Battle of Gross Jägersdorf

Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf
Part of the Seven Years' War
Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf
Date 30 August 1757 Location Gross-Jägersdorf, East Prussia (present-day Kaliningrad Oblast) Result Russian tactical victory, Prussian strategic success
Belligerents
Prussia	Russia
Commanders and leaders
Field Marshal Hans von Lehwaldt	Field Marshal Stepan Fedorovich Apraksin
Strength
25,500 men	75,000 men
Casualties and losses
5,000 dead and wounded 28 cannons	5,400 dead and wounded

The Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf (30 August 1757) was a victory for the Russian force under Field Marshal Stepan Fedorovich Apraksin over a smaller Prussian force commanded by Field Marshal Hans von Lehwaldt, during the Seven Years' War. Despite the tactical success and for reasons unknown, Apraksin decided not to take Königsberg and ordered a withdrawal soon after the battle.

An invading Imperial Russian army of 75,000 men, led by Field-Marshal Stepan Fedorovich Apraksin, took Memel after a five-day bombardment and, using the fortress as a place d'armes, invaded East Prussia. Apraksin, cautious and lacking war experience, was reluctant to commit his troops to battle. Instead of marching on Wehlau, as was expected, he ordered his forces to cross the Pregel River in safety, near the village of Gross-Jägersdorf (Abandoned in 1945 and away 5 km southwest from Mezhdurechye (Norkitten) and placed on municipality of Svoboda (Jänischken, Jänichen between 1938–1945) in Chernyakhovsky District), carrying out a scorched earth policy.

A Prussian army of 25,500 men, led by Field-Marshal Hans von Lehwaldt, decided to surprise the much larger enemy and attacked a corps of men under General Vasily Lopukhin while it was crossing the Pregel. The general was bayoneted by the Prussians and died in the arms of his comrades. General Pyotr Rumyantsev, on hearing about Lopukhin's plight, scrambled through a thicket and fell upon the right wing of the Prussian infantry. Another detachment attacked the rear of Lehwaldt's army.

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