What happened at the Battle of Domstadtl?
On 30 June 1758 Austrian forces under Ernst Gideon von Loudon and Josef Siskovics ambushed a huge Prussian supply convoy of about 4,000 wagons in the wooded pass at Domstadtl, today Domašov nad Bystřicí in the Czech Republic. The convoy was carrying ammunition to Frederick the Great's army besieging Olomouc. The escort under General Zieten formed a wagon fortress but was broken, and only about 250 wagons got through. Without the ammunition, Frederick had to abandon the siege and retreat.1
In the spring of 1758 Frederick the Great carried the war into Austria's own lands. He invaded Moravia and on 20 May laid siege to Olomouc, its great fortress city. Czech historians still point out what was at stake: had Olomouc fallen, the Prussians would have had Vienna, as one writer for Echo24 puts it, on a serving plate. By late June the fortress was close to collapse, but the besiegers needed one last convoy of ammunition from Silesia to finish the job.2
Four thousand wagons
The convoy left Cosel and Neisse on 21 June under Colonel Mosel. Kronoskaf, the Seven Years' War project, counts about 4,000 wagons, 818 of them carrying ammunition, guarded by eight battalions, some 3,000 recruits and convalescents formed into four more and 1,100 horsemen. It moved in three brigades with few pickets, and on the narrow mountain roads it stretched for about 32 kilometers. The Czech news magazine Seznam Zprávy speaks of an escort of 20,000 soldiers, a figure far above Kronoskaf's count. On 27 June Frederick sent Lieutenant General Hans Joachim von Zieten with grenadiers, cuirassiers and hussars to bring it in.3
The Austrians knew it was coming. On 22 June General Buccow learned of the convoy from a spy and ordered an ambush. Major General Ernst Gideon von Loudon left Konitz on the night of 25 to 26 June with about 4,000 men, joined by more light troops on the way, and Major General Josef Siskovics followed by another route with about 4,000 more. Loudon was already famous for sudden raids on the enemy's rear. Echo24 calls Domstadtl a model of what could almost be called guerrilla warfare.4
The first strike
On 28 June Loudon attacked the column near Gundersdorf. Mosel beat him off, and that evening the convoy reached Neudörfl and joined Zieten. But the column had been badly shaken. On 29 June half the wagons had still not arrived, and the Prussians spent the whole day collecting them, giving Siskovics time to come up and take position on the wooded heights above the pass at Domstadtl.5
Ambush in the rain
At 8 a.m. on 30 June, in steady rain, the first wagons left Altliebe. The vanguard under Krockow marched through Domstadtl without seeing the enemy. When only 120 wagons had cleared the defile, Austrian guns opened fire from the woods. Krockow's infantry held long enough for about 250 wagons to escape beyond the pass.6
Behind them the column jammed. Zieten drew the remaining wagons into a wagon fortress near Altliebe and counterattacked the Austrian left. His infantry gained ground in the forest, but Austrian cavalry struck its flank and the attack collapsed. At about 11.30 a.m., hearing the battle grow louder, Loudon set off from Bärn with his corps; after noon he pushed his infantry forward on both sides of the road. By early afternoon he and Siskovics had joined hands and attacked the wagon fortress from the north, west and south. The Prussian cavalry pulled back toward Troppau, Altliebe was retaken, and the wagon fortress broke. Soon after 4 p.m. the last Prussian battalions holding Domstadtl were overwhelmed.7
Counting the cost
Kronoskaf puts Prussian losses at 58 officers and 2,328 men killed, wounded or captured, among the prisoners Major General Puttkamer and some 1,490 officers and men, with 12 guns and more than 3,000 wagons lost. Austrian losses were about 600. It also reproduces a contemporary Austrian print celebrating the victory, which put the convoy at some 14,000 men and claimed 42 officers and more than 1,600 men taken prisoner. Of the 4,000 wagons, only 250 reached the Prussian army.8
Olomouc saved
Without the ammunition there was no taking Olomouc. Frederick lifted the siege and led his army away through Bohemia. Seznam Zprávy credits Loudon's victory with a decisive share in the Prussian withdrawal, and soon afterward he was promoted. Cannonballs from the siege can still be seen lodged in the Holy Trinity Column of Olomouc, completed shortly before. Decades later, recalled from retirement, Loudon took Belgrade from the Ottomans. He died at Nový Jičín in Moravia, where a museum now shows the battle of Domašov in a diorama of five hundred tin soldiers. For Frederick's first defeat at Austrian hands a year earlier, see the Battle of Kolín.9 › Battle of Landeshut, 1760
Notes
A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.
- Kronoskaf, “1758-06-30”; Seznam Zprávy, “Slyšeli o něm všichni a téměř nikdo o něm nic neví. Kdo byl generál Laudon”; Echo24, “Himllaudon, je tu Laudon. 300 let od narození polního maršálka”. ↩
- Kronoskaf, “1758-06-30”; Echo24, “Himllaudon, je tu Laudon. 300 let od narození polního maršálka”. ↩
- Kronoskaf, “1758-06-30”; Seznam Zprávy, “Slyšeli o něm všichni a téměř nikdo o něm nic neví. Kdo byl generál Laudon”. ↩
- Kronoskaf, “1758-06-30”; Echo24, “Himllaudon, je tu Laudon. 300 let od narození polního maršálka”. ↩
- Kronoskaf, “1758-06-30”. ↩
- Kronoskaf, “1758-06-30”. ↩
- Kronoskaf, “1758-06-30”. ↩
- Kronoskaf, “1758-06-30”. ↩
- Kronoskaf, “1758-06-30”; Echo24, “Himllaudon, je tu Laudon. 300 let od narození polního maršálka”; Seznam Zprávy, “Slyšeli o něm všichni a téměř nikdo o něm nic neví. Kdo byl generál Laudon”; Tourist Information Center Nový Jičín, “Seven Years' War”. ↩
Sources
- Kronoskaf, Project Seven Years War, “1758-06-30: Combat of Domstadl”
- Seznam Zprávy, “Slyšeli o něm všichni a téměř nikdo o něm nic neví. Kdo byl generál Laudon”
- Echo24, “Himllaudon, je tu Laudon. 300 let od narození polního maršálka”
- Tourist Information Center Nový Jičín, “Seven Years' War”
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