Battle of Kunersdorf

The battle of Kunersdorf was fought on August 12, 1759http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mbishop/frames/wars/kunersdorf.html during the Seven Years' War near Kunersdorf (today Kunowice in Poland), east of Frankfurt an der Oder. It was the most devastating defeat Prussia saw under the reign of Frederick the Great. Only 3,000 soldiers from original 50,900 Prussian army returned to Berlin after the battle.

Frederick's dictum on Kunersdorf

The King wrote to Berlin on the evening after the battle: This morning at 11 o'clock I have attacked the enemy. ... All my troops have worked wonders, but at a cost of innumberable losses. Our men got into confusion. I assembled them three times. In the end I was in danger of getting captured and had to retreat. My coat is perforated by bullets, two horses of mine have been shot dead. My misfortune is that I am still living ... Our defeat is very considerable: To me remains 3,000 men from an army of 48,000 men. At the moment in which I report all this, everyone is on the run; I am no more master of my troops. Thinking of the safety of anybody in Berlin is a good activity ... It is a cruel failure that I will not survive. The consequences of the battle will be worse than the battle itself. I do not have any more resources, and - frankly confessed - I believe that everything is lost. I will not survive the doom of my fatherland. Farewell forever!

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