Battle of Kunersdorf The Battle of Kunersdorf , fought in the Seven Years ' War , was Frederick the Great ' s most devastating defeat . On August 12 , 1759 , near Kunersdorf ( Kunowice ) , east of Frankfurt ( Oder ) , 50 , 900 Prussians were defeated by a combined allied army 59 , 500 strong consisting of 41 , 000 Russians and 18 , 500 Austrians under Pyotr Saltykov . Only 3 , 000 soldiers from original 50 , 900 Prussian army returned to Berlin after the battle , though many more had only scattered . The battle . Russian and Austrian forces had united in the Prussian heartland of Brandenburg after the Russian victory at the Battle of Kay on 23 July . King Frederick rushed from Saxony , took over the remaining contingent of Lieutenant General Carl Heinrich von Wedel at Müllrose and moved across the Oder River urging for a battle of decision . It started with a Prussian attack on the flank of the Russian positions . This attack was successful and if Frederick had stopped there ( as his brother Henry demanded ) , Kunersdorf would have been a Prussian victory . But the Prussian leader wanted to press his initial success and decided to continue the fight . While the Prussian oblique order attack faded , the Austrian cavalry ( so far kept in reserve ) entered the battle . However , King Frederick II was able to regroup and kept pressure on the allies . The battle culminated in the early evening hours with a massive Prussian cavalry charge under Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz upon the Russian center and artillery positions . The Prussian cavalry suffered heavy losses and retreated in complete disorder . Seydlitz himself was gravely wounded . The allied cavalry , which included heavy Russian horse , Croats and Kalmyks , counterattacked and scattered what was left of the Prussian Army . King Frederick II himself barely escaped capture , and was wounded by gunfire , but was saved by the tobacco tin in his pocket according to legend . He stood alone on a small hill with his rapier sticking in the ground before him - determined to either hold the line against the whole enemy army alone or die . Cavalry Captain Ernst Sylvius von Prittwitz came to the king ' s rescue with his 200 strong squadron and convinced Frederick to leave . Major Ewald Christian von Kleist was severely injured and succumbed to his wounds twelve days later . Aftermath . The Russians and Austrians lost fewer than 15 , 000 men ( approx . 5 , 000 killed ) . The Prussians suffered a severe defeat losing 172 cannons , 6 , 000 killed , 13 , 000 wounded and 26 , 000 men that were scattered . Four days after the battle however , most of the 26 , 000 scattered men turned up at the headquarters on the Oder River and Frederick ' s army recovered to a strength of 32 , 000 men and 50 cannon . The crushing defeat remained without consequences as the victors omitted the opportunity to march against Berlin and retired to Saxony instead . Frederick wrote of the " Miracle of the House of Brandenburg " in a letter to his brother Henry on 1 September . The Battle of Kunersdorf was the first battle where regular units of horse artillery were deployed . It was essentially a hybrid of cavalry and artillery where the entire crew rode horses into battle . The unit had been formed only recently and fought on the Prussian side . Despite being wiped out during the battle , the batteries were reorganized the same year and participated in the Battle of Maxen . Frederick ' s note from Kunersdorf . The king wrote to Berlin on the evening after the battle : " This morning at 11 o ' clock I have attacked the enemy . . . . All my troops have worked wonders , but at a cost of innumerable losses . Our men got into confusion . I assembled them three times . In the end I was in danger of getting captured and had to retreat . My coat is perforated by bullets , two horses of mine have been shot dead . My misfortune is that I am still living . . . Our defeat is very considerable : To me remains 3 , 000 men from an army of 48 , 000 men . At the moment in which I report all this , everyone is on the run ; I am no more master of my troops . Thinking of the safety of anybody in Berlin is a good activity . . . It is a cruel failure that I will not survive . The consequences of the battle will be worse than the battle itself . I do not have any more resources , and - frankly confessed - I believe that everything is lost . I will not survive the doom of my fatherland . Farewell forever ! " http : / / www . diedeutschen . zdf . de /