West German Trip, Part 3 - Sanderhausen

We awoke to church bells ringing, and a beautiful Sunday morning in the city of Kassel. It is a very pleasant city with an excellent tram and bus service. The map showed the battlefield to be at the edge of the city and we decided to use the tram & bus which dropped us next to the Fulda river which marked the flank of the action. The Fulda is a  large fast flowing river and unfordable at this point.

        Kassel on a lovely Sunday morning. The battle area can be seen in the background.

As we stood on the banks of the Fulda, we realised that the battle actually took place on a steep hill about 1 mile from our position. The climb was very steep and covered in woodlands. We eventually reached the site of the battle, which now has a road running next to it.

Battlefield memorial to The Hessian general Prince Kasimir von Isenburg(Ysenburg), July 23rd 1758

Another shot of the memorial with the road to the right. The photo is taken from the edge of the battlefield. The woods descend a steep slope to the River Fulda, which was the right flank of the Hessians.

 Looking down towards Kassel and the French position. Broglie would have marched up this hill. The Hessian forces at the summit would have been hidden from view.

Looking up towards the Hessian line, whose line was protected by the River Fulda on the left and the Ellenbach woods to the right and background.  The shot is how the French would have seen the Hessians. Broglie wanted to attack the woodland area on the right to cut of the Hessian retreat to Munden and force them against the Fulda which was unfordable. The battlefield was very narrow and the inexperienced Hessian militia finally gave way. The French Beauvoisis infantry was nearly wiped out, this being attributed to the concentration of Hessian riflemen. Although Sanderhausen was seen as a French victory, the Hessians had selected a strong position and the French took much higher casualties before the Hessians withdrew. An interesting small battle, and one which I will do on the table top at some point in the future.

The shot looks down on Kassel and the battleground on the right from the Royal palace and gardens.
This is well worth a visit, (nothing military, but fabulous architecture, gardens and water features, despite the allied air forces best attempts to flatten it.)