Friedrich himself does not know this bit of ground:
but there is with him, besides the Peasant, a Major
Linden, whose Regiment used to lie in Frankfurt, of
whom Friedrich makes minute questioning.
but there is with him, besides the Peasant, a Major
Linden, whose Regiment used to lie in Frankfurt, of
whom Friedrich makes minute questioning.
Thomas Carlyle
Sad requisitioning needed, and sad
"plunder to supplement it: the Austrian behaviour was very
"bad, say the Frankfurters; 'in particular, they had burnt
"gradually all the corn-mills in the country; within many
"miles not one mill standing when they left us,' -- and four
"horses all the conveyance-power we had. Soltikof lodges
"in great pomp, much soldiery and cannon parading before
"his doors; not an undignified man, or an inhuman or es-
"sentially foolish, but very high in his ways, and distasteful
"to Austrian dignitaries. "
The Russian Army lies mainly across Oder; en-
camped on the Judenberg, and eastward there, along
the Heights, near three miles, to Kunersdorf and
beyond. They expect Friedrich at the gates of Frank-
furt shortly; know well that they cannot defend Frank-
furt. They calculate that Friedrich will attack them
in their Judenberg Encampment, but hope they are
nearly ready for him there. Loudon, from the Guben
Suburb, will hasten across, at any moment; -- welcome
on such fighting occasion, though ill seen when the
question is of eating! The Russians have their Wagen-
burg on an Island southward, farther up the River;
they have three Pontoon Bridges leading thither, a free
retreat should they be beaten. And in the mean while
are entrenching themselves, as only Daun would, --
cannon and redoubts all round those Heights; -- and
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? 158 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX.
9th Aug. 1759.
except it be screwing Frankfurt to do its impossible
duty, and carting provender with all the horses ex-
cept four, have not much farther to do but wait
till the King come. Which will be speedily, it is
probable! --
Wednesday August 8th, Russian and Austrian
Generals, a cheerful party of them, had rendezvoused
at Fischers Miihle; a Mill not yet burnt, and a pleasant
Tavern as well; in one of the prettiest valleys in the
Western Environs; -- intending to dine there, and
have a pleasant day. But the Miller's Boy runs in
upon them, wide-eyed, "flimmel und Erde, Prussian
Hussars! " It was in verity Prussian Hussars; the King
of Prussia with them in person. He is come out re-
connoitering, the day after his arrival in those parts.
The pleasuring Generals, Russian and Austrian, sprang
'io horseback, at their swiftest, -- hope of dinner gone
futile, except to the intervening Prussian Hussars; --
and would have all been captured, but for that Miller's
Boy; whose Mill too was burnt before long. This gallop
home of the undined Generals into Frankfurt was the
first news we poor Frankfurters had of the King's
arrival.
The King has been punctual to his reckoning: he
picked up Wedell at Mullrose, -- not too cordial to
Wedell's people: "None of you speak to those beaten
wretches," ordered he; "till perhaps they wipe off their
"Zullichau stain! " On the 7th, Friedrich advanced to
Frankfurt neighbourhood; took Camp between Wulkow
and Lebus; -- and has just been out reconnoitering.
And has raised, fancy what emotion in poor Frankfurt
lying under its nightmare! "Next day, August 9th,
"from Wulkow-Lebus hand, we" of Frankfurt "heard a
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? tHAP. iV. ] BATTLE OF KUNERSDORP. 159
St/i Aug. 1759.
"great firing; cannon-salvoes, musket-volleys: 'Nothing
"of fight,' the Russian Officers told us; 'it is the King
"of Prussia doing joyfire for Minden,' of which we till
"now knew nothing. "
Friedrich, on survey of this Russian-Austrian Army,
some 90,000 in number, with such posts, artilleries,
advantages, judges that he, counting only 40,000, is
not strong enough. And indeed had so anticipated,
and already judged; and, accordingly, has Finck on
march hitherward again, -- Berlin must take its risk,
Saxony must shift for itself in the interim. Finck is
due in two days, not here at Lebus precisely, but at
another place appointed; Finck will raise him to 50,000;
and then business can begin! Contrary to Russian
expectation, Friedrich does not attack Frankfurt; seems
quite quiet in his cantonments; -- he is quietly (if
one knew it) making preparations farther down the
River. About Reitwein, between this and Custrin,
there arrangements are proceeding, by no means of a
showy sort.
The Russian-Austrian Army quits Frankfurt, leaving
only some hundreds of garrison: Loudon moves across,
Soltikof across; to the Oder-Dam and farther; and lie,
powerfully entrenched, on those Kunersdorf Heights,
and sandy Moorlands, which go eastward at right-angles
to Oder-Dam. One of the strongest Camps imaginable.
All round there, to beyond Kunersdorf and back again,
near three miles each way, they have a ring of redoubts,
and artillery without end. And lie there, in order of
battle or nearly so; ready for Friedrich, when he shall
attack through Frankfurt or otherwise. They face to
the North (Reitwein way, as it happens); to their rear,
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? 160 PRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX.
10th Aug. 1759.
and indeed to their front, only not so close, are woods
and intricate wilds. Loudon has the left flank; that is
to say, London's left-hand is towards the Oder-Dam
and Frankfurt; he lies at the Rothe Vorwerk ("Red
Grange," a Farmstead much mentioned just now);
rather to north-westward of the Jew Hill and Jew
Churchyard (Judenberg and Judenkirchhof, likewise much
mentioned); and in advance of the General Mass.
Soltikofs headquarter, I rather understand, is on the
right wing; probably in Kunersdorf itself, or beyond
that Village; there, at least, our highly important
Russian right-wing is; there, elaborately fortified; and,
half a mile farther, ends,--- on the edge of steep dells;
the Russian brink of which is strongly fringed with
cannon, while beyond, on the farther brink, they have
built an abatis; so making assurance doubly sure.
Looking to the northward, all these 90,000; their left
rather southward of Frankfurt Bridge, over which
Friedrich will probably arrive. Leftward, somewhat
to rearward, they have bridges of their own; should
anything sinister befal; three bridges which lead into
that Oder Island, and the Russian Wagenburg there.
August 10th, Finck, punctual to time, arrives in
the neighbourhood of Reitwein (which is some ten miles
down-stream from Lebus, from Frankfurt perhaps fifteen);
Friedrich, the same day, is there before him; eager to
complete the Bridges, and get to business. One Bridge
is of pontoons; one of "Oder-boats, floated up from
Ciistrin. " Bridges are not begun till nightfall, lest
eyes be abroad; are ready in the minimum of time.
And so, during the same night of the 10th, all the
Infantry, with their artilleries and battle-furnitures,
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? CHAP. Iv. ] bAttle of kuneesdoef. 161
11th Aug. 1759.
pour over in two columns; the Cavalry, at the due
point of time, riding by a ford, short way to the right.
And at four, in the gray of the August morning
(Saturday 11th August 1759), all persons and things
find themselves correctly across: ranked there, in those
barren, much indented "Pasture-grounds of Goritz" or
of Oetscher; intending towards Kunersdorf; ready for
unfolding into order of battle there. They leave their
heavy baggage at Goritz, Wunsch to guard the Bridges
and it; and, in succinct condition, are all under way.
At one in the afternoon, we are got to Leissow and
Bischofsee; scrubby hamlets (as the rest all are), not
above two miles from Kunersdorf. The August day is
windless, shiny, sultry; man and horse are weary with
the labours, and with the want of sleep: we decide to
bivouack here, and rest on the scrubby surface, heather
or whatever it is, till tomorrow.
