Frederick The Great - To Generals.pdf - Strategia - materiały po ang - kyclawok

The King of Prussia's Military Instruction to his Generals.

by: Fredrick the Great

Frederick the Great's Military Instruction was written between the War of the Austrian

Succession and the Seven Years War and translated into English by Lieut.-Colonel T. Foster at

the end of the 18th century. The dedication to Major General Goldworthy is dated March 1797. I

am typing in the 5th edition of 1818. I will get the full text of the dedication, title page, and

preface by Foster in later. Getting the main text in first is more important. There are surely typos

still in it, but many of the unusual spellings (e.g. defence, pretense, vallies, variations on

Konigingraetz) are from Foster. I haven't put in all the accents on French words like defile and

depot, and umlauts are converted to e's following the umlauted vowel. The schwa vowels that

look like oe stuck together or ae stuck together have been decomposed. I'll try to make up a list

of the more exact versions of such words with the Latin 1 codes in place later. Please let me

know if you come across the sort of typos where you see "or" where you are expecting "on" that

slip through a spelling check program. Thanks to Stuart McAlpine for sending in a proofreading

that I will be checking against Foster to correct my errors.

Note on Distances

Several places in the text you will come upon distances described in leagues, one of the

slipperiest units of distance used in old te xts. It is only near the end in article 27 that his usage

of leagues is defined clearly, where a distance of 9 or 10 leagues is equated to 4 or 5 miles,

thus a league described here is about half a mile. Except it's a bit more complicated than that,

as Frederick uses German miles, which are five English Miles (as was explained to me by Ray

Cassell), so a league is actually about 2 1/2 English miles, or around 4 kilometers. Or maybe its

the same as the English league of 3 miles that Ray mentioned in his mail and Frederick was

being rough in converting two to a mile.

ARTICLE I.

Of Prussian Troops, their Excellencies and their Defects.

The strictest care and the most unremitting attention are required of commanding officers in the

formation of my troops. The most exact discipline is ever to be maintained, and the greatest

regard paid to their welfare; they ought also to be better fed than almost any troops in Europe.

Our regiments are composed of half our own people and half foreigners who enlist for money:

the latter only wait for a favorable opportunity to quit a service to which they have no particular

attachment. The prevention of desertion therefore becomes an object of importance.

Many of our generals regard one man as good in effect as another, and imagine that if the

vacancy be filled up, this man has no influence on the whole; but one does not know how on

this subject to make a proper application of other armies to our own.

If a deserter be replaced by a man as well trained and disciplined as himself, it is a matter of no

consequence; but if a soldier, who for two years has been accustomed to arms and military

exercise, should desert, and be replaced by a bad subject, or perhaps none at all, the

consequence must prove eventually very material.

It has happened from the negligence of officers in this particular, that regiments have not only

been lessened in number, but that they have also lost their reputation.

By accidents of this kind, the army becomes weakened at the very period when its completion

is most essentially necessary, and unless the greatest attention is paid to the circumstance, you

will lose the best of your forces and never be able to recover yourself.

Though my country be well peopled, it is doubtful if many men are to be met with of the height

of my soldiers: and supposing ever that there was no want of them, could they be disciplined in

an instant? It therefore becomes one of the most essential duties of generals who command

armies or detachments, to prevent desertion. This is to be effected,

1st. By not encamping too near a wood or forest, unless sufficient reason require it.

2dly. By calling the roll frequently every day.

3dly. By often sending out patroles of hussars, to scour the country round about the camp.

4thly. By placing chasseurs in the corn by night, and doubling the cavalry posts at dusk to

strengthen the chain.

5thly. By not allowing the soldiers to wander about, and taking care that each troop be led

regularly to water and forage by an officer.

6thly. By punishing all marauding with severity, as it gives rise to every species of disorder and

irregularity.

7thly. By not drawing in the guards, who are placed in the villages on marching days, until the

troops are under arms.

8thly By forbidding, under the strictest injunctions, that any soldier on a march quit his rank or

his division.

9thly. By avoiding night-marches, unless obliged by necessity.

10thly. By pushing forward patroles of hussars to the right and left, whilst the infantry are

passing through a wood.

11thly. By placing officers at each end of a defile, to oblige the soldiers to fall into their proper

places.

12thly. By concealing from the soldier any retrograde movement which you may be obliged to

make, or giving some specious flattering pretext for doing so.

13thly. By paying great attention to the regular issue of necessary subsistence, and taking care

that the troops be furnished with bread, flesh, beer, brandy, &c.

14thly. By searching for the cause of the evil, when desertion shall have crept into a regiment or

company: enquiring if the soldier has received his bounty and other customary indulgencies,

and if there has been no misconduct on the part of the captain. No relaxation of discipline is

however on any account to be permitted. It may be said, that the colonel will take care of this

business, but his efforts alone cannot be sufficient; for in an army, every individual part of it

should aim at perfection, to make it appear to be the work of only one man.

An army is composed for the most part of idle and inactive men and unless the general has a

constant eye upon them, and obliges them to do their duty, this artificial machine, which with

the greatest care cannot be made perfect, will very soon fall to pieces, and nothing but the bare

idea of a disciplined army will remain.

Constant employment for the troops is therefore indispensibly necessary: the experience of

officers who adopt such plan will convince them of its good effects, and they will also perceive

that there are daily abuses to be corrected, which pass unobserved by those who are too

indolent to endeavor to discover them.

