Nebesa - Battle

Archaeology in the geopark

The Battle of Nebesa and Žďár was a minor military clash between the Prussian army under the command of General Friedrich August von Finck and the Austrian army led by Field Marshal Jan Sigismund, Count of Macqu. and ire of Inniskillen during the Prussian army's campaign in Franconia during the Seven Years' War. It took place between 8 and 9 May 1759 in the vicinity of the villages of Nebesa and Nový Žďár near Aš in the western Bohemian peninsula. The Prussians carried out a successful cross-border raid, which forced the Austrian army to gradually evacuate two defensive positions and retreat towards Cheb.

Copper engraving depicting the Battle of Nebes on May 8, 1759. The original is kept in the museum in Plavno.

Not long after crossing the border on May 8, 1759, the vanguard of the Prussian troops encountered Austrian border cavalry, the so-called pandurs, who, upon realizing the significant Prussian superiority, quickly withdrew behind the defensive line at Hranice. The Austrian command assessed the situation as a Prussian attempt at another invasion of the Czech interior and hastily decided to move its positions from Hranice to a hastily fortified line between the villages of Nebesa and Nový Žďár, oriented to the north and distributed from west to east. This consisted primarily of a trench artillery battery for seven guns, a rear area and a command tent, which the Austrian soldiers had hastily built. Another two Austrian cannons were placed closer to Nový Žďár. Finck's troops were ordered to pursue the enemy, and they advanced to the new Austrian line, but the two armies were so far apart that they were only able to conduct an inaccurate artillery exchange with each other.Allegedly, the impact of two cannonballs fired by the Prussians between the Austrian hussar units caused chaos in the Austrian army and it was decided to begin another retreat in the direction of Cheb. The Prussian army then began pursuing the Austrians, and on their fortified line they encountered the rearguard of the imperial army, which had meanwhile managed to organize an orderly retreat to the southeast through Hazlov. The battle ended with the capture of the Austrian batteries by the Prussian hussars. Due to their unfamiliarity with the terrain and uncertain reports about the Austrian army's condition, the Prussians stopped their advance and withdrew to Aš. During the Prussian presence in the city and its surroundings, they committed numerous robberies and thefts of money and food.The Austrian losses were in the tens, at most several hundred dead, while the Prussian losses were many times smaller. The Austrian artillery fortifications remained at the battle site, which were then subjected to archaeological research in the 1980s and 2019.