Finck is Vanguard, ahead short way, and with his
left on a bit of lake or bog; the Army is in two lines,
with its right on Leissow, and has Cavalry in the kind
of wood which there is to rear. Friedrich, having
settled the positions, rides out reconnoitering; hither
thither, over the Heights of Trettin. "The day being
"still hot, he suffers considerably from thirst" (it is our
one Anecdote), "in that arid tract: at last a Peasant
"does bring him, direct from the fountain, a jug of
"pure cold water; whom, lucky man, the King re-
"warded with a thaler; and not only so, but, the man
"being intelligent of the localities, took with him to
"answer questions. " Readers too may desire to gain
some knowledge of the important ground now under
survey.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. XI. 11
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? 162 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED, [book XIX.
11th Aug. 1759.
"Frankfurt, a very ancient Town, not a very beautiful,"
says my Note, "stands on an alluvium which has been ground
"down from certain clay Hills on the left bank of Oder. It
"counted about 12,000 inhabitants inFriedrich's time; has
"now perhaps about 20,000; not half the bulk of its namesake
"on the Mayn; but with Three great Fairs annually, and
''much trade of the rough kind. On this left or west bank of
"Oder, the country is arable, moderately grassy and um- "brageous, the prospect round you not unpleasant; but
"eastward, over the River, nothing can be more in contrast.
"Oder is of swift current, of turbid colour, as it rolls under
"Frankfurt Bridge, -- Wooden-Bridge, with Dam Suburb
"at the end; -- a River treeless, desolate, as you look up
"and down; which has, evidently, often changed its course,
"since grinding down that alluvium as site for Frankfurt;
"and which, though now holding mainly to northward, is
"still given to be erratic, and destructive on the eastern low
"grounds, -- had not the Frankfurters built an'Oder Dam'
"on that side; a broad strong Earth-mound, running for
"many miles, and confining its floods. Beyond the Dam,
"there are traces of an ' Old Oder (Alte Oder);' and, in fact,
"Oder, in primeval and in recent time, has gone along,
"many-streamed; indenting, quarrying, leaving lakelets,
"quagmires, miscellaneous sandy tumult, at a great rate,
"on that eastern shore. Making of it one of the unloveliest
"scenes of chaotic desolation anywhere to be met with;
"-- fallen unlovelier than ever in our own more recent
"times.
"What we call the Heights of Kunersdorf is a broad
"Chain of Knolls; coming out, at right angles, or as a
"kind of spur, from the eastern high grounds; direct towards
*' Oder and Frankfurt. Mill-Hill (Mithlberg) is the root or
"easternmost part of this spur. From the Miihlberg, over
"Kunersdorf, to Oder Dam, which is the whole length of
"the spur, or Chain of Knolls, will be little short of four
"miles; the breadth of the Chain is nowhere one mile,--
"jwhich is its grand defect as a Camp: 'too narrow for
"manoeuvering in. ' Here, atop and on the three sides of
"this Block of Knolls, was fought the furious Battle of
"Kunersdorf" (to be fought tomorrow), "one of the most
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? CHAP. IV. ] BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. 163
11th Aug. 1759.
"furious ever known. A Block of Knolls memorable ever
"since.
"To all appearance, it was once some big Island or chain
"of Islands in the Oder deluges: it is still cut with sudden
"hollows, -- Kuhgrund (Cow-Hollow), Tiefe Weg (Deep
"Way), and westernmost of all, and most important for us
"here, Hohle Grund (Big Hollow, let us call it; 'Loudon's
"Hollow' people subsequently called it); -- and is every -
"where strangely tumbled up into knolls blunt or sharp, the
"work of primeval Oder in his rages. In its highest knolls,
"--of which let readers note specially the Spitzberg, the
"Miihlberg, the Judenberg, -- it rises nowhere to 150 feet;
"perhaps the general height of it may be about 100. On
"each side of it, especially on the north, the Country is of
"most intricate character: bushy, scraggy, with brooklets
"or muddy oozings wandering about, especially with a
"thing called the Huhnerfliess (Hen-Floss), which springs in
"the eastern woods, and has inconceivable difficulty to get
"into Oder, -- if it get at all! This was a sore Floss
"to Friedrich tomorrow. Hen-Floss struggles, painfully
"meandering and oozing, along the northern side (some-
"times close, sometimes not) of our Chain of Knolls: along
"the south side of it (in our time, through the middle of it),
"goes the Highway to Reppen" ('From that Highway will
his attack come! ' thought the Russians, always till today):
"on the north, to Leissow, to Trettin," where Friedrich is
now on survey, "go various wheel-tracks, but no firm road.
"A most intricate unlovely Country. Withered bent-grasses,
"heath, perhaps gorse, and on both sides a great deal of
"straggling Forest-wood, reaching eastward, and especially
"southward, for many miles.
"For the rest," to our ill-luck in this place, "theBattle-
"field ofKunersdorf has had a peculiar fate in the world;
"that of being blown away by the winds! The then scene of
"things exists no longer; the descriptions in the Old Books
"are gone hopelessly irrecognisable. In our time, there is
"not anywhere a tract more purely of tumbled sand, than all
"this between Kunersdorf and Dam Vorstadt; and you
"judge, without aid of record or tradition, that it is greatly
"altered for the worse since Friedrich's time, -- some rabbit-
"colony, or other the like insignificancy, eating out the
11*
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? 164 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED, [book XIX.
nth Aug. 1759.
"roots, till all vegetation died, and the wind got hold and
"set it dancing; -- and that, in 1759, when Russian human
"beings took it for a Camp, it must have been at least
"coherent, more or less; covered, held together by some
"film of scrubby vegetation; not blowing about in every
"wind as now! Kunersdorf stands with its northern end
"pushed into thatKuhgrund(Cow-Hollow); which must then
"have been a grassy place. Eastward of Kunersdorf the
"ground has still some skin of peat, and sticks together: but
"westward, all that three miles, it is a mere tumult of
"sandhills, tumbled about in every direction (so diligent
"have the conies been, and then the winds); no gullet, or
"definite cut or hollow, now traceable anywhere, but only
"an endless imbroglio of twisted sand-heaps and sand-
"hollows, which continually alter in the wind-storms. Sand
"wholly, and, -- except the strong paved Highway that now
"runs through it (to Reppen, Meseritz, and the Polish
"Frontier, and is strongly paved till it get through Kuners-
"dorf), -- chaotic wholly; a scene of heaped barrenness and
"horror, not to be matched but in Sahara; the features of
"the Battle quite blown away, and indecipherable in our
"time.
"A hundred years ago, it would have some tattered skin,
"--of peat, of heather and dwarf whins, with the sand
"cropping out only here and there. So one has to figure it
"in Soltikofs day, --before the conies ruined it. Wnich
"was not till within the last sixty years, as appears. Kriele's
"Book (in 1801) still gives no hint of change: the Kuhgrund,
"which now has nothing but dry sand for the most industrious
"ruminant, is still a place of succulence and herbage in
"Kriele's time; 'DeepWay,' where 'at one point two carts
"could not pass,' was not yet blown out of existence, but
"has still'a Well in it' for Kriele; Hohle Grund (since called
"Loudon's Hollow), with the Jew Hill and Jew Churchyard
"beyond, seem tolerable enough places to Kriele. Probably
"not unlike what the surrounding Country still is. A Country
"of poor villages, and of wild ground, flat generally, and
"but tolerably green; with lakelets, bushes, scrubs, and
"intricate meandering little runlets and oozelets; and in
"general with more ofEorest so-called than now is: -- this is
"Kunersdorf Chain of Knolls; Soltikofs Entrenched Camp
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? CHAP. IV. ] BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. 165
11th Aug. 1759.
