塞德利茨
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塞德利茨（Friedrich Wilhelm, Freiherr von Seydlitz ，1721年2月3日—1773年8月27日）,Prussian soldier, one of the greatest cavalry generals of history, was born at Kalkar in the duchy of Cleves, where his father, a major of Prussian cavalry, was stationed.
After his father's death in 1728 he was brought up in straitened circumstances by his mother, but at the age of thirteen he went as a page to the court of the Margrave Schwedt, who had been his father's colonel. Here he acquired a superb mastery of horsemanship, and many stories are told of his feats, the best known of which was his riding between the sails of a wind-mill in full swing.
In 1740 he was commissioned a cornet in the margrave's regiment of Prussian cuirassiers. Serving as a subaltern in the first Silesian War, he was taken prisoner in May 1742 after so gallant a defence that King Frederick offered to exchange an Austrian captain for him. In 1743 the king made him a captain in the 4th Hussars, and he brought his squadron to a state of conspicuous efficiency. He served through the second war, and after Hohenfriedberg was promoted major at the age of twenty-four.
At the close of the war he had an opportunity of successfully handling 15 squadrons in front of the enemy, and this, with other displays of his capacity of leading cavalry in the searching tests of Frederick's reviews, secured his promotion in 1752 to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and in 1753 to the command of the 8th cuirassiers. Under his hands this regiment soon became a pattern to the rest of the army. In 1755 he was made colonel.
The next year, the Seven Years' War broke out. In 1757, regardless of the custom of keeping the heavy cavalry in reserve, he advanced his regiment to join the advanced guard, at the Battle of Prague, he nearly lost his life attempting to ride through a marshy pool.
1757年5月6日七年戰爭的布拉格戰役中，在莫里茨親王手下的塞德利茨騎兵上校帶部隊增援主力，但是卻發現他們和主戰場之間隔著一條Moldan河，河上的橋樑不夠長，無法通過，莫里茨手下的騎兵上校塞德利茨（Seydlitz）情急之下，跳進河裏嘗試徒涉，結果被河泥陷住，險些丟了性命。但是他這次不顧一切的行為，吸引了腓特烈注意，後來在7個月之內晉升至中將。
Also, at Kolin, at the head of a cavalry brigade, he distinguished himself in checking the Austrian pursuit by a brilliant charge. Two days later, the king made him major-general and awarded him the Orden Pour le Mérite. He felt he had deserved the promotion for a long time, for he responded to Zieten's congratulations by saying, "It was high time, Excellency, if they wanted more work out of me. I am already thirty-six."
科林戰役中，普軍行軍前鋒齊騰騎兵迂回到奧軍右翼頂點發動進攻，但兵力不足，被奧軍右翼站住腳跟，騎兵旅長Krosigk少將身被兩刀一炮陣亡，36歲的上校塞德利茨挺身而出接替指揮，終於打開突破口。
Four times in the dismal weeks that followed the disaster of Kolin, Seydlitz asserted his energy and spirit in cavalry encounters. On the morning of the Battle of Rossbach, Frederick superseded two senior generals and placed Seydlitz in command of the whole of his cavalry. The result of the battle was the complete rout and disorganization of the enemy, and in achieving the result only seven battalions of Frederick's army had fired a shot. The rest had been the work of Seydlitz and his 38 squadrons. The same night, the king awarded him the Order of the Black Eagle, and promoted him lieutenant-general. Unfortunately, during the melee he had received a wound, and was out of action for some months.
