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Chapter 61: 1761 part 10
Third Siege of Kolberg
By June, Vasily Lopukhin finally put the Russian army to march again, intending a two pronged attack to take Kolberg, Prussia’s last remaining Baltic port, and to go over land to link up with Austria and march on Berlin. Lopkhin first redeployed the Russia Navy along with numerous transport to land soldiers at Koslin to then march on and lay siege to Kolberg, while he took the rest of the army through Poland to march toward the heart of Prussia. Fredrick though, had supposedly receive word on the planned attacks from the treasonous actions of Gottlieb Heinrich Totleben, in late May which was part of the reasons Fredrick turned northward after his stalemate with Austria.
Alexander Borissovitch Buturlin landed an 8000 strong Russian force near Koslin and prepared for march on Kolberg. Fredrick, with his prewarning had already bolstered the city’s supplies and garrison.
Fredrick himself continued to rebuild and replenish his own army, occasionally being forced to thin the garrisons in Saxony and elsewhere to bolster his strength. He had to stay positioned near eastern Brandenberg and northern Silesia and remain mobile enough to prevent the Austrians and Russians from joining, or marching on Berlin.
Fredrick had also expanded on peace explorations with Sweden, and hoped their truce would hold so that Sweden would not lend assistance to Russia against Kolberg.
On July 11th, Buturlin finally marched to and began besieging Kolberg. Russian warships bombarded the city for over six weeks, though with peace negotiations underway, Sweden declined to assist, though also waited for the news of the outcome of the conflicts before coming to any agreements.
Battle of Kolberg
Fearing a fall of the city, Fredrick ordered Heinrich von Manteuffel with his 4000, and another 1000 thinned off the Saxony garrisons to reinforced Kolberg further and strike at the Russia besiegers. On September 9th they arrived and did battle with Buturlin’s forces.
Manteuffel’s victory secured Kolberg further and forced the Russians to lift the siege and withdraw back toward Koslin and their ships. The Russian fleet however would continue to batter the defense of the town for another month through to October 9th when the weather would force them to finally leave.
Battle of Landsberg
Fredrick would have sent more than Manteuffel’s fore to Kolberg, but he had none to spare, because the 41,000 strong Russia army led by Vasily Lopukhin had marched from St. Petersburg to the borders of Brandenberg over the summer.
After numerous skirmishes in late August and early September preventing Russian attempts to reach the Franco-Austrian army to the south, Fredrick finally faced the Russians in battle on September 8th, only a day before Manteuffel’s unforeseen victory. The two armies faced off near the city of Landsberg after Lopukh decided to head straight toward Berlin.
Fredrick command an army of 34,000 which, despite containing many younger and inexperienced troops, also had a large core of veteran soldiers and numerous guns Fredrick disrupted and broke numerous Russian charges before strongly countering with his own attacks.
Battle Results:
Prussian Forces: ~5500 casualties
Russian Forces: ~12,800 casualties or taken prisoner, numerous guns and supplies captured. Vasily Lopukhin killed in action.
Clear Prussian victory
In characteristic brilliance by the superb commander, along with artillery fire killing the Russian General Vasily Lopukhin the Russian army was routed from the field. Fredrick continued to chase the Russians all the way to Posen before turning southward upon receiving reports from events in Silesia and Saxony.
Fredrick’s victory over the Russian forces was a much needed boost to morale, and rippled across the diplomatic front. When word of the victory reached Sweden they became more inclined to settle for Prussia’s offer. The British too, upon hearing of the victories decided that they would at least release the remaining subsidies for 1761, and consider it against for next year.
Buturlin sailed his troops back to Konigsberg in occupied Eastern Prussia.
Count Aleksander Vasilievitch Suvorov, who was a staff officer under Lopukhin, re-gathered and reformed the retreating Russian army and also brought it back to Konigsberg.
Later, the accusations of treachery against Totleben would cause him to be imprisoned to the end of the war and subsequently exiled to Siberia.
Austro-Saxon Counter Push
Austria, though seeming down, was not out and even Saxony still had some cards left to play. While Fredrick was engaged with defending against the Russians, Ludwig Ernst von Benekendorff, after organizing the various Saxon militias and rebels pushed across the Elbe into eastern Saxony after Fredrick had been forced to thin the garrisons there.
Battle of Grossienhein
On August 26th, Benekendorff stormed the city of Grossienheim with a force of 4000 and fought off Prussian garrisons there.
Battle Results:
Saxon Forces: ~200 casualties
Prussian Garrison: ~600 casualties or captured. (not counted among Prussian’s main army numbers)
Clear Saxon Victory
Battle of Esterwelde
A few days later on August 31st, Benekendorff took Esterwelde in a similar manner from the lightened Prussian garrison.
Battle Results:
Saxon Forces: ~100 casualties
Prussian Garrison: ~1000 casualties or prisoners. (not counted among Prussian’s main army numbers)
Clear Saxon Victory
Benekendorff continued on his retaking territory in eastern Saxony but swung back south to link with the Franco-Austrian armies once he became aware of Fredrick’s victories over Russia.
Third Battle of Schweidnitz
Duan had once again re-gathered and rallied his army to once again enter the battlefields of Silesia. Originally hope had been to connect with the Russian armies, but it took too long for the Austro-Franco forces to recover over the summer. Now with Fredrick occupied, Austria aimed to retake the contested middle Silesia. The oft fought over Schweidnitz became a battle ground once again. On August 30th a 28000 strong Franco-Austrian forces led by Daun moved to take the strategic city and fortress.
While Daun took Schweidnitz, the recently captured Brieg was to change hands again as secondary Franco-Austrian forces led by Nádasdy auf Fogaras led a force of 9,000 to retake the city. The battle over the city was fought on September 2nd.
