The war keeps going….
53. The Big Foolish War keeps going…
After the Battle of Helsinborg, admiral general Wachtmeister, who so far completely overlooked the Danish landing in Scania, finally decided to act. Without bothering to inform the rear-admiral Senyavin, who had been staying with his squadron at Stockholm, on July 21 he sailed from Karlskrona with 21 ship of the line, 6 frigates and few small ships toward the Køge Bay where admiral Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve with the Danish fleet of 26 ships of the line and 5 frigates was waiting for the troops being loaded on 40 transport ships to sail toward Stralsund, which the Danish army was presently besieging.
Gyldenløve knew about the planned expedition but did not took any precautions so when on August 4 the Swedish fleet appeared at the bay, the Danes had been taken completely by surprise and just had a time to form a line and Wachtmeister was able to cut them way to the Sound. At 2PM his flagship and the ships following him opened fire at the Danish “Dannebroge”, which soon was on fire [3] but his commander heroically placed the burning ship between two lines to prevent other Danish ships from catching the fire. around 4PM the ship exploded with only 3 members of the crew being saved.
The battle ended at that point but two Swedish ships of the line, “Princess Ulrika” (84 guns) and “Tre Lronor” (96 guns) run aground and had to be burned after the crews were evacuated. The empty transport ships had been captured. On August 7 Wachtmeister sailed back considering his mission accomplished: reinforcement of the troops besieging Stralsund had been delayed. Of course, performance on the both sides was anything but impressive and the Swedish captains definitely could have a better knowledge of the Koge Bay but Wachtmeister got enough credit to convince Charles to send the Russian squadron back home arguing that feeding its crews is just an absolutely unnecessary waste of money. Senyavin sailed to Koenigsberg which now was used as the Russian army and navy operational base.
Gyldenløve, of course, claimed encounter to be a Danish victory: two Swedish ships of the line lost vs. one Danish and who cares about the transports? The new ones can be obtained or the siege of Stralsund can be strengthened by the troops presently in Holstein, which could be replaced by those not sailing from Denmark.
In other words, each side ended up with its own hero (the Danes - with two, counting a heroic captain of “Dannebroge”).
The land affairs …..
Prussian-Danish invasion of the Swedish Pomerania started in the early June and in the early July sieges of Stralsund (by the Danish-Prussian forces) and Stettin (Prussians) were in their initial stages, with Frederick I “in Prussia” contemplating to send his troops in Prussia an order to attack Elbing, when he received the news that his newly-declared kingdom is being attacked. Fieldmarshal von Lehvaldt had been sending the desperate reports that with a meager force in his disposal he simply can’t do anything to stop the huge numbers of the enemy. The alleged numbers varied in a rather wild range and it was not even clear if the kingdom was invaded by the Swedes and Russians or by the Russians only. Fortunately, soon enough it became clear that King Charles is still in Sweden and that the Swedes are present only in the very small numbers, which meant that situation should be remedied with a relative ease. 20,000 troops had been sent to join Lehwaldt and to kick the barbarians out. The Prussian troops marched straight through the Pomorskie Voyevodstwo, crossed Vistula at Dirschan and entered the Kingdom of Prussia to find out that, except for Oberland, it is already being lost and that the Prussian force there dwindled to 5,000. However, having now in his disposal 25,000 (most of whom had been the veterans of the WoSS) and 55 artillery pieces , von Lehvaldt was ready to turn the tables. His plan was to retake Koenigsberg, defeating Russians on the way, and from here to find whereabouts of the rest of the Russians (who surely would spread their troops to garrison the area) and then keep defeating them piecemeal before they manage to concentrate their forces.
He marched across territory of the Bishopric of Ermeland and then proceeded to the North toward Koenigsberg meeting only the small parties of the Russian regular and irregular cavalry. They were seemingly scared of the advancing Prussians and rather reluctant even to get engaged in the skirmishes. So far everything worked according to the plan and he was getting closer to his target. It started looking like the enemy is too scared and going to evacuate Prussia without putting a fight.
However, after crossing the river Pasmar at Creutzburg [4], he found himself facing more than 50,000 Russians [5] and more enemy appearing at his rear from the forest behind the town.
In the best Prussian tradition, von Lehvaldt ordered an attack disregarding the odds but very soon a huge numeric advantage of the Russian artillery resulted in the terrible losses before Prussian infantry managed to get anywhere close to the Russian position. The cavalry launched a desperate charge to find two lines of the infantry battalions in squares with the artillery in intervals and to be taken at the flank by the Russian heavy cavalry. After it retreated in a disarray, attack of the Russian infantry in the battalion columns finished the battle: Prussian infantry was very good in maintaining a fast rate of fire (which, after the devastating artillery barrage became rather sporadic) but not in its precision and was not prepared at all to the bayonet charges. Detachments of the regular and irregular cavalry and few artillery pieces appearing on the Southern bank of the Pasmar made an orderly retreat impossible.
