The Battle of Bismarck

The Battle of Bismarck on the 6th of May in 1853 played a major militaristic and economic role on Europe and the rest of the world.

17,000 Prussian soldiers engaged the Lehr force numbering 50,000 at the battle. The battle lasted from 12:47 PM till 8:05 PM. Due to the Prussian soldiers skill and will power they where able fend off all Lehr attacks, killing six times more Lehr then they had lost, in total Prussia lost around 950 men, Lehr lost around 30,00. It would take Lehr almost 4 years to bounce back after losing so many men, and the Prussian army would continue on marching.

The Start of the Battle

Early at around 6:30 AM on the 6th of May, a central message station along the Kurpfalz road received messages coming from a Panzer lehr command. These messages called for a meeting with the Prussian King and his staff on the terms of diplomatics. By 7:00 the message station had received over five messages stating this, they despatched a courier to bring the message to the king, who was camped with a portion of the Prussian army slightly down the road closer to the Panzer lehr command location. By 7:30 the Prussian king and a Lehr general where meeting via horseback between the camps. The Lehr general demanded Prussia hand over Head of staff Johann von Leichsmeir into Lehr custody, the King refused. Angry the lehr general rode back to his camp. At around 12:47 a loud pop rang out from the woods near the Prussian camp, hitting a Prussian soldier in the leg. This was the start of the battle

The First stage of the Battle

A Jeager sqaud was sent to survey the Lehr camp, two Prussian cavalry regiments lined up on a ridge, to the side of them 4 24 LB cannons where set up. A large portion of the Prussian forces where split between General Sparta der Schwartz and Head of staff Johann von Leichsmeir. Almost half of the Lehr army was already moving through the woods at this point, seeing this two Jeager regiments skirmished the flanks of the Lehr regiments, a lucky or skillfuly placed shot killed a major Lehr regiment commander. At 1:02 Leichsmeir and der Schwartz took a "wings of the eagle" tatic and faced the Lehr army, firing only about 3 volleys before being charged, starting a heated melee battle in the woods. The battle in the woods would provide important, so early in the battle. When the Prussian charge hit the lehr flank most regiments in the middle of the Lehr blob did not even know they where fighting, therefor alot of soldiers where just standing around, waiting for a command when they where suddenly stabbed from the side by a Prussian soldier. In a quick move the heart of the Lehr attack force was being horribly mangled by Prussian offensive, those soldiers that could react in time where cut down still due to the superior Prussian skill and descipline. A major break through in the fighting was the sword, the Prussian standard Officers sword was much like that of the lehr, however when a Lehr regimental commander faced off aginst a Prussian one, the duel would be over in a matter of seconds as the Prussian officers had been trained to fight with the sword only, they spent there life from sun rise till sunset with the sword once they became an officer, as to where the Lehr did not, and rarely fought with anything else besides a gun. Prussian victory in the woods was assured once another major lehr commander was pinned aginst a wall and strangled by an enraged grenadier. It was reported by Prussian soldiers that Head of Staff Leichsmeir yelled out "come get me you nazi bastards!" and single handedly charged 4 Lehr killing them all in spirit like moves with his sword.

The Middle stage of the Battle

Although the battle in the woods had hurt the Lehr army by much and Prussia had won, in a strategic move, the Prussian army retreated to the ridge. Lehr had already lost two major commanders and many regimental commanders, not to mention a whole sum of soldiers. Three Regimental commanders where lost in the fight on the Prussian side WIP