Battle of Domstadtl The Battle of Domstadtl , also spelled Domstadt , Czech Domašov , was a battle between Habsburg Monarchy and Kingdom of Prussia at a Moravian village Domašov nad Bystřicí during the Seven Years ' War on 30 June 1758 , preceded by a minor clash at Guntramovice ( Gundersdorf ) on 28 June . Austrians under the command of Major General Ernst Gideon von Laudon and Major General Joseph von Siskovits attacked and destroyed a supply convoy bound for the Prussian army besieging Olomouc ( Olmütz ) . The Austrian victory saved the city and the Prussian King Frederick the Great was forced to leave Moravia . Prussian invasion to Moravia . Frederick the Great invaded Moravia in the beginning of May 1758 and besieged the fortified city of Olomouc . He hoped that the Austrian army would come to help the fortress and the Prussians would defeat them in a big battle on the place of their choice . If not , he would conquer the fortress in a short time and use it as a base for defending Silesia and increasing pressure on Vienna . Austrian Field Marshal Leopold Joseph von Daun knew the strength of the Prussian army and kept avoiding the final clash . Instead the Austrians preferred blocking the ways for transporting supplies for the Prussians and causing them damage in minor skirmishes . Defenders of the Olomouc fortress also struggled bravely and it held much longer than Frederick had expected . Although by June it was on the edge of being taken , with the defensive wall s destroyed by cannon s in two places , the Prussians desperately needed new supplies to be able to continue the fight . The convoy . Frederick was afraid that many separate , small convoys protected by small forces could be easily captured by the Austrians and he therefore decided that one huge convoy guarded by a large , strong force should be sent . The supplies for the convoy were collected in Silesia and at the end of June it arrived in the territory of Moravia . The convoy was so big that there was no chance it could be kept in secret . It contained about 4 , 000 wagon s loaded with military materiel and accompanied by about 2 , 500 head of cattle . As it set out on its way , it stretched 45 km long . The convoy was protected by 10 , 870 soldiers , commanded by Colonel Wilhelm von Mosel . The strongest part was probably cavalry consisting of 1 , 341 men ; further he had eight infantry battalion s created from new recruits or healed veterans . As soon as Field Marshal Daun learned about the convoy , he decided it had to be stopped and destroyed . The task was given to Ernst Gideon von Laudon and Joseph von Siskovits . The battles . Guntramovice . Laudon awaited the enemy at Guntramovice , a small village in northern Moravia . Siskovits , who lost his way in woods , was supposed to come in two days . This was quite a problem for Laudon , because his four infantry battalions , a regiment of dragoon s , a regiment of hussar s , an artillery battery and a troop of frontier guards had only about 6 , 000 men . Despite that he decided to attack the Prussians because Olomouc was near and there was no time for waiting . He also knew that five battalions of 20 , 000 Prussian soldiers commanded by Lieutenant - General Hans Joachim von Zieten were rushing towards the convoy to help Mosel . The convoy arrived on 28 June early in the morning . The Austrians started shooting at the front wagons . One Prussian battalion forged ahead in order to find out the strength of the enemy , but they were routed by the Austrian artillery . The Prussians also formed artillery batteries on their side of the road and started shooting . They tried to attack the Austrian positions in the hilly terrain several times , but they were always forced back . The fight took about five hours but finally the Prussians started to dominate the battleground and Laudon ordered his men to retreat towards Moravský Beroun , which they did without any problems , because Mosel did not have enough cavalry to chase them . Although Laudon was defeated and did not manage to destroy the convoy , his losses were smaller than the Prussian ones . However , the most precious thing that he gained was time . Nowadays some historians point out that the Prussians had a chance to succeed if they had sacrificed some of the dispersed wagons and immediately rushed to Olomouc . However , neither Mosel nor Zieten , who reached the convoy several hours after the clash , knew about Siskovits ' approaching forces , and therefore they decided to devote some time to rearranging the convoy and repairing some damages . They continued on 30 June early in the morning . Domašov . Meanwhile the Austrians prepared for a new attack . They chose an open place between Domašov nad Bystřicí and Nová Véska , which is surrounded by hills and woods , ideal for an ambush . Siskovits ’ troops came on the scene first and waited for the enemy in the woods on the left side of the road . Laudon was supposed to come from Moravský Beroun later , in the middle of the fight , and attack from the opposite side , thus increasing the chaos among the Prussian soldiers . First the vanguard consisting of 4 , 850 soldiers and 250 wagons arrived , but Siskovits let them go . Austrian artillery started the fight when the main body of the convoy was passing by , which made an enormous chaos among the wagons . Siskovits ’ infantry was fighting successfully with Prussian soldiers despite the fact that they were outnumbered 3 to 1 . And when Laudon ’ s troops appeared from the other side the result of the battle was determined . After 7 hours of fight the Prussian convoy was routed . Casualties . Although the total number of fighting Austrian soldiers was approximately 12 , 000 , they lost ( at Guntramovice and Domašov together ) only about 600 of them . The Prussian casualties were much higher , although different sources give different numbers . Austrians claimed about 2 , 000 killed , injured or missing soldiers and 1 , 450 captured ( including General Puttkamer and 40 other officers ) , while Prussians reported only 2 , 701 killed , injured , missing and captured soldiers altogether , but admitted that they found it difficult to count them precisely due to the complete dispersion of their troops after the battle . The victors also seized 2 , 200 horses , numerous cattle and a major part of the transported materiel . Because many of the wagons were damaged during the battle , they burned everything they were not able to take away with them . Some of the ammunition wagons were blown up as a part of the victory celebrations . An important part of the spoils was 2 million Prussian thaler s ( according to some sources 1 million ) , but the Austrian commanders let their soldiers keep half of it and only the residual part reached the state coffers . Only 250 wagons from the vanguard escaped , but some of them were captured by Croatian soldiers near Svatý Kopeček , only several kilometers north of Olomouc , and as a result only about 100 - 200 of them reached their destination . Consequences . The importance of the battle is sometimes underestimated . The human casualties on either side were not as high as in other notable battles of that time , however the most important effect was the loss of the supplies for the Prussian army . This loss significantly influenced Frederick ’ s opinion on whether to continue to besiege Olomouc . The defeat shocked the Prussian camp . When Daun finally came to help Olomouc , the Prussians were forced to abandon the siege of the city as the lack of ammunition had made its capture impossible and they retreated to Bohemia . The Battles of Guntramovice and Domašov were the turning point in the fight for Moravia . A memorial called " Black Cross " was built to the north - east of Domašov in 1858 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the battle . There is also a memorial to the soldiers killed in the battle to the south - east of Guntramovice . References . Books in Czech language :