Battle of Zorndorf

The Battle of Zorndorf was a battle fought on August 25, 1758 during the Seven Years' War, fought between the forces of the Russians troops under the command of Count William Fermor – and a Prussian army under King Frederick the Great. The site of the battle was the Prussian village Zorndorf (now Sarbinowo, Poland).

Background
After the victory at Kolín, having pushed the Prussians out of Bohemia in the summer of 1757, and the cleverly waged campaign in the autumn that saw Lieutenant-General the Duke of Bevern's Prussians defeated at the Battle of Breslau (22 November 1757), Queen Maria Theresa of Austria believed her fortunes were taking a turn for the better. In August 1758, Austria's ally Russia invaded East Prussia with 43,000 troops under William Fermor advanced within 100 km of Berlin, and were poised to join the Austrians under Field Marshal Daun. The king, Frederick II of Prussia, understood that the joining of his enemies would spell the fall of Berlin and, deciding to forestall their plans, moved to the Russian rear. Fermor, who was then besieging Küstrin, learned about his manoeuvre from a Cossack sortie. He lifted the siege and occupied an advantageous position at Zorndorf, 10 km northeast of Küstrin.

Battle
On August 25 Frederick's infantry attacked a Russian "observation corps", which consisted of young conscripts only. The Russians managed to hold their own until the famed cavalry of Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz struck against them. The Russian cavalry clashed with the Prussians but was routed and had to flee towards the lines of the Russian infantrymen but these, confused by clouds of dust and gun smoke, mistook them for the Prussians and opened artillery fire.

In the meantime, Frederick's infantry fell upon the left wing of the Russian army. Frederick intended to repeat the oblique order assault that had granted him victory at the battle of Leuthen, yet as the Russian lines were unable to retreat due to the swamps in their rear, and the left flank of Frederic's army was likewise unable to enclose the Russian lines because of the unfavorable terrain and successful Russian resistance, the battle took the course of an extremely bloody, frontal clash of the adversaries' armies within a narrow battlefield setting.

During the ensuing battle, both sides quickly ran out of powder and engaged in hand-to-hand fighting. One Russian detachment was said to take hold of a supply of wine barrels and drink themselves to stupefaction. When some of the Prussian battalions showed signs of tiring, Frederick himself led them in an attack. The battle was described by contemporaries as the bloodiest in the 18th century. One Prussian officer reported that "bodies of Russians covered the field row by row; they kissed their cannons while their bodies were cut to pieces by our sabers, but still they would not retreat". After the battle, Frederick famously declared that "it's easier to kill the Russians than to win over them". Murderous fighting continued until nightfall, by which time 80% of the observation corps were dead.

Aftermath


The Prussians lost 12,800 men, the Russians lost 18,000 men. That the Russians took such heavy casualties and did not retreat left an imprint on the Prussian soldiers and Frederick. Before the battle he regarded the Russians as incompetent. Afterwards he began to respect them. The battle appeared inconclusive, however. Although the Russians kept the battlefield on the following day, Fermor was the first to retreat towards Landsberg. His retreat prevented the Russians from reaching their Austrian allies and allowed Frederick to claim the battle as his victory, a view also popular in 19th century historiography, Russian retreat from Prussia although some Russian historians still dispute the outcome.