"at present; destined to become very famous in the world,
"after lying so long obscure under Oder and its rages. "*
From the Knolls of Trettin, that Saturday after
noon, Friedrich takes view of the Russian Camp. All
lying bright enough there; from Muhlberg to Juden-
berg, convenient to our glass; between us and the
evening Sun. Batteries most abundant, difficulties
great: Soltikof just ahead here, 72,000: Loudon at the
Red Grange yonder, on their extreme left, with 18,000
more. An uncommonly strong position for 90,000
against 50,000. One thing strikes Friedrich: On front
in this northern side, close by the base of the Russian
Camp, runs, -- for the present away from Oder, but
intending to join it elsewhere, -- a paltry little Brook,
"Hen-Floss" so-called, with at least two successive
Mills on it (Kleine Muhle, Grouse Muhle); and on the
northern shore of it, spilling itself out into a wet waste
called Elsbruch (Alder Waste), which is especially
notable to Friedrich. Alder Waste? Watery, scrubby;
no passage there, thinks Friedrich; which his Peasant
with the water-jug confirms. "Tell me, however," in-
quires Friedrich, with strictness, "From the Red Grange
yonder, where General Loudon is, if you wished to get
over to the Iloh/e Grand, or to the Judenberg, would
you cross that Hen-Floss? " "It is not crossable, your
Majesty; one has to go round quite westward by the
Dam. " "What, from Rothe Vorwerk to Big Hollow,
no passage, say you; no crossing? " "None, your
Majesty," insists the Peasant; -- who is not aware
that the Russians have made one of firm trestles and
logs, and use it daily for highway there; an error of
* Tourist's Nole (Autnnra 1852).
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? 166 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XiX.
11th Aug. 1759.
some interest to Friedrich within the next twenty-four
hours!
Friedrich himself does not know this bit of ground:
but there is with him, besides the Peasant, a Major
Linden, whose Regiment used to lie in Frankfurt, of
whom Friedrich makes minute questioning. Linden
answers confidently; has been over all this tract a hun-
dred times; "but knows it only as a hunter," says
Tempelhof,* "not as a soldier," which he ought to
have done. His answers are supposed to have misled
Friedrich on various points, and done him essential
damage.
Friedrich's view of the case, that evening, is by no
means so despondent as might be imagined: he regards
the thing as difficult, not as impossible, -- and one of his
anxieties is, that he be not balked of trying it straight-
way. Retiring to his hut in Bischofsee, he makes two
Dispositions, of admirable clearness, brevity, and cal-
culated for two contingencies:**' That of the enemy
retaining his now posture; and That of the enemy
making off for Reppen; -- which latter does not at all
concern us, as matters turned! Of the former the course
will unfold itself to us, in practice, shortly. At 2 a. m.
Friedrich will be on foot again, at 3 on march again. --
The last phenomenon, at Bischofsee this night, is some
sudden glare of disastrous light rising over the woods: --
"Russians burning Kunersdorf! " as neighbours are
sorry to hear. That is the finale of much Russian re-
arranging and tumbling, this day; that barbarous burn-
ing of Kunersdorf, before going to bed. Tomorrow
* Tempelhof, in. 186.
** Given in Tempelhof, in. 182, 183.
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? CHiP. IV. ] BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. 167
Jlth. Aug. 1759.
various other poor Villages got burnt by them, which
they had better have left standing.
The Russians, on hearing that Friedrich was across
at G-britz, and coming on them from the north side,
not from Frankfurt by the Reppen Highway, were in
great agitation. Not thrown into terror, but into mani-
fold haste, knowing what hasty adversary there was.
Endless readjustments they have to make; a day of
tumultuous business with the Russians, this Saturday
11th, when the news reached them. "They inverted
their front" (say all the Books but Friedrich's own):
"Not coming by the Reppen Highway, then! " think
they. And thereupon changed rear to front, as at
Zorndorf, but more elaborately; which I should not
mention, were it not that hereby their late "left wing
on the Muhlberg" has, in strict speech, become their
"right," and there is ambiguity and discrepancy in
some of the Books, should any poor reader take to
studying them on this matter. Changed their front;
which involves much interior changing; readjusting of
batteries and the like. That of burning Kunersdorf
was the barbaric winding-up of all this: barbaric, and,
in the military sense, absurd; poor Kunersdorf could
have been burnt at any moment, if needful; and to the
Russians the keeping of it standing was the profitable
thing, as an impediment to Friedrich in his advance
there. They have laid it flat and permeable: ashes all
of it, -- except the Church only, which is of stone;
not so combustible, and may have uses withal. Has
perhaps served as temporary lock-up, prison for the
night, to some of those Frankfurt Deputations and
their troublesome waitings; and may serve as temporary
hospital tomorrow, who knows?
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? 168 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XTX.
12th Aug. 1759.
Readjustments in the Russian Camp were manifold:
but these are as nothing, in the tumultuous business of
the day. Carting of their baggage, every article of
value, to that safe Wagenburg in the River; driving
of cattle, -- the very driving of cattle through Frank-
furt, endless herds of them, gathered by the Cossacks
from far and wide, "lasted for four-and-twenty hours. "
Oxen in Frankfurt that day were at the rate of ten
shillings per head. Often enough you were offered a
full-grown young steer for a loaf of bread; nay the
Cossacks, when there was absolutely no bidder, would
slaughter down the animal, leave its carcass in the
streets, and sell the hide for a tympf, -- fivepence
(very bad silver at present). Never before or since was
seen in Frankfurt such a Saturday, for bellowing and
braying, and raging and tumulting, all through the
day and through the night; ushering in such a Sunday
too!
Sunday about 3 in the morning, Friedrich is on
march again, -- Russians still in their place; and Dis-
position First, not Second at all, to be our rule of
action! Friedrich, in Two Columns, marches off, east-
ward through the woods, as if for Reppen quite away
from the Russians and their Miihlberg; but intending
to circle round at the due point, and come down upon
their right flank there (left flank, as he persists to call
it), out of the woods, and clasp it in his arms in an
impressive, unexpected way. In Two Columns; which
are meant, as usual, to be the Two Lines of Battle:
Seidlitz, with chosen Cavalry is at the head of Column
First, and will be Left Wing, were we on the ground;
Eugen of Wiirtemberg, closing the rear of Column
First, will, he, or Finck and he together, be Right
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? CHAP. IV. ] BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. 169
12th Aug. 1759.
Wing. That is the order of march; -- order of battle,
we shall find, had to alter itself somewhat, for reasons
extremely valid!
Finck with his 12,000 is to keep his present ground;
to have two good batteries got ready, each on its knoll
ahead, which shall wait silent in the interim: Finck to
ride out reconnoitering, with many General Officers,
and to make motions and ostentations; in a word, to
persuade the Russians that here is the Main Army
coming on from the north. All which Finck does;
avoiding, as his orders were, any firing, or serious
commencement of business, till the King reappear out
of the woods. The Russians give Finck and his General
Officers a cannon salvo, here and there, without effect,
and get no answer. "The King does not see his way,
then, after all? " think the Russians. Their Cossacks
go scouring about; on the southern side, "burn Schwetig
and Reipzig," without the least advantage to them-
selves: most of the Cavalry, and a regiment or two of
excellent Austrian Grenadiers, are with Loudon, near
the Red Grange, in front of the Russian extreme left;
-- but will have stept over into Big Hollow, at a
moment of crisis!
The King's march, through the Forest of Reppen,
was nothing like so expeditious as had been expected.
There are thickets, intricacies, runlets, boggy oozes;
indifferent to one man well mounted, but vitally im-
portant to 30,000 with heavy cannon to bring on.
Boggy oozings especially, -- there is one dirty stream
or floss (Hiihnerfliess, Hen-Floss) which wanders dis-
mally through those recesses, issuing from the far
south, with dirty daughters dismally wandering into it,
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? 170 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX
12th Aug. 1759.
and others that cannot get into it (being of the lake
kind): these, in their weary, circling, recircling, course
towards Oder, -- Faule Laacke (Foul Lake, Lither-
mere, as it were), Foul Bridge, Swine's Nook (Schweine-
bucht), and many others, -- occasion endless difficulty.
