Third Siege of Colberg.

10th-25th Sept. 1761.

Readers had, some while ago, a flying Note, which we promised to take up again; about Tottleben's procedures, and a Third Siege of Colberg coming. Siege, we have chanced to see, there accordingly is, and a Platen gone to help against it. Siege, after infinite delays and haggles, has at length come,— uncommonly vivid during the final days of Bunzelwitz;-and is, and has been, and continues to be, much in the King's thoughts. Probably a matter of more concernment to him, befóre, during and after Bunzelwitz (though the Pitt Catastrophe, going on simultaneously, is still more important, if he knew it), than anything else befalling in the distance. Let us now give a few farther indications on that matter.

Truce between Werner and Tottleben expired May 12th; but for five weeks more nothing practical followed; except diligent reinforcing, revictualling and extraordinary fortifying of Colberg and its environs, on the Prussian part,-Eugen of Würtemberg, direct from Rostock and his Anti-Swede business, Eugen 12,000 strong, with a Werner and other such among them, taking head charge outside the walls; old Heyde again as Commandant within: while on the Russian part, under General Romanzow, there is a most tortoise-like advance,except that the tortoise carries all his resources with him, and Romanzow's, multifarious and enormous, are scattered over seas and lands, and need endless waiting for, in the intervals of crawling.

This is the Romanzow who failed at Colberg once already (on the heel of Zorndorf in 1758, if readers recollect); and is the more bound to be successful now. From sea and from land, for five weeks, there is rumour of a Romanzow in overwhelming force, and with intentions very furious upon Colberg, -upon the outposts, under Werner, as first point. Five weeks went, before anything of Romanzow was visible even to Werner (22d June, at Cöslin, forty miles to eastward); after which his advance (such waiting for the ships, for the artilleries, the this and the that) was slower than ever; and for about eight weeks more, he haggles along through Cöslin, through Cörlin, Belgard again, flowing slowly forward upon Werner's outposts, like a summer glacier with its rubbishes; or like a slow lavatide,‚—a great deal of smoke on each side of him (owing to the

10th-25th Sept. 1761. Cossacks), as usual.

Romanzow's progress is of the slowest; and it is not till August 19th that he practically gets possession of Cörlin, Belgard and those outposts on the Persante River, and comes within sight of Colberg and his problem. By which time, he finds Eugen of Würtemberg encamped and intrenched still ahead of him, still nearer Colberg, and likely to give him what they call "de la tablature,” or extremely difficult music to play.

'It was on August 19th' (very eve of Friedrich's going into Bunzelwitz), 'that Romanzow,-Werner, for the sake of those poor Towns 'he holds, generally retiring without bombardment or utter conflagra

tion, had got hold of Cörlin and of the River Persante' (with 'Quet'zin and Degow,' if anybody knew them, as his main posts there): ' and was actually now within sight of Colberg,-only 7 or 8 miles west of him, and a river more or less in his way :--when, singular to see, Eugen of Würtemberg has rooted himself into the ground farther ' inward, environing Colberg with a fortified Camp as with a second 'wall; and it will be a difficult problem indeed!

'But Sea Armaments, Swedish-Russian, with endless siege-material ' and red-hot balls, are finally at hand; and this pitiful Colberg must 'be done, were it only by falling flat on it, and smothering it by weight ' of numbers and of red-hot iron. The day before yesterday, August 17th, after such rumouring and such manoeuvring as there has been, 'six Russian ships-of-war showed themselves in Colberg Roads, and 'three of them tried some shooting on Heyde's workpeople, busy at a 'redoubt on the beach; but hit nothing, and went away till Romanzow himself should come. Romanzow come, there is utmost dispatch; ' and within the eight days following, the Russian ships, and then the 'Swedish as well, have all got to their moorings, -12 sail of the line, 'with 42 more of the frigate and gunboat kind, 54 ships in all;—and 'from August 24th, especially from August 28th, bombardment to the very uttermost is going on." Bombardment by every method, from sea and from land, continues diligent for the next fortnight,-with 'little or no result; so diligent are Eugen and veteran Heyde.

