Battle at Telschi
Localization of Telschi, in Lower Lithuania
| date | February 7, 1679 |
|---|---|
| place | Telschi , Samogitia |
| output | draw |
| consequences | Swedes withdraw to Riga |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 3,000 men | 1,200 men |
| losses | |
|
unknown |
2 dead officers, |
Northern War (1674–1679)
Rathenow - Nauen - Fehrbellin - Wismar - Wolgast 1675 - Wolgast 1676 - Bornholm - Öland - Peenemünder Schanze - Stettin (1676/77) - Køgebucht - Bergen - Warksow - Rügen (1678) - Stralsund (1678) - Greifswald - Tilsit - Splitter - Telschi - Porta Westfalica
The battle near Telschi took place on February 7, 1679 as part of the Northern War from 1674 to 1679 at what is now Telšiai in Lithuania between Swedish and Brandenburg troops. The battle ended without a clear winner, but the heavily decimated Swedes retreated to Riga , ending the winter campaign that became famous as " The Great Sleigh Ride " and East Prussia was secured by the Swedes.
prehistory
At the end of 1674 a Swedish army attacked the Mark Brandenburg from Swedish Pomerania with the aim of relieving Brandenburg under Elector Friedrich Wilhelm from the fighting against France in the context of the Dutch War and thus relieving the allied France. The attack triggered the Swedish-Brandenburg War, which Denmark, the Netherlands and the Holy Roman Empire later joined on the side of Brandenburg. In the first two phases of the war, the Margraviate of Brandenburg was liberated and the Swedish possession of Bremen-Verden was conquered. Furthermore, the whole of Swedish Pomerania could be captured in several campaigns until the end of 1678. Lastly, in 1678, the long besieged Stettin fell into Brandenburg ownership.
by Bernhard Rode around 1783
The Swedish General Horn invaded East Prussia with 16,000 men in November 1678 , occupied all fortified places and threatened the Prussian capital Königsberg . The news of the Swedish invasion reached the elector in December 1678 in the course of taking the fortress of Szczecin. Elector Friedrich Wilhelm decided to drive the Swedes out of East Prussia just as he had knocked them out of the march four years earlier by “a quick ride” despite the icy cold and the usual winter billeting practice. On December 30th the Elector set out; on January 10, 1679 he was in Marienwerder and took over the inspection of the small army that he had so quickly led from the Oder to the Vistula . The Swedes stood on the Pregel , close to Königsberg, which was defended by 3,000 Brandenburgers under General Joachim Ernst von Görzke .
The task that the elector had set himself was to use half of his troops to strengthen the Königsberg garrison under General Görtzke, while the other half was to bypass the Swedes. Then General Görtzke was to attack from Konigsberg, while the elector himself wanted to cut off the Swedes' retreat and destroy them.
What was still possible from the Rhine to the Rhin in the spring campaign of 1675 , namely keeping the company secret, turned out to be impossible on the way from the Oder to the Vistula . The Swedes received news and withdrew to Tilsit . Since there was no longer any question of enclosing and capturing the enemy, it was time to catch up with the Swedes. In rapid marches it went to Braunsberg and Heiligenbeil , then - to save time - in sledges over the fresh lagoon . On January 16, Koenigsberg was reached, and after a day's rest the Swedes, who had meanwhile occupied Tilsit and stopped there, followed in three divisions. The three Brandenburg departments consisted of an outermost top of a thousand men, of an actual avant-garde of three thousand, and of a major force of about five thousand men. Joachim Henniges von Treffenfeld led the leadership, Görtzke the avant-garde, Derfflinger and the Elector himself the bulk . Just as the troops had passed the Fresh Lagoon ten days earlier, the Curonian Lagoon was now crossed between Labiau and Gilge . The proximity of the enemy made sleigh rides impossible, and ready for action, in rank and file, we crossed the ice. The Swedes were meanwhile still with Tilsit and seemed determined not to want to clear the Prussian territory without a fight. So there were two bloody meetings: on January 20 in the battle near Splitter , where Treffenfeld led the Brandenburgers; then the next day, on January 21, in the battle near Heydekrug , when Görtzke attacked the enemy rearguard and half destroyed it.