Some of the Prussian cavalry and infantry managed to get away but most of the army with all its artillery had been either dead or taken prisoners. Lehvaldt was among the dead, killed when trying to rally his troops.
Sheremetev ordered Golitsin’s corps to advance to the Polish border and watch the situation but most of his army remained to the north of the Bishopric because the supply situation still was rather complicated: he had to rely upon a combination of what can be collected in Prussia, bought in Lithuania and transported by the sea from the Swedish Livonia and St. Petersburg. If the circumstances dictate him to advance to the Pomerania or Brandenburg, the supply line may become too stretched with a resulting need to have an agreement with Danzig (always problematic) or to march without stopping anywhere all the way to Stettin (providing it is still Swedish). His instructions were not going beyond Prussia so now he had to wait for the further ones and in a meantime to keep his army well-supplied and in a good order.
__________________
[1] Captain of the 1st rank should be able without anybody’s help to find a place in a paper where he must put his signature; the admirals must be able to put a signature at the place pointed to them; Minister of War must be able to say, in a comprehensive way, what the Supreme Commander wants to hear from him. The Supreme Commander (head of the state) must periodically inquire which army at this moment is located on his state’s territory. If it is his own army, he should try to pay it a salary for the last few years and promise to raise it (in a future).
[2] You have to feed an unarmed soldier because the armed one will feed himself. “Cain XVIII” (the movie)
[3] Gyldenløve reported that the ship was probably ignited by her own cannons.
[4] One more (seemingly typical) confusing pictures: the town id depicted as being seen disregarding North and South. Actually, the city is on the Southern bank so the North is toward the viewer.
[5] Most of the Sheremetev’s army and Fermor’s corps with 270 artillery pieces and cavalry of Golitsin’s corps approaching from the South to cut off the retreat.
«капитан 1-го ранга - должен самостоятельно находить то место в бумагах, где ему необходимо расписаться;
- адмиралы - должны самостоятельно расписываться там, где им укажут; Министр Обороны - должен уметь в достаточно понятной форме высказать то, что от него хочет услышать Верховный Главнокомандующий; Верховный Главнокомандующий (президент) - должен периодически … интересоваться тем, какая же в данный момент армия находиться на территории его государства. Если выяснится, что своя, то постараться выплатить ей жалование за последние годы и пообещать его повысить (потом)» [1]From the List of Military Duties
“If plan A doesn’t work, the alphabet has 25 more letters – 204 if you’re in Japan.”
Claire Cook
“God is on the side with the best artillery”
Napoleon
«Это невооруженного солдата надо кормить, а вооруженный солдат сам себя прокормит»
«Каин 18» [2]
The naval affairsj“If plan A doesn’t work, the alphabet has 25 more letters – 204 if you’re in Japan.”
Claire Cook
“God is on the side with the best artillery”
Napoleon
«Это невооруженного солдата надо кормить, а вооруженный солдат сам себя прокормит»
«Каин 18» [2]
After the Battle of Helsinborg, admiral general Wachtmeister, who so far completely overlooked the Danish landing in Scania, finally decided to act. Without bothering to inform the rear-admiral Senyavin, who had been staying with his squadron at Stockholm, on July 21 he sailed from Karlskrona with 21 ship of the line, 6 frigates and few small ships toward the Køge Bay where admiral Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve with the Danish fleet of 26 ships of the line and 5 frigates was waiting for the troops being loaded on 40 transport ships to sail toward Stralsund, which the Danish army was presently besieging.
Gyldenløve knew about the planned expedition but did not took any precautions so when on August 4 the Swedish fleet appeared at the bay, the Danes had been taken completely by surprise and just had a time to form a line and Wachtmeister was able to cut them way to the Sound. At 2PM his flagship and the ships following him opened fire at the Danish “Dannebroge”, which soon was on fire [3] but his commander heroically placed the burning ship between two lines to prevent other Danish ships from catching the fire. around 4PM the ship exploded with only 3 members of the crew being saved.
The battle ended at that point but two Swedish ships of the line, “Princess Ulrika” (84 guns) and “Tre Lronor” (96 guns) run aground and had to be burned after the crews were evacuated. The empty transport ships had been captured. On August 7 Wachtmeister sailed back considering his mission accomplished: reinforcement of the troops besieging Stralsund had been delayed. Of course, performance on the both sides was anything but impressive and the Swedish captains definitely could have a better knowledge of the Koge Bay but Wachtmeister got enough credit to convince Charles to send the Russian squadron back home arguing that feeding its crews is just an absolutely unnecessary waste of money. Senyavin sailed to Koenigsberg which now was used as the Russian army and navy operational base.
