After the Battle of Rossbach, King George II of England renounced the peace treaty signed in
September that year. Things rapidly changed for the western front of the war. The electorate of
Hanover re-entered the battle. George's son, the Duke of Cumberland commanded the Hanoverian Army
of Observation. Because of his disappointing track record, George sought to replace him.
Frederick and George agreed Prince Ferdinand, Frederick's brother-in-law,
was a suitable candidate for the central command of Prussia's western front.
Ferdinand was born to a long-standing, reputable family of Dukes of Brunswick-Luneburg. He became
Frederick the Great's brother-in-law when the Prussian King was forced to marry his
sister, Elisabeth Christine, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel-Bevern. Despite the
notoriously unhappy marriage and Frederick's reluctance to see his wife outside of formal
events, the relationship between Prince Ferdinand and the King was exceptionally good. During the
interbellum, Ferdinand was the main confidant of the King, tasked with campaign planning,
operations and military drilling. The victory at Rossbach was too
monumental for King George II not to reflect on the peace he signed with the French.
So, shortly after reconsidering, Frederick was appointed as commander of the Hanoverian Army.
This British-funded army, was meant to expel the French army who remained in Hanover.
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[Resume script]
Throughout winter, Ferdinand sought to rebuild the army, which received a battering against
the French-Imperials during the summer campaign. The news of Rossbach was enough
to have several French regiments retreat. From early November to late December,
Ferdinand embarked on a counter-offensive to expel some French forces from Hanover.
He spent the winter having officers scour the electorates of Cologne and the Palatinate,
levying recruits to augment his forces. He also received cavalry reinforcements
from Frederick. The early months of 1758 on the Silesian, Bohemian and Moravian
front -Frederick's focus- will be covered in the following video about the Battle of Domstadtl.
Formally, Ferdinand only had to answer to King George II.
Instead, Frederick bombarded the Prince with letters,
suggestions and orders as if he still were his direct subordinate. His message was clear:
Ferdinand was to launch an aggressive assault against the French as soon as the weather allowed
it. Interestingly enough, the formally misplaced orders did not seem to bother the Prince.
[Ferdinand's campaign]
["It is not a question of going to the Rhine but of defending the electorate [Saxony],
which will certainly be endangered if you do not rejoin the corps [at Silesia]."
Frederick to Prince Henry, after Ferdinand's successful spring offensive
As such, it was not Frederick, but Prince Ferdinand who opened the 1758 campaign.
In late February, he launched a lightning campaign against the French army commanded
by Louis de Bourbon, the Count of Clermont. To his south, Prince Henry advanced with a small
corps via Halberstadt. The speed of the operation led de Bourbon to believe the army was twice its
actual size, personally commanded by Frederick. No decisive battle occurred, but Frederick
successfully captured strategic areas such as Minden. Within six weeks, the Allies took 11.000
prisoners, and the French were pushed back across the Rhine. Whereas Ferdinand and
Henry wanted to push through, Frederick ordered them to retreat. He was waging a defensive war,
and for now, the French were kept in check. From early April to late May, the Allies camped
along the Rhine while Prince Henry returned to Saxony to support his brother's war in the east.
Because in the East, Frederick planned to launch an attack on Moravia and lay siege to Olmutz.
This was the final stronghold before Vienna. Frederick reached Olmutz on April 29. The mighty
fortress would remain under siege until July. Ferdinand prepared for his army to cross the
Rhine and pin the French army against the river during his hiatus. In early June, they were ready.
Ten days later, at Rheinberg, he met the French. Ferdinand attempted to trap them,
but Louis managed to escape. Ferdinand decided to launch a pursuit and continue
southward. Over a week later on June 23, at Krefeld, both armies met once again.
[Battle formations]
As Ferdinand arrived in Krefeld's north, the French roughly camped in battle order. Louis
de Bourbon commanded some 47.000 soldiers. 34.000 infantry and 13.000 cavalry. Approximately 6000
infantry were despatched far to the south, to guard Dusseldorf and the Rhine crossing.
The infantry was firmly positioned on its right beside a depression beside Fischeln,
facing Krefeld. Behind them stood the cavalry, with several battalions
of grenadier reserves behind them. Some 800 soldiers occupied Krefeld,
and 400 defended Anrath to prevent flanking manoeuvres on the French left.
Ferdinand was significantly outnumbered. His Allied army fielded no more than 32.000 troops.
21.700 infantry, 8.800 cavalry and 1400 light troops. His army camped north of the French
positions. Both sides were aware of each other. The French held the territory from Holterhofe
to a large meadow. The terrain is described as inhospitable to infantry and cavalry. An
abundance of woods, thickets, farmsteads and moats made navigating, scouting, and moving challenging.
Ferdinand considered a frontal attack impossible because of the rugged terrain.
Instead, he planned to mount a concentrated attack against the French left.
[Battle sequence]
At 4 AM on June 23, Ferdinand ordered his men on the move. Two columns moved south.
