History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 20
by
Thomas Carlyle
Part 1 out of 6
Prepared by D.R. Thompson
BOOK XX.
FRIEDRICH IS NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED:
THE SEVEN-YEARS WAR GRADUALLY ENDS.
25th April, 1760-15th February, 1763.
Chapter I.
FIFTH CAMPAIGN OPENS.
There were yet, to the world's surprise and regret, Three Campaigns
of this War; but the Campaign 1760, which we are now upon, was what
produced or rendered possible the other two;--was the crisis of
them, and is now the only one that can require much narrative from
us here. Ill-luck, which, Friedrich complains, had followed him
like his shadow, in a strange and fateful manner, from the day of
Kunersdorf and earlier, does not yet cease its sad company; but, on
the contrary, for long months to come, is more constant than ever,
baffling every effort of his own, and from the distance sending him
news of mere disaster and discomfiture. It is in this Campaign,
though not till far on in it, that the long lane does prove to have
a turning, and the Fortune of War recovers its old impartial form.
After which, things visibly languish: and the hope of ruining such
a Friedrich becomes problematic, the effort to do it slackens also;
the very will abating, on the Austrian part, year by year, as of
course the strength of their resources is still more steadily
doing. To the last, Friedrich, the weaker in material resources,
needs all his talent,--all his luck too. But, as the strength, on
both sides, is fast abating,--hard to say on which side faster
(Friedrich's talent being always a FIXED quantity, while all else
is fluctuating and vanishing),--what remains of the once terrible
Affair, through Campaigns Sixth and Seventh, is like a race between
spent horses, little to be said of it in comparison. Campaign 1760
is the last of any outward eminence or greatness of event. Let us
diligently follow that, and be compendious with the remainder.
Friedrich was always famed for his Marches; but, this Year, they
exceeded all calculation and example; and are still the admiration
of military men. Can there by no method be some distant notion
afforded of them to the general reader? They were the one resource
Friedrich had left, against such overwhelming superiority in
numbers; and they came out like surprises in a theatre,--
unpleasantly surprising to Daun. Done with such dexterity, rapidity
and inexhaustible contrivance and ingenuity, as overset the schemes
of his enemies again and again, and made his one army equivalent in
effect to their three.
Evening of April 25th, Friedrich rose from his Freyberg
cantonments; moved back, that is, northward, a good march;
then encamped himself between Elbe and the Hill-Country; with freer
prospect and more elbow-room for work coming. His left is on
Meissen and the Elbe; his right at a Village called the
Katzenhauser, an uncommonly strong camp, of which one often hears
afterwards; his centre camp is at Schlettau, which also is strong,
though not to such a degree. This line extends from Meissen
southward about 10 miles, commanding the Reich-ward Passes of the
Metal Mountains, and is defensive of Leipzig, Torgau and the Towns
thereabouts. [Tempelhof, iv. 16 et seq.] Katzenhauser is but a mile
or two from Krogis--that unfortunate Village where Finck got his
Maxen Order: "ER WEISS,--You know I can't stand having difficulties
raised; manage to do it!"
Friedrich's task, this Year, is to defend Saxony; Prince Henri
having undertaken the Russians,--Prince Henri and Fouquet, the
Russians and Silesia. Clearly on very uphill terms, both of them:
so that Friedrich finds he will have a great many things to assist
in, besides defending Saxony. He lies here expectant till the
middle of June, above seven weeks; Daun also, for the last two
weeks, having taken the field in a sort. In a sort;--but comes no
nearer; merely posting himself astride of the Elbe, half in
Dresden, half on the opposite or northern bank of the River, with
Lacy thrown out ahead in good force on that vacant side; and so
waiting the course of other people's enterprises.
Well to eastward and rearward of Daun, where we have seen Loudon
about to be very busy, Prince Henri and Fouquet have spun
themselves out into a long chain of posts, in length 300 miles or
more, "from Landshut, along the Bober, along the Queiss and Oder,
through the Neumark, abutting on Stettin and Colberg, to the Baltic
Sea." [Tempelhof, iv. 21-24.] On that side, in aid of Loudon or
otherwise, Daun can attempt nothing; still less on the
Katzenhauser-Schlettau side can he dream of an attempt:
only towards Brandenburg and Berlin--the Country on that side, 50
or 60 miles of it, to eastward of Meissen, being vacant of troops--
is Daun's road open, were he enterprising, as Friedrich hopes he is
not. For some two weeks, Friedrich--not ready otherwise, it being
difficult to cross the River, if Lacy with his 30,000 should think
of interference--had to leave the cunctatory Feldmarschall this
chance or unlikely possibility. At the end of the second week
("June 14th," as we shall mark by and by), the chance
was withdrawn.
Daun and his Lacy are but one, and that by no means the most
harassing, of the many cares and anxieties which Friedrich has upon
him in those Seven Weeks, while waiting at Schlettau, reading the
omens. Never hitherto was the augury of any Campaign more
indecipherable to him, or so continually fluctuating with wild
hopes, which proved visionary, and with huge practical fears, of
what he knew to be the real likelihood. "Peace coming?" It is
strange how long Friedrich clings to that fond hope: "My Edelsheim
is in the Bastille, or packed home in disgrace: but will not the
English and Choiseul make Peace? It is Choiseul's one rational
course; bankrupt as he is, and reduced to spoons and kettles.
