Medal - Elizabeth Battle of Kunersdorf

Reverse

Warrior in ancient dress holding banner on the battlefield.
Bodies, arms and flag with FR (Fridericus Rex) on ground.

Lettering:
ПОБЕДИТЕЛЮ
НАД ПРУСАКАМИ
АВГ 1 Д 1759

Translation:
To the winner
over the Prusaks
Aug 1 1759

Engraver: Timofey Ivanovich Ivanov

Comment

Medallic Rubel.

The medal was awarded to Russian soldiers who partook in the Battle of Kunersdorf.
The Battle of Kunersdorf on the Oder was one of Frederick the Great's worst defeats in the Seven Years War. It could have been a victory if he had listened to his brother Heinrich who urged him not to relinquish the initial success of the battle by pursuing the Russo-Austrian forces who received cavalry reinforcement. In the aftermath of the battle Frederick considered his whole kingdom lost, but the Austro-Russian forces did not move on to Berlin. Almost miraculously Frederick's scattered army regrouped within a few days and the impact of the defeat was no longer so dramatic.

The decisive Battle of Kunersdorf occurred on 12 August 1759 near Kunersdorf (Kunowice), immediately east of Frankfurt an der Oder (the second largest city in Prussia). Part of the Third Silesian War and the wider Seven Years' War, the battle involved over 100,000 men. An Allied army commanded by Pyotr Saltykov and Ernst Gideon von Laudon that included 41,000 Russians and 18,500 Austrians defeated Frederick the Great's army of 50,900 Prussians.

With a loop:

© Image courtesy of Sincona AG