Eye-witness is the young Prince de Ligne, now
Captain in an Austrian regiment of Foot; and standing here this perilous posture, having been called in as part of the
Reserve.
Captain in an Austrian regiment of Foot; and standing here this perilous posture, having been called in as part of the
Reserve.
Thomas Carlyle
unit Fleiss was mir zu thun gebuhret,
** Wozu mich dein Befehl in meinein Stande fuhret,
"Gteo' dass icKs thue bald, itt der Zeit da icVs soil;
"Und wenn ich's thu', so gieb dass es gerathe tooW. "**
* Tempelhof, I. 288, 287.
** "Hymn-Hook of Porst" (PrussianSternhold-and-Hopkins), "p. 689:" cited in Preuss, H. 107.
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? CHAT. X. ] BATTLE OP LEUTHEN. 261
Stb Dec. 1757.
One has heard the voice of waters, one has paused in
the mountains at the voice of far-off Covenanter psalms;
but a voice like this, breaking the commanded silences,
one has not heard. "Shall we order that to cease, your
Majesty? " "By no means," said the King; whose
hard heart seems to have been touched by it, as might
well be. Indeed there is in him, in those grim days,
a tone as of trust in the Eternal, as of real religious
piety and faith, scarcely noticeable elsewhere in his
History. His religion, and he had in withered forms
a good deal of it, if we will look well, being almost
always in a strictly voiceless state, -- nay, ultra-
voiceless, or voiced the wrong way, as is too well
known. "By no means! " answered he; and a moment
after, said to some one, Ziethen probably: "With men
like these, don't you think I shall have victory this
day! "
The loss of their Saxon Forepost proved more im-
portant to the Austrians than it seemed; -- not com-
putable in prisoners, or killed and wounded. The
Height named Scheuberg, -- "Borne Rise" (so we might
call it, which has got its Pillar of memorial since, with
gilt Victory atop*); -- where Friedrich now is and
where the Austrians are not, is at once a screen and a
point of vision to Friedrich. By loss of their Nostitz
Forepost, they had lost view of Friedrich, and never
could recover view of him; could not for hours learn
distinctly what he was about; and when he did come
in sight again, it was in a most unexpected place! On
the farther side of Borne, edge of the big expanse of
open country there, Friedrich has halted; ridden with
his adjutants to the top of "the Scheuberg (Shy-hill),"
"t Not till 1854 (Kutzen, pp. 194,195).
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? 262 SEVEN-YEARS WAR EISES TQ A HEIGHT, [book xvm.
5tJ>> pec, J757.
as the Books call it, though it is more properly a blunt
Knoll or "Rise," -- the nearest of a Chain of Knolls,
or swells in the ground, which runs from north to south
on that part
.
Except the Zobtenberg, rising blue and massive,
on the southern horizon (famous mythologic Mountain,
reminding you of an Arthur's Seat in shape too, only
bigger and solitary), this Country, for many miles
round, has nothing that could be called a Hill; it is
definable as a bare wide-waving champaign, with slight
bumps on it, or slow heavings and sinkings. Country
mostly under culture, though it is of sandy quality;
one or two sluggish brooks in it; and reedy meres or
mires, drained in our day. It is dotted with Hamlets
of the usual kind; and has patches of scraggy fir. Your
horizon, even where bare, is limited, owing to the wavy
heavings of the ground; windmills and church-belfries
are your only resource, and even these, from about
Leuthen and the Austrian position, leave the Borne
quarter mostly invisible to you. Leuthen Belfry, the
same which may have stood a hundred years before
this Battle, ends in a small tile-roof, open only at the
gables: -- "Leuthen Belfry," says a recent Tourist, "is
"of small resource for a view. To south you can see
"some distance, Sagschiitz, Lobetintz, and other Ham-
"lets, amid scraggy fir-patches, and meadows, once
"miry pools; but to north, you are soon shut in by a
"swell or slow rise, with two windmills upon it" (im-
portant to readers at present); "and to eastward"
(Breslau side and Lissa side), "or to westward" (Fried-
rich's side), "one has no view, except of the old warped
"rafters and their old mouldy tiles within few inches;
"or, if by audacious efforts at each end, to the risk of
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 263
Mil Dec. 1757.
"your neck, you get a transient peep, it is stopt, far
"short of Borne, by the slow irregular heavings, with
"or without fir about them. "*
In short, Friedrich keeps possession of that Borne
ridge of Knolls, escorted by Cavalry in good numbers;
twinkling about in an enigmatic way: -- "Prussian
right wing yonder," think the Austrians; "whitherward,
or what can they mean? " -- and keeps his own columns
and the Austrian lines in view; himself and his move-
ments invisible, or worse, to the Austrian Generals
from any spyglass or conjecture they can employ. The Austrian Generals are in windmills, on church-
belfries, here, there; diligently scanning the abstruse
phenomenon, of which so little can be seen. Daun,
who had always been against this adventure, thinks it
probable the vanished Prussians are retiring southward:
for Bohemia and our Magazines probably. "These good
people are smuggling off {Die guten Leute paschen ab)"
said he: "let them go in peace. "** Daun, that morning,
in his reconnoiterings, had asked of a peasant, "What
is that, then? " (meaning the top of a Village-steeple in
the distance, but thought by the peasant to be meaning
something nearer hand). "That is the Hill our King
chases the Austrians over, when he is reviewing here! "
Which Daun reported at head-quarters with a grin. ***
Lucchesi, on the other hand, scanning those Borne
Hills, and the Cavalry of Friedrich's escort twinkling
hither and thither on them, becomes convinced to a
moral certainty, That yonder is the Prussian Vanguard,
probable extremity of left wing; and that he, Lucchesi,
here at Nypern, is to be attacked. "Attacked, you? "
* Tourist's Note, penes me.
-- Mailer, p. M. -- Nlcolai, Anekdottn, IT. 34.
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? 264 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book xvin.
5th Dec. 1757.
said one Montazet, French Agent or Emissary here:
"unless they were snipes, it is impossible! " But Luc-
chesi saw it too well.
He sends to say that such is the evident fact, and
that he, Lucchesi, is not equal to it, but must have
large reinforcement of Horse to his right wing. "Tush! "
answer Prince Karl and Daun; and return only argu-
ment, verbal consolation, to distressed Lucchesi. Luc-
chesi sends a second message, more passionately pressing,
to the like effect; also with the like return. Upon which
he sends a third message, quite passionate: "If Cavalry
do not come, I will not be responsible for the issue! "
And now Daun does collect the required reinforcement;
"all the reserve of Horse, and a great many from the
left wing;" -- and, Daun himself heading them, goes
off at a swift trot; to look into Lucchesi and his dis-
tresses, three or four miles to right, five or six from
where the danger lies. Now is Friedrich's golden
moment
.