This constant and painful attention may appear at first sight as rather a hardship on the general,

but its consequences will make him ample amends. With troops so fine, so brave, and so well

disciplined, what advantage can he not obtain? A general, who with other nations would be

regarded as being rash or half mad, would with us be only acting by established rules. Any

enterprise which man is capable of executing, may be undertaken by him. Besides this, the

soldiers will not suffer a man to remain amongst them who has betrayed any symptoms of

shyness, which would certainly not be regarded in other armies.

I have been an eye -witness to the conduct both of officers and private soldiers, who could not

be prevailed on, though dangerously wounded, to quit their post, or fall into the rear to get

themselves dressed. With troops like these the world itself might be subdued, if conquests were

not as fatal to the victors as to the vanquished. Let them be but well supplied with provisions,

and you may attempt any thing with them. On a march you prevent the enemy by speed; at an

attack of a wood, you will force them; if you make them climb a mountain, you will soon

disperse those who make any resistance, and it then becomes an absolute massacre. If you

put your cavalry into action, they will charge through the enemy at the sword's point and

demolish them.

But as it is not alo ne sufficient that the troops be good, and as the ignorance of a general may

be the means of losing every advantage, I shall proceed to speak of the qualities which a

general ought to possess, and lay down such rules as I have either learned from well-informed

generals, or purchased dearly by my own experience.

ARTICLE II.

Of the Subsistence of Troops, and of Provisions.

It has been said by a certain general, that the first object in the establishment of an army ought

to be making provision for the belly, that being the basis and foundation of all operations. I shall

divide this subject into two parts: in the first I shall explain how and where magazines ought to

be established, and in the latter, the method of employing, and transporting them.

The first rule is to establish the large magazines invariably in the rear of the army, and, if

possible, in a place that is well secured. During the wars in Silesia and Bohemia, our grand

magazine was at Breslau, on account of the advantage of being able to replenish it by means of

the Oder. When magazines are formed at the head of an army, the first check may oblige you

to abandon them, and you may be left without resource; whereas, if they Are established in the

rear of each other, the war will be prudently carried on, and one small disaster will not complete

your ruin.

Spandau and Magdebourg should be the chosen situations for magazines in the frontier of the

Electorate. Magdebourg, on account of the Elbe, will be particularly serviceable in an offensive

war against Saxony, and Schweidenitz against Bohemia.

You cannot be too cautious in the choice of commisaries and their deputies, for if they prove

dishonest, the state will be materially injured. With this view, men of strict honor should be

appointed as superiors, who must personally, frequently, and minutely examine and controle

the accounts.

There are two ways of forming magazines, either by ordering the nobility and peasants to bring

their grain to the depot, and paying them for it according to the rate laid down by the chamber

of finance, or by taking a certain quantity from them by requisition. It is the business of the

commissary to settle and to sign all these agreements.

Vessels of a particular construction are built for the purpose of conveying corn and forage along

the canals and rivers.

Purveyors are never to be employed by in cases of the last necessity, for even Jews [sic] are

less exorbitant in their demands: they increase the price of provisions, and sell them out again

at a most extravagant profit.

The magazines should be established at a very early period, that no kind of necessary may be

wanting when the army leaves its quarters to being a campaign: if they be too long neglected,

the frost will put a stop to water-carriage, or the roads will become so excessively deep and

heavy, that their formation will be a business of the utmost difficulty.

Besides the regimental covered waggons which carry bread for eight days, the commissary is

provided with conveniencies for carrying provisions for a month.

The advantage of navigation is, however, never to be neglected, for without this convenience,

no army can ever be abundantly supplied.

The waggons should be drawn by horses: trial has been made of oxen, but they do not answer

the purpose.

The waggon-masters must be exceedingly careful that due attention be paid to their cattle. The

general of an army must also have an eye to this circumstance, for the loss of horses will

necessarily occasion a diminution of waggons, and consequently of provisions.

Moreover, unless they receive a proper quantity of good food, these horses will be unable to

undergo the necessary fatigue. On a march, therefore, not only the horses will be lost, but also

the waggons and their contents. The best concerted measures may be ruined by a repetition of

such disasters. the general, therefore, must not neglect any of these circumstances, which are

so materially important in all his operations.

In order to facilitate the carriage of provisions in a war against Saxony, advantage must be

taken of the Elbe, and in Silesia of the Oder. The sea affords you this assistance in Prussia ,

but in Bohemia and Moravia, your only dependence is on carriages. It sometimes happens, that

three or four depots of provisions are formed on the same line, as was the case with us in

Bohemia in the year 1742. There was a magazine at Pardubitz, at Nienbourg, at Podjebrod,

and at Brandies, to enable us to keep pace with the enemy, and follow him to Prague, if he had

thought proper to have gone thither.

During the last campaign in Bohemia, Breslau furnished Schweidenitz, Schweidenitz supplied

Jaromirez, and from thence provisions were carried to the army.

Besides the covered waggons which carry provisions, iron ovens always travel with the army,

(the number of which has of late been very much augmented), and, on every halting day they

are set to bake bread. On all expeditions, you should be supplied with bread or biscuit for ten

days. Biscuits is a very good article, but our soldiers like it only in soup, nor do they know how

to employ it to the best advantage.

On a march through an enemy's country, the depot of meal should ever be in a garrisoned town

near the army. During the campaign of 1745, our depot was first at Neustadt, then at Jaromirez,

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