The Russian Lion, urged by Vienna and Versailles, made his entry, this
Year, earlier than usual,--coming now within wind of Mark-Lissa, as we
see;--and has stirred Daun into motion, Daun and everybody. From the
beginning of April, the Russians, hibernating in the interior parts
of Poland, were awake, and getting slowly under way. April 24th, the
Vanguard of 10,000 quitted Thorn; June 1st, Vanguard is in Posen;
followed by a First Division and a Second, each of 30,000. They called
it "Soltikof crossing the Weichsel with 100,000 men;" but, exclusive
of the Cossack swarms, there were not above 76,000 regulars: nor was
Soltikof their Captain just at first; our old friend Fermor was, and
continued to be till Soltikof, in a private capacity, reached Posen
(June 29th), and produced his new commission. At Fermor's own request,
as Fermor pretended,--who was skilled in Petersburg politics, and with a
cheerful face served thenceforth as Soltikof's second.
At Posen, as on the road thither, they find Sulkowski's and the other
burnt provenders abundantly replaced: it is evident they intend, in
concert with Daun, to enclose Friedrich between two fires, and do
something considerable. Whether on Brandenburg or Silesia, is not yet
known to Friedrich. Friedrich, since the time they crossed Weichsel,
has given them his best attention; and more than once has had schemes on
their Magazines and them,--once a new and bigger Scheme actually afoot,
under Wobersnow again, our Anti-Sulkowski friend; but was obliged to
turn the force elsewhither, on alarms that rose. He himself cannot quit
the centre of the work; his task being to watch Daun, and especially,
should Daun attempt nothing else, to prevent junction of Soltikof and
him.
Daun still lies torpid, or merely hitching about; but now when
the Russians are approaching Posen, and the case becomes pressing,
Friedrich, as is usual to him, draws upon the Anti-Swedish resource,
upon the Force he has in Pommern. That is to say, orders General Dohna,
who has the Swedes well driven in at present, to quit Stralsund Country,
to leave the ineffectual Swedes with some very small attendance; and to
march--with certain reinforcements that are arriving (Wobersnow already,
Hulsen with 10,000 out of Saxony in few days)--direct against the
Russians; and at once go in upon them. Try to burn their Magazines
again; or, equally good, to fall vigorously on some of their separate
Divisions, and cut them off in the vagrant state;--above all, to be
vigorous, be rapid, sharp, and do something effectual in that quarter.
These were Dohna's Instructions. Dohna has 18,000; Hulsen, with his
10,000, is industriously striding forward, from the farther side of
Saxony; Wobersnow, with at least his own fine head, is already there.
Friedrich, watching in the Anti-Junction position, ready for the least
chance that may turn up.
Dohna marched accordingly; but was nothing like rapid enough: an old
man, often in ill health too; and no doubt plenty of impediments about
him. He consumed some time rallying at Stargard; twelve days more at
Landsberg, on the Warta, settling his provision matters: in fine, did
not get to Posen neighborhood till June 23d, three weeks after the
Russian Vanguard of 10,000 had fixed itself there, and other Russian
parties were daily dropping in. Dohna was 15,000, a Wobersnow with him:
had he gone at once on Posen, as Wobersnow urged, it is thought he might
perhaps have ruined this Vanguard and the Russian Magazine; which would
have been of signal service for the remaining Campaign. But he preferred
waiting for Hulsen and the 10,000, who did not arrive for seven or eight
days more; by which time Soltikof and most of the Russian Divisions had
got in;--and the work was become as good as hopeless, on those languid
terms. Dohna did try upon the Magazine, said to be ill guarded in some
Suburb of Posen; crossed the Warta with that view, found no Magazine;
recrossed the Warta; and went manoeuvring about, unable to do the least
good on Soltikof or his Magazines or operations. Friedrich was still in
Landshut region, just about quitting it,--just starting on that little
Trautenau Expedition, with his Four Pieces of Horse-Artillery (June
29th), when the first ill news of Dohna came in; which greatly
disappointed Friedrich, and were followed by worse, instead of better.