The right marched towards St Tonis. The left, commanded by August Friedrich von Sporcken,
marched towards Krefeld. He was to seize the city and establish the artillery in front of it.
When Ferdinand reached St Tornis at 6 AM, he found it barely defended. He quickly seized the
village and established his headquarters there. The French holding Krefeld noticed the approaching
army. Bourbon reportedly did not believe his entrenched army would face a frontal assault.
He ignored all news about the advance and kept his army stationary.
By now, it was 8 AM, and Ferdinand's army had deployed in front of Sankt-Tornis. He despatched
six battalions to the centre. Then, he took the remainder of his army on a gruelling march through
thickets, marshes, shallow rivers and swamps. His goal was to outflank the French on the left.
The six battalions in the centre took up position in full view of the French to distract them.
They assembled their artillery, opening a duel. Meanwhile to the right, the outnumbered French
garrison holding Krefeld left the stronghold to return to the French lines. It is uncertain
if Louis de Bourbon issued a direct order, or if they retreated on their own accord. At any rate,
Sporcken deployed his army and artillery in front of the city and joined the duel.
To the west, Allied hussars expelled four battalions holding Anrath.
Still, Louis de Bourbon figured the main attack concentrated against his right flank.
He ordered his reserves to reinforce the right, while continuing to eat his meal.
In the background, Ferdinand continued his march and deployment on the French flank.
Unhindered and unseen, by 2 PM his army finished its quiet deployment beyond Anrath. Things went
perfectly so far. He ordered his vanguard, commanded by his son Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand,
to launch an attack against the surprised French left flank. Suddenly, the Allies were behind them!
Artillery supported them. Heavy fighting broke out around Holterhofe as Georg von Holstein-Gottorp,
and his cavalry travelled east. They met virtually no opposition as they continued towards Heide.
Understanding the gravity, French commanders on
the frontline arranged for the French left flank to reinforce their lines.
Though pushed back by the Allies, nine new battalions managed to hamper their advance. Karl
Wilhelm ordered his reserves to join the fight to counter the enormous influx of new soldiers.
Around this time, the French as far as Fischeln received orders to redeploy to the left.
Sporcken caused this. Because he had not heard of Ferdinand and did not realise what was going on,
he thought the centre- and his army in danger. He ordered the retreat, sending
two infantry battalions to augment the centre. The redeploying French had a long march ahead of them.
The movement was visible from the church tower in Anrath, and Ferdinand sent a
dispatch to Holstein to launch an attack across a small opening among the marshes and woods.
Heavy infantry combat had been going on for three hours now. Reinforcements trickled in,
but the French were getting tired. Then, suddenly, part of Holstein's cavalry appeared behind.
Panic spread among the French lines. News reached the Allied centre corps
of Ferdinand's advance. Its commander decided to launch a charge, straight
at the French. Several French infantry units risked getting flanked and decided to retreat.
It was only thanks to 10 squadrons of French cavalry reinforcements, charging against part
of the heavily outnumbered Allied cavalry, that the infantry on the left did not break.
Several Allied battalions moved to relieve their hard-pressed cavalry.
Firing devastating volleys from close range, they suffered the brunt of a French cavalry
counter-attack. Savage combat ensued, with heavy casualties on both sides. Around this time,
the French cavalry reinforced the frontline as Holstein's remainder of the cavalry arrived.
With the cavalry fight ongoing, Karl Wilhelm's infantry linked up with the Allied centre.
The French were at risk of being mopped up entirely. The cavalry reserves refused to engage
fully. The French positions were hopeless. It was close to 7 PM when Louis de Bourbon
finally ordered the retreat. Grenadier reserves on the right flank covered this, preventing any
deadly pursuit. Thanks to Sporcken's retreat, this would have been impossible anyway.
The French lost 4200 men. The Saint-Germain division on the left suffered the brunt of
the damage, nearly 40%. Eight French regiments suffered casualties to the degree that they
had to be disbanded or reorganised. The Allies lost 10 officers and 302 men killed,
1182 wounded, although some sources put the casualty number closer to 2000.
[Aftermath]
Ferdinand's dominant position in the west proved an excellent advantage for Frederick. For once,
he didn't have to worry about his western flank. Instead, he focused against the Austrians,
mainly by continuing the siege of Olmutz. Frederick conjured up a plan:
"If I march straight on Olmiitz, the enemy will come to defend it; then we shall have a battle
in terrain not of his choice. If I beat him, as it must be hoped, I shall besiege Olmiitz;
then the enemy, forced to cover Vienna, will move all his forces in that direction and, Olmiitz
taken, your [Henry's] army will be assigned to take Prague and hold Bohemia in respect.
After which, let the Russians or whoever come, I shall be able to make the necessary detachment."
This plan was incredibly ambitious. For an army facing enemies on the northern, eastern and
southern front, it perhaps was too ambitious. The siege of Olmutz became one of the critical events
of Prussia's 1758 campaign. Especially because of a battle some 20 miles north of the
besieged fortress. The Battle of Domstadtl would radically change Frederick's plans for the year.
Thank you for watching this video.