Wending always south, on their western or in-
visible side of those Knolls, Friedrich's people have
got to about the level, or latitude as we might call it,
of Nadasti's left. To Radaxdorf, namely, to Lobetintz,
or still farther south, and perhaps a mile to west of
Nadasti. Friedrich has mounted to Lobetintz Wind-
mill; and judges that the time is come. Daun and
Cavalry once gone to support their right wing, and
our south latitude being now sufficient, Friedrich, swift
as Prussian manoeuvering can do it, falls with all his
strength upon their left wing. Forms in oblique order,
-- horse, foot, artillery, all perfect in their paces; and
comes streaming over the Knolls at Sagschiitz, suddenly
like a fire-deluge on Nadasti, who had charge there,
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEtTTHEN. '265
6th Dec. 1757.
and was expecting no such adventure! How Friedrich
did the forming in oblique order was at that time a
mystery known only to Friedrich and his Prussians:
but soldiers of all countries, gathering the secret from
him, now understand it, and can learnedly explain it
to such as are curious. Will readers take a touch more
of the Drill-Sergeant?
"You go stair-wise (en echelon)," says he: "first
"battalion starts, second stands immovable till the first
"have done fifty steps; at the fifty-first, second bat-
"talion also steps along; third waiting for its fifty-first
"step. First battalion" (rightmost battalion or left-
most, as the case may be; rightmost in this Lenthen
case) "doing fifty steps before the next stirs, and each
"battalion in succession punctually doing the same:"
march along on these terms, -- or halt at either end,
while you advance at the other, -- it is evident you
will swing yourself out of the parallel position into any
degree of obliquity. And furthermore, merely by
halting and facing half-round at the due intervals, you
shove yourself to right or to left as required (always to
right in this Leuthen case): and so, -- provided you
can march as a pair of compasses would, -- you will,
in the given number of minutes, impinge upon your
Enemy's extremity at the required angle, and overlap
him to the required length: whereupon, At him, in
flank, in front, and rear, and see if he can stand it!
"A beautiful manoeuvre," says Captain Archenholtz;
"devised by Friedrich," by Friedrich inheriting Epa-
minondas and the Old Dessauer; "and which, perhaps,
"only Friedrich's men, to this day, could do with the
"requisite perfection. "
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? 266 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XTOt.
5th Dec. 1757.
Nadasti, a skilful War-Captain, especially with
Horse, was beautifully posted about Sagschutz; his ex-
treme left folded up en potence there (elbow of it at
Sagschutz, fore-arm of it running to Gohlau eastward);
potence ending in firwood Knolls with Croat muske-
teers, in ditches, ponds, difficult ground, especially to-
wards Gohlau. He has a strong battery, 14 pieces,
on the Height to rear of him, at the angle or elbow of
his potence; strong abatis, well manned in front to
rightwards: upon this, and upon the Croats in the fir-
wood, the Prussians intend their attack. General Wedell
is there, Prince Moritz as chief, with six battalions,
and their batteries, battery of 10 Brummers and an-
other; Ziethen also and Horse: coming on, in swift
fire-flood, and at an angle of forty-five degrees. Most
unexpected, strange to behold! From south-west yon-
der; about one o'clock of the day.
Nadasti, though astonished at the Prussian fire-
deluge, stands to his arms; makes, in front, vigorous
defence; and even takes, in some sort, the initiative,
-- that is, dashes out his Cavalry on Ziethen, before
Ziethen has charged. Ziethen's Horse, who are right-
most of the Prussians, and are bare to the right, --
ground offering no bush, no brook there (though Zie-
then, foreseeing such defect, has a clump of infantry
near by to mend it), -- reel back under this first
shock, coming downhill upon them; and would have
fared badly, had not the clump of infantry instantly
opened fire on the Nadasti visitors, and poured it in
such floods upon them, that they, in their turn, had to
reel back. Back they, well out of range; -- and leave
Ziethen free for a counter-attack shortly, on easier
terms, which was successful to him. For, during that
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OP MSUTHEH. 267
5th Deo. 1767,
first tussle of his, the Prussian Infantry, to left of Zie-
then, has attacked the Sagschutz Firwood; clears that
of Croats; attacks Nadasti's line, breaks it, their Brum-
mer battery potently assisting, and the rage of Wedell
and everybody being extreme. So that, in spite of the
fine ground, Nadasty is in a bad way, on the extreme
left or outmost point of his potence, or tactical knee.
Round the kneepan or angle of his potence, where is
the abatis, he fares still worse. Abatis, beswept by
those ten Brummers and other Batteries, till bullet and
bayonet can act on it, speedily gives way. "They
"were mere Wurtembergers, these; and could not stand!
eried the Austrians apologetically, at a great rate,
afterwards; as if anybody could well have stood.
Indisputably the Wurtembergers and the abatis are
gone; and the Brandenburgers, storming after them,
storm Nadasti's interior battery of 14 pieces; and Na-
dasti's affairs are rapidly getting desperate in this
quarter. Figure Prince Karl's scouts, galloping madly
to recal that Daun Cavalry! Austrian Battalions, plenty
of them, rush down to help Nadasti; but they are met
by the crowding fugitives, the chasing Prussians; are
themselves thrown into disorder, and can do no good
whatever. They arrive on the ground, flurried, blown;
have not the least time to take breath and order: the
fewest of them ever got fairly ranked, none of them
ever stood above one push: all goes rolling wildly back
upon the centre about Leuthen. Chaos come on us;-- and all for mere lack of time: could Nadasti but once
stretch out one minute into twenty! But he cannot.
Nadasti does not himself lose head; skilfully covers the
retreat, trying to rally once and again. Not for the
first few furlongs, till the ditches, till the firwood,
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? 268 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVm.
5th Dec. 1757.
quagmires are all done, could Ziethen, now on the
open ground, fairly hew in; "take whole battalions
prisoners;" drive the crowd in an altogether stormy
manner; and wholly confound the matter in this
part.
Prince Karl, his messengers flying madly, has
struggled as man seldom did to put himself in some
posture about Leuthen, to get up some defences there.