Gyldenløve, of course, claimed encounter to be a Danish victory: two Swedish ships of the line lost vs. one Danish and who cares about the transports? The new ones can be obtained or the siege of Stralsund can be strengthened by the troops presently in Holstein, which could be replaced by those not sailing from Denmark.
In other words, each side ended up with its own hero (the Danes - with two, counting a heroic captain of “Dannebroge”).
The land affairs …..
Prussian-Danish invasion of the Swedish Pomerania started in the early June and in the early July sieges of Stralsund (by the Danish-Prussian forces) and Stettin (Prussians) were in their initial stages, with Frederick I “in Prussia” contemplating to send his troops in Prussia an order to attack Elbing, when he received the news that his newly-declared kingdom is being attacked. Fieldmarshal von Lehvaldt had been sending the desperate reports that with a meager force in his disposal he simply can’t do anything to stop the huge numbers of the enemy. The alleged numbers varied in a rather wild range and it was not even clear if the kingdom was invaded by the Swedes and Russians or by the Russians only. Fortunately, soon enough it became clear that King Charles is still in Sweden and that the Swedes are present only in the very small numbers, which meant that situation should be remedied with a relative ease. 20,000 troops had been sent to join Lehwaldt and to kick the barbarians out. The Prussian troops marched straight through the Pomorskie Voyevodstwo, crossed Vistula at Dirschan and entered the Kingdom of Prussia to find out that, except for Oberland, it is already being lost and that the Prussian force there dwindled to 5,000. However, having now in his disposal 25,000 (most of whom had been the veterans of the WoSS) and 55 artillery pieces , von Lehvaldt was ready to turn the tables. His plan was to retake Koenigsberg, defeating Russians on the way, and from here to find whereabouts of the rest of the Russians (who surely would spread their troops to garrison the area) and then keep defeating them piecemeal before they manage to concentrate their forces.
He marched across territory of the Bishopric of Ermeland and then proceeded to the North toward Koenigsberg meeting only the small parties of the Russian regular and irregular cavalry. They were seemingly scared of the advancing Prussians and rather reluctant even to get engaged in the skirmishes. So far everything worked according to the plan and he was getting closer to his target. It started looking like the enemy is too scared and going to evacuate Prussia without putting a fight.
However, after crossing the river Pasmar at Creutzburg [4], he found himself facing more than 50,000 Russians [5] and more enemy appearing at his rear from the forest behind the town.
In the best Prussian tradition, von Lehvaldt ordered an attack disregarding the odds but very soon a huge numeric advantage of the Russian artillery resulted in the terrible losses before Prussian infantry managed to get anywhere close to the Russian position. The cavalry launched a desperate charge to find two lines of the infantry battalions in squares with the artillery in intervals and to be taken at the flank by the Russian heavy cavalry. After it retreated in a disarray, attack of the Russian infantry in the battalion columns finished the battle: Prussian infantry was very good in maintaining a fast rate of fire (which, after the devastating artillery barrage became rather sporadic) but not in its precision and was not prepared at all to the bayonet charges. Detachments of the regular and irregular cavalry and few artillery pieces appearing on the Southern bank of the Pasmar made an orderly retreat impossible.
Some of the Prussian cavalry and infantry managed to get away but most of the army with all its artillery had been either dead or taken prisoners. Lehvaldt was among the dead, killed when trying to rally his troops.
Sheremetev ordered Golitsin’s corps to advance to the Polish border and watch the situation but most of his army remained to the north of the Bishopric because the supply situation still was rather complicated: he had to rely upon a combination of what can be collected in Prussia, bought in Lithuania and transported by the sea from the Swedish Livonia and St. Petersburg. If the circumstances dictate him to advance to the Pomerania or Brandenburg, the supply line may become too stretched with a resulting need to have an agreement with Danzig (always problematic) or to march without stopping anywhere all the way to Stettin (providing it is still Swedish). His instructions were not going beyond Prussia so now he had to wait for the further ones and in a meantime to keep his army well-supplied and in a good order.
__________________
[1] Captain of the 1st rank should be able without anybody’s help to find a place in a paper where he must put his signature; the admirals must be able to put a signature at the place pointed to them; Minister of War must be able to say, in a comprehensive way, what the Supreme Commander wants to hear from him. The Supreme Commander (head of the state) must periodically inquire which army at this moment is located on his state’s territory. If it is his own army, he should try to pay it a salary for the last few years and promise to raise it (in a future).
[2] You have to feed an unarmed soldier because the armed one will feed himself. “Cain XVIII” (the movie)
[3] Gyldenløve reported that the ship was probably ignited by her own cannons.
[4] One more (seemingly typical) confusing pictures: the town id depicted as being seen disregarding North and South. Actually, the city is on the Southern bank so the North is toward the viewer.
[5] Most of the Sheremetev’s army and Fermor’s corps with 270 artillery pieces and cavalry of Golitsin’s corps approaching from the South to cut off the retreat.
