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OFFICER:
55th PRUSSIAN INFANTRY REGT. 1772
ORIGINAL WATER COLOR
BY LISTED ARTIST
RONALD DUKESHILL MOORE
(1899 - 1985)
NOTED MILITARIA EXPERT
THROUGH PAINFUL RESEARCH
WE BELIEVE WE HAVE DETERMINED
THE SUBJECT TO BE
CHARLES WILLIAM HERZOG FERDINAND von BRAUNSCHWEIG, DUKE of BRUNSWICK - WOLFENBUTTEL
UNDER FREDERICK THE GREAT
AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ERA
MILITARIA REGALIA CIRCA 1772
LIEUTENANT FIELD MARSHALL
WALKING STICK AND SWORD
PRUSSIAN FUSILIER INFANTRY
FIELD OFFICER
55th REGIMENT
ORIGINAL ART / OA
OOAK / ONE OF A KIND
EXCEPTIONAL REALISM
THE WORK MEASURES ABOUT
7.5" X 11"
CIRCA 1945
WWII ERA
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FYI
Frederick II (German: Friedrich; 24 January 1712 – 17 August 1786) was the third Hohenzollern king, reigning over the Kingdom of Prussia from 1740 until 1786. Frederick's achievements during his reign included his military victories, his reorganization of Prussian armies, his patronage of the Arts and the Enlightenment in Prussia, and his final success against great odds in the Seven Years' War. He became known as Frederick the Great (Friedrich der Große) and was nicknamed Der Alte Fritz ("Old Fritz") by the Prussian people.
In his youth, Frederick was more interested in music and philosophy than the art of war. He defied his authoritarian father, Frederick William I, and sought to run away with his best friend Hans Hermann von Katte. They were caught at the border and King Frederick William I nearly executed his son for desertion. After being pardoned, he was forced to watch the official beheading of Hans. Upon ascending to the Prussian throne, he attacked Austria and claimed Silesia during the Silesian Wars, winning military acclaim for himself and Prussia. Near the end of his life, Frederick physically connected most of his realm by conquering Polish territories in the First Partition of Poland. He was an influential military theorist whose analysis emerged from his extensive personal battlefield experience and covered issues of strategy, tactics, mobility and logistics.
Frederick was a proponent of enlightened absolutism. He modernized the Prussian bureaucracy and civil service and pursued religious policies throughout his realm that ranged from tolerance to segregation. He reformed the judicial system and made it possible for men not of noble stock to become judges and senior bureaucrats; he also encouraged immigrants of various nationalities to come to Prussia. Some critics, however, point out his oppressive measures against conquered Polish subjects. Frederick supported arts and philosophers he favored, but at the same time enacted several laws censoring the press. Frederick is buried at his favorite residence, Sanssouci in Potsdam. Because he died childless, Frederick was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick William II, son of his brother, Augustus William.
Nearly all 19th century German historians made Frederick into a romantic model of a glorified warrior, praising his leadership, administrative efficiency, devotion to duty and success in building up Prussia to a leading role in Europe. Historian Leopold von Ranke was unstinting in his praise of Frederick's "Heroic life, inspired by great ideas, filled with feats of arms...immortalized by the raising of the Prussian state to the rank of a power." Johann Gustav Droysen was even more extolling. Frederick remained an admired historical figure through the German Empire's crushing defeat in First World War, and the Nazis glorified him as a great German leader pre-figuring Hitler, but his reputation became far less favorable in 1945 in both East and West Germany after the fall of the Nazi regime, largely due to his status as a favorite icon of the Nazis.
Prince Frederick was twenty-eight years of age when his father Frederick William I died and he acceded to the throne of Prussia. Before his accession, Frederick was told by D'Alembert, "The philosophers and the men of letters in every land have long looked upon you, Sire, as their leader and model." Such devotion, however, had to be tempered by political realities. When Frederick ascended the throne as "King in Prussia" in 1740, Prussia consisted of scattered territories, including Cleves, Mark, and Ravensberg in the west of the Holy Roman Empire; Brandenburg, Hither Pomerania, and Farther Pomerania in the east of the Empire; and the Kingdom of Prussia, the former Duchy of Prussia, outside of the Empire bordering the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was titled King in Prussia because this was only part of historic Prussia; he was to declare himself King of Prussia after acquiring most of the rest in 1772.
