Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf, 1757: Russia's first blow at Prussia

In 1757 Prussia faced enemies on every side: Austria, France, Sweden and, for the first time, Russia. While Frederick the Great fought the Austrians in Bohemia, the defense of East Prussia was left to Field Marshal Hans von Lehwaldt, governor of Königsberg, an old soldier who had fought at Kesselsdorf in 1745, according to his entry in the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie.²

Born in Prussia in 1685, Lehwaldt had served since 1700. In the Silesian wars he fought at Chotusitz, Hohenfriedberg and Soor and won a small action of his own at Habelschwerdt in 1745, though Frederick had more than once been annoyed by his indecision. By 1757 he was a field marshal of 72.³

The Russians invaded that summer with, by one regional account, 100,000 men. The fortress of Memel fell on 5 July, Gumbinnen was taken on 8 August and Insterburg soon after. Supply problems wore the Russian army down, but Ostpreussen.net still counts 54,800 men and 263 guns against Lehwaldt's 24,700 men and 55 guns. The Russian Historical Encyclopedia gives 55,000 Russians against 28,000 Prussians. The older ADB entry claims 90,000 against 24,000.⁴

A battle in the woods

Apraksin tried to go around the Prussians to the south. He crossed to the left bank of the Pregel River without scouting the ground or locating the enemy, the Russian Historical Encyclopedia notes. The Russians camped at Norkitten on 27 August and finished crossing the river the next day. Lehwaldt advanced to meet them and camped between Puschdorf and Ranglacken, intending to bar the road to Königsberg. The ADB adds that he attacked on the king's orders.⁵

Early in the morning of 30 August, as the Russian army was marching through dense woods near Gross-Jägersdorf, the Prussians fell on it without warning. The Russians had to fight on very unfavorable ground. The 2nd Division of General Vasily Lopukhin and the brigade of General Villebois took the brunt. Lopukhin was mortally wounded and Villebois badly wounded.⁶

Rumyantsev's march through the swamp

The situation was saved by Major General Pyotr Rumyantsev, who commanded a reserve brigade. He led his four regiments through a marshy forest and struck the Prussian left flank and then its rear, in the words of the Russian Historical Encyclopedia. Rumyantsev would later become one of Russia's most famous commanders.⁷

Lehwaldt's army could not hold. Ostpreussen.net says the Prussian infantry and cavalry fell back in good order after ten hours of fighting, having lost 40 percent of their strength against a superior enemy. The ADB entry blames errors in Lehwaldt's dispositions, the great superiority of the enemy and several unlucky accidents for the defeat.⁸

Counting the cost

The figures in the two modern accounts are close. The Russian Historical Encyclopedia gives Prussian losses of about 4,500 killed, wounded and captured, with 29 guns left on the field, and Russian losses of 5,700 killed and wounded, including 1,487 killed. Ostpreussen.net gives 4,520 Prussians, 123 of them officers, and 28 guns, against 5,711 Russians, including 278 officers and eleven generals. The victors plundered the surrounding countryside after the battle.⁹

A victory thrown away

The Russian army did not exploit its strategic advantage, the Russian Historical Encyclopedia notes, though the victory mattered for morale. Instead of pursuing the beaten Prussians, Apraksin withdrew into winter quarters in Courland, probably because of continuing supply problems. Empress Elizabeth had him court-martialed, but he died while the inquiry was still under way. The ADB sums it up: the Russians did not use their victory and even evacuated the province.¹⁰

Lehwaldt and his troops were sent west to Pomerania to face the Swedes. For Prussia, the retreat of the Russians came as a reprieve in a year that had brought the defeat at Kolín. The Russians would return to East Prussia the next winter, and their armies would meet Frederick himself in battle in the years to come.¹¹