On 23 July 1759, at Kay near Züllichau, now Kije near Sulechów in Poland, the Russian army of Count Saltykov threw back a Prussian corps under General von Wedel that attacked it across a marshy stream. Wedel retreated over the Oder. On 23 July 1914 Austria-Hungary handed Serbia a 48-hour ultimatum.
Battle of Kay
23 July 1759 · 267 years ago
Kay, Paltzig or Kije
The battle has many names. The Prussian General Staff calls it the battle of Kay, Masslowski the battle of Paltzig, and Brockhaus and Efron's encyclopedia files it under Züllichau, also called the battle of Paltzig. Polish heritage notices speak of the battle of Kije, also of Pałck or of Sulechów.1
Also on 23 July: Austria-Hungary's ultimatum to Serbia, 1914
At six in the evening of 23 July 1914 Baron Giesl, the Austro-Hungarian minister in Belgrade, handed the Serbian government a note that demanded a reply within 48 hours, by six o'clock on Saturday evening, 25 July. The historian Annika Mombauer writes that it was drafted to be deliberately unacceptable. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914, as told on the 28 July page.2
Stopping the Russians
In July 1759 the Russian army of Count Saltykov was marching to join the Austrians under General Laudon. Frederick the Great, dissatisfied with Count Dohna, who kept falling back before the Russians, gave command of the army facing them to Lieutenant General von Wedel. The king's order said that Wedel was to be to the troops what a dictator had been in Roman times, and that he was to be obeyed as if the king himself were present (our translation). Wedel reached the army on 22 July with orders to attack the Russians if he could not otherwise prevent their junction with the Austrians.3
A march around the Prussian flank
The Russians were much the stronger, though the figures differ: the Prussian General Staff history counts about 27,400 Prussians against about 52,300 Russians, Brockhaus and Efron's encyclopedia up to 27,500 against about 40,000, and the Lubusz regional conservator of monuments 28,000 to 30,000 against about 50,000. The Russian military historian D. F. Masslowski counts up to 40,000 Russians with the irregulars.4
Saltykov did not wait to be attacked. He marched around the left flank of the Prussian army to Paltzig, to keep open his road to the Austrians. There the Russians drew up behind a stream bordered by marshy meadows, which hemmed in any attack.5
Attack after attack
Wedel attacked in the afternoon, at about four o'clock by the accounts of Archenholtz and Masslowski. His brigades went in one after another as they came up, and each was beaten back by Russian artillery and musket fire. Masslowski judged that Wedel broke up his main force in partial attacks.6
The fighting went on into the evening. General von Wobersnow, one of the most esteemed Prussian commanders, was killed, and on the Russian side General Demiku fell.7
Losses and the road to Kunersdorf
Prussian losses were heavy: 6,776 killed, wounded and missing by the General Staff's count, and more than 7,000 by Masslowski's and by Brockhaus and Efron's. The Russians lost about 5,000: 4,833 in the General Staff history, up to 5,000 in Masslowski and about 5,000 in Brockhaus and Efron.8
Wedel fell back across the Oder. The General Staff history judged that Saltykov let slip a rare chance to destroy the beaten corps. Laudon's Austrians then joined the Russians near Frankfurt an der Oder, and on 12 August 1759 Frederick attacked them at Kunersdorf.9
