Siege of Breslau (1757)

The weather was bitterly cold, with a combination of rain and snow,^[6] and both the besiegers and the besieged suffered miserably. By 7 December, the Prussians had isolated the city from all communications and began construction of their batteries. In the following days, they took possession of the moats, dug fortifications and erected batteries; as soon as a battery was constructed, its assaults began. By 12 December, the Prussian troops, commanded by Prince Ferdinand, had control of the St. Moritz church in the city suburbs, and erected a new battery with two cannons and two mortars.^[6]

Prussians assaulted the walls again and again; the abatis and trenches were close to freezing over. On 14 December, one of the Breslau magazines caught fire during a heavy bombardment; the magazine exploded, destroying several houses. While the Austrians were dealing with the fire, the Prussians expanded their battery south of the city. The weather worsened, and the Prussia siege lines pressed closer to the walls. Sappers began digging under the defenses.^[4][6]

On the night of 13–14 December, General Wied zu Neuwied and his Prussian force took the Polnischen Vorstadt adjacent to the Oder river, and captured 51 Pandurs. On the 14th, the Brothers of St. Moritz church fled into the city. At 1500 that afternoon, all communication between the city and the outside world was sealed off, when the Prussians overwhelmed the last outposts outside the walls. On that night, the Prussians had repaired their largest battery, and opened fire on the city again. Within hours it had scored a hit on a second magazine, destroying part of the defending lines with it and killing or wounding about 800 of the defenders. The assault continued, day and night, for the next three days.^[6]

In the night of the 15–16, the Prussians extended their parallel to 1000 steps, and began construction of a salient; the next day they started the sapping. Sprecher also reported that the Prussians used the so-called ricochet, balls fired into the city at a low angle that would barely clear the parapet and then bounce before exploding. These destroyed several gun emplacements and demolished several areas of the parapet.^[6]

Finally, on 19 December, seeing no hope of relief from either Daun or Prince Charles, Sprecher prepared to surrender the city to the Prussians.^[4] By 20 December, the Prussians had control of all the gates of the city and the following day, the Austrians and French marched out through the Schweidnitz gate.^[6]

The Austrians and the French lost 17,000 troops, the entire garrison, plus the entirety of the stores in Breslau, over 1000 horses, 81 guns, and almost 700 officers, including 13 generals.^[7] About 1200 of the defending force was killed.^[8] The officers and men were permitted to keep their personal effects but all other provisions and materials were surrendered to the Prussians.^[9]

The Prussians acquired massive amounts of stores, and also acquired 1024 horses, and 220 wagons. The Prussians retook 37 artillery pieces that had been captured from them during the summer actions, plus another 44 Austrian artillery pieces.^[8] In addition, an unspecified number of Prussian officers who had been imprisoned in Breslau were freed.^[10]

The defeat of Breslau put the seal on Austria's loss of fertile Silesia; the disastrous December, which included the debilitating loss at Leuthen, followed by Charles' precipitous retreat across Silesia and into Bohemia, and finally the loss of the garrison at Breslau, erased all of Austria's summer gains. Maria Theresa did not despair of winning this war against Frederick and recovering part of her patrimony (Silesia) that she had lost in 1748, but she removed her brother-in-law Charles from command of the army and sent him to the Netherlands, where he was better suited as governor. She placed Count Leopold Joseph von Daun in command of her army in Bohemia.^[4][2]

• Asprey, Robert, "Frederick the Great: A Magnificent Enigma", Ticknor & Fields, 1986 ISBN 0-89919-352-8
• Bodart, Gaston, Losses of Life in Modern Wars, Clarendon Press, 1916.
• Redman, Herbert J. Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' War, 1756–1763, McFarland, 2014, ISBN 9780786476695
• Sprecher, Salomon von Bernegg, Diarium der Belagerung von Breslau; und Capitulations-Puncte von der Uebergabe an Se. Königl. Majestät in Preussen: Nebst einem Verzeichniß mit Nahmen, derer Generals, Staabs-Officiers und andern Officiers, dann vom Feldwebel an summariter derer Kayserl. Königl. Trouppen, so den 21ten December .... Berlin, 1758.
• Tucker, Spencer, Battles that Changed History: an Encyclopedia of World Conflict. ABC-CLIO, 2010. ISBN 9781598844290
• Wanner, Kurt. Solomon von Sprecher, Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz,10 January 2013 version.