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The Battle of Leuthen was a battle fought on December 5, 1757 during the Seven Years' War. It was a decisive victory for Frederick the Great that ensured his continued control over Silesia from the Austrians. It also made extensive use of surprise and taking advantage of enemy positions and the surrounding terrain.
Background While Frederick the Great was campaigning out in central Germany defeating a combined Franco-Imperial army at the Battle of Rossbach, the Austrians had managed to slowly retake the province of Silesia. Frederick had arrived on November 28 to find that the primary city in Silesia, Breslau, had just fallen to the Austrians. He arrived near Leuthen to find an army that was twice his size. He realized that he must either win a great victory or suffer a horrible defeat. The commanders in charge of the Austrian army had earlier argued about whether to march out of Breslau to face Frederick, and Charles of Lorraine had won the argument and thus the battle was set. The weather was foggy and the entire area had once been a training ground for the Prussian army, and so Frederick the Great knew the terrain intimately. The Feint Frederick the Great, intent on ejecting the Austrians out of Silesia, marched directly toward the Austrian army with its center at Leuthen, its front stretching an amazing 5 1/2 miles. The Austrian army was stretched out to such an incredible length in order to prevent it from being flanked by Frederick, as it was his favorite tactic to apply, but this would ultimately be a massive mistake. Frederick had his cavalry launch an assault on Borna as a feint and then face the Austrian right flank, appearing as though it would act as a spearhead for a right flank attack. Screening his army with his cavalry, Frederick moved his well-disciplined infantry toward the Austrian left in columns. Behind the Hills The infantry marched to the south, out of sight of the Austrians, behind a line of low hills. Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, although in the tower of the church at Leuthen, could see nothing and responded by moving his reserve to his right flank instead of the soon-to-be imperilled left. The Prussian army had seemed to simply vanish, appearing to the Austrians as nothing but a mere retreat, and Prince Charles of Lorraine was heard to say "The good fellows are leaving, let's let them go." But when the heads of the two superbly drilled Prussian columns, the distances between the marching platoons remaining exactly the width of each platoon's front, had passed the Austrian left flank, the columns veered left toward the enemy and continued their march until the heads of the two columns had passed beyond the left Austrian flank. Then, on command, the platoons of the columns turned left at Lobetinz, and the whole Prussian army lay in line of battle at nearly a right angle to the left flank of the Austrian position. The Prussians had carried out with their whole army a maneuver analogous to that used by the Spartans to attack their enemy in flank. In the age of Linear Warfare however, such a flanking maneuver is truly lethal to the victim. The weakest soldiers of the Austrian army had been put on the left flank in a position protected by the hills as their fighting ability was doubted. Disaster for the Austrians The Prussian infantry, arrayed in the conventional two lines of battle, then advanced and rolled up the Austrian flank. Frederick was superbly lucky that day; not only had Prince Charles moved the cavalry from his army's left to the right, but the infantry on the right were Protestant Wurttemberg troops sympathetic to the also Protestant Prussians. After firing a few half-hearted volleys, they broke ranks in front of the advancing Prussian line. The other Austrian infantry on their left, when beset with murderous 12 pounder Prussian artillery and devastating volleys from the advancing Prussians, quickly broke ranks as well. Prince Charles rushed troops from his right to his left, forming a hastily-made line along the town of Leuthen (formerly the Austrian center). The Austrians desperately attempted to realign themselves, but since their line of battle was so long, it took soldiers from the right flank one and a half hours to get into place. The long Prussian line did not halt their amazing advance for a second, assaulting Leuthen with artillery support. The determined Prussians, in forty minutes of hell, took the village while both armies' artillery pounded away at each other. Now the Austrian cavalry, seeing the exposed Prussian line, hurried to take them in the flank and win the battle. Unfortunately for them, the Prussian cavalry intercepted them in a devastating charge. The cavalry melee soon swirled into the Austrian line behind Leuthen, causing widespread confusing and havoc. The Austrian line then broke; the battle lasted a little more than three hours. After seeing his army defeated, Prince Charles of Lorraine was heard to have said "I can't believe it!" Aftermath
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