Conflict: Seven Years' War
Combatants: Austrians vs. Prussians
Location: Saxony
Outcome: Austrian victory
After losing 20,000 men in the defeat at Kunersdorf in August, Prussian King Frederick II (the Great) regrouped his forces and dispatched General Friedrich von Finck with 12,000 soldiers to cut off the retreat of the Austrian army from Dresden. The Austrian commander, Field Marshal Count Leopold von Daun, withdrew to Maxen, concentrated his forces and surrounded Finck with 42,000 men. Unable to escape the encirclement, Finck was forced to surrender his entire army after two days.
Points of Interest:
Friedrich von Finck was court martialed for the defeat at Maxen and imprisoned in Spandau for a year.
Daun did not follow up after the victory at Maxen and Frederick the Great was able to regroup his broken armies again.
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Sources:
Dupuy, Trevor N., Johnson, Curt, & Bongard, David L. (1992). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military Biography. New York: Castle Books (HarperCollins).
Dupuy, R. Ernest & Dupuy, Trevor N. (1993). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: HarperCollins.
Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 B.C. to the Present. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
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