The Action at Blasthof Heath. . .

The initial positions of the Stollenian rearguard at the northern edge of the field, and the Zichenauer advance guard at the southern edge.

On the afternoon of 11. August 1769, an advance guard under Zichenau's Colonel von Kohlkopf clashed briefly with the Stollenian rear guar, commanded by Colonel Kartoffel.  The action was over fairly quickly with the Zichenauer army sustaining heavy casualties and routing in short order while Stollenian forces came through largely unscathed and managed to stop the invading Zichenauers in their tracks.  Here is a brief account with illustrations.

-- Stokes


The Orders of Battle:

 The Stollenian rearguard consisted of, from left to right: a squadron of hussars from Lauzun's Legion, a combined battalion of grenadiers from the 6th Hausgrenadiers and the von Hessenstein Regiment, and the red-coated Hansastadt INfantry along with a gun, crew, and limber from the Corps of Artillery.

The Stollenian commander was Colonel Kartoffel (center).

 South of the Blast River, the Zichenauer advance guard consisted of, from background to foreground, a lone gun with limber and crew from the Regiment of Artillery, the Ernestinisch Sachsen Infantry, a composite battalion of grenadiers from Kur-Koeln and Hessen-Darmstadt, along with a squadron of Trumbach's Dargoons.

 Colonel von Kohlkopf (at rear) and staff led the Zichenauer advance guard from behind..

 Move 1 saw both armies racing for control of the river crossing at Blasthof Bridge.  No shots were fired yet.

During Move 2, Colonel Kartoffel placed his hussars along the crest of Blasthoff Berg, while his limbered gun moved along the front of his infantry, which began its advance southward.  ON the southern side of Blasthof RIver, Colonel von Kohlkopf ordered his gun to unlimber and open fire on the enmey while the rest of his troops were to advnce in the direction of the Stollenians.

 Move 3 saw Colonel von Kohlkopf make the first of several mistakes.  First, his infantry began a crossing of the Blast River, fordable thanks to a dry summer, but fell into disorder doing so.  The Ernestinisch Sachsen Infantry also drifted in the path of  Kohlkopf's artillery, preventing continued fire on the Stollenian right flank.

 In Move 4, Stollen's Colonel Kartoffel's gun crew unlimbered their single piece and fired a double round of cannister shot at the enmy grenadiers assaulting Blasthof Bridge.  Kortoffel's infantry unleashed volleys at the approaching Trumbach Dragoons from across the Blast River, inflicting a number of casualties.

  Von Kohlkopf's trumbach Dragoons reeled in the face of the enemy musketry and retreated in disorder while his remaining grenadiers completely failed a morale check and routed!  ON the far left of his line, the Ernestinisch Sachsen infantry continued its slow advance across the Blast River.

A shot of von Kohlkopf's Trumbach Dragoons sorting themselves out.

 Move 5 saw the Stollenian gun crew turn thier gun on the right flank of Colonel von Kohlkopf's Ernestinische Sachsen Infantry, inflicting medium casualties at close range while across the field northeast of Blasthof Farm, Coonel Kartoffel's infantry waded into the Blast River.

 During Move 6, Colonel Kartoffel unleashed his Lauzun's Legion hussars on the disordered Zichenauer infantry still were not entirely out of the water.  The hussars suffered light casualties but managed to press home, where they went about their grizzly work with enthusiam, perhaps making up for their quitting the field during the previous Action at Federstein.  Further east, Kartoffel's Hansastadt Infantry fired another withering volley into the remainder of Colonel von Kohlkopf's Trumbach Dragoons as they emerged from the Blast River, inflicting heavy casualties and causing the remainder of the squadron to rout.

 By Move 7, all seemed lost for the commander of the Zichenau advance guard, Colonel von Kohlkopf.  At different points during the relatively short action, his forces suffered heavy enough casualties to throw them into panicked rout.  His artillery crew were taken prisoner and their guns captured.  Von Kohlkopf and his officers fled southward toward the relative safety of the main body of their army, which was camped two days to the southeast around the small settlement of Sägemühledorf, otherwise known as Sawmill Village.

 The Stollenian infantry line finishes crossing the Blast River, dresses, and continues its victorious advance.

 Colonel Kartoffel and his officers take up their new positions on the southern side of the Blast River, in firm control of this key river crossing.