Battle of Trautenau

German war

Part of: Battle of Trautenau

The Battle of Trautenau by Hugo Schuellinger, 1896

date	June 27 to June 28, 1866
place	Trautenau and Thrush , Bohemia
output	Pyrrhic victory of Austria

Parties to the conflict
Prussia	Austria
Commander
Adolf von Bonin	Ludwig Karl Wilhelm von Gablenz
Troop strength
on June 27th about 15,000 men ( 2nd division )	on June 27th about 25,000 men (four brigades)
losses
for June 27, 1,338 dead and wounded	for June 27, 4,787 dead and wounded

The Battle of Trautenau ( Trutnov ) in Bohemia took place during the German War between Prussians and Austrians on June 27, 1866. It ended with a lossy victory by the Austrians and the retreat of a separately advancing corps of the Prussian 2nd Army through a mountain pass that had previously been used during the penetration. This and the battle of Nachod , fought further south at the same time, were the first major battles of the war. The following day, June 28th, further battles broke out further south at Thrush and Burkersdorf, which the Prussian Guard won.

March

Approach of the Prussian 2nd Army to the Elbe

General von Bonin

The Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Northern Army, FZM Ludwig von Benedek , gave the commanding officer of the X. Corps, Field Marshal Lieutenant Ludwig von Gablenz , in Josephstadt, the order to occupy Trautenau with his troops for the following day and to stop the Prussians advancing from Liebau. Gablenz ordered his four brigades standing in the Jaroměř area to march north. In the evening the Dragoon Regiment No. 14 under Prince Windischgrätz was already in Trautenau, while the advance guard of the infantry was not due to arrive until the morning of June 27th.

The opposing Prussian 2nd Army under the supreme command of the Crown Prince of Prussia was still in the Waldenburg area on the evening of June 26th. The advance of the I. Army Corps under General der Infanterie Adolf von Bonin led as the right wing to the border near Liebau, the V. Army Corps marched on the left wing on Reinerz, followed by the VI. Corps from the Glatz area as a second meeting. The Prussian Guard Corps followed with the 1st Guard Division to Dittersbach and the 2nd Guard Division to Pickau. According to Moltke's dispositions , the V Army Corps from Reinerz to Nachod, the I Army Corps from Liebau via Schömberg to Trautenau, Bonin's vanguard should advance further to Arnau. The Guard Corps had to advance with the 1st Guard Division to Eipel and the 2nd Guard Division to the right of the 5th Army Corps, via Hronov to Kostelec.

The battle on June 27th

Area map of the battle of Trautenau

The contested contour line south of Trautenau

The Prussian I. Corps crossed the state border at Liebau and advanced at 4 a.m. in three columns via Schatzlar on Liebauer and Schömberger Strasse. The 2nd Division under Lieutenant General von Clausewitz advanced through the local pass to Trautenau , which is about 30 km north of Nachod and covered by the Aupa , forming an important Austrian point of defense. The freshly arriving Austrian brigade of Major General Mondel had taken up their defensive positions south of the city in good time from 8 a.m. and were able to consolidate their positions there.

Around 8.00 a.m. half of the Bonin Corps reached Parschnitz (Poricí), around 9.30 a.m. the first infantrymen appeared in Trautenau. The Austrians opened fire from the mountains south of the city at around 10 a.m. against the Prussian avant-garde , which initially marched in without a fight, under Major General von Pape with infantry regiments No. 41 and 43 under Colonel von Koblinski . The commanding general of the Prussian I. Corps hurriedly formed his troops to resist and stormed the enemy-occupied mountain. On the right this slope was covered by the Galgenberg and from the other side by the Katzberg. The dense vegetation on the difficult terrain prevented a continuous line, there were heavy individual battles. The Austrian hunters had taken an excellent defensive position behind the earth pile and shrubbery. The Prussian 4th Brigade under Major General von Buddenbrock led the lossy but ultimately successful attack of a total of eight battalions against the right wing of the Austrians. Around 11 a.m., the Austrians around the Johanneskapelle were harassed from two sides by the Prussians and had to go back south until shortly before Hohenbruck . At around 1 p.m. the 1st Guard Infantry Division had also arrived at Parschnitz, but their support was refused by Bonin, as they had only seen one Austrian brigade so far. The Guard Division stopped for two hours and then marched south-east to Eipel. Because of the strong fire from the Austrian artillery, the Prussian persecution on Hohenbruck was not carried out. Meanwhile, another Austrian brigade under Colonel Wimpffen was deployed south of Hohenbruck and began to relieve Mondel's troops.

