Battle of Fraustadt

Battle of Fraustadt

Part of: Great Northern War

Battle order at Fraustadt on a schematically depicted landscape

date	February 2nd jul. / February 3, Sweden / February 13, 1706 greg.
place	Woman town , Poland
output	Outstanding victory for the Swedes

Parties to the conflict
Sweden	Saxony Poland Lithuania Russia
Commander
Carl Gustaf Rehnskiöld	Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg
Troop strength
9,400 men	20,000 men
losses
around 400 dead 1,000 wounded	around 7,800 dead and wounded 7,600 prisoners 29 cannons (excluding Russian casualties)

On February 2nd, ^Jul. / February 3, ^Sweden / February 13, 1706 ^greg. A Swedish army corps under Carl Gustaf Rehnskiöld defeated a Saxon-Russian army under General Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg near Fraustadt, today's Wschowa , in the course of the Great Northern War .

prehistory

Battle of Fraustadt

Location of the battlefield

In December 1705, Russian troops under Field Marshal Georg Benedikt von Ogilvy crossed the Polish border with 20,000 men to unite with the Saxon troops. The Russian army holed up in the fortress Grodno and waited for relief .

King Charles XII. of Sweden advanced towards them with the main part of his army of almost 30,000 men. Due to the advanced year and the strong fortification of Grodno, he refrained from sieging the fortress after the Russian contingent avoided an open field battle. The main Swedish army contented itself with a blockade of Grodno. Charles XII. had the troops billeted in the surrounding villages because they needed a break after the strenuous campaign of the year.

When August II of Poland saw that Charles XII. Did not let Grodno attack, he held a council of war , which set the goal of destroying a detached Swedish detachment under the command of Carl Gustaf Rehnskiöld . Rehnskiöld was from Karl XII. was left behind with over 10,000 men to protect Greater Poland and Warsaw. August II should now move west, on the way to attract all Polish detachments and then unite with the newly established Saxon army in Silesia under the command of General Schulenburg to attack the corps of Rehnskiöld and, after a victory, back to Grodno to march. On January 18, August II bypassed the Swedish blockade to the west with 2,000 men, united with several Polish troop contingents and entered Warsaw on January 26 . Here he moved on after a short break with his now 14,000-15,000-strong army to attack the Swedish corps. He also ordered General Schulenburg to take up the nearby Russian auxiliary corps of 6,000 men and march to Greater Poland in order to unite with him.

Rehnskiöld received news of the Saxon plan and hoped to avoid annihilation by seeking combat while his opponents were still separated. To do this, he faked a retreat into the Posen fortress in order to provoke Schulenburg into a premature attack. This responded, although King August II was still in Warsaw, because he believed that with his 18,000 men he could defeat the 10,000–12,000 of Rehnskiöld. The Saxon-Russian army consisted largely of poorly trained soldiers who were forced into military service, including several regiments of French and Swiss prisoners of war from the battle of Höchstädt . There was also a Russian auxiliary force of 6,400 men.

course

Demolition of the battle
Engraving from the Theatrum Europaeum

Schulenburg took a position on February 14th (greg.) Near Fraustadt and had his lines protected with Spanish horsemen . In his certainty of victory, he also issued the slogan “no quarters” . He ordered the Russian troop contingent to swap their uniforms for Saxon ones in order to fake Saxon soldiers, as he feared a first attack by the Swedes on the Russians.

The Swedish corps had no artillery and in order to compensate for this weakness, they first concentrated on conquering the Saxon artillery park, which was also successful. When the Swedes stormed forward, the Saxon front quickly collapsed. The left wing of the Saxon cavalry saw the Swedes and fled without firing a shot. The right wing cavalry also fled. The approximately 2,400 French and Swiss who had been pressed saw the cavalry ride away, put down their rifles and ran over to the enemy. The Russians and Saxons now also threw away their rifles and ran away from the battlefield. At this stage of the battle, the Swedes did not pardon the surrendering Russians and slaughtered the defenseless refugees. A bullet hit General Schulenburg on the right hip and penetrated his two fur-lined coats. He swayed, but he held on to his horse. He rode to the battalions , which were still standing and waiting, and led them against the Swedes, but these soldiers too, when they saw the Swedes, threw their weapons away and allowed themselves to be taken prisoner. The commanding general had no choice but to leave the battlefield. Accompanied by only one orderly officer and one rider, he retired into the nearby forest. The main battle lasted almost an hour and ended around noon. But some of the Saxon infantry formed a square and continued to defend themselves. The last fighting ended at four in the afternoon. Only about 3,000 soldiers were able to save themselves over the Oder .

The Saxon war propaganda later spread that the Russian prisoners had been killed on the orders of General Rehnskiöld . Two days after the battle, according to Saxon reports, 200 Russian prisoners had been murdered by the Swedes. Further Swedish war atrocities are said to have occurred when Saxon and Bavarian soldiers fled to the town hall of Fraustadt and were burned there by the Swedes.

consequences

General Schulenburg reported the loss of dead, wounded and prisoners with a total of 5807 men. Rehnskjöld, however, reported 4,000 Saxon deaths and 6,000 prisoners. For the Swedish losses, Rehnskjöld gave 354 dead and 972 wounded. He had the dead Swedes buried by prisoners on the day of the battle and the following day. The Swedes captured four artillery companies and one craft company, 701 horses and all of the Saxon ammunition wagons, 31 cannons, 28 half tons of powder, 40 six-pound and 40 three-pound cannonballs , grenades and hand grenades, 2100 muskets , 960 swords , 1470 bayonets from the Saxons 1000 fathoms fuses , 90 short guns, shoulder strap 460, 220 Russian Axes and 32 boxes of musket balls.

Saxon infantry arrived in Saxony throughout March. In his report on the battle with the king, General Schulenburg complained about the soldiers who ran away cowardly, especially the cavalry, and demanded a strict court martial. He had set up the regiments according to all the rules of the art of war and should be acquitted of any wrongdoing.

Due to the failures, the Saxon Secret Council asked August II to lay down his Polish crown. The nobility and the cities rebelled with open threats against the king, who actually wanted to continue the fight. The king had to withdraw his order to raise new troops. However, he quietly worked on the establishment of a new army and on disempowering the Privy Council and had a court martial held over the deserters. On April 27, thirty dragoons were sentenced to run the gauntlet , nine were hung from a stake, three dragoons were hung from the gallows, two were beheaded and then braided onto a wheel . In mid-July 1706 August , who resided in Krakow , had a troop strength of 15,000 men, but was due to the invasion of Charles XII. forced to abdicate in Saxony.

literature

• Not so Fryxell: Life story of Charles the Twelfth, King of Sweden. Transferred from the Swedish original freely by Georg F. von Jenssen-Tusch. Volume 1. Vieweg, Braunschweig 1861, pp. 229-233 .
• Gabriele Hoffmann: Constantia von Cosel and August the strong. The story of a mistress Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1984, ISBN 3-7857-0379-1 .