6

'September 4th. The Swedish-Russian gunboats have been much 'shot down by Heyde's batteries on the beach; no success had, owing 'to Heyde and Eugen: paltry little Colberg as impossible as Bunzel'witz, it seems? "Double our diligence, therefore!" That is Roman'zow's and everybody's sentiment here. Romanzow comes closer in,

September 4th; besieges in form, since not Colberg, Eugen's Camp, ' or brazen wall of Colberg; and there rises in and round this poor 'little Colberg (a 2,000 balls daily, red-hot and other) such a volcano ' as attracts the eyes of all the world thither.

September 12th. News yesterday of reinforcement, men and pro21 Tempelhof, v. 311.

10th-25th Sept. 1761.

vender, coming from Stettin; is to be at Treptow on the 13th. Werner, night of the 11th, stealthily sets out to meet it, it in the 'first place; then, joined with it, to take by rearward a certain incon⚫venient battery, which Romanzow is building to westward of us, out 'that way; to demolish said battery, and be generally distressful to the rear of Romanzow. At Treptow, after his difficult night's march, • Werner is resting, secure now of the adventure;-too contemptuous ' of his slow Russians, as appeared! Who, for once, surprise him; ' and, at and round Treptow, next morning, Werner finds himself sud'denly in a most awkward predicament. Werner, one of the rapidest ' and stormiest of skilful men, plunged valiantly into the affair; would 'still have managed it, they say, had not, in some sudden swoop,charge, or something of critical or vital nature,-rapid Werner's horse got shot, and fallen with him; whereby not only the charge failed, 'but Werner himself was taken prisoner. A loss of very great importance, and grievous to everybody: though, I believe, the rein'forcement and supply, for this time, got mostly through, and the dangerous battery was got demolished by other means. 22 This is Ro'manzow's first item of success, this of getting such a Werner snatched 'out of the game' (and sent to Petersburg instead, as we shall hear); ' and other items fell to Romanzow thenceforth by the aid of time and hunger.

'In the way of storming, battering or otherwise capturing Eugen's Camp, not to speak of Heyde's town, Romanzow finds, on trial after 'trial, that he can do as good as nothing; and his unwieldy sea-com'rades (equinoctial gales coming on them, too) are equally worthless. September 19th' (a week after this of Werner, tenth day after Bunzelwitz had ended), 'Romanzow made his fiercest attempt that way; 'fiercest and last: furious extremely, from 2 in the morning onwards; ' had for some time hold of the important "Green Redoubt;" but was 'still more furiously battered and bayoneted out again, with the loss ' of above 3,000 men; and tried that no farther. Impossible by that ' method. But he can stand between the Eugen-Heyde people and 'supplies; and by obstinacy hunger them out: this, added to the fruit'less bombardment, is now his more or less fruitful industry.

In the end of September, the effects of Bunzelwitz are felt: Platen, ' after burning the Butturlin Magazine at Gostyn, has hastened hither; in what style we know. Platen arrives 25th September; cuts his way through Romanzow into Eugen's Camp, raises Eugen to about 15,000;23 renders Eugen, not to speak of Heyde, more impossible than ever. Butturlin did truly send reinforcements, a 10,000, a 12,000, "As many as you like, my Romanzow!" And, in the beginning of 'October, came rolling thitherward bodily; hoping, they say, to make · a Maxen of it upon those Eugens and Platens: but after a fort'night's survey of them, found there was not the least feasibility;' and that he himself must go home, on the score of hunger. Which 22 Seyfarth, Beylagen, iii. 238; Tempelhof, v. 314. 23 Tempelhof, v. 350.

30th Sept.-1st Oct. 1761.

'he did, November 2d; leaving Romanzow reinforced at discretion' (40,000, but with him too provisions are fallen low), 'and the advice, "Cut off their supplies: time and famine are our sole chances here!" 'Butturlin's new Russians, endless thousands of them, under Fermor ' and others, infesting the roads from Stettin, are a great comfort to 'Romanzow. Nor could any Eugen,—with his Platens, Thaddens, ' and utmost expenditure of skill and of valour and endurance, which are still memorable in soldier-annals, 2-suffice to convey provisions · through that disastrous Wilderness of distances and difficulties.