The end was, Soltikof, being now all ready, winded himself out of Posen
one day, veiled by Cossacks; and, to Dohna's horror, had got, or was in
the act of getting, between Dohna and Brandenburg; which necessitated
new difficult manoeuvres from Dohna. Soltikof too can manoeuvre a
little: Soltikof edges steadily forward; making for Crossen-on-Oder,
where he expects to find Austrians (Haddick and Loudon, if Friedrich
could yet guess it), with 30,000 odd, especially with provision,
which is wearing scarce with him. Twice or so there was still a pretty
opportunity for Dohna on him; but Dohna never could resolve about it
in time. Back and ever back goes Dohna; facing Soltikof; but always
hitching back; latterly in Brandenburg ground, the Russians and
he;--having no provision, he either. In fine, July 17th (one week after
Friedrich had got to Schmottseifen), Dohna finds himself at the little
Town of Zullichau (barely in time to snatch it before Soltikof could),
within thirty miles of Crossen; and nothing but futility behind and
before. [Tempelhof, iii, 78-88; _ Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 835-847.]
We can imagine Friedrich's daily survey of all this; his gloomy
calculations what it will soon amount to if it last. He has now no
Winterfeld, Schwerin, no Keith, Retzow, Moritz:--whom has he? His
noblest Captains are all gone; he must put up with the less noble. One
Wedell, Lieutenant-General, had lately recommended himself to the royal
mind by actions of a prompt daring. The royal mind, disgusted with these
Dohna hagglings, and in absolute necessity of finding somebody that had
resolution, and at least ordinary Prussian skill, hoped Wedell was the
man. And determined, the crisis being so urgent, to send Wedell in the
character of ALTER-EGO, or "with the powers of a Roman Dictator," as the
Order expressed it. [Given in Preuss, ii. 207, 208; in Stenzel, v. 212,
other particulars.] Dictator Wedell is to supersede Dohna; shall go,
at his own swift pace, fettered by nobody;--and, at all hazards, shall
attack Soltikof straightway, and try to beat him. "You are grown too
old for that intricate hard work; go home a little, and recover your
health," the King writes to Dohna. And to the Dohna Army, "Obey this
man, all and sundry of you, as you would myself;" the man's private
Order being, "Go in upon Soltikof; attack him straightway; let us have
done with this wriggling and haggling." Date of this Order is "Camp at
Schmottseifen, 20th July, 1759." The purpose of such high-flown Title,
and solemnity of nomination, was mainly, it appears, to hush down any
hesitation or surprise among the Dohna Generals, which, as Wedell was
"the youngest Lieutenant-General of the Army," might otherwise have been
possible.
Wedell, furnished with some small escort and these Documents, arrives
in Camp Sunday Evening, 22d July:--poor Dohna has not the least word
or look of criticism; and every General, suppressing whatever thoughts
there may be, prepares to yield loyal obedience to Dictator Wedell.
"Wobersnow was the far better soldier of the two!" murmured the
Opposition party, then and long afterwards, [Retzow, &c.]--all the more,
as Wobersnow's behavior under it was beautiful, and his end tragical, as
will be seen. Wobersnow I perceive to have been a valiant sharp-striking
man, with multifarious resources in his head; who had faithfully helped
in these operations, and I believe been urgent to quicken them. But
what I remember best of him is his hasty admirable contrivance for
field-bakery in pressing circumstances,--the substance of which shall
not be hidden from a mechanical age:--
"You construct six slight square iron frames, each hinged to the other;
each, say, two feet square, or the breadth of two common tiles, and
shaped on the edges so as to take in tiles;--tiles are to be found on
every human cottage. This iron frame, when you hook it together, becomes
the ghost of a cubic box, and by the help of twelve tiles becomes a
compact field-oven; and you can bake with it, if you have flour and
water, and a few sticks. The succinctest oven ever heard of; for your
operation done, and your tiles flung out again, it is capable of all
folding flat like a book." [Retzow, ii. 82 n.] Never till now had
Wobersnow's oven been at fault: but in these Polish Villages, all of
mere thatched hovels, there was not a tile to be found; and the Bakery,
with astonishment, saw itself unable to proceed.
