries, until it was relieved by the Grenadier Battalion from the 2nd Guards Regiment.

The attempt of the Prussians to use detachments of the Guard Hussars and Guard Fusiliers to induce the enemy batteries and operators to give up failed. So the cannonade of the Austrians continued.

The Prussians' fears that the Austrians wanted to regain the Queen's Court did not materialize.

losses

The Coronini infantry regiment was lost from the start. It mastered its task of keeping the Prussian Guard troops away from the Elbe, with honor and sacrifice. Although the Prussian Guard Corps gradually led only about 5,000 men into the field, the fight was nonetheless unequal, as it is assumed that only about 800 Austrians were in and around Königinhof.

The Coronini infantry regiment almost went under in the Königinhof, it lost its commander, Colonel von Stocklin, who surrendered with a large part of his regiment, the 3rd battalion lost its flag . The Austrians lost around 600 men in Koeniginhof, 100 of them dead. The Prussians took the Queen's Court with relatively few sacrifices.

literature

• Theodor Fontane : The German War of 1866. (Complete edition in 2 volumes), Volume 1: The campaign in Bohemia and Moravia. (Reprint from 1871/2003), ISBN 3-936-03065-0 .
• German Defense Archives: 1st Guards Regiment on foot 1688 to 1918. No. 10 edited by Achim Kwasny, Herford and Lage 2004.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Frank Zimmer: Bismarck's fight against Emperor Franz Joseph. Königgrätz and its consequences. Styria Verlag Graz 1996, p. 107.