In which case, what a beautiful effect might Duke Ferdinand
produce, if he marched to Eger, say to Eger, with his 50,000
Germans (Britannic Majesty and Pitt so gracious), and twitched Daun
by the skirt, whirling Daun home to Bohemia in a hurry!" Then the
Turks; the Danes,--"Might not the Danes send us a trifle of Fleet
to Colberg (since the English never will), and keep our Russians at
bay?"--"At lowest these hopes are consolatory," says he once,
suspecting them all (as, no doubt, he often enough does), "and give
us courage to look calmly for the opening of this Campaign, the
very idea of which has made me shudder!" ["To Prince Henri:" in
Schoning, ii. 246 (3d April, 1760): ib. 263
(of the DANISH outlook); &c. &c.]
Meanwhile, by the end of May, the Russians are come across the
Weichsel again, lie in four camps on the hither side; start about
June 1st;--Henri waiting for them, in Sagan Country his head-
quarter; and on both hands of that, Fouquet and he spread out,
since the middle of May, in their long thin Chain of Posts, from
Landshut to Colberg again, like a thin wall of 300 miles.
To Friedrich the Russian movements are, and have been, full of
enigma: "Going upon Colberg? Going upon Glogau; upon Breslau?"
That is a heavy-footed certainty, audibly tramping forward on us,
amid these fond visions of the air! Certain too, and visible to a
duller eye than Friedrich's; Loudon in Silesia is meditating
mischief. "The inevitable Russians, the inevitable Loudon; and
nothing but Fouquet and Henri on guard there, with their long thin
chain of posts, infinitely too thin to do any execution!" thinks
the King. To whom their modes of operating are but little
satisfactory, as seen at Schlettau from the distance.
"Condense yourself," urges he always on Henri; "go forward on the
Russians; attack sharply this Corps, that Corps, while they are
still separate and on march!" Henri did condense himself, "took
post between Sagan and Sprottau; post at Frankfurt,"--poor
Frankfurt, is it to have a Kunersdorf or Zorndorf every year, then?
No; the cautious Henri never could see his way into these
adventures; and did not attack any Corps of the Russians. Took post
at Landsberg ultimately,--the Russians, as usual, having Posen as
place-of-arms,--and vigilantly watched the Russians, without coming
to strokes at all. A spectacle growing gradually intolerable to the
King, though he tries to veil his feelings.
Neither was Fouquet's plan of procedure well seen by Friedrich in
the distance. Ever since that of Regiment Manteuffel, which was a
bit of disappointment, Loudon has been quietly industrious on a
bigger scale. Privately he cherishes the hope, being a swift
vehement enterprising kind of man, to oust Fouquet; and perhaps to
have Glatz Fortress taken, before his Russians come! In the very
end of May, Loudon, privately aiming for Glatz, breaks in upon
Silesia again,--a long way to eastward of Fouquet, and as if
regardless of Glatz. Upon which, Fouquet, in dread for Schweidnitz
and perhaps Breslau itself, hastened down into the Plain Country,
to manoeuvre upon Loudon; but found no Loudon moving that way;
and, in a day or two, learned that Landshut, so weakly guarded, had
been picked up by a big corps of Austrians; and in another day or
two, that Loudon (June 7th) had blocked Glatz,--Loudon's real
intention now clear to Fouquet. As it was to Friedrich from the
first; whose anger and astonishment at this loss of Landshut were
great, when he heard of it in his Camp of Schlettau. "Back to
Landshut," orders he (11th June, three days before leaving
Schlettau); "neither Schweidnitz nor Breslau are in danger: it is
Glatz the Austrians mean [as Fouquet and all the world now see they
do!]; watch Glatz; retake me Landshut instantly!"
The tone of Friedrich, which is usually all friendliness to
Fouquet, had on this occasion something in it which offended the
punctual and rather peremptory Spartan mind. Fouquet would not have
neglected Glatz; pity he had not been left to his own methods with
Landshut and it. Deeply hurt, he read this Order (16th June);
and vowing to obey it, and nothing but it, used these words, which
were remembered afterwards, to his assembled Generals:
"MEINE HERREN, it appears, then, we must take Landshut again.
Loudon, as the next thing, will come on us there with his mass of
force; and we must then, like Prussians, hold out as long as
possible, think of no surrender on open field, but if even beaten,
defend ourselves to the last man. In case of a retreat, I will be
one of the last that leaves the field: and should I have the
misfortune to survive such a day, I give you my word of honor never
to draw a Prussian sword more." [Stenzel, v. 239.] This speech of
Fouquet's (June 16th) was two days after Friedrich got on march
from Schlettau. June 17th, Fouquet got to Landshut; drove out the
Austrians more easily than he had calculated, and set diligently,
next day, to repair his works, writing to Friedrich: "Your
Majesty's Order shall be executed here, while a man of us lives."
Fouquet, in the old Crown-Prince time, used to be called Bayard by
his Royal friend. His Royal friend, now darker of face and scathed
by much ill-weather, has just quitted Schlettau, three days before
this recovery of Landshut; and will not have gone far till he again
hear news of Fouquet.
NIGHT OF JUNE 14th-15th, Friedrich, "between Zehren and Zabel,"
several miles down stream,--his bridges now all ready, out of
Lacy's cognizance,--has suddenly crossed Elbe; and next afternoon
pitches camp at Broschwitz, which is straight towards Lacy again.