Wedell arrived Sunday evening, 22d July; had crossed Oder at
Tschischerzig,--some say by Crossen Bridge; no matter which. Dohna's
Camp is some thirty miles west of Crossen; in and near the small
Town called Zullichau, where his head-quarter is. In those dull
peaty Countries, on the right, which is thereabouts the NORTHERN (not
eastern), bank of Oder; between the Oder and the Warta; some seventy
miles south-by-east of Landsberg, and perhaps as far southwest of Posen:
thither has Dohna now got with his futile manoeuvrings. Soltikof, drawn
up amid scrubby woods and sluggish intricate brooks, is about a mile to
east of him.
Poor Dohna demits at once; and, I could conjecture, vanishes that very
night; glad to be out of such a thing. Painfully has Dohna manoeuvred
for weeks past; falling back daily; only anxious latterly that Soltikof,
who daily tries it, do not get to westward of him on the Frankfurt
road, and so end this sad shuffle. Soltikof as yet has not managed that
ultimate fatality; Dohna, by shuffling back, does at least contrive to
keep between Frankfurt and him;--will not try attacking him, much as
Wobersnow urges it. Has agreed twice or oftener, on Wobersnow's urgency:
"Yes, yes; we have a chance," Dohna would answer; "only let us rest till
to-morrow, and be fresh!" by which time the opportunity was always gone
again.
Wedell had arrived with a grenadier battalion and some horse for escort;
had picked up 150 Russian prisoners by the way. Retzow has understood
he came in with a kind of state; and seemed more or less inflated;
conscious of representing the King's person, and being a Roman
Dictator,--though it is a perilously difficult office too, and requires
more than a Letter of Instructions to qualify you for it! This is not
Leonidas Wedell, whom readers once knew; poor Leonidas is dead long
since, fell in the Battle of Sohr, soon after the heroic feat of
Ziethen's and his at Elbe-Teinitz (Defence of Elbe against an Army);
this is Leonidas's elder Brother. Friedrich had observed his fiery
ways on the day of Leuthen: "Hah, a new Winterfeld perhaps?" thought
Friedrich, "All the Winterfeld I now have!"--which proved a fond hope.
Wedell's Dictatorship began this Sunday towards sunset; and lasted--in
practical fact, it lasted one day.
DICTATOR WEDELL FIGHTS HIS BATTLE (Monday, 23d July, 1759), WITHOUT
SUCCESS.
Monday morning early, Wedell is on the heights, reconnoitring Soltikof;
cannot see much of him, the ground being so woody; does see what he
takes to be Soltikof's left wing; and judges that Soltikof will lie
quiet for this day. Which was far from a right reading of Soltikof; the
fact being that Soltikof, in long columns and divisions, beginning with
his right wing, was all on march since daybreak; what Wedell took for
Soltikof's "left wing" being Soltikof's rear-guard and baggage, waiting
till the roads cleared. Wedell, having settled everything on the above
footing, returns to Zullichau about 10 o'clock; and about 11, Soltikof,
miles long, disengaged from the bushy hollows, makes his appearance on
the open grounds of Palzig: he, sure enough (though Wedell can hardly
believe it),--five or six miles to northeast yonder; tramping diligently
along, making for Crossen and the Oder Bridge;--and is actually got
ahead of us, at last!
This is what Wedell cannot suffer, cost what it may. Wedell's orders
were, in such case, Attack the Russians. Wedell instantly took his
measures; not unskilfully, say judges,--though the result proved
disappointing; and Wobersnow himself earnestly dissuaded: "Too
questionable, I should doubt! Soltikof is 70,000, and has no end of
Artillery; we are 26,000, and know not if we can bring a single gun to
where Soltikof is!" [Tempelhof, iii. 132-134.]
