Battle of Lützen

“ The Duke of Weimar, it appears, after the toils of this bloody day, allowed the Swedish army some repose, between Lutzen and Weissenfels, near enough to the field of battle to oppose any attempt the enemy might make to recover it. Of the two armies more than nine thousand men lay dead; a still greater number were wounded, and among the Imperialists scarcely a man escaped from the field uninjured. The entire plain from Lutzen to the Canal was strewed with the wounded, the dying, and the dead. History says nothing of prisoners ”

“ After the defeat of Lutzen he had hastened into Bohemia, where he instituted the strictest inquiry into the conduct of his officers in that battle. Those whom the council of war declared guilty of misconduct, were put to death without mercy, those who had behaved with bravery, rewarded with princely munificence, and the memory of the dead honoured by splendid monuments. During the winter, he oppressed the imperial provinces by enormous contributions, and exhausted the Austrian territories by his winter quarters, which he purposely avoided taking up in an enemy's country. ”

“ At Lützen, on the eve of the first engagement, he was greatly depressed and possessed by a presentiment of death, which proved only too true, for scarcely had the battle opened [294] when he was struck by a bullet which inflicted a mortal wound.
The Duke of Istria has always been among the more unknown of the Marshals. The reason for this is clear. As commander of the cavalry of the Guard and organiser of the Young Guard, his greatest work was done in the office at Paris, disciplining, organising, equipping, and supervising the instruction of these picked troops. ”

“ At the same moment Lutzen was seen in flames, having been set on fire by command of the duke, to prevent his being outflanked on that side. The charge was now sounded; the cavalry rushed upon the enemy, and the infantry advanced against the trenches.
Received by a tremendous fire of musketry and heavy artillery, these intrepid battalions maintained the attack with undaunted courage, till the enemy's musketeers abandoned their posts, the trenches were passed, the battery carried and turned against the enemy. They prest forward with irresistible impetuosity ”

“ The total strength of the Imperial army was about 12,000 foot and 8000 horse.
Gustavus’s hopes of an early decision were frustrated by the fog, which delayed the approach and deployment of the Swedes. It was 8 a.m. before all was ready. The royal army was in two lines. The infantry in the centre was arrayed in the small and handy battalions then peculiar to Gustavus’s army, the horse on either wing extended from opposite Lützen to some distance beyond Wallenstein’s left, which Pappenheim was to extend on his arrival. ”

“ The imperial troops and the Swedish troops were alike renowned; and Gustavus Adolphus and Wallenstein were, by universal admission, the two ablest captains {292} in Europe. Neither force could even affect to despise the other. The scene unfolded, as the vapor swept away, was one which even war has seldom presented. The vast plain of Lutzen extended many miles, almost as smooth, level and treeless as a western prairie. Through the center of this plain ran a nearly straight and wide road. On one side of this road, in long line, extending one or two miles, was the army of Wallenstein. ”

“ The arrival of Bohemian reinforcements, however, obliged the Hungarians to retreat, particularly as their second army, under Matik, wrongly believing that their comrades had been defeated, had already begun to retire. The battle was, considering the small number of soldiers who were engaged, very bloody. The Bohemians lost 2,000 men, and the losses of the Hungarians amounted to 6,000 dead and wounded. The Hussites, as was their custom when waging offensive warfare, did not attempt to retain permanent possessions in foreign lands. Shortly after their victory at Tyrnau they returned to Moravia. ”

“ The Germans may well be vindictive, knowing all this and far more; for their wives and daughters were treated in such a manner that pen refuses to record it. If the unfortunate peasant or husband remonstrated, he was at once shot. They may well, I say, have thrown their scabbards away, determined to conquer or die. At Lutzen, Bautzen, [554] Dresden, Leipsic, and a number of other fields, they fought with desperation. At Lutzen and Bautzen, thousands of the Prussians, Landwehr [45] (Militia) , fought heroically in the clothing in which they came from the plough tail. ”

“ The troops of the Catholic "Liga" numbered about 12,000, the Imperialists about 15,000 men. The forces of Anhalt—including 8000 Hungarian horsemen sent by Bethlen, and the levies of the Protestant nobles of Austria—also amounted to about 27,000 men. Nearly equal in numbers, the armies were very unequal as regards their fighting capacity. The Catholic troops, well fed and regularly paid, were thoroughly prepared and eager for battle; while the numerous monks, especially the Jesuits, whom the Duke of Bavaria had brought with him, inflamed the soldiers to fight bravely against the heretics. ”

“ Reports from the troops pressing onto the city from the north and east led Luettwitz to conclude that hard-hitting tactics in the coming day might break the will of the defenders, loosen their grip on the Bastogne road net, and give the armor of the 2d Panzer Division and Panzer Lehr a clear highway west. Luettwitz put a time limit on the attack prepared for the 20th, instructing his armored divisions to be ready to bypass Bastogne. His reconnaissance pushed around the city, meanwhile, both north and south, and tangled with the defenders of the makeshift, attenuated barrier lines. ”

“ The campaign of 1813 saw the Duke of Elchingen once again at the Emperor's side. At Lützen, his corps of conscripts fought nobly: five times the gallant Ney led them to the attack; five times they responded to the call of their leader. As he himself said, "I doubt if I could have done the same thing with the old grenadiers of the Guard.... The docility and perhaps inexperience of those brave boys served me better than the tried courage of veterans. The French infantry can never be too young." But at Bautzen he showed another phase of his character. ”

“ The second line was formed in the same manner; and behind these was placed the reserve, commanded by Henderson, a Scotchman.
In this position they awaited the eventful dawn of morning, to begin a contest which long delay, rather than the probability of decisive consequences, and the picked body, rather than the number of the combatants, was to render so terrible and remarkable. The strained expectation of Europe, so disappointed before Nuremberg, was now to be gratified on the plains of Lützen. ”