To Lacy's astonishment; who is posted at Moritzburg, with head-
quarter in that beautiful Country-seat of Polish Majesty,--only 10
miles to eastward, should Friedrich take that road. Broschwitz is
short way north of Meissen, and lies on the road either to
Grossenhayn or to Radeburg (Radeburg only four miles northward of
Lacy), as Friedrich shall see fit, on the morrow. For the Meissen
north road forks off there, in those two directions:
straight northward is for Grossenhayn, right hand is for Badeburg.
Most interesting to Lacy, which of these forks, what is quite
optional, Friedrich will take! Lacy is an alert man; looks well to
himself; warns Daun; and will not be caught if he can help it.
Daun himself is encamped at Reichenberg, within two miles of him,
inexpugnably intrenched as usual; and the danger surely is not
great: nevertheless both these Generals, wise by experience, keep
their eyes open.
The FIRST great Feat of Marching now follows, On Friedrich's part;
with little or no result to Friedrich; but worth remembering, so
strenuous, so fruitless was it,--so barred by ill news from
without! Both this and the Second stand recorded for us, in brief
intelligent terms by Mitchell, who was present in both; and who is
perfectly exact on every point, and intelligible throughout,--if
you will read him with a Map; and divine for yourself what the real
names are, out of the inhuman blotchings made of them, not by
Mitchell's blame at all. [Mitchell, Memoirs and Papers,
ii. 160 et seq.]
TUESDAY, JUNE 17th, second day of Friedrich's stay at Broschwitz,
Mitchell, in a very confidential Dialogue they had together,
learned from him, under seal of secrecy, That it was his purpose to
march for Radeburg to-morrow morning, and attack Lacy and his
30,000, who lie encamped at Moritzburg out yonder; for which step
his Majesty was pleased farther to show Mitchell a little what the
various inducements were: "One Russian Corps is aiming as if for
Berlin; the Austrians are about besieging Glatz,--pressing need
that Fouquet were reinforced in his Silesian post of difficulty.
Then here are the Reichs-people close by; can be in Dresden three
days hence, joined to Daun: 80,000 odd there will then be of
Enemies in this part: I must beat Lacy, if possible, while time
still is!"--and ended by saying: "Succeed here, and all may yet be
saved; be beaten here, I know the consequences: but what can I do?
The risk must be run; and it is now smaller than it will ever
again be."
Mitchell, whose account is a fortnight later than the Dialogue
itself, does confess, "My Lord, these reasons, though unhappily the
thing seems to have failed, 'appear to me to be solid and
unanswerable.'" Much more do they to Tempelhof, who sees deeper
into the bottom of them than Mitchell did; and finds that the
failure is only superficial. [Mitchell, Memoirs and
Papers, ii. 160 (Despatch, "June 30th, 1760");
Tempelhof, iv. 44.] The real success, thinks Tempelhof, would be,
Could the King manoeuvre himself into Silesia, and entice a
cunctatory Daun away with him thither. A cunctatory Daun to preside
over matters THERE, in his superstitiously cautious way;
leaving Saxony free to the Reichsfolk,--whom a Hulsen, left with
his small remnant in Schlettau, might easily take charge of, till
Silesia were settled? "The plan was bold, was new, and completely
worthy of Friedrich," votes Tempelhof; "and it required the most
consummate delicacy of execution. To lure Daun on, always with the
prospect open to him of knocking you on the head, and always by
your rapidity and ingenuity to take care that he never got it
done." This is Tempelhof's notion: and this, sure enough, was
actually Friedrich's mode of management in the weeks following;
though whether already altogether planned in his head, or only
gradually planning itself, as is more likely, nobody can say.
We will look a very little into the execution, concerning which
there is no dubiety:--
WEDNESDAY, 18th JUNE, "Friedrich," as predicted to Mitchell, the
night before, "did start punctually, in three columns, at 3 A.M.
[Sun just rising]; and, after a hot march, got encamped on the
southward side of Radeburg: ready to cross the Rodern Stream there
to-morrow, as if intending for the Lausitz [should that prove
needful for alluring Lacy],--and in the mean while very inquisitive
where Lacy might be. One of Lacy's outposts, those Saxon light
horse, was fallen in with; was chased home, and Lacy's camp
discovered, that night. At Bernsdorf, not three miles to southward
or right of us; Daun only another three to south of him. Let us
attack Lacy to-morrow morning; wind round to get between Daun and
him, [Tempelhof, iv. 47-49.]--with fit arrangements; rapid as
light! In the King's tent, accordingly, his Generals are assembled
to take their Orders; brief, distinct, and to be done with brevity.
And all are on the move for Bernsdorf at 4 next morning;
when, behold,--
"THURSDAY, 19th, At Bernsdorf there is no Lacy to be found.
Cautions Dorn has ordered him in,--and not for Lacy's sake, as
appears, but for his own: 'Hitherward, you alert Lacy; to cover my
right flank here, my Hill of Reichenberg,--lest it be not
impregnable enough against that feline enemy!' And there they have
taken post, say 60,000 against 30,000; and are palisading to a
quite extraordinary degree. No fight possible with Lacy or Daun."