Wedell's people have already, of their own accord, got to arms again;
stand waiting his orders on this new emergency. No delay in Wedell or in
them. "May not it be another Rossbach (if we are lucky)?" thinks Wedell:
"Cannot we burst in on their flank, as they march yonder, those awkward
fellows; and tumble them into heaps?" The differences were several-fold:
First, that Friedrich and Seidlitz are not here. Many brave men we have,
and skilful; but not a master and man like these Two. Secondly, that
there is no Janus Hill to screen our intentions; but that the Russians
have us in full view while we make ready. Thirdly, and still
more important, that we do not know the ground, and what hidden
inaccessibilities lie ahead. This last is judged to have been the
killing circumstance. Between the Russians and us there is a paltry
little Brook, or line of quagmire; scarcely noticeable here, but
passable nowhere except at the Village-Mill of Kay, by one poor Bridge
there. And then, farther inwards, as shelter of the Russians, there
is another quaggy Brook, branch of the above, which is without bridge
altogether. Hours will be required to get 26,000 people marched up
there, not to speak of heavy guns at all.
The 26,000 march with their usual mathematical despatch: Manteuffel and
the Vanguard strike in with their sharpest edge, foot and horse, direct
on the Head of the Russian Column, Manteuffel leading on, so soon as his
few battalions and squadrons are across. Head means BRAIN (or life)
to this Russian Column; and these Manteuffel people go at it with
extraordinary energy. The Russian Head gives way; infantry and
cavalry:--their cavalry was driven quite to rear, and never came in
sight again after this of Manteuffel. But the Russians have abundance
of Reserves; also of room to manoeuvre in,--no lack of ground open, and
ground defensible (Palzig Village and Churchyard, for example);--above
all, they have abundance of heavy guns.
Well in recoil from Manteuffel and his furies, the beaten Russians
succeed in forming "a long Line behind Palzig Village," with that
Second, slighter or Branch Quagmire between them and us; they get the
Village beset, and have the Churchyard of it lined with batteries,--say
seventy guns. Manteuffel, unsupported, has to fall back;--unwillingly,
and not chased or in disorder,--towards Kay-Mill again; where many
are by this time across. Hulsen, with the Centre, attacks now, as the
Vanguard had done; with a will, he too: Wobersnow, all manner of people
attack; time after time, for about four hours coming: and it proves
all in vain, on that Churchyard and new Line. Without cannon, we are
repulsed, torn away by those Russian volcano-batteries; never enough of
us at once!
Hulsen, Wobersnow, everybody in detail is repulsed, or finds his success
unavailing. Poor Wobersnow did wonders; but he fell, killed. Gone he;
and has left so few of his like: a man that could ill be spared at
present!--Day is sinking; we find we have lost, in killed, wounded and
prisoners, some 6,000 men. "About sunset,"--flaming July sun going down
among the moorlands on such a scene,--Wedell gives it up; retires slowly
towards Kay Bridge. Slowly; not chased, or molested; Soltikof too glad
to be rid of him. Soltikof's one aim is, and was, towards Crossen;
towards Austrian Junction, and something to live upon. Soltikof's loss
of men is reckoned to be heavier even than Wedell's: but he could far
better afford it. He has gained his point; and the price is small in
comparison. Next day he enters Crossen on triumphant terms.
Poor Wedell had returned over Kay-Mill Bridge, in the night-time after
his Defeat. On the morrow (Tuesday, 24th, day of Soltikof's glad entry),
Wedell crosses Oder; at Tschischerzig, the old place of Sunday evening
last,--in how different a humor, this time!--and in a day more, posts
himself opposite to Crossen Bridge, five or six miles south; and again
sits watchful of Soltikof there. At Crossen, triumphant Soltikof has
found no Austrian Junction, nor anything additional to live upon. A
very disappointing circumstance to Soltikof; "Austrian Junction still
a problem, then; a thing in the air? And perhaps the King of Prussia
taking charge of it now!" Soltikof, more and more impatient, after
waiting some days, decided Not to cross Oder by that Bridge;--"shy of
crossing anywhere [think the French Gentlemen, Montazet, Montalembert],
to the King of Prussia's side!" [Stenzel, iv. 215 (indistinct, and
giving a WRONG citation of "Montalembert, ii. 87").] Which is not
unlikely, though the King is above 100 miles off him, and has Daun
on his hands. Certain enough, keeping the River between him and any
operations of the King, Soltikof set out for Frankfurt, forty or fifty
miles farther down. In the hope probably of finding something of human
provender withal? July 30th, one week after his Battle, the vanguard of
him is there.
