2 January — the United Kingdom captured Calcutta, India.
30 August — the Battle of Gross-Jagersdorf took place, the first victory of Russian forces in the Seven Years’ War. On 29 August, the Russian army, having set up camp, was near the locality of Gross-Jagersdorf. Unexpectedly for Apraksin, the Cossacks discovered Lehwaldt’s corps not far from their positions, literally half a day’s march away.
At first, Apraksin did not believe that the Prussians would attack him, having 22 battalions (about 20,000) against his 89 battalions (nearly 50,000), especially given the overwhelming superiority of Russian cavalry and artillery.
Apraksin chose a very unfortunate place for the camp. The problem was that it had two narrow and inconvenient exits—one by a forest with a ravine, and another by a forest with a swamp. The many-thousand-strong Russian army with its baggage train and artillery had to squeeze through them virtually battalion by battalion. Nevertheless, the order to move out was given on the night of 30 August. Apraksin did not know that at that very time, starting at 1 a.m., the Prussian army, in battle formation, was marching toward the Russian camp. By 4 a.m., with music and banners, deployed in two lines with cavalry on the flanks, the Prussians ran into the Russians who were emerging in marching columns.
The situation was a stalemate; neither side expected such a battle. Apraksin planned to overwhelm Lehwaldt by numbers in an open field, while the latter, on the contrary, intended to “cover” the sleeping Russian camp.
The fight quickly turned into brutal hand-to-hand combat; the Prussians, who at first pushed the Russians back, were astonished by the steadfastness of the Russian soldiers. When the general commanding the center, V. A. Lopukhin, was hit by three bullets, Russian grenadiers recovered his body, and even after running out of ammunition, fought with cleavers and bayonets.
Most of the Russian army could not take part in the battle because of the initially incorrect deployment; there was not enough artillery, and the cavalry could not maneuver. The fighting went on for almost five hours with alternating success.
The outcome was decided by four Russian regiments under the command of the future brilliant commander Prince P. A. Rumyantsev. Without orders, Rumyantsev—then still a major general—personally led the regiments into battle against the Prussians who had broken through the center.
Unfortunately, Count Semyon Apraksin did not want to capitalize on the victory. Having information from St. Petersburg that Elizaveta Petrovna had fallen ill and therefore might die, to be replaced by Peter III, a long-time admirer of Frederick, Apraksin, mindful of this, withdrew the army from East Prussia altogether, devaluing all the bloodshed and heroism of his soldiers.
As punishment, the recovered empress removed him from all posts and sent him to the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he soon died. The Russian army was led by General-in-Chief Willim Fermor. Our troops still had to endure two more hard battles—at Zorndorf and Kunersdorf.