The sixteen-year-old Georg Ludwig set off to Königsberg, to find his cousin and on the way he met a recruiter for the Prussian army, who persuaded him to become an officer.

Before his regiment was overwhelmed, he fled to a small island in the Oder, where he was captured by the Austrians and taken to Olmouck.

[1] In 1744 he fought under generals Marwitz, Heinrich Karl Ludwig de Herault and Nassau in Silesia.

[1] During the ensuing peace he occupied himself with training his hussars and the King sent cavalry officers to Puttkamer to learn from him.

He was present at the Battle of Leuthen at which his Hussars delivered a decisive blow against the Austrian flank.

[1] Together with General Moritz Franz Kasimir von Wobersnow, he went to Poland to destroy Russian magazines.

His name is included on the Equestrian statue of Frederick the Great in Berlin, which was created by Christian Daniel Rauch.