Whether Major Linden was shot that day, or what
became of him after, I do not know: but it was pity
he had not studied the ground with a soldier's eye in-
stead of a hunter's! Plumping suddenly, at last, upon
Hen-Floss itself, Friedrich has to turn angularly;
angularly, which occasions great delay: the heavy can-
non (wall-guns brought from Custrin) have twelve horses
each, and cannot turn among the trees, but have to be
unyoked, reyoked, turned round by hand: --in short,
it was eight in the morning before Friedrich arrived
at the edge of the wood, on the Klosterberg, Walck-
berg, and other woody Bergs or knolls, within reach
of Milhlberg, and behind the preliminary abatis there
(abatis which was rather of service to him than other-
wise); -- and began privately building his batteries.
At eight o'clock he, with Column First, which is
now becoming Line First (centre of Line First, if we
reckon Finck as right-wing), is there; busy in that
manner: Column Second, which was to have been Rear
Line, is still a pretty way behind; and has many dif-
ficulties before it gets into Kunersdorf neighbourhood,
or can (having wriggled itself into a kind of left-wing)
cooperate on the Russian Position from the south side.
On the north side, Finck has been ready these five
hours. -- Friedrich speeds the building of his batteries:
"Silent, too; the Russians have not yet noticed us! "
By degrees the Russians do notice something; shoot
out Cossacks to reconnoitre. Cossacks in quantity;
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? CHAP. IV. ] BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. 17J
12th Aug. 1759.
who are so insolent, and venture so very near, our
gunners on the north battery give them a blast of
satisfactory grape-shot; one and then another, four
blasts in all, satisfactory to the gunner mind, -- till
the King's self, with a look, with a voice, came gal-
loping: "Silence, will you! " The Russians took no
offence; still considering Finck to be the main thing,
and Friedrich some scout party, -- till at last.
Half-past eleven, everything being ready on the
Walck Hill, Friedrich's batteries opened ithere, in a
sudden and volcanic way. Volcanically answered by
the Russians, as soon as possible; who have 72 guns
on this Miihlberg, and are nothing loth. Upon whom
Finck's battery is opening from the north, withal:
Friedrich has 60 cannon hereabouts; on the Walckberg,
on the Little Spitzberg (called Seidlitz Hill ever since);
all playing diligently on the head and south shoulder
of this Miihlberg: while Finck's battery opens on the
north shoulder (could he but get near enough). Vol-
canic to a degree, all these; nor are the Russians want-
ing, though they get more and more astonished: Tem-
pelhof, who was in it, says he never, except at Torgau
next Year, heard a louder cannonade. Loud ex-
ceedingly; and more or less appalling to the Russian
imagination: but not destructive in proportion; the
distance being too considerable, -- "1,950 paces at the
nearest," as Tempelhof has since ascertained by measur-
ing. Friedrich's two batteries, however, as they took the
Russians in the flank or by enfilade, did good execution.
"The Russian guns were ill pointed; the Russian bat-
"teries wrong built; batteries so built as did not allow
"them sight of the Hollow they were meant to defend. "*
* Tempelhof, m. 186,187.
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? 172 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX.
12th Aug. 1759.
After above half an hour of this, Friedrich orders
storm of the Muhlberg: Forward on it, with what of
enfilading it has had! Eight grenadier Battalions, a
chosen vanguard appointed for the work (names of
Battalions all given, and deathless in the Prussian
War-Annals), tramp forth on this service: cross the
abatis, which the Russian grenadoes have mostly burnt;
down into the Hollow. Steady as planets; "with a
precision and coherency," says Tempelhof, "which
even on the parade-ground would have "deserved
"praises. Once well in the Hollow, they suffer nothing;
"though the blind Russian fire, going all over their
"heads, rages threefold:" suffered nothing in the Hol-
low; nor till they reached almost the brow of the
Muhlberg, and were within a hundred steps of the
Russian guns. These were the critical steps, these
final ones; such torrents of grape-shot and musket-shot
and sheer death bursting out, here at last, upon the
Eight Battalions, as they come above ground. Who
advanced, unwavering, all the faster, -- speed one's
only safety. They poured, into the Russian gunners
and musketry battalions, one volley of choicest quality,
which had a shaking effect; then, with level bayonets,
plunge on the batteries: which are all empty before
we can leap into them; artillerymen, musketeer batta-
lions, all on wing; general whirlpool spreading. And
so, in ten minutes, the Muhlberg and its guns are ours.
Ever since Zorndorf, an idea had got abroad, says
Tempelhof, that the Russians would die instead of
yielding; but it proved far otherwise here. Down as
far as Kunersdorf, which may be about a mile west-
ward, the Russians are all in a whirl; at best hanging
in tatters and clumps, their Officers struggling against
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? CHAP. IV. ] BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. 173
12th Aug. 1759.
the flight; "mixed groups you would see huddled to-
gether a hundred men deep. " The Russian Left Wing
is beaten: had we our cannon up here, our cavalry up
here, the Russian Army were in a bad way!
This is a glorious beginning; completed, I think,
as far almost as Kunersdorf by one o'clock: and could
the iron continue to be struck while it is at white heat
as now, the result were as good as certain. That was
Friedrich's calculation: but circumstances which he had
not counted on, some which he could not count on,
sadly retarded the matter. His Left Wing (Rear Line,
which should now have been Left Wing) from south-
ward, his Right Wing from northward, and Finck
farther west, were now on the instant to have simul-
taneously closed upon the beaten Russians, and crushed
them altogether. The Right Wing, conquerors of the
Muhlberg, are here: but neither Finck nor the Left
can be simultaneous with them. Finck and his artil-
lery are much retarded with the Flosses and poor
single Bridges; and of the Left Wing, there are only
some Vanguard Regiments capable of helping ("who
drove out the Russians from Kunersdorf Churchyard,"
as their first feat), -- no Main Body yet for a long
while. Such impediments, such intricacies of bog and
bush! The entire Wing does at last get to the south-
east of Kunersdorf, free of the wood; but finds (con-
trary to Linden with his hunter eye) an intricate
meshwork of meres and straggling lakes, two of them
in the burnt Village itself; no passing of these except
on narrow isthmuses, which necessitate change of rank
and re-change; and our Left Wing cannot, with all its
industry, "march up," that is, arrive at the enemy in
fighting line, without the painfullest delays.
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? 174 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book JUX
12th Aug. 1759.
And then the getting forward of our cannon! On
the Miihlberg itself the seventy-two Russian guns,
"owing to difference of calibre," or artillery-men know
what, cannot be used by us: a few light guns, Tempel-
hof to one of them, a poor four in all, with perhaps
100 shot to each, did, by the King's order, hasten to
the top of the Miihlberg; and never did Tempelhof
see a finer chance for artillery than there. Soft slop-
ing ground, with Russians simmering ahead of you, all
the way down to Kunersdorf, a mile long: by hori-
zontal pointing, you had such reboundings (ricochets);
and carried beautiful execution! Tempelhof soon spent
his hundred shots: but it was not at once that any of
our sixty heavy guns could be got up thither. Twelve
horses to each: fancy it, and what baffling delays here
and elsewhere; -- and how the Russian whirlpool was
settling more and more, in the interim! And had, in
part, settled; in part, got through to the rear, and been
replaced by fresh troops!
Friedrich's activities, and suppressed and insuppres-
sible impatiences in this interval, are also conceivable,
though not on record for us. The swiftest of men;
tied down, in this manner, with the blaze of perfect
victory ahead, were the moments not running out!
Slower or faster, he thinks (I suppose), the victory is
his; and that he must possess his soul till things do
arrive. It was in one and more of those embargoed
intervals that he wrote to Berlin* (which is waiting, as
if for life or death, the issue of this scene, sixty miles
distant): "Russians beaten; rejoice with me! " Four
successive couriers, I believe, with messages to that
* Freuss, u. 212 n.