Thus, in two days, or even in one, has Wedell's Dictatorship ended. Easy
to say scoffingly, "Would it had never begun!" Friedrich knows that,
and Wedell knows it;--AFTER the event everybody knows it! Friedrich said
nothing of reproachful; the reverse rather,--"I dreaded something of the
kind; it is not your fault;" [TO WEDELL, FROM THE KING, "Schmottseifen,
July 24th. 1759" (in Schoning, ii. 118).]--ordered Wedell to watch
diligently at Crossen Bridge, and be ready on farther signal. The Wedell
Problem, in such ruined condition, has now fallen to Friedrich himself.
This is the BATTLE OF ZULLICHAU (afternoon of 23d July, 1759); the
beginning of immense disasters in this Campaign. Battle called also of
KAY and of PALZIG, those also being main localities in it. It was lost,
not by fault of Wedell's people, who spent themselves nobly upon it, nor
perhaps by fault of Wedell himself, but principally, if not solely,
by those two paltry Brooks, or threads of Quagmire, one of which turns
Kay-Mill; memorable Brooks in this Campaign, 1759. [Tempelhof, iii.
125-131.]
Close in the same neighborhood, there is another equally contemptible
Brook, making towards Oder, and turning the so-called Krebsmuhle, which
became still more famous to the whole European Public twenty years
hence. KREBS-MUHLE (Crab-Mill), as yet quite undistinguished among
Mills; belonging to a dusty individual called Miller Arnold, with a
dusty Son of his own for Miller's Lad: was it at work this day? Or had
the terrible sound from Palzig quenched its clacking?--
Some three weeks ago (4th-6th JULY), there occurred a sudden sharp thing
at Havre-de-Grace on the French Coast, worth a word from us in this
place. The Montazets, Montalemberts, watching, messaging about, in the
Austrian-Russian Courts and Camps, assiduously keeping their Soltikofs
in tune, we can observe how busy they are. Soubise with his Invasion of
England, all the French are very busy; they have conquered Hessen from
Duke Ferdinand, and promise themselves a glorious Campaign, after that
Seizure of Frankfurt. Soubise, intent on his new Enterprise, is
really making ardent preparations: at Vanues in the Morbihan,
such rendezvousing and equipping;--especially at Havre, no end of
flat-bottomed boats getting built; and much bluster and agitation among
the weaker sorts in both Nations. Whereupon,--
"JULY 1st [just in the days while Friedrich was first trying Horse
Artillery], Rear-Admiral Rodney sails from Portsmouth with a few
Frigates, and Six Bomb-ketches [FIREDRAKE, BASILISK, BLAST, and such
nomenclatures [List of him, in Beatson, _Naval and Military Memoirs_
(London, 1804), ii. 241; his Despatch excellently brief, ib. ii. 323]];
and in the afternoon of Tuesday, 3d, arrives in the frith or bay of
Havre. Steers himself properly into 'the Channel of Honfleur' before
dark; and therefrom, with his Firedrake, Basilisk and Company, begins
such a bombardment of Havre and the flat-bottomed manufactories as was
quite surprising. Fifty-two incessant hours of it, before he thought
poor Havre had enough. Poor Havre had been on fire six times; the flat
manufactory (unquenchable) I know not how many; all the inhabitants off
in despair; and the Garrison building this battery to no purpose, then
that; no salvation for them but in Rodney's 'mortars getting too hot.'
He had fired of shells 1,900, of carcasses, 1,150: from Wednesday about
sunrise till Friday about 8 A.M.,--about time now for breakfast; which
I hope everybody had, after such a stretch of work. 'No damage to speak
of,' said the French Gazetteers; 'we will soon refit everything!' But
they never did; and nothing came of Havre henceforth. Vannes was always,
and is now still more, to be the main place; only that Hawke--most
unexpectedly, for one fancied all their ships employed in distant
parts--rides there with a Channel Fleet of formidable nature; and the
previous question always is: 'Cannot we beat Hawke? Can we! Or will not
he perhaps go, of himself, when the rough weather comes?'"