This is what Mitchell counts the failure of Friedrich's enterprise:
and certainly it grieved Friedrich a good deal. Who, on riding out
to reconnoitre Reichenberg (Quintus Icilius and Battalion QUINTUS
part of his escort, if that be an interesting circumstance], finds
Reichenberg a plainly unattackable post; finds, by Daun's rate of
palisading, that there will be no attack from Daun either.
No attack from Daun;--and, therefore, that Hulsen's people may be
sent home to Schlettau again; and that he, Friedrich, will take
post close by, and wearisomely be content to wait for some new
opportunity.
Which he does for a week to come; Daun sitting impregnable,
intrenched and palisaded to the teeth,--rather wishing to be
attacked, you would say; or hopeful sometimes of doing something of
the Hochkirch sort again (for the country is woody, and the enemy
audacious);--at all events, very clear not to attack. A man erring,
sometimes to a notable degree, by over-caution. "Could hardly have
failed to overwhelm Friedrich's small force, had he at once, on
Friedrich's crossing the Elbe, joined Lacy, and gone out against
him," thinks Tempelhof, pointing out the form of operation too.
[Tempelhof, iv. 42, 48.] Caution is excellent; but not quite by
itself. Would caution alone do it, an Army all of Druidic
whinstones, or innocent clay-sacks, incapable of taking hurt, would
be the proper one!--Daun stood there; Friedrich looking daily into
him,--visibly in ill humor, says Mitchell; and no wonder; gloomy
and surly words coming out of him, to the distress of his Generals:
"Which I took the liberty of hinting, one evening, to his Majesty;"
hint graciously received, and of effect perceptible, at least to
my imagining.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25th, After nearly a week of this, there rose,
towards sunset, all over the Reichenberg, and far and wide, an
exuberant joy-firing: "For what in the world?" thinks Friedrich.
Alas, your Majesty,--since your own messenger has not arrived, nor
indeed ever will, being picked up by Pandours,--here, gathered from
the Austrian outposts or deserters, are news for you, fatal enough!
Landshut is done; Fouquet and his valiant 13,000 are trodden out
there. Indignant Fouquet has obeyed you, not wisely but too well.
He has kept Landshut six nights and five days. On the morning of
the sixth day, here is what befell:--
"LANDSHUT, MONDAY, 23d JUNE, About a quarter to two in the morning,
Loudon, who had gathered 31,000 horse and foot for the business,
and taken his measures, fired aloft, by way of signal, four
howitzers into the gray of the summer morning; and burst loose upon
Fouquet, in various columns, on his southward front, on both
flanks, ultimately in his rear too: columns all in the height of
fighting humor, confident as three to one,--and having brandy in
them, it is likewise said. Fouquet and his people stood to arms, in
the temper Fouquet had vowed they would: defended their Hills with
an energy, with a steady skill, which Loudon himself admired;
but their Hill-works would have needed thrice the number;--Fouquet,
by detaching and otherwise, has in arms only 10,680 men. Toughly as
they strove, after partial successes, they began to lose one Hill,
and then another; and in the course of hours, nearly all their
Hills. Landshut Town Loudon had taken from them, Landshut and its
roads: in the end, the Prussian position is becoming permeable,
plainly untenable;--Austrian force is moving to their rearward to
block the retreat.
"Seeing which latter fact, Fouquet throws out all his Cavalry, a
poor 1,500, to secure the Passes of the Bober; himself formed
square with the wrecks of his Infantry; and, at a steady step, cuts
way for himself with bayonet and bullet. With singular success for
some time, in spite of the odds. And is clear across the Bober;
when lo, among the knolls ahead, masses of Austrian Cavalry are
seen waiting him, besetting every passage! Even these do not break
him; but these, with infantry and cannon coming up to help them,
do. Here, for some time, was the fiercest tug of all,--till a
bullet having killed Fouquet's horse, and carried the General
himself to the ground, the spasm ended. The Lichnowski Dragoons, a
famed Austrian regiment, who had charged and again charged with
nothing but repulse on repulse, now broke in, all in a foam of
rage; cut furiously upon Fouquet himself; wounded Fouquet thrice;
would have killed him, had it not been for the heroism of poor
Trautschke, his Groom [let us name the gallant fellow, even if
unpronounceable], who flung himself on the body of his Master, and
took the bloody strokes instead of him; shrieking his loudest,
'Will you murder the Commanding General, then!' Which brought up
the Colonel of Lichnowski; a Gentleman and Ritter, abhorrent of
such practices. To him Fouquet gave his sword;--kept his vow never
to draw it again.
"The wrecks of Fouquet's Infantry were, many of them, massacred, no
quarter given; such the unchivalrous fury that had risen.
His Cavalry, with the loss of about 500, cut their way through.
They and some stragglers of Foot, in whole about 1,500 of both
kinds, were what remained of those 10,680 after this bloody
morning's work. There had been about six hours of it; 'all over by
8 o'clock.'" [ Hofbericht von der am 23 Junius, 1760, bey
Landshuth vorgefallenen Action (in Seyfarth,
Beylagen, ii. 669-671); Helden-Geschichte,
vi. 258-284; Tempelhof, iv. 26-41; Stenzel, v. 241
(who, by oversight,--this Volume being posthumous to poor Stenzel,
--protracts the Action to "half-past 7 in the evening").]
Fouquet has obeyed to the letter: "Did not my King wrong me?"