Leuthen itself, the churchyard of it especially, is on
the defensive. Men are bringing cannon to the wind-
mills , to the swelling ground on the north side of Leu-
then; they dig ditches, build batteries, -- could they
but make Time halt, and Friedrich with him, for one
quarter of an hour! But they cannot. By the extreme
of diligence, the Austrians have in some measure swung
themselves into a new position, or imperfect Line round
Leuthen as a centre, -- Lucchesi, voluntarily or by
order, swinging southwards on the one hand; Nadasti
swinging northwards by compulsion; -- new Line
at an angle say of 75? to the old one. And here,
for an hour more, there was stiff fighting, the stiffest
of the day; -- of which, take one direct glimpse, from
the Austrian side, furnished by a Young Gentleman
famous afterwards:
Leuthen, let us premise, is a long Hamlet of the usual
littery sort; with two rows, in some parts three, of farm-
houses, barns, cattle-stalls; with Church, or even with two
Churches, a Protestant and a Catholic; goes from east to west
above a mile in length. With the wrecks of Nadasti tumbling
into it pell-mell from the south-east, and Lucchesi desperately
endeavouring to swing round from the north-west, not quite
incoherently, and the Prussian fire-storm for accompaniment,
Leuthen is probably the most chaotic place in the Planet
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? IAP. X. 1 BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. ? 69
1 Dec. 1^57.
arth, during that hour or so (from half-past two to half-past
three) while the agony lasted. At one o'clock Nadasti was
attacked; at two, he is tumbling in mid-career towards
Leuthen: I guess the date of this Excerpt, or testimony by a
Notable Eyewitness, may be half-past two; crisis of the
agony just about to begin: and before four it was all finished
again.
Eye-witness is the young Prince de Ligne, now
Captain in an Austrian regiment of Foot; and standing here this perilous posture, having been called in as part of the
Reserve. He says:
"Cry had risen for theReserve,"in which was my regiment,
"that it must come on as fast as possible," -- to Leuthen, west
'us yonder. "We ran what we could run. Our Lieutenant-
"Colonel fell killed almost at the first; beyond this we lost
"our Major, and indeed all the Officers but three, -- three
"only, and about eleven or twelve of the Volunteer or Cadet
"kind. We had crossed two successive ditches, which lay in
"an orchard to left of the first houses in Leuthen; and were
"beginning to form in front of the Village. But there was no
"standing of it. Besides a general cannonade such as can
"hardly be imagined, there was a rain of case-shot upon this
"Battalion, of which I, as there was no Colonel left, had to
"take command; and a third Battalion of the Royal Prussian
Footguards, which had already made several of our regi-
ments pass that kind of muster, gave, at a distance of eighty
"paces, the liveliest fire on us. It stood as if on the parade-
"ground, that third Battalion, and waited for us, without
"stirring.
"The Austrian regiment Andlau, at our right hand, could
"not get itself formed properly by reason of the houses; it
"was standing thirty deep, and sometimes its shot hit us on
"the back. On my left the Austrian regiment Merci ran its
"ways; and I was glad of that, in comparison. By no method
"or effort could I get the dragoons ofBatthyani, who stood
fifty yards in rear of me, to cut-in a little, and help me out,"
-- no good cutting hereabouts, think the dragoons of Bat-
lyani. "My soldiers, who were still tired with running, and
"had no cannon (these either from necessity or choice they
"had left behind), were got scattered, fewer in number, and
"were fighting mainly out of sullenness. More our honour,
"than the notion of doing good in the affair, prevented us
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? 270 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES 10 A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
5th Dec. 1757.
"from running off. An Ensign of the regiment Arberg helped
"me a while to form, from his and my own fragments, a kind
"of line; but he was shot down. Two Officers of the Grena-
"diers brought me what they still had. Some Hungarians,
"too, were luckily got together. But at last, as, with all helps
"and the remnants of my own brave Battalion, I had come
"down to at most 200, 1 drew back to the Height where the
"Windmill is,"* -- where many have drawn back, and are
standing in sheltered places, a hundred deep, say our Books.
Stiff fighting at Leuthen; especially furious till
Leu then Churchyard, a place with high stone walls,
was got. Leuthen Village, we observe, was crammed
with Austrians spitting fire from every coign of van-
tage; Church and Churchyard especially are a citadel
of death. Cannon playing from the Windmill Heights,
too; -- moments are inestimable. The Prussian Com-
mander (name charitably hidden), at Leuthen Church-
yard, seems to hesitate in the murderous fire-deluge:
Major Mollendorf, nameable from that day forward,
growling, "No time this for study," dashes out him-
self, "Ein andrer Mann (Follow me whoever is a man)! "
-- smashes-in the Church Gate of the place, nine mus-
kets blazing on him through it; smashes, after a des-
perate struggle, the Austrians clean out of it, and con-
quers the citadel. **
The Austrians, on confused terms, made stiff dis-
pute in this second position, for about an hour. The
Prussian Reserve was ordered up by Friedrich; the
Prussian left wing, which had stood "refused," about
Radaxdorf, till now: at one time nearly all the Prus-
sians were in fire. Friedrich is here, is there, wherever
* Kutzen, p. 103 (from "Prince de Ligne's Diary, I. 63, German Trans-
lation").
Mttller, p. 42.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 271
5th Dec. 1757.
the press was greatest; "Prince Ferdinand," whom we
now and then find named, as a diligent little fellow,
and ascertain to be here in this and other Battles
of Friedrich's, -- "Prince Ferdinand at one time
"pointed his cannon on the Bush or Fir Clump of Radax-
"dorf; -- an aide-de-camp came to him with message:
"'You are firing on the King; the King is yonder! '
"At which Ferdinand" (his dear little Brother) "erschrack"
or almost fainted with terror. *
Stiff dispute; and had the Austrians possessed the
Prussian dexterity in manoeuvering, and a Friedrich
been among them, -- perhaps? But on their own terms,
there was from the first little hope in it. "Behind the
"Windmills they are a hundred men deep;" by and by,
your Windmills, riddled to pieces, have to be aban-
doned; the Prussian left wing rushing on with bayonets,
will not all of you have to go? Lucchesi, with his
abundant Cavalry, seeing this latter movement and the
Prussian flank bare in that part, will do a stroke upon
them; -- and this proved properly the finale of the
matter, final to both Lucchesi and it.
The Prussian flank was to appearance bare in that
leftward quarter; but only to appearance: Driesen with
the left wing of Horse is in a Hollow hard by; strictly
charged by Friedrich to protect said flank, and take
nothing else in hand. Driesen lets Lucchesi gallop by,
in this career of his; then emerges, ranked, and comes
storming in upon Lucchesi's back, -- entirely con-
founding his astonished Cavalry and their career.
Astonished Cavalry bullet-storm on this side of them,
edge of sword on that, take wing in all direc-
tions (or all except to west and south) quite over
* Katzen, p. 110.
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? 272 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XnH.
