The victory of the Battle of Rosbach cannot change the disadvantage after the Battle of Colin. Just as Frederick rushed to the southwest to attack the French army, he stayed to guard the Duke of Befane in Silesia, and was defeated by Marshal Dawn and Prince Carl's main force of the Austrian army. Breslau, the capital of Silesia, fell and the whole territory was almost occupied. The Duke of Befane himself was captured.

Frederick heard the bad news, leaving Prince Ferdinand with a small number of troops to prevent the western front from returning to the French north. Although there was no base in Silesia, Frederick suddenly occupied the supply center of the Austrian army in New Markert by surprise, which surprised the high command of the Austrian army. They think Frederick should go camping for the winter after the Battle of Rossby. There are 66,000 Austrian Karl (Prince Lorraine) and Marshal Dawn.

Although Frederick was exhausted, he was still confident to find the main battle of the Austrian army with 36,000 people, because Frederick mistakenly thought that the Austrian army had only 36,000 people. 1757 65438+On February 5th, the Battle of Leuten started.

The Austrian army has 84 infantry battalions, 144 cavalry squadron, occupying the north-south defense line and facing the west.

There is a river behind the left. The center of the Austrian army is supported by the village of Leuten, and the left wing is under the command of General Nadasti, some distance from the river. The right wing was commanded by General Lucchese, and the top of the left and right wings were nearly six miles apart, so it was inconvenient to mobilize troops.

Frederick has 48 battalions, 24,000 infantry, 128 squadron * *12000 cavalry, and the total strength is only 39,000, but he has one advantage: Biot is familiar with the terrain, because Prussia held an autumn exercise in this same place a few years ago. Frederick knew that in front of the right side (north side) of the Austrian army, there was a highland called Tongtian Mountain, which could be used to cover the enemy's line of sight and secretly maneuver troops to prepare to attack the gap between the left wing of the Austrian army and the river.

Frederick's troops entered the battlefield from northwest to southeast, and the striker crossed the Austrian line. In the battle of outpost, he defeated five regiments of Austrian cavalry, occupied Bonn highland, covered the main force from the rear of the highland and continued to go south, and assembled to the left wing of the Austrian army.

Because Bonn Highland is located in the northern wing of the Austrian army, the right-wing commander, General Lucchese, took the face-to-face Pu Jun cover troops as the main force, misjudged that Pu Jun's main attack direction was in the north, and pleaded with Prince Carl and Marshal Dawn many times. Carl transferred the reserves of nine battalions from the south to the north, further weakening his left wing.

Pu Jun's main force concentrated calmly, bypassing the apex of the Austrian army's left wing. At one o'clock in the afternoon, Qi Teng's cavalry and Prince Moritz's infantry suddenly attacked General Nadasti, advancing from south to north.

Nadasti was caught off guard. As soon as he faced the headquarters, he tried to launch a cavalry counterattack, but was defeated by ordinary infantry. About half an hour, Nadasti's Austrian left wing was crushed.

Prince Carl had to shrink the south wing with the central village Leuten as the axis, and the whole defense line turned from west to south. At the beginning of the second stage of the campaign, the offensive and defensive of Leuten village became the focus. The Austrian army held its ground by virtue of its numerical superiority, and a large number of troops crowded around Leuten.

Pu Jun's Morindorf Guard Brigade fought hard and occupied the village several times. However, the Austrian army retreated slightly to the north and continued its tenacious defense. Pu Jun can't rush out of the village, and the fighting is in danger of deadlock. The battle has entered the third decisive stage.

It turned out that General Lucchese in the northern wing of the Austrian army, with the main cavalry of 70 squadrons, assembled and located in the west of the village of Lowteen in the center, facing south, ready to launch a powerful counterattack against the left wing of Pu Jun's main infantry near Lowteen. But they don't know, their position is sandwiched between Leuten village in Prussia and Driesen, and between the 40th squadron cavalry.

When the Austrian cavalry launched a counterattack, the Pu Jun cavalry immediately launched a side attack from the outer wing, and the Austrian cavalry attack formation immediately fell into chaos, and Lucchese was killed. The victorious Pu Jun cavalry continued to attack the central main force of the Austrian army, while Frederick himself and General Jiteng led the hussars to detour to the rear of the main force of the Austrian army, and the entire defense line of the Austrian army was completely destroyed and the Austrian army collapsed.

Frederick used victory to pursue resolutely, and for the first time developed battlefield victory into a strategic pursuit of the North. Although Pu Jun was very tired after the war, his morale was high. He marched all night and shouted slogans.

In this campaign, Pu Jun suffered about 6,300 casualties, while the Austrian battlefield lost 22,000 people, including captured12,000 people. After the war, Qi Teng commanded the cavalry to pursue hard and captured 2000 Austrian troops. In addition, the whole Silesia was recovered, and 65,438+07,000 Austrian defenders in breslau also surrendered to Frederick.

Frederick wiped out more than 40,000 Austrian troops on the battlefield of Leuten. Military historians regard the Battle of Leuten as the pinnacle of frederick the great's military art, just like Napoleon's Battle of Austerlitz.

There are also two great battles, Rosbach and Leuten, which took place within 65,438+0 months, and they are internally related to each other as a whole. Only by these two battles, Frederick completely established his position as one of the greatest stars in ancient and modern times.