Fouquet may say to himself. Truly, Herr General, your King's Order
was a little unwise; as you (who were on the ground, and your King
not) knew it to be. An unwise Order;--perhaps not inexcusable in
the sudden circumstances. And perhaps a still more perfect Bayard
would have preferred obeying such a King in spirit, rather than in
letter, and thereby doing him vital service AGAINST his temporary
will? It is not doubted but Fouquet, left to himself and his
13,000, with the Fortresses and Garrisons about him, would have
maintained himself in Silesia till help came. The issue is,--
Fouquet has probably lost this fine King his Silesia, for the time
being; and beyond any question, has lost him 10,000 Prussian-
Spartan fighters, and a fine General whom he could ill spare!--In a
word, the Gate of Silesia is burst open; and Loudon has every
prospect of taking Glatz, which will keep it so.
What a thunder-bolt for Friedrich! One of the last pillars struck
away from his tottering affairs. "Inevitable, then? We are over
with it, then?" One may fancy Friedrich's reflections. But he
showed nothing of them to anybody; in a few hours, had his mind
composed, and new plans on the anvil. On the morrow of that
Austrian Joy-Firing,--morrow, or some day close on it (ought to
have been dated, but is not),--there went from him, to Magdeburg,
the Order: "Have me such and such quantities of Siege-Artillery in
a state of readiness." [Tempelhof, iv. 51.] Already meaning, it is
thought, or contemplating as possible a certain Siege, which
surprised everybody before long! A most inventive, enterprising
being; no end to his contrivances and unexpected outbreaks;
especially when you have him jammed into a corner, and fancy it is
all over with him!
"To no other General," says Tempelhof, "would such a notion of
besieging Dresden have occurred; or if it had suggested itself, the
hideous difficulties would at once have banished it again, or left
it only as a pious wish. But it is strokes of this kind that
characterize the great man. Often enough they have succeeded, been
decisive of great campaigns and wars, and become splendid in the
eyes of all mankind; sometimes, as in this case, they have only
deserved to succeed, and to be splendid in the eyes of judges.
How get these masses of enemies lured away, so that you could try
such a thing? There lay the difficulty; insuperable altogether,
except by the most fine and appropriate treatment. Of a truth, it
required a connected series of the wisest measures and most secret
artifices of war;--and withal, that you should throw over them such
a veil as would lead your enemy to see in them precisely the
reverse of what they meant. How all this was to be set in action,
and how the Enemy's own plans, intentions and moods of mind were to
be used as raw material for attainment of your object,--studious
readers will best see in the manoeuvres of the King in his now more
than critical condition; which do certainly exhibit the completest
masterpiece in the Art of leading Armies that Europe has
ever seen."
Tempelhof is well enough aware, as readers should continue to be,
that, primarily, and onward for three weeks more, not Dresden, but
the getting to Silesia on good terms, is Friedrich's main
enterprise: Dresden only a supplement or substitute, a second
string to his bow, till the first fail. But, in effect, the two
enterprises or strings coincide, or are one, till the first of them
fail; and Tempelhof's eulogy will apply to either. The initiatory
step to either is a Second Feat of Marching;--still notabler than
the former, which has had this poor issue. Soldiers of the studious
or scientific sort, if there are yet any such among us, will
naturally go to Tempelhof, and fearlessly encounter the ruggedest
Documents and Books, if Tempelhof leave them dubious on any point
(which he hardly will): to ingenuous readers of other sorts, who
will take a little pains for understanding the thing, perhaps the
following intermittent far-off glimpses may suffice. [Mitchell, ii.
162 et seq.; and Tempelhof (iv. 50-53 et seq.), as a scientific
check on Mitchell, or unconscious fellow-witness with him,--
agreeing beautifully almost always.]
On ascertaining the Landshut disaster, Friedrich falls back a
little; northward to Gross-Dobritz: "Possibly Daun will think us
cowed by what has happened; and may try something on us?" Daun is
by no means sure of this COWED phenomenon, or of the retreat it has
made; and tries nothing on it; only rides up daily to it, to
ascertain that it is there; and diligently sends out parties to
watch the Northeastward parts, where run the Silesian Roads.
After about a week of this, and some disappointments, Friedrich
decides to march in earnest. There had, one day, come report of
Lacy's being detached, Lacy with a strong Division, to block the
Silesian roads; but that, on trial, proved to be false.
"Pshaw, nothing for us but to go ourselves!" concludes Friedrich,--
and, JULY 1st, sends off his Bakery and Heavy Baggage; indicating
to Mitchell, "To-morrow morning at 3!"--Here is Mitchell's own
account; accurate in every particular, as we find: [Mitchell, ii.
164; Tempelhof, iv. 54.]
WEDNESDAY, JULY 2d. "From Gross-Dobritz to Quosdorf [to Quosdorf, a
poor Hamlet there, not QuoLsdorf, as many write, which is a Town
far enough from there]--the Army marched accordingly. In two
columns; baggage, bakery and artillery in a third; through a
country extremely covered with wood. Were attacked by some Uhlans
and Hussars; whom a few cannon-shot sent to the road again.