5th Dec. 1757.
the horizon; Lucchesi himself gets killed, -- crosses a
still wider horizon, poor man. He began the ruin, and
he ends it. For now Driesen takes the bared Austrians
in flank, in rear; and all goes tumbling here too, and
in few minutes is a general deluge rearward towards
Saara and Lissa side.
At Saara the Austrians, sun just sinking, made a
third attempt to stand; but it was hopelessly faint this
time; went all asunder at the first push; and flowed
then, torrent-wise, towards all its Bridges over the
Schweidnitz Water, towards Breslau by every method.
There are four Bridges, Stabelwitz below Lissa; Grold-
schmieden, Hermannsdorf, above; and the main one
at Lissa itself, a standing Bridge on the Highroad (also
of wood); and by this the chief torrent flows; Prussian
horse pursuing vigorously; Prussian Infantry drawn up .
at Saara, resting some minutes after such a day's work. *
Truly a memorable bit of work; no finer done for
a hundred years, or for hundreds of years; and the
results of it manifold, immediate and remote. About
10,000 Austrians are left on the field, 3,000 of them
slain; prisoners already 12,000, in a short time 21,000;
flags 51, cannon 116; -- "Conquest of Silesia" gone
to water; Prince Karl and Austria fallen from their
high hopes, in one day. The Prussians lost in killed
1,141, in wounded 5,118; 85 had been taken prisoners
about Sagschiitz and Gohlau, in the first struggle
there. ** There and at Leuthen Village had been the
* Archenholtz, i. 209; Seyfarth, Beylagen, n. 243-252 (by an eyewitness,
intelligent succinct Account of the Battle and previous March; ib. 252-272,
of the Sieges &c. following); Preusa, n. 112, &c. ; Tempelhof, i. 276.
** Kutzen, pp. 118,125.
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? AP. X. ] BATTLE OP LEUTHEN. 273
Deo. 1757.
two tough passages; about an hour each; in three hours
the Battle was done. "Meine Herren" said Friedrich,
that night at parole, "after such a spell of work, you
leserve rest. This day will bring the renown of
"your name, and of the Nation's, to the latest pos-
terity. "
High and low had shone this day; especially these
four: Ziethen, Driesen, Retzow, -- and above all
oritz' of Dessau. Riding up the line, as night fell,
Friedrich, in passing Moritz and the right wing, drew
bridle for an instant: "I congratulate you on the Vic-
tory, Herr Feldmarschall! " cried he cheerily, and
with emphasis on the last word. Moritz, still very
busy, answered slightly; and Friedrich repeated louder,
"Don't you hear that I congratulate you, Herr Feld-
marschall! " -- a glad sound to Moritz, who ever
since Kolin had stood rather in the shadow. "You
"have helped me, and performed every order, as none
"ever did before in any battle," added the grateful
King.
Riding up the line, all now grown dusky, Friedrich
asks, "Any battalion a mind to follow me to Lissa? "
'hree battalions volunteering, follow him; three are
plenty. At Saara, on the Great Road, things are
fallen utterly dark. "Landlord, bring a lantern, and
"escort. " Landlord of the poor Tavern at Saara
escorts obediently; lantern in his right hand, left hand
holding by the King's stirrup-leather, -- King (Excellency or General, as the Landlord thinks him) wishing to speak with the man. Will the reader consent
to their Dialogue, which is dullish, but singular to
have in an authentic form, with Nicolai as voucher? *
* Anekdolen, m. 231-235.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. X. 18
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? 274 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
5th Dec. 1757.
Like some poor old horse-shoe, ploughed-up on the
field. Two farthings worth of rusty old iron; now
little other than a curve of brown rust: but it galloped
at the Battle of Leuthen; that is something! --
King. "Come near; catch me by the stirrup-leather"
(Landlord with lantern does so). "We are on the Breslau
"Great Road, that goes through Lissa, aren't we? "
Landlord. "Yea, Excellenz. "
King. "Who are you? "
Landlord. "YourExcellenz, I am theKratschmer" (Silesian
for Landlord) "at Saara. "
King. "You have had a great deal to suffer, I suppose. "
Landlord. "Ach, your Excellenz, had not I! For the last
"eight-and-forty hours, since the Austrians came across
"Schweidnitz Water, my poor house has been crammed to the
"door with them, so many servants they have; and such a
"bullying and tumbling:--they have driven me half mad; and
"I am cleanplundered out. "
King. "I am sorry indeed to hear that! -- Were there
"Generals too in your house? What said they? Tell me,
"then. "
Landlord. "With pleasure, your Excellenz. Well; yester-
'' day noon, I had Prince Karl in my parlour, and his Adju-
tants and people all crowding about. Such a questioning
"and bothering! Hundreds came dashing in, and other
"hundreds were sent out: in and out they went all night; no
"sooner was one gone, than ten came. I had to keep a roar-
"ing fire in the kitchen all night; so many officers crowding
"to it to warm themselves. And they talked and babbled this
"and that. One would say, That our King was coming on,
"then,'with his Potsdam Guard-Parade. ' Another answers,
luOach, he daren't come! He will run for it; we will let him run. ' But now my delight is, our King has paid them their
"fooleries so prettily this afternoon! "
King. "When got you rid of your high guests? "
Landlord. "About nine this morning the Prince got to "horse; and not long after three, he came past again, with a
"swarm of officers; all going full speed for Lissa. So full of
"bragging when they came; and now they were off, wrong
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? CHAP. X. l BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 275
5th Dec. 1757.
"side foremost! I saw how it was. And ever after him, the
"flood of them ran, High-road not broad enough, -- an hour
"and more before it ended. Such a pellmell, such a welter,
"cavalry and musketeers all jumbled: our King must have
"given them a dreadful lathering. That is what they have got
"by their bragging and their lying, -- for, yourExcellenz,
"these people said, too, 'Our King was forsaken by his own
"Generals, all his first people had gone and left him:' what I
"never in this world will believe. "
King (not liking even rumour of that kind). "There you
"are right; never can such a thing be believed of my Army. "
Landlord (whom this "my" has transfixed). "Mein Gott,
"you are our gnttdigster Konig (most gracious King) yourself!
"Pardon, pardon, if, in my stupidity, I have" --
King. "No, you are an honest man:--probably, a Pro-
testant? "
Landlord. "Joa,joa, Ihr Majestat, lam of your Majesty's
"creed! "
Crack-crack! At this point the Dialogue is cut
short by sudden musket-shots from the woody fields to
right; crackle of about twelve shots in all; which hurt
nothing but some horse's feet, -- had been aimed at
the light, and too low. Instantly the light is blown
out, and there is a hunting out of Croats; Lissa or
environs not evacuated yet, it seems; and the King's
Entrance takes place under volleyings and canno-
nadings.
