Battle of Hühnerwasser 1866
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 26 June 1866 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1866 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | Czechia | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Austro-Prussian War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 50.5860, 14.8042 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Hühnerwasser (Kuřívody) was the first battle of the Austro-Prussian War. It was the first engagement in the opening days of the Königgrätz campaign, fought in Bohemia on 26 June 1866. It was fought between troops of the Prussian Elbe army under General Herwarth von Bittenfeld and troops from the Austrian I Corps, led by Leopold Gondrecourt.
Gondrecourt ordered troops from Count Leiningen's brigade – a battalion of Slovak jäger and a battalion of Hungarian line infantry – to attack the Prussian outposts at Hühnerwasser and throw them back across the Iser. The attacking cavalry first made contact with an advanced Prussian post stationed between the trees, which alarmed the rest of Prussian general von Schöler's brigade, that consisted of four infantry battalions, one Jäger battalion, five squadrons and 12 guns. The superior firepower of the Prussian Dreyse needle guns stopped the Austrian attacks. Gondrecourt then recalled his troops and retreated towards Münchengrätz (Mnichovo Hradiště). Prussian captain pursued the retreating Austrians. Near the Hühnerwasser town a concealed squadron of Nicolaus Hussars counterattacked the advancing Prussian detachment, which suffered substantial losses.
Only after securing the woods around noon, General Schöler was able to support the advanced troops at Hühnerwasser and defeated the Austrian Haugwitz battalion, which subsequently retreated.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Hühnerwasser (revision 1370443468), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Austro-Prussian War
- Battle of Aschaffenburg (1866) 1866
- Battle of Blumenau 1866
- Battle of Burkersdorf (1866) 1866
- Battle of Dermbach 1866
- Battle of Gerchsheim 1866
- Battle of Gitschin 1866
- Battle of Helmstadt 1866
- Battle of Hundheim 1866
- Battle of Kissingen 1866
- Battle of Königgrätz 1866
All 21 battles of the Austro-Prussian War →
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