Battle Results:
French Forces: ~400 casualties
Austrian Forces: ~600 casualties
Prussian Garrison Forces: ~500 casualties or prisoners
Second Battle of Breslau
While Fredrick pursued the Russians, Duan and Nádasdy rejoined to descend on Breslau to retake the city on September 10th.
Middle Silesia, now heavily damaged, and sapped of strength from repeated battles during the war, did not put up as much resistance as it had in the earlier years of the war, but Breslau at least took longer than a day to fall, before what remained of the Prussian Garrison Forces retreated or fled on September 13th.
Battle Results:
Austrian Forces: ~1400
French Forces: ~600
Prussian Garrison Forces: ~800 casualties or prisoners
Franco-Austrian Victory
Second Siege of Liegnitz
Duan recalled Benekendorff and his Saxon forces again, much to his dismay because the Franco-Austrian army had taken too many losses in reconquering middle Silesia. He had at least succeeded in pushing the general Saxon front from the Elbe to the Black Elster
At a strength of 30,000 the Franco-Astrian army was now actually barely under matched with Fredricks own dwindling forces of 32,000 after the Russian defeat. Neverhteless, knowing Fredrick couldn’t have much left, Duan wanted to take as much of Silesia as he could before the rumors of peace overtures became a long sought reality.
Unlike the previous recapture, Liegnitz, being further off had been better supplied during the spring and summer. The Franco-Austrian army settled into a siege of the city on September 18th.
Fredrick though did not plan on letting the Austrian make further recaptures and after waiting for reinforcements and word regarding peace talks with Sweden and Mecklenburg, arrived with his forces on October 7th.
Battle of Leignitz
Fredrick though did not come alone in his march, only a day before arriving near Leignitz it had become apparent that smallpox had been picked up along the way or encountered on their arrival. On the eve before the battle nearly a thousand of his forces were quarantined in an attempt to prevent further spread.
Duan too saw the signs of sickness seeping into his forces after the first few initial scouting skirmishes, yet the two armies faced off against each other anyway.
The two armies fought only brief battles over four days, while the disease began to run though their camps.
Battle Results:
Prussian Forces: ~500 general casualties, ~2000 from smallpox.
French Forces: ~200 general casualties, ~800 from smallpox
Saxon Forces: ~200 general casualties, ~500 from smallpox
Austrian forces: ~500 general casualties, ~1500 from smallpox
Prussian ‘Victory’ in the sense that the Franco-Austrian forces abandoned the siege.
Disease had taken too heavy a toll on both sides for any decisive battle to be had, but the Franco-Austrian army abandoned their siege to retreat or face a outbreak, and Fredrick made no attempt to pursue as he had to likewise prevent the healthy members of his army from succumbing.
Aftermath
Too devastated from the battles and sickness neither side would pursue further offensives during the remainder of the year. Fedricks retreats to take winter in Crossen, while the Franco-Austrian army retreats to winter in Glatz.
Second Treaty of Copenhagen
After the defeat of Russia at Kolberg and Landsberg and the seeming defeat or withdrawal of Austrian forces, Sweden was ready to take the peace the Fredrick had offered. Sweden’s performance had been utterly abysmal and feared their Russian allies would not be back to help the next year. At the time of the signing, it was also unknown if France would succeed against Hanover or not.
Sweden was in occupation of the strategic city of Stettin controlling the mouth of the Oder, and the Islands of Usedom and Wolin. Mecklenburg occupied the Prussian Hither Pomeranian exclave in Mecklenburg, lands at far western Brandenburg near the Elbe River and the Hanover and Mecklenburg borders, and a sliver of land in north central Brandenburg. Prussia occupied the major Mecklenberg exclaves within Brandenburg.
Peace with Mecklenburg was effectively Ute Possidetis, though the actual occupied areas on both sides were small. Peace with Sweden was finally obtained with Prussia agreeing to give up Hither Pomerania west of the Randow River and the Island of Usedom in exchange for Sweden withdrawing from Stettin and the Island of Wolin.
Although this was technically the second treaty of Copenhagen during the Nine Years War, the first (unrelated and between France and Hesse-Kassel), had mostly been undone at the insistence of Austria during the last treaty of Versailles.
The real goal of Mecklenburg in the war had been Sweden’s promise to give them Wismar and other Swedish exclaves in Mecklenburg in exchange for their support, should Sweden obtain the lands that they had lost in the Great Northern War under the Treaty of Stockholm in 1720. With the present peace this had partly been accomplished.
Although later historians would criticize Sweden for going to peace too early, their army had proven ineffective, they were running low on funds, morale was low and the populace was war-weary. Mecklenburg wanted peace, and threatened to make peace independently of Sweden if needed, which would mean a withdrawal of Mecklenburg troops from Swedish Pomerania, which currently represented 40% of the defending forces there.
As per Sweden’s previous treaty of alliance with Mecklenburg which brought them into the conflict, Wismar would be fully turned over in five years’ time after peace was obtained, which was now set to occur in October 1766.
It was argued that since the full return of all lands lost to Prussia previously had not been entirely complete, that the Wismar conditions should not hold. However, soon after the peace, the Treaty of Schleswig between Denmark and Mecklenburg was announced, and Sweden would choose not to press the issue when the time came to give up Wismar five year later.
Treaty of Schleswig
Once Mecklenburg had finalized its removal from the Nine Years War, a defensive treaty between Mecklenburg and Denmark was made which had been in the works for a while. Its primary purpose was Denmark securing allies in the event that Peter III of Russia made moves against them regarding Holstein, while Mecklenburg’s goal was to prevent Prussia from seeking revenge in case Austria was defeated. The treaty was signed in Schleswig on November 20th.