** Wozu mich dein Befehl in meinein Stande fuhret,
"Gteo' dass icKs thue bald, itt der Zeit da icVs soil;
"Und wenn ich's thu', so gieb dass es gerathe tooW. "**
* Tempelhof, I. 288, 287.
** "Hymn-Hook of Porst" (PrussianSternhold-and-Hopkins), "p. 689:" cited in Preuss, H. 107.
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? CHAT. X. ] BATTLE OP LEUTHEN. 261
Stb Dec. 1757.
One has heard the voice of waters, one has paused in
the mountains at the voice of far-off Covenanter psalms;
but a voice like this, breaking the commanded silences,
one has not heard. "Shall we order that to cease, your
Majesty? " "By no means," said the King; whose
hard heart seems to have been touched by it, as might
well be. Indeed there is in him, in those grim days,
a tone as of trust in the Eternal, as of real religious
piety and faith, scarcely noticeable elsewhere in his
History. His religion, and he had in withered forms
a good deal of it, if we will look well, being almost
always in a strictly voiceless state, -- nay, ultra-
voiceless, or voiced the wrong way, as is too well
known. "By no means! " answered he; and a moment
after, said to some one, Ziethen probably: "With men
like these, don't you think I shall have victory this
day! "
The loss of their Saxon Forepost proved more im-
portant to the Austrians than it seemed; -- not com-
putable in prisoners, or killed and wounded. The
Height named Scheuberg, -- "Borne Rise" (so we might
call it, which has got its Pillar of memorial since, with
gilt Victory atop*); -- where Friedrich now is and
where the Austrians are not, is at once a screen and a
point of vision to Friedrich. By loss of their Nostitz
Forepost, they had lost view of Friedrich, and never
could recover view of him; could not for hours learn
distinctly what he was about; and when he did come
in sight again, it was in a most unexpected place! On
the farther side of Borne, edge of the big expanse of
open country there, Friedrich has halted; ridden with
his adjutants to the top of "the Scheuberg (Shy-hill),"
"t Not till 1854 (Kutzen, pp. 194,195).
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? 262 SEVEN-YEARS WAR EISES TQ A HEIGHT, [book xvm.
5tJ>> pec, J757.
as the Books call it, though it is more properly a blunt
Knoll or "Rise," -- the nearest of a Chain of Knolls,
or swells in the ground, which runs from north to south
on that part
.
Except the Zobtenberg, rising blue and massive,
on the southern horizon (famous mythologic Mountain,
reminding you of an Arthur's Seat in shape too, only
bigger and solitary), this Country, for many miles
round, has nothing that could be called a Hill; it is
definable as a bare wide-waving champaign, with slight
bumps on it, or slow heavings and sinkings. Country
mostly under culture, though it is of sandy quality;
one or two sluggish brooks in it; and reedy meres or
mires, drained in our day. It is dotted with Hamlets
of the usual kind; and has patches of scraggy fir. Your
horizon, even where bare, is limited, owing to the wavy
heavings of the ground; windmills and church-belfries
are your only resource, and even these, from about
Leuthen and the Austrian position, leave the Borne
quarter mostly invisible to you. Leuthen Belfry, the
same which may have stood a hundred years before
this Battle, ends in a small tile-roof, open only at the
gables: -- "Leuthen Belfry," says a recent Tourist, "is
"of small resource for a view. To south you can see
"some distance, Sagschiitz, Lobetintz, and other Ham-
"lets, amid scraggy fir-patches, and meadows, once
"miry pools; but to north, you are soon shut in by a
"swell or slow rise, with two windmills upon it" (im-
portant to readers at present); "and to eastward"
(Breslau side and Lissa side), "or to westward" (Fried-
rich's side), "one has no view, except of the old warped
"rafters and their old mouldy tiles within few inches;
"or, if by audacious efforts at each end, to the risk of
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 263
Mil Dec. 1757.
"your neck, you get a transient peep, it is stopt, far
"short of Borne, by the slow irregular heavings, with
"or without fir about them. "*
In short, Friedrich keeps possession of that Borne
ridge of Knolls, escorted by Cavalry in good numbers;
twinkling about in an enigmatic way: -- "Prussian
right wing yonder," think the Austrians; "whitherward,
or what can they mean? " -- and keeps his own columns
and the Austrian lines in view; himself and his move-
ments invisible, or worse, to the Austrian Generals
from any spyglass or conjecture they can employ. The Austrian Generals are in windmills, on church-
belfries, here, there; diligently scanning the abstruse
phenomenon, of which so little can be seen. Daun,
who had always been against this adventure, thinks it
probable the vanished Prussians are retiring southward:
for Bohemia and our Magazines probably. "These good
people are smuggling off {Die guten Leute paschen ab)"
said he: "let them go in peace. "** Daun, that morning,
in his reconnoiterings, had asked of a peasant, "What
is that, then? " (meaning the top of a Village-steeple in
the distance, but thought by the peasant to be meaning
something nearer hand). "That is the Hill our King
chases the Austrians over, when he is reviewing here! "
Which Daun reported at head-quarters with a grin. ***
Lucchesi, on the other hand, scanning those Borne
Hills, and the Cavalry of Friedrich's escort twinkling
hither and thither on them, becomes convinced to a
moral certainty, That yonder is the Prussian Vanguard,
probable extremity of left wing; and that he, Lucchesi,
here at Nypern, is to be attacked. "Attacked, you? "
* Tourist's Note, penes me.
-- Mailer, p. M. -- Nlcolai, Anekdottn, IT. 34.
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? 264 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book xvin.
5th Dec. 1757.
said one Montazet, French Agent or Emissary here:
"unless they were snipes, it is impossible! " But Luc-
chesi saw it too well.
He sends to say that such is the evident fact, and
that he, Lucchesi, is not equal to it, but must have
large reinforcement of Horse to his right wing. "Tush! "
answer Prince Karl and Daun; and return only argu-
ment, verbal consolation, to distressed Lucchesi. Luc-
chesi sends a second message, more passionately pressing,
to the like effect; also with the like return. Upon which
he sends a third message, quite passionate: "If Cavalry
do not come, I will not be responsible for the issue! "
And now Daun does collect the required reinforcement;
"all the reserve of Horse, and a great many from the
left wing;" -- and, Daun himself heading them, goes
off at a swift trot; to look into Lucchesi and his dis-
tresses, three or four miles to right, five or six from
where the danger lies. Now is Friedrich's golden
moment
.