March lasted from 3 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon;"
twelve long hours. "Went northeastward a space of 20 miles, leaving
Radeburg, much more leaving Reichenberg, Moritzburg and the Daun
quarters well to the right, and at last quite to rearward;
crossed the Roder, crossed the Pulsnitz," small tributaries or sub-
tributaries of the Elbe in those parts; "crossed the latter (which
divides Meissen from the Lausitz) partly by the Bridge of Krakau,
first Village in the Lausitz. Head-quarter was the poor Hamlet of
Quosdorf, a mile farther on. 'This march had been carefully kept
secret,' says Mitchell; 'and it was the opinion of the most
experienced Officers, that, had the Enemy discovered the King of
Prussia's design, they might, by placing their light troops in the
roads with proper supports, have rendered it extremely difficult,
if not impracticable.'"
Daun very early got to know of Friedrich's departure, and
whitherward; which was extremely interesting to Daun: "Aims to be
in Silesia before me; will cut out Loudon from his fine prospects
on Glatz?"--and had instantly reinforced, perhaps to 20,000, Lacy's
Division; and ordered Lacy, who is the nearest to Friedrich's
March, to start instantly on the skirts of said March, and endeavor
diligently to trample on the same. For the purpose of harassing
said March, Lacy is to do whatever he with safety can (which we see
is not much: "a few Uhlans and Hussars"); at lowest, is to keep it
constantly in sight; and always encamp as near it as he dare;
[Tempelhof, iv. 54.]--Daun himself girding up his loins;
and preparing, by a short-cut, to get ahead of it in a day or two.
Lacy was alert enough, but could not do much with safety: a few
Uhlans and Hussars, that was all; and he is now encamped somewhere
to rearward, as near as he dare.
THURSDAY, 3d JULY. "A rest-day; Army resting about Krakau, after
such a spell through the woody moors. The King, with small escort,
rides out reconnoitring, hither, thither, on the southern side or
Lacy quarter: to the top of the Keulenberg (BLUDGEON HILL), at
last,--which is ten or a dozen miles from Krakau and Quosdorf, but
commands an extensive view. Towns, village-belfries, courses of
streams; a country of mossy woods and wild agricultures, of bogs,
of shaggy moor. Southward 10 miles is Radeberg [not RadebUrg,
observe]; yonder is the town of Pulsnitz on our stream of Pulsnitz;
to southeast, and twice as far, is Bischofswerda, chasmy Stolpen
(too well known to us before this): behind us, Konigsbruck, Kamenz
and the road from Grossenhayn to Bautzen: these and many other
places memorable to this King are discoverable from Bludgeon Hill.
But the discovery of discoveries to him is Lacy's Camp,--not very
far off, about a mile behind Pulsnitz; clearly visible, at
Lichtenberg yonder. Which we at once determine to attack; which,
and the roads to which, are the one object of interest just now,
--nothing else visible, as it were, on the top of the Keulenberg
here, or as we ride homeward, meditating it with a practical view.
'March at midnight,' that is the practical result arrived at, on
reaching home."
FRIDAY, JULY 4th. "Since the stroke of midnight we are all on march
again; nothing but the baggages and bakeries left [with Quintus to
watch them, which I see is his common function in these marches];
King himself in the Vanguard,--who hopes to give Lacy a salutation.
[Tempelhof, iv. 56.] 'The march was full of defiles,' says
Mitchell: and Mitchell, in his carriage, knew little what a region
it was, with boggy intricacies, lakelets, tangly thickets, stocks
and stumps; or what a business to pass with heavy cannon, baggage-
wagons and columns of men! Such a march; and again not far from
twenty miles of it: very hot, as the morning broke, in the
breathless woods. Had Lacy known what kind of ground we had to
march in, and been enterprising--! thinks Tempelhof. The march
being so retarded, Lacy got notice of it, and vanished quite away,
--to Bischofswerda, I believe, and the protecting neighborhood of
Daun. Nothing of him left when we emerge, simultaneously from this
hand and from that, on his front and on his rear, to take him as in
a vice, as in the sudden snap of a fox-trap;--fox quite gone.
Hardly a few hussars of him to be picked up; and no chase possible,
after such a march."
Friedrich had done everything to keep himself secret: but Lacy has
endless Pandours prowling about; and, I suppose, the Country-people
(in the Lausitz here, who ought to have loyalty) are on the Lacy
side. Friedrich has to take his disappointment. He encamps here, on
the Heights, head-quarter Pulsnitz,--till Quintus come up with the
baggage, which he does punctually, but not till nightfall, not till
midnight the last of him.
SATURDAY, JULY 5th. "To the road again at 3 A.M. Again to
northward, to Kloster (CLOISTER) Marienstern, a 15 miles or so,--
head-quarter in the Cloister itself. Daun had set off for Bautzen,
with his 50 or 60,000, in the extremest push of haste, and is at
Bautzen this night; ahead of Friedrich, with Lacy as rear-guard of
him, who is also ahead of Friedrich, and safe at Bischofswerda.
A Daun hastening as never before. This news of a Daun already at
Bautzen awakened Friedrich's utmost speed: 'Never do, that Daun be
in Silesia before us! Indispensable to get ahead of Bautzen and
him, or to be waiting on the flank of his next march!' Accordingly,
"SUNDAY, JULY 6th, Friedrich, at 3 A.M., is again in motion;
in three columns, streaming forward all day: straight eastward,
Daun-ward. Intends to cross the Spree, leaving Bautzen to the
right; and take post somewhere to northeast of Bautzen, and on the
flank of Daun. The windless day grows hotter and hotter; the roads
are of loose sand, full of jungles and impediments. This was such a
march for heat and difficulty as the King never had before.