'From Stettin, which lies south-west, through Treptow, Gollnow

' and other wild little Prussian Towns, is about 100 miles; from Landsberg south, 150: Friedrich himself is well-nigh 300 miles away; in 'Stettin alone is succour, could we hold the intervening Country. But 'it is overrun with Russians, more and ever more. A Country of swamps and moors, winter darkness stealing over it,-illuminated by 'such a volcano as we see: a very gloomy waste scene; and traits of 'stubborn human valour and military virtue plentiful in it, with utter 'hardship as a constant quantity: details not permissible here, only 'the main features and epochs, if they could be indicated.

'The King is greatly interested for Colberg; sends orders to collect 'from every quarter supplies at Stettin, and strain every nerve for the ' relief of that important little Haven. Which is done by the diligent Bevern, the collecting part; could only the conveying be accomplished. 'But endless Russians are afield, Fermor with a 15,000 of them way'laying; the conveyance is the difficulty. '25———

But now we must return to Bunzelwitz, and September 25th, in Headquarters there.

CHAPTER VIII.

LOUDON POUNCES upon schweidnitz one night (last of SEPTEMBER 1761).

It was September 25th, more properly 26th,1 when Friedrich quitted Bunzelwitz; we heard on what errand. Early that morning he marches with all his goods, first to Pilzen (that fine post on the east side of Schweidnitz); and from that, straightway,—south-westward, two marches farther,—to Neisse neighbourhood (Gross-Nossen the name of the place); Loudon making little dispute or none. In Neisse are abundant Maga

24 Tagebuch der Unternehmungen des Platenschen Corps vom September bis November 1761 (Seyfarth, Beylagen, iii. 32-76). Bericht von der Unternehmungen des Thaddenschen Corps vom Jenner bis zum December 1761 (ibid. 77-147).

25 Bericht von den Unternehmungen der Würtembergischen Corps in Pommern, vom May 1761 bis December 1761 (Seyfarth, Beylagen, iii. 147-258). Tempelhof, v. 313-326, Helden-Geschichte, vi. 669-708. Tempelhof, v. 327.

30th Sept.-1st Oct. 1761. zines: living upon these, Friedrich intends to alarm Loudon's rearward country, and draw him towards Bohemia. As must have gradually followed; and would at once,—had Loudon been given to alarms, which he was not. Loudon, very privately, has quite different game afield. Loudon merely detaches this and the other small Corps to look after Friedrich's operations, which probably he believes to be only a feint:—and, before a week passes, Friedrich will have news he little expects !

Friedrich, pausing at Gross-Nossen, and perhaps a little surprised to find no Loudon meddling with him, pushes out, first one party and then another, — Dalwig, Bülow, towards Landshut Hill-Country, to threaten Loudon's Bohemian roads; —who, singular to say, do not hear the least word of Loudon thereabouts. A Loudon strangely indifferent to this new Enterprise of ours. On the third day of Gross-Nossen (Friday. October 2d), Friedrich detaches General Lentulus to rearward, or the way we came, for news of Loudon. Rearward too, Lentulus sees nothing whatever of Loudon: but, from the rumour of the country, and from two Prussian garrison-soldiers, whom he found wandering about, he hears, with horror and amazement, That Loudon, by a sudden panther-spring, the night before last, has got hold of Schweidnitz: now his wholly, since 5 A.M. of yesterday; and a strong Austrian garrison in it by this time! That was the news Lentulus brought home to his King; the sorest Job's-post of all this War.

Truly, a surprising enterprise this of Loudon's; and is allowed by everybody to have been admirably managed. Loudon has had it in his head for some time;-ever since that colic of forty-eight hours, I should guess; upon the wrecks of which it might well rise as a new daystar. He kept it strictly in his own head; nobody but Daun and the Kaiser had hint of it, both of whom assented, and agreed to keep silence.

'On Friedrich's removal towards Neisse and threatening of Bo'hemia,' says my Note on this subject, 'Loudon's time had come. 'Friedrich had disappeared to south-westward, Saturday September '26th: "Gone to Pilzen," reported Loudon's scouts; "rests there over Sunday. Gone to Sigeroth, 28th; gone to Gross-Nossen, Tuesday "September 29th."2 That will do, thinks Loudon; who has sat im' movable at Kunzendorf all this while;-and, Wednesday 30th, instantly 'proceeds to business.

'Draws out, about 10 A.M. of Wednesday, all round Schweidnitz 2 Tempelhof, v. 330.