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? CHAP. IT.
"plunder to supplement it: the Austrian behaviour was very
"bad, say the Frankfurters; 'in particular, they had burnt
"gradually all the corn-mills in the country; within many
"miles not one mill standing when they left us,' -- and four
"horses all the conveyance-power we had. Soltikof lodges
"in great pomp, much soldiery and cannon parading before
"his doors; not an undignified man, or an inhuman or es-
"sentially foolish, but very high in his ways, and distasteful
"to Austrian dignitaries. "
The Russian Army lies mainly across Oder; en-
camped on the Judenberg, and eastward there, along
the Heights, near three miles, to Kunersdorf and
beyond. They expect Friedrich at the gates of Frank-
furt shortly; know well that they cannot defend Frank-
furt. They calculate that Friedrich will attack them
in their Judenberg Encampment, but hope they are
nearly ready for him there. Loudon, from the Guben
Suburb, will hasten across, at any moment; -- welcome
on such fighting occasion, though ill seen when the
question is of eating! The Russians have their Wagen-
burg on an Island southward, farther up the River;
they have three Pontoon Bridges leading thither, a free
retreat should they be beaten. And in the mean while
are entrenching themselves, as only Daun would, --
cannon and redoubts all round those Heights; -- and
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? 158 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX.
9th Aug. 1759.
except it be screwing Frankfurt to do its impossible
duty, and carting provender with all the horses ex-
cept four, have not much farther to do but wait
till the King come. Which will be speedily, it is
probable! --
Wednesday August 8th, Russian and Austrian
Generals, a cheerful party of them, had rendezvoused
at Fischers Miihle; a Mill not yet burnt, and a pleasant
Tavern as well; in one of the prettiest valleys in the
Western Environs; -- intending to dine there, and
have a pleasant day. But the Miller's Boy runs in
upon them, wide-eyed, "flimmel und Erde, Prussian
Hussars! " It was in verity Prussian Hussars; the King
of Prussia with them in person. He is come out re-
connoitering, the day after his arrival in those parts.
The pleasuring Generals, Russian and Austrian, sprang
'io horseback, at their swiftest, -- hope of dinner gone
futile, except to the intervening Prussian Hussars; --
and would have all been captured, but for that Miller's
Boy; whose Mill too was burnt before long. This gallop
home of the undined Generals into Frankfurt was the
first news we poor Frankfurters had of the King's
arrival.
The King has been punctual to his reckoning: he
picked up Wedell at Mullrose, -- not too cordial to
Wedell's people: "None of you speak to those beaten
wretches," ordered he; "till perhaps they wipe off their
"Zullichau stain! " On the 7th, Friedrich advanced to
Frankfurt neighbourhood; took Camp between Wulkow
and Lebus; -- and has just been out reconnoitering.
And has raised, fancy what emotion in poor Frankfurt
lying under its nightmare! "Next day, August 9th,
"from Wulkow-Lebus hand, we" of Frankfurt "heard a
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? tHAP. iV. ] BATTLE OF KUNERSDORP. 159
St/i Aug. 1759.
"great firing; cannon-salvoes, musket-volleys: 'Nothing
"of fight,' the Russian Officers told us; 'it is the King
"of Prussia doing joyfire for Minden,' of which we till
"now knew nothing. "
Friedrich, on survey of this Russian-Austrian Army,
some 90,000 in number, with such posts, artilleries,
advantages, judges that he, counting only 40,000, is
not strong enough. And indeed had so anticipated,
and already judged; and, accordingly, has Finck on
march hitherward again, -- Berlin must take its risk,
Saxony must shift for itself in the interim. Finck is
due in two days, not here at Lebus precisely, but at
another place appointed; Finck will raise him to 50,000;
and then business can begin! Contrary to Russian
expectation, Friedrich does not attack Frankfurt; seems
quite quiet in his cantonments; -- he is quietly (if
one knew it) making preparations farther down the
River. About Reitwein, between this and Custrin,
there arrangements are proceeding, by no means of a
showy sort.
The Russian-Austrian Army quits Frankfurt, leaving
only some hundreds of garrison: Loudon moves across,
Soltikof across; to the Oder-Dam and farther; and lie,
powerfully entrenched, on those Kunersdorf Heights,
and sandy Moorlands, which go eastward at right-angles
to Oder-Dam. One of the strongest Camps imaginable.
All round there, to beyond Kunersdorf and back again,
near three miles each way, they have a ring of redoubts,
and artillery without end. And lie there, in order of
battle or nearly so; ready for Friedrich, when he shall
attack through Frankfurt or otherwise. They face to
the North (Reitwein way, as it happens); to their rear,
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? 160 PRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX.
10th Aug. 1759.
and indeed to their front, only not so close, are woods
and intricate wilds. Loudon has the left flank; that is
to say, London's left-hand is towards the Oder-Dam
and Frankfurt; he lies at the Rothe Vorwerk ("Red
Grange," a Farmstead much mentioned just now);
rather to north-westward of the Jew Hill and Jew
Churchyard (Judenberg and Judenkirchhof, likewise much
mentioned); and in advance of the General Mass.
Soltikofs headquarter, I rather understand, is on the
right wing; probably in Kunersdorf itself, or beyond
that Village; there, at least, our highly important
Russian right-wing is; there, elaborately fortified; and,
half a mile farther, ends,--- on the edge of steep dells;
the Russian brink of which is strongly fringed with
cannon, while beyond, on the farther brink, they have
built an abatis; so making assurance doubly sure.
Looking to the northward, all these 90,000; their left
rather southward of Frankfurt Bridge, over which
Friedrich will probably arrive. Leftward, somewhat
to rearward, they have bridges of their own; should
anything sinister befal; three bridges which lead into
that Oder Island, and the Russian Wagenburg there.
August 10th, Finck, punctual to time, arrives in
the neighbourhood of Reitwein (which is some ten miles
down-stream from Lebus, from Frankfurt perhaps fifteen);
Friedrich, the same day, is there before him; eager to
complete the Bridges, and get to business. One Bridge
is of pontoons; one of "Oder-boats, floated up from
Ciistrin. " Bridges are not begun till nightfall, lest
eyes be abroad; are ready in the minimum of time.
And so, during the same night of the 10th, all the
Infantry, with their artilleries and battle-furnitures,
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? CHAP. Iv. ] bAttle of kuneesdoef. 161
11th Aug. 1759.
pour over in two columns; the Cavalry, at the due
point of time, riding by a ford, short way to the right.
And at four, in the gray of the August morning
(Saturday 11th August 1759), all persons and things
find themselves correctly across: ranked there, in those
barren, much indented "Pasture-grounds of Goritz" or
of Oetscher; intending towards Kunersdorf; ready for
unfolding into order of battle there. They leave their
heavy baggage at Goritz, Wunsch to guard the Bridges
and it; and, in succinct condition, are all under way.
At one in the afternoon, we are got to Leissow and
Bischofsee; scrubby hamlets (as the rest all are), not
above two miles from Kunersdorf. The August day is
windless, shiny, sultry; man and horse are weary with
the labours, and with the want of sleep: we decide to
bivouack here, and rest on the scrubby surface, heather
or whatever it is, till tomorrow.
Finck is Vanguard, ahead short way, and with his
left on a bit of lake or bog; the Army is in two lines,
with its right on Leissow, and has Cavalry in the kind
of wood which there is to rear. Friedrich, having
settled the positions, rides out reconnoitering; hither
thither, over the Heights of Trettin. "The day being
"still hot, he suffers considerably from thirst" (it is our
one Anecdote), "in that arid tract: at last a Peasant
"does bring him, direct from the fountain, a jug of
"pure cold water; whom, lucky man, the King re-
"warded with a thaler; and not only so, but, the man
"being intelligent of the localities, took with him to
"answer questions. " Readers too may desire to gain
some knowledge of the important ground now under
survey.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. XI. 11
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? 162 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED, [book XIX.