The Silesian Wars
Frederick's goal was to modernize and unite his vulnerably disconnected lands; toward this end, he fought wars mainly against Austria, whose Habsburg dynasty reigned as Holy Roman Emperors almost continuously from the 15th century until 1806. Frederick established Prussia as the fifth and smallest European great power by using the resources his frugal father had cultivated.
Upon succeeding to the throne on 31 May 1740 upon the death of his father, and desiring the prosperous Austrian province of Silesia, Frederick declined to endorse the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, a legal mechanism to ensure the inheritance of the Habsburg domains by Maria Theresa of Austria. Thus, upon the death of Emperor Charles VI of the Holy Roman Empire on 29 October 1740, Frederick disputed the succession of Charles VI's 23-year-old daughter, Maria Theresa, as the new Empress of the Holy Roman Empire and in particular to the Province of Silesia.
Accordingly, the War of Austrian Succession began on 16 December 1740, when Frederick invaded and quickly occupied Silesia. Frederick was worried that, if he did not move to occupy Silesia, Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, would seek to connect his own disparate lands through Silesia. Therefore, the Prussian king struck pre-emptively and quickly occupied Silesia, using as justification an obscure treaty from 1537 between the Hohenzollern and the Piast dynasty of Brieg (Brzeg).
Frederick occupied Silesia, except for three fortresses at Glogau, Brieg and Breslau, in just seven weeks, despite poor roads and bad weather. The fortress at Ohlau fell to Frederick almost immediately and became the winter quarters for Frederick's army. In late March 1741, Frederick set out on his campaign again, but was forced to fall back by a sudden surprise attack by the Austrians. The first real battle Frederick faced in Silesia was the Battle of Mollwitz on 10 April 1741. Though Frederick had actually served under Prince Eugene of Savoy, this was the first time he would command an army. Believing that his army had been defeated by the Austrians, Frederick sought to avoid capture and galloped away leaving Field Marshal Kurt Schwerin in command of the army. In actual fact, the Prussians had won the battle at the very moment that Frederick had fled. Frederick would later admit to humiliation at this breach of discipline and would later state: "Mollwitz was my school."
In early September 1741, the French entered the war against Austria and together with their allies, the Electorate of Bavaria, marched on Vienna. With Vienna under threat, the Austrians pulled troops out of Silesia to defend Vienna, while the remaining forces countered against the Prussian army of Frederick the Great on 17 May 1742. However, the Prussian Cavalry proved to be a powerful force and ultimately Prussia claimed victory. The battle became known as the Battle of Chotusitz. This was only the second real battle in which Frederick led troops since becoming king. Dramatically winning the Battle of Chotusitz, Frederick forced the Austrians to seek peace with him in the First Silesian War (1740–1742). Peace terms of the Treaty of Breslau between the Austrians and the Prussians negotiated in June 1742, gave Prussia all of Silesia and Glatz County with the Austrians retaining only that portion of Upper Silesia called "Austrian or Czech Silesia." Prussian possession of Silesia gave the kingdom control over the navigable Oder River.
Frederick strongly suspected that the Austrians would start another war in an attempt to recover Silesia. Accordingly, he quickly made another alliance with the French and preemptively invaded Bohemia in August 1744. By late August 1744, all of Frederick's columns had crossed the Bohemian frontier. Frederick marched straight for Prague and laid siege to the city. Thus the Second Silesian War (1744–1745) began. Frederick's artillery arrived before Prague on 8 September 1744. On 11 September 1744, the Prussians began a three-day artillery bombardment of Prague, in which Prague fell a few days later. Three days after the fall of Prague, Frederick's troops were again on the march into the heart of central Bohemia. On 4 June 1745, Frederick trapped a joint force of Saxons and Austrians that had crossed the mountains to invade Silesia. After allowing them to cross the mountains ("If you want to catch a mouse, leave the trap open," Frederick is quoted as saying at the time.), Frederick then pinned the enemy force down and defeated them at the Battle of Hohenfriedberg. Pursuing the Austrians into Bohemia, Frederick caught the enemy on 30 September 1745 and delivered a flanking attack on the Austrian right wing at the Battle of Soor which set the Austrians to flight. Austrian morale was so bad at several points during the battle that Austrian Field-Marshal, Prince of Lobkowitz, was prompted to shoot three officers for cowardice. This defeat at Soor cast a pall over the coronation ceremonies just a few days later, crowning Maria Theresa as the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. The Silesian Wars were, after all, a mere part of the larger international conflict known as the "War of the Austrian Succession" (1740-1748).
