3.7. 1866 Battle of Hradec Kralove

The most important and decisive clash of the Austro-Prussian War took place on 3. It was the largest clash on Czech territory in history.

At the beginning of July 1866, the Northern Army and its ally, the Saxon Army Corps, suffered a heavy defeat at Sadová near Hradec Králové. The forces on both sides were evenly matched. The Prussian army came here in three streams, namely from Rumburk, Trutnov and Náchod. After several successful encounters, the force was 220,000 men.

"On the Austrian side, supported by Saxony, there were about 215,000 men. In terms of the number of soldiers, it was the largest clash on the territory of the Czech lands," write Milan and Roman Plch in their book Where to go for military monuments.

The Austrians took up a semicircular defence in front of Hradec Králové. The battle began with a Prussian attack in the afternoon, which the Austrians managed to repel. Attacks alternated on both sides, with a major engagement taking place at the Svíb Forest and at Chlum. The heavy losses (6,000 dead, 8,500 wounded and 22,000 prisoners) and the large number ofhundred of modern artillery) forced the Austrians to retreat to Hradec Králové and Olomouc and further south.

Around the same time, the largest mass conflict in our territory up to that time took place during theof 435,000 men, the Prussian armies also put out of action the armies of the other German states, which put up negligible resistance.

The technical divisions of the Austrian army - the pioneers and engineers - were given the opportunity to demonstrate the level of theironly in demolition work, because the Austrian military administration in 1866 was exclusively a user and not an operator of railway transport. The course of war operations also played a role, which in itself placed the technical units in the position of mere destroyers.

"Until 26. July, the armistice was signed in Mikulov under conditions that shook their great power position (the loss of Benatland and Schleswig-Holstein) and led to the strengthening of nationalist tendencies," write Milan and Roman Plch.

There are around 460 monuments and graves in the vast area of the great battle. The site can be explored via two nature trails. Chlum leads from the museum and has twenty stops and passes the memorial of the battery of the dead. The second trail, the Svíb trail, also has twenty stops, starts in the village of Čistěves and leads through the Svíb forest, the Alley of the Dead, Máslojedy with the military cemetery and back through Svíb to Čistěves.


Sources:
Vojtěch Szajkó, Railways, Post and Telegraph of the Austrian Army in the years 1848-1914
Milan and Roman Plch, Where to go for military monuments
www.dnyceskestatnosti.cz