11th Aug. 1759.
"Frankfurt, a very ancient Town, not a very beautiful,"
says my Note, "stands on an alluvium which has been ground
"down from certain clay Hills on the left bank of Oder. It
"counted about 12,000 inhabitants inFriedrich's time; has
"now perhaps about 20,000; not half the bulk of its namesake
"on the Mayn; but with Three great Fairs annually, and
''much trade of the rough kind. On this left or west bank of
"Oder, the country is arable, moderately grassy and um- "brageous, the prospect round you not unpleasant; but
"eastward, over the River, nothing can be more in contrast.
"Oder is of swift current, of turbid colour, as it rolls under
"Frankfurt Bridge, -- Wooden-Bridge, with Dam Suburb
"at the end; -- a River treeless, desolate, as you look up
"and down; which has, evidently, often changed its course,
"since grinding down that alluvium as site for Frankfurt;
"and which, though now holding mainly to northward, is
"still given to be erratic, and destructive on the eastern low
"grounds, -- had not the Frankfurters built an'Oder Dam'
"on that side; a broad strong Earth-mound, running for
"many miles, and confining its floods. Beyond the Dam,
"there are traces of an ' Old Oder (Alte Oder);' and, in fact,
"Oder, in primeval and in recent time, has gone along,
"many-streamed; indenting, quarrying, leaving lakelets,
"quagmires, miscellaneous sandy tumult, at a great rate,
"on that eastern shore. Making of it one of the unloveliest
"scenes of chaotic desolation anywhere to be met with;
"-- fallen unlovelier than ever in our own more recent
"times.
"What we call the Heights of Kunersdorf is a broad
"Chain of Knolls; coming out, at right angles, or as a
"kind of spur, from the eastern high grounds; direct towards
*' Oder and Frankfurt. Mill-Hill (Mithlberg) is the root or
"easternmost part of this spur. From the Miihlberg, over
"Kunersdorf, to Oder Dam, which is the whole length of
"the spur, or Chain of Knolls, will be little short of four
"miles; the breadth of the Chain is nowhere one mile,--
"jwhich is its grand defect as a Camp: 'too narrow for
"manoeuvering in. ' Here, atop and on the three sides of
"this Block of Knolls, was fought the furious Battle of
"Kunersdorf" (to be fought tomorrow), "one of the most
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? CHAP. IV. ] BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. 163
11th Aug. 1759.
"furious ever known. A Block of Knolls memorable ever
"since.
"To all appearance, it was once some big Island or chain
"of Islands in the Oder deluges: it is still cut with sudden
"hollows, -- Kuhgrund (Cow-Hollow), Tiefe Weg (Deep
"Way), and westernmost of all, and most important for us
"here, Hohle Grund (Big Hollow, let us call it; 'Loudon's
"Hollow' people subsequently called it); -- and is every -
"where strangely tumbled up into knolls blunt or sharp, the
"work of primeval Oder in his rages. In its highest knolls,
"--of which let readers note specially the Spitzberg, the
"Miihlberg, the Judenberg, -- it rises nowhere to 150 feet;
"perhaps the general height of it may be about 100. On
"each side of it, especially on the north, the Country is of
"most intricate character: bushy, scraggy, with brooklets
"or muddy oozings wandering about, especially with a
"thing called the Huhnerfliess (Hen-Floss), which springs in
"the eastern woods, and has inconceivable difficulty to get
"into Oder, -- if it get at all! This was a sore Floss
"to Friedrich tomorrow. Hen-Floss struggles, painfully
"meandering and oozing, along the northern side (some-
"times close, sometimes not) of our Chain of Knolls: along
"the south side of it (in our time, through the middle of it),
"goes the Highway to Reppen" ('From that Highway will
his attack come! ' thought the Russians, always till today):
"on the north, to Leissow, to Trettin," where Friedrich is
now on survey, "go various wheel-tracks, but no firm road.
"A most intricate unlovely Country. Withered bent-grasses,
"heath, perhaps gorse, and on both sides a great deal of
"straggling Forest-wood, reaching eastward, and especially
"southward, for many miles.
"For the rest," to our ill-luck in this place, "theBattle-
"field ofKunersdorf has had a peculiar fate in the world;
"that of being blown away by the winds! The then scene of
"things exists no longer; the descriptions in the Old Books
"are gone hopelessly irrecognisable. In our time, there is
"not anywhere a tract more purely of tumbled sand, than all
"this between Kunersdorf and Dam Vorstadt; and you
"judge, without aid of record or tradition, that it is greatly
"altered for the worse since Friedrich's time, -- some rabbit-
"colony, or other the like insignificancy, eating out the
11*
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? 164 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED, [book XIX.
nth Aug. 1759.
"roots, till all vegetation died, and the wind got hold and
"set it dancing; -- and that, in 1759, when Russian human
"beings took it for a Camp, it must have been at least
"coherent, more or less; covered, held together by some
"film of scrubby vegetation; not blowing about in every
"wind as now! Kunersdorf stands with its northern end
"pushed into thatKuhgrund(Cow-Hollow); which must then
"have been a grassy place. Eastward of Kunersdorf the
"ground has still some skin of peat, and sticks together: but
"westward, all that three miles, it is a mere tumult of
"sandhills, tumbled about in every direction (so diligent
"have the conies been, and then the winds); no gullet, or
"definite cut or hollow, now traceable anywhere, but only
"an endless imbroglio of twisted sand-heaps and sand-
"hollows, which continually alter in the wind-storms. Sand
"wholly, and, -- except the strong paved Highway that now
"runs through it (to Reppen, Meseritz, and the Polish
"Frontier, and is strongly paved till it get through Kuners-
"dorf), -- chaotic wholly; a scene of heaped barrenness and
"horror, not to be matched but in Sahara; the features of
"the Battle quite blown away, and indecipherable in our
"time.
"A hundred years ago, it would have some tattered skin,
"--of peat, of heather and dwarf whins, with the sand
"cropping out only here and there. So one has to figure it
"in Soltikofs day, --before the conies ruined it. Wnich
"was not till within the last sixty years, as appears. Kriele's
"Book (in 1801) still gives no hint of change: the Kuhgrund,
"which now has nothing but dry sand for the most industrious
"ruminant, is still a place of succulence and herbage in
"Kriele's time; 'DeepWay,' where 'at one point two carts
"could not pass,' was not yet blown out of existence, but
"has still'a Well in it' for Kriele; Hohle Grund (since called
"Loudon's Hollow), with the Jew Hill and Jew Churchyard
"beyond, seem tolerable enough places to Kriele. Probably
"not unlike what the surrounding Country still is. A Country
"of poor villages, and of wild ground, flat generally, and
"but tolerably green; with lakelets, bushes, scrubs, and
"intricate meandering little runlets and oozelets; and in
"general with more ofEorest so-called than now is: -- this is
"Kunersdorf Chain of Knolls; Soltikofs Entrenched Camp
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? CHAP. IV. ] BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. 165
11th Aug. 1759.