Wending always south, on their western or in-
visible side of those Knolls, Friedrich's people have
got to about the level, or latitude as we might call it,
of Nadasti's left. To Radaxdorf, namely, to Lobetintz,
or still farther south, and perhaps a mile to west of
Nadasti. Friedrich has mounted to Lobetintz Wind-
mill; and judges that the time is come. Daun and
Cavalry once gone to support their right wing, and
our south latitude being now sufficient, Friedrich, swift
as Prussian manoeuvering can do it, falls with all his
strength upon their left wing. Forms in oblique order,
-- horse, foot, artillery, all perfect in their paces; and
comes streaming over the Knolls at Sagschiitz, suddenly
like a fire-deluge on Nadasti, who had charge there,
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEtTTHEN. '265
6th Dec. 1757.
and was expecting no such adventure! How Friedrich
did the forming in oblique order was at that time a
mystery known only to Friedrich and his Prussians:
but soldiers of all countries, gathering the secret from
him, now understand it, and can learnedly explain it
to such as are curious. Will readers take a touch more
of the Drill-Sergeant?
"You go stair-wise (en echelon)," says he: "first
"battalion starts, second stands immovable till the first
"have done fifty steps; at the fifty-first, second bat-
"talion also steps along; third waiting for its fifty-first
"step. First battalion" (rightmost battalion or left-
most, as the case may be; rightmost in this Lenthen
case) "doing fifty steps before the next stirs, and each
"battalion in succession punctually doing the same:"
march along on these terms, -- or halt at either end,
while you advance at the other, -- it is evident you
will swing yourself out of the parallel position into any
degree of obliquity. And furthermore, merely by
halting and facing half-round at the due intervals, you
shove yourself to right or to left as required (always to
right in this Leuthen case): and so, -- provided you
can march as a pair of compasses would, -- you will,
in the given number of minutes, impinge upon your
Enemy's extremity at the required angle, and overlap
him to the required length: whereupon, At him, in
flank, in front, and rear, and see if he can stand it!
"A beautiful manoeuvre," says Captain Archenholtz;
"devised by Friedrich," by Friedrich inheriting Epa-
minondas and the Old Dessauer; "and which, perhaps,
"only Friedrich's men, to this day, could do with the
"requisite perfection. "
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? 266 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XTOt.
5th Dec. 1757.
Nadasti, a skilful War-Captain, especially with
Horse, was beautifully posted about Sagschutz; his ex-
treme left folded up en potence there (elbow of it at
Sagschutz, fore-arm of it running to Gohlau eastward);
potence ending in firwood Knolls with Croat muske-
teers, in ditches, ponds, difficult ground, especially to-
wards Gohlau. He has a strong battery, 14 pieces,
on the Height to rear of him, at the angle or elbow of
his potence; strong abatis, well manned in front to
rightwards: upon this, and upon the Croats in the fir-
wood, the Prussians intend their attack. General Wedell
is there, Prince Moritz as chief, with six battalions,
and their batteries, battery of 10 Brummers and an-
other; Ziethen also and Horse: coming on, in swift
fire-flood, and at an angle of forty-five degrees. Most
unexpected, strange to behold! From south-west yon-
der; about one o'clock of the day.
Nadasti, though astonished at the Prussian fire-
deluge, stands to his arms; makes, in front, vigorous
defence; and even takes, in some sort, the initiative,
-- that is, dashes out his Cavalry on Ziethen, before
Ziethen has charged. Ziethen's Horse, who are right-
most of the Prussians, and are bare to the right, --
ground offering no bush, no brook there (though Zie-
then, foreseeing such defect, has a clump of infantry
near by to mend it), -- reel back under this first
shock, coming downhill upon them; and would have
fared badly, had not the clump of infantry instantly
opened fire on the Nadasti visitors, and poured it in
such floods upon them, that they, in their turn, had to
reel back. Back they, well out of range; -- and leave
Ziethen free for a counter-attack shortly, on easier
terms, which was successful to him. For, during that
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OP MSUTHEH. 267
5th Deo. 1767,
first tussle of his, the Prussian Infantry, to left of Zie-
then, has attacked the Sagschutz Firwood; clears that
of Croats; attacks Nadasti's line, breaks it, their Brum-
mer battery potently assisting, and the rage of Wedell
and everybody being extreme. So that, in spite of the
fine ground, Nadasty is in a bad way, on the extreme
left or outmost point of his potence, or tactical knee.
Round the kneepan or angle of his potence, where is
the abatis, he fares still worse. Abatis, beswept by
those ten Brummers and other Batteries, till bullet and
bayonet can act on it, speedily gives way. "They
"were mere Wurtembergers, these; and could not stand!
eried the Austrians apologetically, at a great rate,
afterwards; as if anybody could well have stood.
Indisputably the Wurtembergers and the abatis are
gone; and the Brandenburgers, storming after them,
storm Nadasti's interior battery of 14 pieces; and Na-
dasti's affairs are rapidly getting desperate in this
quarter. Figure Prince Karl's scouts, galloping madly
to recal that Daun Cavalry! Austrian Battalions, plenty
of them, rush down to help Nadasti; but they are met
by the crowding fugitives, the chasing Prussians; are
themselves thrown into disorder, and can do no good
whatever. They arrive on the ground, flurried, blown;
have not the least time to take breath and order: the
fewest of them ever got fairly ranked, none of them
ever stood above one push: all goes rolling wildly back
upon the centre about Leuthen. Chaos come on us;-- and all for mere lack of time: could Nadasti but once
stretch out one minute into twenty! But he cannot.
Nadasti does not himself lose head; skilfully covers the
retreat, trying to rally once and again. Not for the
first few furlongs, till the ditches, till the firwood,
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? 268 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVm.
5th Dec. 1757.
quagmires are all done, could Ziethen, now on the
open ground, fairly hew in; "take whole battalions
prisoners;" drive the crowd in an altogether stormy
manner; and wholly confound the matter in this
part.
Prince Karl, his messengers flying madly, has
struggled as man seldom did to put himself in some
posture about Leuthen, to get up some defences there.