此後的羅斯巴赫會戰，塞德利茨為騎兵總指揮，星夜趕去迎擊西南方向的夏爾·德·羅昂 (蘇畢茲親王)。腓特烈大帝計畫以陣線右翼前面的一列小山丘為掩蔽，悄悄集中兵力於右翼，把左翼回縮，將法軍引誘到普魯士陣地南端和薩爾河之間的陷阱，加以殲滅。法軍還蒙在鼓裏，三路行軍縱隊還沒有等到展開，就遭到前鋒塞德利茨4,000騎兵的迎頭痛擊，先鋒被擊潰。普魯士步兵主力在高地上18門重炮掃射的掩護下殺進亂成一團的法軍，而經過休整的塞德利茨騎兵同時迂回到法軍背後，把戰鬥變成一場屠殺。羅斯巴赫戰役下午3點半才開火，但是一個半小時之內，法軍已經潰不成軍，死傷3,000人，被俘5,000人。而普魯士的損失，僅僅是165人陣亡，376人受傷。但是塞德利茨中將也在受傷之列，回國修養，沒有能參加下一場洛伊滕會戰。
He rejoined the king in 1758, and at the battle of Zorndorf, Seydlitz's cavalry again saved the day and won the victory. At Hochkirch, with 108 squadrons he covered the Prussian retreat, and in the disaster of Kunersdorf, he was severely wounded in a hopeless attempt to storm a hill held by the Russians. During his convalescence he married Countess Albertine Hacke. He rejoined the army in May 1760, but his health was so impaired that Frederick sent him home again.
在曹恩道夫戰役中，塞德利茨的騎兵支援左翼突前以斜線式戰術攻擊俄軍突出的右翼。曼陀菲爾師投入總攻的時候預定跟隨在後，加強進攻力量的卡尼茨師走錯了路線，運動到曼陀菲爾師右側發起攻擊，這樣，集中的西路突破演變成寬正面進攻。俄軍的抵抗極為頑強，戰局向不利於腓特烈的方向發展。腓特烈催促塞德利茨騎兵投入戰鬥支援總攻。塞德利茨立馬於一片高地上，約束自己的36個騎兵中隊隱蔽在高地後面按兵不動。他認為戰機不到，急忙投入戰鬥也僅僅是加強正面實力而已，沒有什麼意義。腓特烈連下嚴令要塞德利茨出擊，塞德利茨鎮靜地對傳令官說：「戰後我的腦袋是屬於國王的，但是現在，還請國王陛下允許我用它來為國王效力。」終於，普軍步兵進攻失敗撤退下來，俄軍發動反攻。塞德利茨認為時機已到，他的三個團縱馬躍上高坡，齊頭並進，打擊在勝利挺進中的俄軍背後，一舉扭轉戰局。俄軍右翼敗退。在對峙幾天之後，俄軍於9月1日有秩序地後撤。此後塞德利茨在庫勒斯道夫戰役中受傷被抬出戰場。
It was not until 1761 that he reappeared at the front. He now commanded a wing of Prince Henry's army, composed of troops of all arms, and many doubts were expressed as to his fitness for this command, as his service had hitherto been with the cavalry exclusively. He answered his critics with his conduct at Freyburg on (October 29, 1762), in which, leading his infantry and his cavalry in turn, he decided the day. After the Treaty of Hubertusburg he was made inspector-general of the cavalry in Silesia, where eleven regiments were permanently stationed and where Frederick sent all his most promising officers to be trained by him.
In 1767, he was made a general of cavalry. But his later years were clouded by domestic unhappiness. His wife was unfaithful to him, and his two daughters, each several times married, were both divorced, the elder once and the younger twice. His formerly close friendship with the king was brought to an end by some misunderstanding, and it was only in his last illness, and a few weeks before his death, that they met again. Seydlitz died of paralysis at Ohlau on the 27th of August 1773.
[编辑] Notes
Template:German title Freiherr
[编辑] 參考文獻
- 顧劍 《普魯士腓特烈大帝的生平戰役》
- Dennis Showalter "The Wars of Frederick the Great" 1996年英文版
- Christopher Duffy "Frederick the Great: A Military Life" 1985年英文版
- Theodore Dodge "Great Captains" 1889年英文版
- 富勒 《西洋世界軍事史》 1981年中文版
- K. A. Varnhagen von Ense: Das Leben des Generals von Seydlitz. Berlin, 1834
- Otto von Bismarck: Die kgl. preussische Reiterei unter Friedrich dem Grossen. Karlsruhe, 1837
- Klaus Christian Richter: Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, ein preußischer Reitergeneral und seine Zeit. Osnabrück: Biblio-Verlag, 1996 ISBN 3-7648-2449-2
