An Odd Battlefield Walk: The Berlin Raids of 1757 and 1760

Dear Readers,

A battlefield walk, or prepared visit to any historic place, is one of the delights of the those who are alive to a sense of the past. Many organizations have their own term for this concept. Militaries call them, "staff rides," American Civil War reenactors have their own, less savory term.  After my work at the archive yesterday, I conducted a battlefield walk in Berlin. It is possible to do many of these walks in Berlin, but rather than focus on the Second World War, I examined the ground marked by Austrian and Russian raids on Berlin during the Seven Years' War.

Battlefield walks in urban environments are the most difficult and least rewarding type of staff ride. The ground has changed and the spaces are often crowded, noisy and distracting. But, if I wanted something easy, I shouldn't have chosen the mid-eighteenth century as a focus for my studies. If you are hazy regarding the Seven Years' War, you can pop over to this website for a quick refresher.  For the purposes of our discussion today, you only need to know that Berlin, the capital city of the Prussian state, was being threatened by the Austrian and Russian armies. Before embarking on the battlefield, let's discuss the city of Berlin in the eighteenth century for a moment. The map above is from 1789, while the map below is from just before the Seven Years' War in 1748.

You can see the outline of the city. The city center contained crumbling defenses that had not been repaired since 1740. A small wall, more for taxation than defense, surrounded the entirety of the city. The only real fortress in the area was outside the city itself, slightly northwest in Spandau. In times of crisis, the royal family would flee to Spandau, rather than stay in the city. The customs wall, as it was called, can be seen outlining the city on both maps. The southern side of the city contained extensive pastures and this open land was also enclosed by the customs wall. You can see that feature on the southern side of the city in both maps. Our story today primarily takes place in that open land, and around three gates on the southern side of the customs wall: the Halle Gate (Hallesches Tor), the Cotbuss Gate (Kotbusser Tor) and the Silesian Gate (Schlesisches Tor). It is possible to (roughly) retrace the line of the customs wall, by following the U1 or U3 Ubahn lines traveling to or from the Warschauer Straße Ubahnhof. While the line does not follow the course of the customs wall exactly, and while the stations are not exactly on the site of the gates, it is possible to quickly move to the approximate locations of these former gates. The map below shows the 1757 raid of the city.

Grosser Generalstab Map

In 1757, Austrian FML Andreas Hadik chose to approach the city from the southeastern side, in order to cover the relatively small size of his force.  Hadik had perhaps 7,000 men with which to confront the Berlin garrison of roughly 4,000. Moreover, many of Hadik's troops had been detached, and he knew that Prussian reinforcements were quickly approaching from various quarters. On 11am on the 16th of October, 1757, Hadik began offensive operations against the city.

Looking southeast towards the initial Austrian positions. 

The commander of the Berlin Garrison, Lt. General Rochow, upon recovering from his initial shock, quickly deployed troops to the southern city gates. Around 500 men of the Leon Fusiliers were in the vicinity of the Silesian Gate when Hadik began his attack. Major Tesmar and six companies of the 7th Garrison regiment were dispatched to the Silesian Gate shortly before Hadik began firing towards the defenses with three-pounders.[1] The Austrian gunner Georg Joseph Thun managed to lower the drawbridge across the Spree, by damaging one of the chains suspending it, which precipitated an attack by two companies of Austrian Grenadiers. The troops rushed from the southwest side of the Spree across the now passable bridge towards the Stralauer Tor on the far side, scattering the opposition.

The modern far side of the Spree, and bridge towards the Stralauer Tor. 

Hadik deployed more artillery, and his six-pounders smashed the Silesian Gate itself, which permitted around 1,400  Austrian troops to make their way inside the city.

Looking northwest towards Berlin. 

Although most of the formerly open land has been built up, there are a few parks which give a better sense of the space confronting Hadik and his troops. Hadik's troops moved inside the wall to the northwest, and began to notice Prussian reinforcements approaching. Major Tesmar and the six companies of Garrison Regiment 7 wheeled to anchor their right flank on the customs wall, and began to move towards the Austrians pouring through the Silesian gate.[2] The situation can be seen below.

A detail showing the combat at this point. 

A modern version of the view from the perspective of the Prussian reinforcements,
under Major von Tesmar

Hadik used the relative openness of the terrain to outflank and charge the Prussian troops. The six companies were charged from the front by 700 hundred cavalry, while attacked in the flank by an indeterminate number of Croats. The Prussians immediately opened a 'heavy fire' on these approaching forces, but numbers and combat experience took their toll, and the Austrians quickly routed the Prussian troops in the ensuing melee.

The view northeast between the Silesian and Cotbuss Gates 

Having failed to stop the Austrians, Lt. General Rochow retreated with the remainder of his forces towards Zitadelle Spandau. Hadik had too little time to effectively disable the Prussian capital and made some minor demands which were granted before he withdrew. The Austrians were on the road southwards by 10pm, having extracted 14 carriages of currency from Berlin. According to legend, Hadik also demanded 20 pairs of gloves for Maria Theresa. 

The interior of Charlottenburg Palace was badly damaged during the 1760 raid

The Prussian capital would come under attack again in 1760, when forces under Austrian FM Lacy and Russian General Chernyshev concentrated on the city in October of 1760. As opposed to the previous raid, major forces were involved, and by the 7th of October, perhaps 15,000 Prussians faced over 30,000 Austro-Russian allies around the city. Prussian General Johann von Hülsen defended the south approaches to the city against the Austrians, while Prinz Eugen von Württemberg guarded northeastern side against Russian troops. Seeing that the allies possessed almost double their numbers, the Prussian commanders decided to avoid a Maxen-like debacle and withdraw their forces. In essence, to Hülsen and Württemberg, the army was more important than the capital. 

Hülsen's view looking south from the Halle Gate
 towards Austrian positions near Tempelhof

Russian General Totleben had been in negotiations with the commandant of Berlin, the venerable Prussian Lt. General Rochow. Among the generals of the eighteenth century, Rochow possesses the infamous distinction of having lost his prince's capital twice. Rochow and Totleben concluded terms without consulting the Austrian commander Lacy, who was furious. Totleben was a man with a reputation for nepotism and kleptomania, and personally profited a great deal from his military career. 

The courtyard behind the Halle Gate, by which Lacy and the Austrians entered.

The Zeughaus, or armory, which now houses the German History Museum,
was heavily damaged.

Lacy, as a result, did little to stop his troops from looting the city, in violation of Totleben's agreement. The Russians targeted their fury on state-owned buildings, while the few Austrians who managed to get into the city before the agreement was ratified destroyed whatever property they could. Eventually, Russian troops ostensibly guarding the city (for their own, sanctioned, looting) fired on Austrian looters to force them to desist. By the 11th of October, word had reached the capital that the Prussian main army was on the move. The Austrian and Russian forces left a badly damaged Prussian capital and rejoined their main armies. 

Both raids on Berlin had the effect of badly slightly weakening the Prussian war economy, and causing Frederick to lose face before an international audience. However, despite the paintings lost and treasure stolen, losing Berlin did not prevent the Prussians from continuing the war effort. Indeed, the raids on Berlin were less strategically significant than losing a Silesian fortress such as Glatz or Schweidnitz. If you seek to walk the Berlin raids, print off a large period map, and bring both a readable secondary account of the action, as well as print-offs of the relevant articles on Kronoskaf. All three are invaluable in orienting you to the actions which occurred. 

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Thanks for Reading,

Alex Burns 

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[1]Duffy, By Force of Arms, 69.
[2] Ibid, 70. Hadik claims that nearly all the Prussians were taken prisoner, and only six colors were captured.