In front of each Column went wagons with a few pontoons; there
being many brooks and little streams to cross. The soldier, for his
own health's sake, is strictly forbidden to drink; but as the
burning day rose higher, in the sweltering close march, thirst grew
irresistible. Crossing any of these Brooks, the soldiers pounce
down, irrepressible, whole ranks of them; lift water, clean or
dirty; drink it greedily from the brim of the hat. Sergeants may
wag their tongues and their cudgels at discretion: 'showers of
cudgel-strokes,' says Archenholtz; Sergeants going like threshers
on the poor men;--'though the upper Officers had a touch of mercy,
and affected not to see this disobedience to the Sergeants and
their cudgels,' which was punishable with death. War is not an
over-fond Mother, but a sufficiently Spartan one, to her Sons.
There dropt down, in the march that day, 105 Prussian men, who
never rose again. And as to intercepting Daun by such velocity,--
Daun too is on march; gone to Gorlitz, at almost a faster pace, if
at a far heavier,--like a cart-horse on gallop; faring still worse
in the heat: '200 of Daun's men died on the road this day, and 300
more were invalided for life.' [Tempelhof, iv. 58; Archenholtz, ii.
68; Mitchell, ii. 166.]
"Before reaching the Spree, Friedrich, who is in the Vanguard,
hears of this Gorlitz March, and that the bird is flown. For which
he has, therefore, to devise straightway a new expedient: 'Wheel to
the right; cross Spree farther down, holding towards Bautzen
itself,' orders Friedrich. And settles within two miles of Bautzen;
his left being at Doberschutz,--on the strong ground he held after
Hochkirch, while Daun, two years ago, sat watching so quiescent.
Daun knows what kind of march these Prussians, blocked out from
relief of Neisse, stole on him THEN, and saved their Silesia, in
spite of his watching and blocking;--and has plunged off, in the
manner of a cart-horse scared into galloping, to avoid the like."
What a Sabbath-day's journey, on both sides, for those Sons of War!
Nothing in the Roman times, though they had less baggage, comes up
to such modern marching: nor is this the fastest of Friedrich's,
though of Daun's it unspeakably is. "Friedrich, having missed Daun,
is thinking now to whirl round, and go into Lacy,--which will
certainly bring Daun back, even better.
"This evening, accordingly, Ziethen occupies Bautzen; sweeps out
certain Lacy precursors, cavalry in some strength, who are there.
Lacy has come on as far as Bischofswerda: and his Horse-people seem
to be wide ahead; provokingly pert upon Friedrich's outposts, who
determines to chastise them the first thing to-morrow.
To-morrow, as is very needful, is to be a rest-day otherwise.
For Friedrich's wearied people a rest-day; not at all for Daun's,
who continues his heavy-footed galloping yet another day and
another, till he get across the Queiss, and actually
reach Silesia."
MONDAY, JULY 7th. "Rest-day accordingly, in Bautzen neighborhood;
nothing passing but a curious Skirmish of Horse,--in which
Friedrich, who had gone westward reconnoitring, seeking Lacy, had
the main share, and was notably situated for some time. Godau, a
small town or village, six miles west of Bautzen, was the scene of
this notable passage: actors in it were Friedrich himself, on the
Prussian part; and, on the Austrian, by degrees Lacy's Cavalry
almost in whole. Lacy's Cavalry, what Friedrich does not know, are
all in those neighborhoods: and no sooner is Godau swept clear of
them, than they return in greater numbers, needing to be again
swept; and, in fact, they gradually gather in upon him, in a
singular and dangerous manner, after his first successes on them,
and before his Infantry have time to get up and support.
"Friedrich was too impatient in this provoking little haggle,
arresting him here. He had ordered on the suitable Battalion with
cannon; but hardly considers that the Battalion itself is six miles
off,--not to speak of the Order, which is galloping on horseback,
not going by electricity:--the impatient Friedrich had slashed in
at once upon Godau, taken above 100 prisoners; but is astonished to
see the slashed people return, with Saxon-Dragoon regiments, all
manner of regiments, reinforcing them. And has some really
dangerous fencing there;--issuing in dangerous and curious pause of
both parties; who stand drawn up, scarcely beyond pistol-shot, and
gazing into one another, for I know not how many minutes;
neither of them daring to move off, lest, on the instant of
turning, it be charged and overwhelmed. As the impatient Friedrich,
at last, almost was,--had not his Infantry just then got in, and
given their cannon-salvo. He lost about 200, the Lacy people hardly
so many; and is now out of a considerable personal jeopardy, which
is still celebrated in the Anecdote-Books, perhaps to a mythical
extent. 'Two Uhlans [Saxon-Polish Light-Horse], with their
truculent pikes, are just plunging in,' say the Anecdote-Books:
Friedrich's Page, who had got unhorsed, sprang to his feet,
bellowed in Polish to them: 'What are you doing here, fellows?'
'Excellenz [for the Page is not in Prussian uniform, or in uniform
at all, only well-dressed], Excellenz, our horses ran away with
us,' answer the poor fellows; and whirl back rapidly." The story,
says Retzow, is true. [Retzow, ii. 215.]