After the battle at Heydekrug, the Swedes retreated north towards Riga. The question for the elector was whether he should allow this retreat calmly, or pursue the fleeing people and get rid of a dangerous enemy. He chose the latter. The difficult task of persecution, of chasing through snow-covered desert areas, fell to Hans Adam von Schöning . He set out with 1,600 riders. This small number, due to the impossible supply of larger units in this region, was inferior to the Swedish army, which still had thousands of soldiers. However, the pursuing Brandenburgers found an ally in the Lithuanian population, who, in addition to the cold, were a great threat to the Swedes. Colonel Truchseß von Waldburg, whom Schoening sent back with a report to the Elector, who was still in Konigsberg at the time, arrived at headquarters with the words: The Brandenburgers did not need any signposts to follow the enemy because the whole way was with them dead Swedes was covered. The situation of the Swedish army was extremely difficult. The cold often climbed to minus 26 degrees, many limbs froze to death, no one had money, and the few who had money usually couldn't buy anything for it.
So one approached Telschi , a small town about half the way between Tilsit and Riga, and only five miles away from the Curonian border (then Swedish). Here Horn decided, who must have noticed anyway that the pursuing opponent was much weaker than himself, to face the pursuers. Quite unexpectedly, Schöning and his Brandenburgers were faced with a suddenly sturdy opponent whom one had got used to pursuing in these snowfields, but not fighting. From the moment Horn came up with the decision to resist, Schöning's situation was very threatened. Failure to win was tantamount to perishing completely. So it came to the battle at Telschi.
course
Horn had about 3,000 men left of his 16,000, with them a larger number of guns; Schöning had little more than 1200 horsemen and dragoons. The battle formation of the Brandenburgers was as follows: the cavalry went in two meetings , in front of the Swedes. The dismounted dragoons, however, went into a wood on the left and right in order to be able to fall the Swedes in both flanks at the decisive moment . The use of the battle terrain decided the outcome. Colonel Joachim Balthasar von Dewitz , a son-in-law of Derfflinger, opened the attack and overturned several companies of Swedish infantry; but he didn't break through. The Swedes, for their part, were now preparing to attack. At that moment Schoening let the dragoons mount and advanced from the flanks against the advancing Swedes. A slaughter began as everyone instinctively felt that fleeing in this place was more pernicious than fighting. Only when night fell did the fight end. Neither the Swedes nor the Brandenburgers were able to gain weight.
consequences
The Swedes withdrew in order in the dark. The losses were high on both sides. The Swedish officers had, during the whole fight, always fought in a long line in front of the front of their own men, and everything of the Swedish body regiment was dead or wounded. Also Schöning was at the head of his dragoons, only by the presence of mind of a captain rescued who beat a Swedish rider the gun out of his hand that this was about to fire on Schoening.
On the following two days he had the pursuit of the Swedes continued as far as the vicinity of Riga by small patrol corps; then he retreated himself to bring the elector who had stayed behind in Konigsberg the news of the dissolution of the Swedish army.
literature
- Theodor Fontane : Walks through the Mark Brandenburg . 3rd edition, Hoffmann and Campeverlag, 1964.
- August Riese: Friedrich Wilhelm the Great Elector's winter campaign in Prussia and Samogitia against the Swedes in 1678/1679. Berlin 1864.
References and comments
- ↑ August Riese: Friedrich Wilhelm the Great Elector's Winter Campaign in Prussia and Samogitia against the Swedes in 1678/1679 , Berlin 1864, p. 96. The number is viewed as too low in this context and must be doubted. There is no independent source of the casualties during the battle.