“ Fifty-eight officers, 11,000 men and large quantities of guns, machine guns, and ammunition fell in the hands of the victorious Russian armies. On the same day on which Lutsk was captured other forces stormed strong Austrian positions on the lower Strypa in Galicia between Trybuchovice and Jazlovice and crossed both the Ikva and the Styr. Along the northern part of the front, north of the Pripet River, comparative quiet reigned throughout the early stages of the Russian offensive. ”

“ All that there is in the German idea was expressed in the Lusitania Massacre, it was expressed in the killing of women and children, innocent of all offense, entitled to all protection as helpless, unoffending, as the children of a race not at war, at least entitled to immunity which hitherto was reckoned the right of women and children, neutral or belligerent.
The war that is being fought in Europe is a war for civilization. The battle of Great Britain, of France, of Russia, is our battle. ”

“ He was too good a soldier to waste his reserves and only brought up a few units of the second line to help the disordered brigades of the first. Again the Imperialists were driven in and their guns recaptured, this time all along the line. About three in the afternoon the Swedes were slowly bearing back Wallenstein’s stubborn infantry when Pappenheim appeared. The famous cavalry leader had brought on his mounted men ahead of the infantry and asking, “Where is the king of Sweden?” charged at once in the direction of the enemy’s right. ”

“ The sinking of the Lusitania is just a sign and a sample of what war now becomes, its rich and ever richer opportunities of unforgettable exasperation. Germany is resolved to hurt and destroy to the utmost, every exasperated militarism will come naturally to such resolves, and only by pain and destruction, by hurting, shaming and damaging Germany to the point of breaking the German spirit can this inflamed and war-mad people be made to relinquish their gigantic aggression upon the world. ”

“ It had at first been settled that the diet should begin its sittings on December 6, but some delay occurred, as the army of the Orphans had not at that date returned from a raid in Hungary; though negotiations in view of peace had begun, the Bohemians still continued these incursions into the neighbouring lands; they had, indeed, become necessary to provision the exhausted country. The new invasion of Hungary had, however, proved very disastrous; and the Orphans returned to Bohemia in very reduced numbers. Even after their return many died from exhaustion and exposure to the cold. ”

“ The Hussites, who had only retired from the frontier because of the difficulty of provisioning their large army in an exhausted country, had meanwhile rallied their forces near the Karlštýn fortress, and, probably well aware of the indiscipline and licence which prevailed among the crusaders, now immediately marched on Domážlice. When the Elector Frederick was, on the morning of August 14, informed of the approach of the Bohemian armies, he immediately determined to await their attack in a defensive position and also to prepare for a retreat which, he thought, might possibly be necessary. ”

“ According to the most reliable calculations the whole force—including the numerous camp-followers—amounted to about 100,000 men. Instead of advancing immediately the vast army remained for some time close to the Bavarian frontier. The terror then inspired by the Bohemian name was so great that the crusaders probably thought it more prudent to await the results of the movements of the Archduke of Austria and the Silesian princes, who were to create diversions by attacking Bohemia from their territories. ”

“ He then ordered his horsemen to attack the flanks of the enemies, but soon to retire. Shortly afterwards he gave the order that his battle-wagons, laden with heavy stones, should be driven down the slope into the midst of the advancing Praguers. Their appearance immediately caused a panic, which was, no doubt, all the greater because Žižka’s exploits had already become legendary. The flight of the first columns prevented the advance of the others, and many soldiers—among them the troops of the nobles allied with Prague—never came into action. ”

“ The younger Count Thurn, who alone of the Bohemian officers had fought not ingloriously during the battle, spoke in the same sense as Tschernembl. Christian of Anhalt, the originator of the intrigues and negotiations which had raised Frederick to his precarious throne, now spoke in favour of immediate flight; he had been in constant conflict with the Bohemian generals, and wished to leave the country as soon as possible. The principal argument of Anhalt was that the mutinous condition of the troops rendered it impossible to induce them to face the enemy again. ”

“ Here he immediately formed his columns of wagons and his soldiers in line of battle. As was invariably the case Žižka’s position was a very strong one. The enemies could advance by one road only; the slopes of the hill were then undoubtedly thickly wooded, and a marshy stream crossed the road at the beginning of the ascent. The Praguers, still vastly superior in number, immediately advanced to attack, anxious only that Žižka should not, as at Kostelec on the Elbe, again escape them. ”

“ It is certain that men began only very gradually to realise the complete change in the methods of warfare which was a necessary consequence of the use of fire-arms. The Bohemian and Polish army, which appears to have been very considerable, occupied all the hills which surrounded the Karlštýn, and as was then the custom, erected block-houses or small forts, surrounded by ditches, which were to secure the besiegers against sorties. The Hussite army brought a considerable amount of artillery, according to the ideas of the time, and among them four large pieces of ordnance. ”

“ Though the Germans had offered but little resistance, their loss in this battle amounted to about 2000 men. Neisse itself was not taken, in consequence of its brave defence by Puta of Častolovice, and, it may be added, because it was the habit of the Hussites not to delay their advance by prolonged sieges of fortified towns. From Neisse the Bohemians immediately marched on Brieg, after receiving the submission of several Silesian princes and cities. The town of Brieg, situated on the banks of the Oder, was then one of the most important cities of Silesia. ”

“ They are ready at any time to fight for the vindication of their character and honor. I would rather surrender territory than ideals."
Whether this utterance was a warning to Germany or not, the Lusitania negotiations afterward became more promising. Throughout them Germany balked at making an outright disavowal; she indicated a willingness to go part of the way to meet the United States, but always conditional to an expression being inserted in her apologia that the attack on the Lusitania was a justifiable reprisal against Great Britain. ”