Fall 1756: Early September to Late November
Al dug around in Sam's office for a while until he uncovered a fairly general atlas of warfare. He quickly scanned it and found a shockingly detailed chapter on the Seven Years War in Europe from the Prussian perspective. What luck!
Al ran back to the hologram room, along the way scanning the pages on the Fall of 1756. As he read, the text and maps subtly changed before his eyes. "That is probably not a good sign," Al thought as he ran.
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The situation Frederick the Great faced in the Fall of 1756 was a desperate one and only a military genius of his remarkable quality could have any long term hope of victory. While Saxony proper had already been occupied, the main Saxon army, some 24,000 strong was holed up in the fortified camp of Pirna, in hopes the large Austrian Army in Prag would come to their rescue.
At the same time, Frederick needed to be prepared because at any moment the Swedes, Russians and French were expected to jump into the conflict with the goal of overwhelming and dismembering the small Prussian state.
Accordingly, Frederick laid his plans for the Fall:
The main Prussian effort was directed at the Saxons with one Army Corps moved further south to block the expected Austrian relief. A small Cavalry detatchment was sent into the Eiger/Karlsbad region to possibly draw off more Austrians while in the east, Schwerin's Army advanced on Troppau, in the hopes that the Austrian response would be further delayed or confused.
In the event, Pirna did fall after three vicious frontal assaults, an unusual tactic for Frederick when time seemed to be on his side. However, he seemed possessed of an almost maniacal need to seize the Saxon camp immediately, "within 21 days" being his endless mantra. The camp was carried, of course, but at a serious cost in manpower, losses the Prussian Army could ill-afford.
The cavalry diversion made an attempt to storm Karlsbad during the Pirna Events and were lightly rebuffed.
After the fall of Pirna, Frederick probed carefully into Bohemia, build a fortified camp and depot for Spring Operations and then mostly withdrew with the November snows. A second, stronger push on Karlsbad was abandonded shortly after. Schwerin pulled his forces back into Silesia after establishing a Depot for spring operations as well.
The Austrians remained curiously quiet throughout the Fall and Frederick suspected they were planning a winter assault. Frederick, it should be noted, was unusually sluggish during these operations and many suspected then, and do now, that he was suffering from some sort of ailment. That he was hallucinating at points or was suffering an eye ailment is beyond question as reliable testimony exists of him talking to people who were not present, or at least not facing those to whom he was speaking.
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"At least he took Pirna," Al thought, "I need to find out what Ziggy recommends...and why the hell is Sam in the 1700s anyway?"