When the church bell rang on the 14th of October 1758 at 5am Hochkirch experienced one of th emost horrible and bloodiest carnages of th e7-year War. This battle went down in history as the 2nd personal defeat of Frederick the Great. 17.000 soldiers lost their lives; there are no reports about casualities in the civilian population. In their memory a commemorative plaque will be unveiled at the museum at the 250th anniversary.
In this battle the Austrians had the advantage over the Prussians in numbers, because to every 2nd Prussian there were at least 3 Austrians. Critics claim that the defeat was due to the risky location of the Prussian camp, right between the Austrians and the magazine depot Görlitz.
When at dawn sudden gun fire against the Prussians started, Frederick the Great believed it to be a small battle, which could be met with few soldiers. But this was a fatal error! Many of the Prussians were still in their tents without boots and weapons; they were so surprised that they panicked when the enemy attacked.
It became a battle of one's existence. The Austrians succeeded to force the Prussians to surrender. But in the village centre a small part of the Prussian army was huddled together at the graveyard.
The offered resistances till the bitter end but hardly anyone escaped the Austrian bayonets and blaze of bullets.
The whole village burnt down apart from 4 houses and the church.
The remnants of this horrible battle are still obvious today. In some of the foundation walls the canon balls are still visible; the church door, still the original one, shows bullet-holes and the blood alley at the church wall shows markings how high the blood rose.
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