Once again, Frederick's stunning victory on the battlefield caused his enemies to seek peace terms. Under the terms of the Treaty of Dresden, signed on 25 December 1745, Austria was forced to adhere to the terms of the Treaty of Breslau giving Silesia to Prussia.
The Seven Years' War
Habsburg Austria and Bourbon France, traditional enemies, allied together in the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756 following the collapse of the Anglo-Austrian Alliance. Frederick swiftly made an alliance with Great Britain at the Convention of Westminster. As neighboring countries began conspiring against him, Frederick was determined to strike first. On 29 August 1756 his well-prepared army crossed the frontier and preemptively invaded Saxony, thus beginning the Seven Years' War, which lasted until 1763. He faced widespread criticism for his attack on neutral Saxony and for his forcible incorporation of the Saxon forces into the Prussian army following the Siege of Pirna in October 1756. Facing a coalition which included Austria, France, Russia, Saxony, Sweden and several minor German states, and having only Great Britain, Hesse, Brunswick, and Hanover as his allies, Frederick narrowly kept Prussia in the war despite having his territories repeatedly invaded. He suffered some severe defeats himself and was frequently at the last gasp, but always managed to recover. On 6 January 1762, he wrote to Count Karl-Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein, "We ought now to think of preserving for my nephew, by way of negotiation, whatever fragments of my territory we can save from the avidity of my enemies", which means, that he was resolved to seek a soldier's death on the first opportunity.The sudden death of Empress Elizabeth of Russia in January 1762, led to the succession of her Germanized nephew (Duke of Holstein-Gottorp), pro-Prussian Peter III. This "Miracle of the House of Brandenburg" led to the collapse of the anti-Prussian coalition. One of Peter III's
first diplomatic endeavors was to seek a Prussian title from Frederick, which Frederick naturally obliged. Peter III was so enamored of Frederick that he not only offered him the full use of a Russian corps for the remainder of the war, he also wrote to Frederick that he would rather have been a general in the Prussian army than Tsar of Russia. More significantly, Russia's about-face from once an enemy of Prussia to its patron rattled the leadership of Sweden, who, seeing the writing on the wall, hastily made peace with Frederick as well. With the threat to his eastern borders over, and France occupied in its struggle with Britain, Frederick was able to win back some territories from the Austrians (including the major part of Silesia), and finally brought them to the peace table. Although Frederick did not gain or lose any territory in the ensuing Treaty of Hubertusburg, his ability to retain Silesia during the Silesian Wars made him and Prussia popular throughout the German-speaking territories. A year following the Treaty of Hubertusberg, Catherine the Great (Peter III's widow) concluded an eight-year alliance with Prussia.
War of the Bavarian Succession
Late in his life Frederick also involved Prussia in the low-scale War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778, in which he stifled Austrian attempts to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria. For their part, the Austrians tried to pressure the French to participate in the War of Bavarian Succession since there were guarantees under consideration related to the Peace of Westphalia, clauses which linked the Bourbon dynasty of France and the Holy Roman Empire. Unfortunately for Emperor Joseph II, the French were unable to provide sufficient manpower and resources to the endeavor since they were already struggling on the North American continent against the British, aiding the American cause for independence in the process. Frederick ended up the ultimate beneficiary of the French and British struggle across the Atlantic. When Emperor Joseph II tried the scheme again in 1784, Frederick created the Fürstenbund, allowing himself to be seen as a defender of German liberties, in contrast to his earlier role of attacking the imperial Habsburgs. In the process of checking Joseph II's attempts to acquire Bavaria, Frederick enlisted two very important players, the Electors of Hanover and Saxony along with several other second rate German princes. Perhaps even more significant, Frederick benefited from the defection of the senior prelate of the German Church (Archbishop of Mainz) who was also the arch-chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, which further strengthened Frederick's standing amid the German states.
"By the time of his death, Frederick's army was the envy of Europe ... " - Charles Summerville
Frederick the Great was the man of whom Napoleon said upon his triumphant entry into Prussia: "If he were alive, we would not be here."
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Infantry.
"Our infantry is like Caesar's."
German: der alte Dessauer The stern and dark-visaged Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau (1676-1747), nicknamed the Old Dessauer, is considered the founder of the Prussian infantry. He possessed pretty good abilities as a field commander, but was mainly remembered a talented drillmaster who modernized the infantry.