"at present; destined to become very famous in the world,
"after lying so long obscure under Oder and its rages. "*
From the Knolls of Trettin, that Saturday after
noon, Friedrich takes view of the Russian Camp. All
lying bright enough there; from Muhlberg to Juden-
berg, convenient to our glass; between us and the
evening Sun. Batteries most abundant, difficulties
great: Soltikof just ahead here, 72,000: Loudon at the
Red Grange yonder, on their extreme left, with 18,000
more. An uncommonly strong position for 90,000
against 50,000. One thing strikes Friedrich: On front
in this northern side, close by the base of the Russian
Camp, runs, -- for the present away from Oder, but
intending to join it elsewhere, -- a paltry little Brook,
"Hen-Floss" so-called, with at least two successive
Mills on it (Kleine Muhle, Grouse Muhle); and on the
northern shore of it, spilling itself out into a wet waste
called Elsbruch (Alder Waste), which is especially
notable to Friedrich. Alder Waste? Watery, scrubby;
no passage there, thinks Friedrich; which his Peasant
with the water-jug confirms. "Tell me, however," in-
quires Friedrich, with strictness, "From the Red Grange
yonder, where General Loudon is, if you wished to get
over to the Iloh/e Grand, or to the Judenberg, would
you cross that Hen-Floss? " "It is not crossable, your
Majesty; one has to go round quite westward by the
Dam. " "What, from Rothe Vorwerk to Big Hollow,
no passage, say you; no crossing? " "None, your
Majesty," insists the Peasant; -- who is not aware
that the Russians have made one of firm trestles and
logs, and use it daily for highway there; an error of
* Tourist's Nole (Autnnra 1852).
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? 166 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XiX.
11th Aug. 1759.
some interest to Friedrich within the next twenty-four
hours!
Friedrich himself does not know this bit of ground:
but there is with him, besides the Peasant, a Major
Linden, whose Regiment used to lie in Frankfurt, of
whom Friedrich makes minute questioning. Linden
answers confidently; has been over all this tract a hun-
dred times; "but knows it only as a hunter," says
Tempelhof,* "not as a soldier," which he ought to
have done. His answers are supposed to have misled
Friedrich on various points, and done him essential
damage.
Friedrich's view of the case, that evening, is by no
means so despondent as might be imagined: he regards
the thing as difficult, not as impossible, -- and one of his
anxieties is, that he be not balked of trying it straight-
way. Retiring to his hut in Bischofsee, he makes two
Dispositions, of admirable clearness, brevity, and cal-
culated for two contingencies:**' That of the enemy
retaining his now posture; and That of the enemy
making off for Reppen; -- which latter does not at all
concern us, as matters turned! Of the former the course
will unfold itself to us, in practice, shortly. At 2 a. m.
Friedrich will be on foot again, at 3 on march again. --
The last phenomenon, at Bischofsee this night, is some
sudden glare of disastrous light rising over the woods: --
"Russians burning Kunersdorf! " as neighbours are
sorry to hear. That is the finale of much Russian re-
arranging and tumbling, this day; that barbarous burn-
ing of Kunersdorf, before going to bed. Tomorrow
* Tempelhof, in. 186.
** Given in Tempelhof, in. 182, 183.
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? CHiP. IV. ] BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. 167
Jlth. Aug. 1759.
various other poor Villages got burnt by them, which
they had better have left standing.
The Russians, on hearing that Friedrich was across
at G-britz, and coming on them from the north side,
not from Frankfurt by the Reppen Highway, were in
great agitation. Not thrown into terror, but into mani-
fold haste, knowing what hasty adversary there was.
Endless readjustments they have to make; a day of
tumultuous business with the Russians, this Saturday
11th, when the news reached them. "They inverted
their front" (say all the Books but Friedrich's own):
"Not coming by the Reppen Highway, then! " think
they. And thereupon changed rear to front, as at
Zorndorf, but more elaborately; which I should not
mention, were it not that hereby their late "left wing
on the Muhlberg" has, in strict speech, become their
"right," and there is ambiguity and discrepancy in
some of the Books, should any poor reader take to
studying them on this matter. Changed their front;
which involves much interior changing; readjusting of
batteries and the like. That of burning Kunersdorf
was the barbaric winding-up of all this: barbaric, and,
in the military sense, absurd; poor Kunersdorf could
have been burnt at any moment, if needful; and to the
Russians the keeping of it standing was the profitable
thing, as an impediment to Friedrich in his advance
there. They have laid it flat and permeable: ashes all
of it, -- except the Church only, which is of stone;
not so combustible, and may have uses withal. Has
perhaps served as temporary lock-up, prison for the
night, to some of those Frankfurt Deputations and
their troublesome waitings; and may serve as temporary
hospital tomorrow, who knows?
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? 168 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XTX.
12th Aug. 1759.
Readjustments in the Russian Camp were manifold:
but these are as nothing, in the tumultuous business of
the day. Carting of their baggage, every article of
value, to that safe Wagenburg in the River; driving
of cattle, -- the very driving of cattle through Frank-
furt, endless herds of them, gathered by the Cossacks
from far and wide, "lasted for four-and-twenty hours. "
Oxen in Frankfurt that day were at the rate of ten
shillings per head. Often enough you were offered a
full-grown young steer for a loaf of bread; nay the
Cossacks, when there was absolutely no bidder, would
slaughter down the animal, leave its carcass in the
streets, and sell the hide for a tympf, -- fivepence
(very bad silver at present). Never before or since was
seen in Frankfurt such a Saturday, for bellowing and
braying, and raging and tumulting, all through the
day and through the night; ushering in such a Sunday
too!
Sunday about 3 in the morning, Friedrich is on
march again, -- Russians still in their place; and Dis-
position First, not Second at all, to be our rule of
action! Friedrich, in Two Columns, marches off, east-
ward through the woods, as if for Reppen quite away
from the Russians and their Miihlberg; but intending
to circle round at the due point, and come down upon
their right flank there (left flank, as he persists to call
it), out of the woods, and clasp it in his arms in an
impressive, unexpected way. In Two Columns; which
are meant, as usual, to be the Two Lines of Battle:
Seidlitz, with chosen Cavalry is at the head of Column
First, and will be Left Wing, were we on the ground;
Eugen of Wiirtemberg, closing the rear of Column
First, will, he, or Finck and he together, be Right
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? CHAP. IV. ] BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. 169
12th Aug. 1759.
Wing. That is the order of march; -- order of battle,
we shall find, had to alter itself somewhat, for reasons
extremely valid!
Finck with his 12,000 is to keep his present ground;
to have two good batteries got ready, each on its knoll
ahead, which shall wait silent in the interim: Finck to
ride out reconnoitering, with many General Officers,
and to make motions and ostentations; in a word, to
persuade the Russians that here is the Main Army
coming on from the north. All which Finck does;
avoiding, as his orders were, any firing, or serious
commencement of business, till the King reappear out
of the woods. The Russians give Finck and his General
Officers a cannon salvo, here and there, without effect,
and get no answer. "The King does not see his way,
then, after all? " think the Russians. Their Cossacks
go scouring about; on the southern side, "burn Schwetig
and Reipzig," without the least advantage to them-
selves: most of the Cavalry, and a regiment or two of
excellent Austrian Grenadiers, are with Loudon, near
the Red Grange, in front of the Russian extreme left;
-- but will have stept over into Big Hollow, at a
moment of crisis!
The King's march, through the Forest of Reppen,
was nothing like so expeditious as had been expected.
There are thickets, intricacies, runlets, boggy oozes;
indifferent to one man well mounted, but vitally im-
portant to 30,000 with heavy cannon to bring on.
Boggy oozings especially, -- there is one dirty stream
or floss (Hiihnerfliess, Hen-Floss) which wanders dis-
mally through those recesses, issuing from the far
south, with dirty daughters dismally wandering into it,
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? 170 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX
12th Aug. 1759.
and others that cannot get into it (being of the lake
kind): these, in their weary, circling, recircling, course
towards Oder, -- Faule Laacke (Foul Lake, Lither-
mere, as it were), Foul Bridge, Swine's Nook (Schweine-
bucht), and many others, -- occasion endless difficulty.