Assuming he had won the battle, General von Bonin resumed his march. The reserve brigade (infantry regiments 3 and 43) under Major General Barnekow received the order to occupy the conquered lines on the heights near the Johanneskapelle. The bulk of the Prussians withdrew from the battlefield through Trautenau. Bonin ordered the advance to Pilinkau in the direction of Königinhof and Gitschin , but failed to adequately secure the contested mountains south of Trautenau.

When the bulk of the Prussians had already withdrawn, the Austrians, who had already been reinforced by the arrival of the Grivičić and Wimpffen brigades, renewed the attack with double strength. At about 5 p.m. the fourth brigade under Major General Knebel , which had set out from Dubenec, had also arrived at Hohenbruck. While the Wimpffen Brigade was attacking the Kapellenberge, Major General von Knebel received instructions to deploy his troops between Neu-Rognitz and Hohenbruck.

Meanwhile, Baron Gablenz received news that the Prussian 1st Guard Division had already arrived at Eypel and was trying to threaten his right flank in the back. He wanted to be aware of his superiority, but still force tactical victory on the contour line and had the Prussians attacked from the south by three infantry brigades. At the same time, parts of the Wimpffen Brigade on the left tried to bypass the Prussian lines. The Knebel Brigade, which was in reserve, also intervened in the battle without orders and took part in the assault on the heights of St. Johann. The Austrians advanced in exemplary order to the Kapellenberg, where the Prussian Infantry Regiment No. 43 tried in vain to hold its lines, which were under superior Austrian artillery fire. At about 6 p.m. , Colonel von Tresckow had to order a retreat from the front by the new masses of troops and at the same time threatened on the left flank by the Grivicic Brigade . Despite the numerous losses inflicted on the Austrians by the needle guns , the poor coordination of the higher Prussian leadership prevented an effective counter-reaction, and the infantry fought almost without effective artillery support. The tactical defeat of the Prussians finally turned into a disorderly flight through Trautenau to the north. The defeated parts of the Prussian I. Corps had to retreat about 4 km to Goldenöls, where they could rely on a brigade of the 1st Division (Lieutenant General von Großmann ) who followed. The corps Bonin lost by the retreat his role as guide formation and was in the next day by the south foregoing Prussian Guard Corps replaced. Gablenz had to take back the Austrian X. Corps from Trautenau to Soor because of the danger of cutting off his rear connections in order to counter the advance initiated by the Prussian Guard further south.

The Austrians had 191 officers and 4,596 men killed, injured and captured. The infantry regiment of Emperor Franz Joseph, which finally stormed the hill with the Johanneskapelle, lost half of its crew. The Prussian casualties amounted to 56 officers and 1,282 among the men. The Austrian losses were therefore significantly higher than those of the Prussians. In the battles of the campaign, the ratio of losses was typically around 1: 4 to 1: 6, at Trautenau, despite the victory, it was not much better for the Austrians.

Honest but incomprehensible information from the city's mayor, Hieronymus Roth , to a Prussian officer about the positions of the Austrians cost him and some of the city councilors 80 days of internment in Prussia.

Skirmishes at Soor and Burkersdorf on June 28th

Ludwig von Gablenz

After the victory over the Prussian I. Corps near Trautenau, which was fought with heavy losses, the Austrian commander Gablenz withdrew his exhausted X. Corps to Soor, the old battlefield of Frederick the Great , and asked Feldzeugmeister von Benedek for reinforcements.

The Gablenz plan provided for the advance of the Prussian Guard to be directed past Staudenz by artillery and rifle fire from the X Corps from the north and east. At the right moment, units of the IV Corps under Field Marshal Lieutenant Tassilo Graf Festetics should hit the guard from the south on the flank. The victory of Trautenau should be repeated. Benedek initially agreed to the plan, but later changed his mind and ordered Festetics to withdraw. In an episode typical of the Austrian supreme command, nobody bothered to inform Gablenz of this change of opinion, which gave the Prussian Guard an invaluable advantage.