The Old Dessauer was one of the sternest disciplinarians in an age of stern discipline. He also had many improvements made in the infantry, notably the introduction of the iron ramrod about 1700. He was succeeded by his son, Leopold II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, who was one of the best of King Frederick's generals, and distinguished himself by the capture of Glogau in 1741, and his generalship at Mollwitz, Chotusitz (where he was made general field marshal on the field of battle), Hohenfriedberg and Soor. Two other sons were also distinguished Prussian generals.
Musketiers, or musketeers, were foot soldiers armed with smoothbore muskets and bayonets, who fought in line formation. (A line consisted of 2, 3 or 4 ranks of soldiers.) The line allowed for the largest deployment of firepower. The relatively short range at which muskets could accurately hit a target, added to the slow reload, meant that massed formation firing was essential for maximising enemy casualties. Against surrounding enemy cavalry, line infantry (musketiers) could swiftly adopt square formations to provide protection. Such squares were hollow, unlike the pikemen' square. During the reign of Frederick the Great the musketiers formed the bulk of his infantry. Every
infantry regiment had 10 companies of musketiers and only two companies of grenadiers. The musketiers were without the prestige and priviledges of the grenadiers. (However, often the distinguished musketiers were transfered to grenadier companies.)
There were 56 infantry regiments (IR).
Fusilier Regiments.
Fusiliers were infantrymen drawn from newly acquired provinces where, according to the king, the men did not have the loyalty and physical stature of the "old", or the "real", Prussians. Others were quite impressed with the fusiliers. For example French Marquis de Toulongeon remarked that "all the ordinary companies of fusiliers are good enough to have been 0fine companies of grenadiers in our own army."
Prussian fusiliers Originally when Frederick the Great inherited four fusilier regiments he converted them into infantry regiments. He designated as fusiliers the sixteen regiments he raised after he had conquered Silesia. They were mostly Poles, with many Prussians, and even some Czechs. After the partition of Poland in 1772 by Russia, Austria and Prussia, Frederick the Great gained 600,000 new subjects. On the new territories he raised (in 1773) four regiments of fusiliers: 51st, 53rd, 54th and 55th. The 53rd IR [Fusilier] was stationed in Braunsberg in West Prussia (Braniewo in today Poland). The 54th IR [Fusilier] was stationed in Graudenz in West Prussia (Grudziadz in today Poland). Some fusilier regiments were composed of Wurttembergers and ... Frenchmen. In 1744 the 46th IR
[Fusilier] lost many Wurttembergers to desertion. In 1778-89 approx. 600 Frenchmen deserted from that regiment. The 41st IR [Fusilier] was taken from the Wurttemberg service. They suffered heavy losses at Kolin and distinguished at Kunersdorf. The 44th IR [Fusilier] was raised from Wurttemberg and other German states. It was only lightly engaged in the wars. Several fusilier regiments were made of Saxons who were forcibly enlisted in the Prussian army.
Due to heavy desertion seven of them were disbanded. The survivors were the 54th, 55th and 56th. (In 1773 the 51st, 53rd, 54th and 55th were made up of Poles.)
The fusiliers were issued shorter muskets and scaled-down mitre caps.
They were something between the robust grenadiers and the infantrymen.
(During the Napoleonic Wars the Prussian fusiliers were light infantry.)
Tactics of Infantry.
Frederick the Great took it for granted that the Prussian infantry would emerge victorious whenever they met the Austrian and French regulars on equal terms in the open field. In broken terrain and in wooded area the enemy was superior. Frederick the Great usually brought his army on the battlefield in one, two, or more, columns of
march formed by platoons. (Each battalion had 8 platoons. Thus if an army had 10 battalions, there were 80 platoons.) First, the long and narrow marching columns moved parallel with the enmy. Second, when the heads of the columns reached the assigned position, the platoons wheeled into line and were ready to fight. Sometimes the parallel march was impracticable and the columns had to be brought on the battlefield perpendicularly to the line of battle. In such situation the platoons marched in the new direction until they were ordered to wheel into line by the same method as in the parallel march. The Prussians made perpendicular deployment at Mollwitz, Lobositz, Reichenberg and Gross- Jagersdorf. In every other battle they came on the battlefield by the parallel march.
For the king one of the most important things was to form up his army more rapidly and accurately than any other European army. The foreign observers were greatly impressed and noticed that the moves and maneuvers of the Prussian infantry were so accurate that not time was lost in dressing or correcting distances and formations. Thus they arrived sooner at their object than any others!
(THIS PICTURE FOR DISPLAY ONLY)
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