Whether Major Linden was shot that day, or what
became of him after, I do not know: but it was pity
he had not studied the ground with a soldier's eye in-
stead of a hunter's! Plumping suddenly, at last, upon
Hen-Floss itself, Friedrich has to turn angularly;
angularly, which occasions great delay: the heavy can-
non (wall-guns brought from Custrin) have twelve horses
each, and cannot turn among the trees, but have to be
unyoked, reyoked, turned round by hand: --in short,
it was eight in the morning before Friedrich arrived
at the edge of the wood, on the Klosterberg, Walck-
berg, and other woody Bergs or knolls, within reach
of Milhlberg, and behind the preliminary abatis there
(abatis which was rather of service to him than other-
wise); -- and began privately building his batteries.
At eight o'clock he, with Column First, which is
now becoming Line First (centre of Line First, if we
reckon Finck as right-wing), is there; busy in that
manner: Column Second, which was to have been Rear
Line, is still a pretty way behind; and has many dif-
ficulties before it gets into Kunersdorf neighbourhood,
or can (having wriggled itself into a kind of left-wing)
cooperate on the Russian Position from the south side.
On the north side, Finck has been ready these five
hours. -- Friedrich speeds the building of his batteries:
"Silent, too; the Russians have not yet noticed us! "
By degrees the Russians do notice something; shoot
out Cossacks to reconnoitre. Cossacks in quantity;
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? CHAP. IV. ] BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. 17J
12th Aug. 1759.
who are so insolent, and venture so very near, our
gunners on the north battery give them a blast of
satisfactory grape-shot; one and then another, four
blasts in all, satisfactory to the gunner mind, -- till
the King's self, with a look, with a voice, came gal-
loping: "Silence, will you! " The Russians took no
offence; still considering Finck to be the main thing,
and Friedrich some scout party, -- till at last.
Half-past eleven, everything being ready on the
Walck Hill, Friedrich's batteries opened ithere, in a
sudden and volcanic way. Volcanically answered by
the Russians, as soon as possible; who have 72 guns
on this Miihlberg, and are nothing loth. Upon whom
Finck's battery is opening from the north, withal:
Friedrich has 60 cannon hereabouts; on the Walckberg,
on the Little Spitzberg (called Seidlitz Hill ever since);
all playing diligently on the head and south shoulder
of this Miihlberg: while Finck's battery opens on the
north shoulder (could he but get near enough). Vol-
canic to a degree, all these; nor are the Russians want-
ing, though they get more and more astonished: Tem-
pelhof, who was in it, says he never, except at Torgau
next Year, heard a louder cannonade. Loud ex-
ceedingly; and more or less appalling to the Russian
imagination: but not destructive in proportion; the
distance being too considerable, -- "1,950 paces at the
nearest," as Tempelhof has since ascertained by measur-
ing. Friedrich's two batteries, however, as they took the
Russians in the flank or by enfilade, did good execution.
"The Russian guns were ill pointed; the Russian bat-
"teries wrong built; batteries so built as did not allow
"them sight of the Hollow they were meant to defend. "*
* Tempelhof, m. 186,187.
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? 172 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX.
12th Aug. 1759.
After above half an hour of this, Friedrich orders
storm of the Muhlberg: Forward on it, with what of
enfilading it has had! Eight grenadier Battalions, a
chosen vanguard appointed for the work (names of
Battalions all given, and deathless in the Prussian
War-Annals), tramp forth on this service: cross the
abatis, which the Russian grenadoes have mostly burnt;
down into the Hollow. Steady as planets; "with a
precision and coherency," says Tempelhof, "which
even on the parade-ground would have "deserved
"praises. Once well in the Hollow, they suffer nothing;
"though the blind Russian fire, going all over their
"heads, rages threefold:" suffered nothing in the Hol-
low; nor till they reached almost the brow of the
Muhlberg, and were within a hundred steps of the
Russian guns. These were the critical steps, these
final ones; such torrents of grape-shot and musket-shot
and sheer death bursting out, here at last, upon the
Eight Battalions, as they come above ground. Who
advanced, unwavering, all the faster, -- speed one's
only safety. They poured, into the Russian gunners
and musketry battalions, one volley of choicest quality,
which had a shaking effect; then, with level bayonets,
plunge on the batteries: which are all empty before
we can leap into them; artillerymen, musketeer batta-
lions, all on wing; general whirlpool spreading. And
so, in ten minutes, the Muhlberg and its guns are ours.
Ever since Zorndorf, an idea had got abroad, says
Tempelhof, that the Russians would die instead of
yielding; but it proved far otherwise here. Down as
far as Kunersdorf, which may be about a mile west-
ward, the Russians are all in a whirl; at best hanging
in tatters and clumps, their Officers struggling against
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? CHAP. IV. ] BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. 173
12th Aug. 1759.
the flight; "mixed groups you would see huddled to-
gether a hundred men deep. " The Russian Left Wing
is beaten: had we our cannon up here, our cavalry up
here, the Russian Army were in a bad way!
This is a glorious beginning; completed, I think,
as far almost as Kunersdorf by one o'clock: and could
the iron continue to be struck while it is at white heat
as now, the result were as good as certain. That was
Friedrich's calculation: but circumstances which he had
not counted on, some which he could not count on,
sadly retarded the matter. His Left Wing (Rear Line,
which should now have been Left Wing) from south-
ward, his Right Wing from northward, and Finck
farther west, were now on the instant to have simul-
taneously closed upon the beaten Russians, and crushed
them altogether. The Right Wing, conquerors of the
Muhlberg, are here: but neither Finck nor the Left
can be simultaneous with them. Finck and his artil-
lery are much retarded with the Flosses and poor
single Bridges; and of the Left Wing, there are only
some Vanguard Regiments capable of helping ("who
drove out the Russians from Kunersdorf Churchyard,"
as their first feat), -- no Main Body yet for a long
while. Such impediments, such intricacies of bog and
bush! The entire Wing does at last get to the south-
east of Kunersdorf, free of the wood; but finds (con-
trary to Linden with his hunter eye) an intricate
meshwork of meres and straggling lakes, two of them
in the burnt Village itself; no passing of these except
on narrow isthmuses, which necessitate change of rank
and re-change; and our Left Wing cannot, with all its
industry, "march up," that is, arrive at the enemy in
fighting line, without the painfullest delays.
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? 174 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book JUX
12th Aug. 1759.
And then the getting forward of our cannon! On
the Miihlberg itself the seventy-two Russian guns,
"owing to difference of calibre," or artillery-men know
what, cannot be used by us: a few light guns, Tempel-
hof to one of them, a poor four in all, with perhaps
100 shot to each, did, by the King's order, hasten to
the top of the Miihlberg; and never did Tempelhof
see a finer chance for artillery than there. Soft slop-
ing ground, with Russians simmering ahead of you, all
the way down to Kunersdorf, a mile long: by hori-
zontal pointing, you had such reboundings (ricochets);
and carried beautiful execution! Tempelhof soon spent
his hundred shots: but it was not at once that any of
our sixty heavy guns could be got up thither. Twelve
horses to each: fancy it, and what baffling delays here
and elsewhere; -- and how the Russian whirlpool was
settling more and more, in the interim! And had, in
part, settled; in part, got through to the rear, and been
replaced by fresh troops!
Friedrich's activities, and suppressed and insuppres-
sible impatiences in this interval, are also conceivable,
though not on record for us. The swiftest of men;
tied down, in this manner, with the blaze of perfect
victory ahead, were the moments not running out!
Slower or faster, he thinks (I suppose), the victory is
his; and that he must possess his soul till things do
arrive. It was in one and more of those embargoed
intervals that he wrote to Berlin* (which is waiting, as
if for life or death, the issue of this scene, sixty miles
distant): "Russians beaten; rejoice with me! " Four
successive couriers, I believe, with messages to that
* Freuss, u. 212 n.
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? CHAP. IT.