On June 28, 1866, the 1st Guards Division, led by Lieutenant General Wilhelm Hiller von Gärtringen , pushed back the defenders at Staudenz, decimating them with their needle guns. Meanwhile, in the north, the 2nd Guard Division under General von Plonski cut the Austrian Brigade Grivicic from the rest of the X. Corps and practically wiped them out (battle near Burkersdorf), whereby Colonel Georg Grivicic could be captured. Gablenz retreated to the south in the evening, defeated; the battle was decided in favor of Prussia. In the meeting at Soor and Burkersdorf, the Gablenz corps lost an additional 123 officers and 3,696 men, while the Prussian Guard Corps only lost 28 officers and 685 men.

The Austrian military magazine summarized in 1868:

“We won two great victories over the Prussians in 1866, one at Trautenau (June 27th) and one at Lipa (July 3rd), both without a needle gun against this terrible weapon. They will be immortal to us and among the many beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful, laurel vines. But not this alone. Both victories are proof to us that the Austrians did not need the needle gun in order to emerge victorious from this battle, but that there was only a lack of leadership to achieve the goal set with this excellent material. "

War memorials

Gablenz monument

A war memorial was erected in Trautenau to commemorate the battle of Trautenau. The cast-iron monument is 17 m high, weighs 50 t and has the shape of a pyramid. On the side walls there are panels with the names of all fallen officers and the number of soldiers according to their affiliation to the individual formations. The monument was unveiled on June 27, 1868 in the presence of Ludwig von Gablenz, the Bishop of Königgrätz, Karl Barromäus , Baron Hanl and the Archdukes. In 1905 a crypt for the remains of General Gablenz was completed inside the monument .

Another war memorial was dedicated by the officer corps of the 6th East Prussian Infantry Regiment No. 43 his fallen soldiers on October 22nd, 1868. The monument on Kapellenberg near Trautenau is in the shape of an obelisk, with a soaring eagle sitting on a ball on top. The front facing towards Trautenau names the words: “It died / the beautiful / soldier death: / Major / Friedr. v. Hüllesheim / Captain / Baron Fritz v. Braun / Premier-Lieutenant / Eduard von Keber / Seconde-Lieutenant / Fritz Dewischeit / Vice Sergeant Kirsch / 3 NCOs / 77 Musketeers / 21 Fusiliers. "

The naming of streets after lost battles was not common in Prussia; nevertheless was similar along with naming a resulting 1870 residential quarter 1908 Trautenaustraße dedicated afterwards.

literature

• Matthias Blazek: The Battle of Trautenau - Austria's only victory in the German War of 1866 . ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-8382-0367-6 .
• Heinz Helmert, Hans-Jürgen Usczeck: Prussian-German Wars from 1864 to 1871 - Military Course . 6th revised edition. Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-327-00222-3 .
• Adolf Strobl: Trautenau - Brief description of the meeting of the same name on June 27, 1866. Vienna 1901.
• Matthias Blazek: The battle near Trautenau . Sachsenspiegel 52. In: Cellesche Zeitung , December 31, 2011.
• Ferdinand Pflug: On the Capellenberg of Trautenau . In: The Gazebo . Issue 31/32, 1866, pp. 489-491, 494 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).

Web links

• kuk-wehrmacht.de
• marlesreuth.de
• trutnov.cz

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Christopher Clark : Prussia - rise and fall 1600-1947 . Phanteon Verlag, 1st edition. 2008, p. 617.
2. ↑ Slavomír Ravik: Tam u Králového Hradce [= The Battle of Königgrätz]. REGIA Publishing House, Prague 2001.
3. ↑ Hieronymus von Roth: Eighty days in Prussian captivity and the battle of Trautenau on June 27, 1866 . Carl Bellmann's Verlag, Prague 1867.
4. ^ Gordon A. Craig : Königgrätz . Bechtermünz Verlag, 1997, p. 120
5. ↑ Austrian military magazine . edited and ed. by Valentin Ritter von Streffleur, KK General War Commissary. IX. Year, 1st volume, Vienna 1868, p. 182, Verlag der Redaktion.
6. ^ Theodor Fontane : The German War of 1866 . Volume 2: The campaign in West and Central Germany . First edition. Berlin 1871, appendix: The monuments
7. ↑ Trautenaustrasse. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near  Kaupert )