Leuthen itself, the churchyard of it especially, is on
the defensive. Men are bringing cannon to the wind-
mills , to the swelling ground on the north side of Leu-
then; they dig ditches, build batteries, -- could they
but make Time halt, and Friedrich with him, for one
quarter of an hour! But they cannot. By the extreme
of diligence, the Austrians have in some measure swung
themselves into a new position, or imperfect Line round
Leuthen as a centre, -- Lucchesi, voluntarily or by
order, swinging southwards on the one hand; Nadasti
swinging northwards by compulsion; -- new Line
at an angle say of 75? to the old one. And here,
for an hour more, there was stiff fighting, the stiffest
of the day; -- of which, take one direct glimpse, from
the Austrian side, furnished by a Young Gentleman
famous afterwards:
Leuthen, let us premise, is a long Hamlet of the usual
littery sort; with two rows, in some parts three, of farm-
houses, barns, cattle-stalls; with Church, or even with two
Churches, a Protestant and a Catholic; goes from east to west
above a mile in length. With the wrecks of Nadasti tumbling
into it pell-mell from the south-east, and Lucchesi desperately
endeavouring to swing round from the north-west, not quite
incoherently, and the Prussian fire-storm for accompaniment,
Leuthen is probably the most chaotic place in the Planet
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? IAP. X. 1 BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. ? 69
1 Dec. 1^57.
arth, during that hour or so (from half-past two to half-past
three) while the agony lasted. At one o'clock Nadasti was
attacked; at two, he is tumbling in mid-career towards
Leuthen: I guess the date of this Excerpt, or testimony by a
Notable Eyewitness, may be half-past two; crisis of the
agony just about to begin: and before four it was all finished
again.
Eye-witness is the young Prince de Ligne, now
Captain in an Austrian regiment of Foot; and standing here this perilous posture, having been called in as part of the
Reserve. He says:
"Cry had risen for theReserve,"in which was my regiment,
"that it must come on as fast as possible," -- to Leuthen, west
'us yonder. "We ran what we could run. Our Lieutenant-
"Colonel fell killed almost at the first; beyond this we lost
"our Major, and indeed all the Officers but three, -- three
"only, and about eleven or twelve of the Volunteer or Cadet
"kind. We had crossed two successive ditches, which lay in
"an orchard to left of the first houses in Leuthen; and were
"beginning to form in front of the Village. But there was no
"standing of it. Besides a general cannonade such as can
"hardly be imagined, there was a rain of case-shot upon this
"Battalion, of which I, as there was no Colonel left, had to
"take command; and a third Battalion of the Royal Prussian
Footguards, which had already made several of our regi-
ments pass that kind of muster, gave, at a distance of eighty
"paces, the liveliest fire on us. It stood as if on the parade-
"ground, that third Battalion, and waited for us, without
"stirring.
"The Austrian regiment Andlau, at our right hand, could
"not get itself formed properly by reason of the houses; it
"was standing thirty deep, and sometimes its shot hit us on
"the back. On my left the Austrian regiment Merci ran its
"ways; and I was glad of that, in comparison. By no method
"or effort could I get the dragoons ofBatthyani, who stood
fifty yards in rear of me, to cut-in a little, and help me out,"
-- no good cutting hereabouts, think the dragoons of Bat-
lyani. "My soldiers, who were still tired with running, and
"had no cannon (these either from necessity or choice they
"had left behind), were got scattered, fewer in number, and
"were fighting mainly out of sullenness. More our honour,
"than the notion of doing good in the affair, prevented us
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? 270 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES 10 A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
5th Dec. 1757.
"from running off. An Ensign of the regiment Arberg helped
"me a while to form, from his and my own fragments, a kind
"of line; but he was shot down. Two Officers of the Grena-
"diers brought me what they still had. Some Hungarians,
"too, were luckily got together. But at last, as, with all helps
"and the remnants of my own brave Battalion, I had come
"down to at most 200, 1 drew back to the Height where the
"Windmill is,"* -- where many have drawn back, and are
standing in sheltered places, a hundred deep, say our Books.
Stiff fighting at Leuthen; especially furious till
Leu then Churchyard, a place with high stone walls,
was got. Leuthen Village, we observe, was crammed
with Austrians spitting fire from every coign of van-
tage; Church and Churchyard especially are a citadel
of death. Cannon playing from the Windmill Heights,
too; -- moments are inestimable. The Prussian Com-
mander (name charitably hidden), at Leuthen Church-
yard, seems to hesitate in the murderous fire-deluge:
Major Mollendorf, nameable from that day forward,
growling, "No time this for study," dashes out him-
self, "Ein andrer Mann (Follow me whoever is a man)! "
-- smashes-in the Church Gate of the place, nine mus-
kets blazing on him through it; smashes, after a des-
perate struggle, the Austrians clean out of it, and con-
quers the citadel. **
The Austrians, on confused terms, made stiff dis-
pute in this second position, for about an hour. The
Prussian Reserve was ordered up by Friedrich; the
Prussian left wing, which had stood "refused," about
Radaxdorf, till now: at one time nearly all the Prus-
sians were in fire. Friedrich is here, is there, wherever
* Kutzen, p. 103 (from "Prince de Ligne's Diary, I. 63, German Trans-
lation").
Mttller, p. 42.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 271
5th Dec. 1757.
the press was greatest; "Prince Ferdinand," whom we
now and then find named, as a diligent little fellow,
and ascertain to be here in this and other Battles
of Friedrich's, -- "Prince Ferdinand at one time
"pointed his cannon on the Bush or Fir Clump of Radax-
"dorf; -- an aide-de-camp came to him with message:
"'You are firing on the King; the King is yonder! '
"At which Ferdinand" (his dear little Brother) "erschrack"
or almost fainted with terror. *
Stiff dispute; and had the Austrians possessed the
Prussian dexterity in manoeuvering, and a Friedrich
been among them, -- perhaps? But on their own terms,
there was from the first little hope in it. "Behind the
"Windmills they are a hundred men deep;" by and by,
your Windmills, riddled to pieces, have to be aban-
doned; the Prussian left wing rushing on with bayonets,
will not all of you have to go? Lucchesi, with his
abundant Cavalry, seeing this latter movement and the
Prussian flank bare in that part, will do a stroke upon
them; -- and this proved properly the finale of the
matter, final to both Lucchesi and it.
The Prussian flank was to appearance bare in that
leftward quarter; but only to appearance: Driesen with
the left wing of Horse is in a Hollow hard by; strictly
charged by Friedrich to protect said flank, and take
nothing else in hand. Driesen lets Lucchesi gallop by,
in this career of his; then emerges, ranked, and comes
storming in upon Lucchesi's back, -- entirely con-
founding his astonished Cavalry and their career.
Astonished Cavalry bullet-storm on this side of them,
edge of sword on that, take wing in all direc-
tions (or all except to west and south) quite over
* Katzen, p. 110.
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? 272 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XnH.
5th Dec. 1757.
the horizon; Lucchesi himself gets killed, -- crosses a
still wider horizon, poor man. He began the ruin, and
he ends it. For now Driesen takes the bared Austrians
in flank, in rear; and all goes tumbling here too, and
in few minutes is a general deluge rearward towards
Saara and Lissa side.
At Saara the Austrians, sun just sinking, made a
third attempt to stand; but it was hopelessly faint this
time; went all asunder at the first push; and flowed
then, torrent-wise, towards all its Bridges over the
Schweidnitz Water, towards Breslau by every method.
There are four Bridges, Stabelwitz below Lissa; Grold-
schmieden, Hermannsdorf, above; and the main one
at Lissa itself, a standing Bridge on the Highroad (also
of wood); and by this the chief torrent flows; Prussian
horse pursuing vigorously; Prussian Infantry drawn up .
at Saara, resting some minutes after such a day's work. *
Truly a memorable bit of work; no finer done for
a hundred years, or for hundreds of years; and the
results of it manifold, immediate and remote. About
10,000 Austrians are left on the field, 3,000 of them
slain; prisoners already 12,000, in a short time 21,000;
flags 51, cannon 116; -- "Conquest of Silesia" gone
to water; Prince Karl and Austria fallen from their
high hopes, in one day. The Prussians lost in killed
1,141, in wounded 5,118; 85 had been taken prisoners
about Sagschiitz and Gohlau, in the first struggle
there. ** There and at Leuthen Village had been the
* Archenholtz, i. 209; Seyfarth, Beylagen, n. 243-252 (by an eyewitness,
intelligent succinct Account of the Battle and previous March; ib. 252-272,
of the Sieges &c. following); Preusa, n. 112, &c. ; Tempelhof, i. 276.
** Kutzen, pp. 118,125.
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? AP. X. ] BATTLE OP LEUTHEN. 273
Deo. 1757.
two tough passages; about an hour each; in three hours
the Battle was done. "Meine Herren" said Friedrich,
that night at parole, "after such a spell of work, you
leserve rest. This day will bring the renown of
"your name, and of the Nation's, to the latest pos-
terity. "
High and low had shone this day; especially these
four: Ziethen, Driesen, Retzow, -- and above all
oritz' of Dessau. Riding up the line, as night fell,
Friedrich, in passing Moritz and the right wing, drew
bridle for an instant: "I congratulate you on the Vic-
tory, Herr Feldmarschall! " cried he cheerily, and
with emphasis on the last word. Moritz, still very
busy, answered slightly; and Friedrich repeated louder,
"Don't you hear that I congratulate you, Herr Feld-
marschall! " -- a glad sound to Moritz, who ever
since Kolin had stood rather in the shadow. "You
"have helped me, and performed every order, as none
"ever did before in any battle," added the grateful
King.
Riding up the line, all now grown dusky, Friedrich
asks, "Any battalion a mind to follow me to Lissa? "
'hree battalions volunteering, follow him; three are
plenty. At Saara, on the Great Road, things are
fallen utterly dark. "Landlord, bring a lantern, and
"escort. " Landlord of the poor Tavern at Saara
escorts obediently; lantern in his right hand, left hand
holding by the King's stirrup-leather, -- King (Excellency or General, as the Landlord thinks him) wishing to speak with the man. Will the reader consent
to their Dialogue, which is dullish, but singular to
have in an authentic form, with Nicolai as voucher? *
* Anekdolen, m. 231-235.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. X. 18
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? 274 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
5th Dec. 1757.
Like some poor old horse-shoe, ploughed-up on the
field. Two farthings worth of rusty old iron; now
little other than a curve of brown rust: but it galloped
at the Battle of Leuthen; that is something! --
King. "Come near; catch me by the stirrup-leather"
(Landlord with lantern does so). "We are on the Breslau
"Great Road, that goes through Lissa, aren't we? "
Landlord. "Yea, Excellenz. "
King. "Who are you? "
Landlord. "YourExcellenz, I am theKratschmer" (Silesian
for Landlord) "at Saara. "
King. "You have had a great deal to suffer, I suppose. "
Landlord. "Ach, your Excellenz, had not I! For the last
"eight-and-forty hours, since the Austrians came across
"Schweidnitz Water, my poor house has been crammed to the
"door with them, so many servants they have; and such a
"bullying and tumbling:--they have driven me half mad; and
"I am cleanplundered out. "
King. "I am sorry indeed to hear that! -- Were there
"Generals too in your house? What said they? Tell me,
"then. "
Landlord. "With pleasure, your Excellenz. Well; yester-
'' day noon, I had Prince Karl in my parlour, and his Adju-
tants and people all crowding about. Such a questioning
"and bothering! Hundreds came dashing in, and other
"hundreds were sent out: in and out they went all night; no
"sooner was one gone, than ten came. I had to keep a roar-
"ing fire in the kitchen all night; so many officers crowding
"to it to warm themselves. And they talked and babbled this
"and that. One would say, That our King was coming on,
"then,'with his Potsdam Guard-Parade. ' Another answers,
luOach, he daren't come! He will run for it; we will let him run. ' But now my delight is, our King has paid them their
"fooleries so prettily this afternoon! "
King. "When got you rid of your high guests? "
Landlord. "About nine this morning the Prince got to "horse; and not long after three, he came past again, with a
"swarm of officers; all going full speed for Lissa. So full of
"bragging when they came; and now they were off, wrong
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? CHAP. X. l BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 275
5th Dec. 1757.
"side foremost! I saw how it was. And ever after him, the
"flood of them ran, High-road not broad enough, -- an hour
"and more before it ended. Such a pellmell, such a welter,
"cavalry and musketeers all jumbled: our King must have
"given them a dreadful lathering. That is what they have got
"by their bragging and their lying, -- for, yourExcellenz,
"these people said, too, 'Our King was forsaken by his own
"Generals, all his first people had gone and left him:' what I
"never in this world will believe. "
King (not liking even rumour of that kind). "There you
"are right; never can such a thing be believed of my Army. "
Landlord (whom this "my" has transfixed). "Mein Gott,
"you are our gnttdigster Konig (most gracious King) yourself!
"Pardon, pardon, if, in my stupidity, I have" --
King. "No, you are an honest man:--probably, a Pro-
testant? "
Landlord. "Joa,joa, Ihr Majestat, lam of your Majesty's
"creed! "
Crack-crack! At this point the Dialogue is cut
short by sudden musket-shots from the woody fields to
right; crackle of about twelve shots in all; which hurt
nothing but some horse's feet, -- had been aimed at
the light, and too low. Instantly the light is blown
out, and there is a hunting out of Croats; Lissa or
environs not evacuated yet, it seems; and the King's
Entrance takes place under volleyings and canno-
nadings.