This is the one event of July 7th,--and of July 8th withal;
which day also, on news of Daun that come, Friedrich rests. Up to
July 8th, it is clear Friedrich is shooting with what we called the
first string of his bow,--intent, namely, on Silesia. Nor, on
hearing that Daun is forward again, now hopelessly ahead, does he
quit that enterprise; but, on the contrasy, to-morrow morning, July
9th, tries it by a new method, as we shall see: method cunningly
devised to suit the second string as well. "How lucky that we have
a second string, in case of failure!"--
TUESDAY, 8th JULY. "News that Daun reached Gorlitz yesternight;
and is due to-night at Lauban, fifty miles ahead of us:--no hope
now of reaching Daun. Perhaps a sudden clutch at Lacy, in the
opposite direction, might be the method of recalling Daun, and
reaching him? That is the method fallen upon.
"Sun being set, the drums in Bautzen sound TATTOO,--audible to
listening Croats in the Environs;--beat TATTOO, and, later in the
night, other passages of drum-music, also for Croat behoof
(GENERAL-MARCH I think it is); indicating That we have started
again, in pursuit of Daun. And in short, every precaution being
taken to soothe the mind of Lacy and the Croats, Friedrich silently
issues, with his best speed, in Three columns, by Three roads,
towards Lacy's quarters, which go from that village of Godau
westward, in a loose way, several miles. In three columns, by three
routes, all to converge, with punctuality, on Lacy. Of the columns,
two are of Infantry, the leftmost and the rightmost, on each hand,
hidden as much as possible; one is of Cavalry in the middle.
Coming on in this manner--like a pair of triple-pincers, which are
to grip simultaneously on Lacy, and astonish him, if he keep quiet.
But Lacy is vigilant, and is cautious almost in excess. Learning by
his Pandours that the King seems to be coming this way, Lacy
gathers himself on the instant; quits Godau, by one in the morning;
and retreats bodily, at his fastest step, to Bischofswerda again;
nor by any means stops there." [Tempelhof, iv. 61-63.]
For the third time! "Three is lucky," Friedrich may have thought:
and there has no precaution, of drum-music, of secrecy or
persuasive finesse, been neglected on Lacy. But Lacy has ears that
hear the grass grow: our elaborately accurate triple-pincers,
closing simultaneously on Bischofswerda, after eighteen miles of
sweep, find Lacy flown again; nothing to be caught of him but some
80 hussars. All this day and all next night Lacy is scouring
through the western parts at an extraordinary rate; halting for a
camp, twice over, at different places,--Durre Fuchs (THIRSTY FOX),
Durre Buhle (THIRSTY SWEETHEART), or wherever it was; then again
taking wing, on sound of Prussian parties to rear; in short,
hurrying towards Dresden and the Reichsfolk, as if for life.
Lacy's retreat, I hear, was ingeniously done, with a minimum of
disorder in the circumstances: but certainly it was with a velocity
as if his head had been on fire; and, indeed, they say he escaped
annihilation by being off in time. He put up finally, not at
Thirsty Sweetheart, still less at Thirsty Fox, successive Hamlets
and Public Houses in the sandy Wilderness which lies to north of
Elbe, and is called DRESDEN HEATH; but farther on, in the same
Tract, at Weisse Hirsch (WHITE HART); which looks close over upon
Dresden, within two miles or so; and is a kind of Height, and
military post of advantage. Next morning, July 10th, he crosses
Dresden Bridge, comes streaming through the City; and takes shelter
with the Reichsfolk near there:--towards Plauen Chasm; the
strongest ground in the world; hardly strong enough, it appears, in
the present emergency.
Friedrich's first string, therefore, has snapt in two; but, on the
instant, he has a second fitted on:--may that prove luckier!
Chapter II.
FRIEDRICH BESIEGES DRESDEN.
From and after the Evening of Wednesday, July 9th, it is upon a
Siege of Dresden that Friedrich goes;--turning the whole war-
theatre topsy-turvy; throwing Daun, Loudon, Lacy, everybody OUT, in
this strange and sudden manner. One of the finest military feats
ever done, thinks Tempelhof. Undoubtedly a notable result so far,
and notably done; as the impartial reader (if Tempelhof be a little
inconsistent) sees for himself. These truly are a wonderful series
of marches, opulent in continual promptitudes, audacities,
contrivances;--done with shining talent, certainly; and also with
result shining, for the moment. And in a Fabulous Epic I think
Dresden would certainly have fallen to Friedrich, and his crowd of
enemies been left in a tumbled condition.
But the Epic of Reality cares nothing for such considerations;
and the time allowable for capture of Dresden is very brief.
Had Daun, on getting warning, been as prompt to return as he was to
go, frankly fronting at once the chances of the road, he might have
been at Dresden again perhaps within a week,--no Siege possible for
Friedrich, hardly the big guns got up from Magdeburg. But Friedrich
calculated there would be very considerable fettling and haggling
on Daun's part; say a good Fortnight of Siege allowed;--and that,
by dead-lift effort of all hands, the thing was feasible within
that limit. On Friedrich's part, as we can fancy, there was no want
of effort; nor on his people's part,--in spite of his complainings,
say Retzow and the Opposition party; who insinuate their own
private belief of impossibility from the first. Which is not
confirmed by impartial judgments,--that of Archenholtz, and others
better. The truth is, Friedrich was within an inch of taking
Dresden by the first assault,--they say he actually could have
taken it by storm the first day; but shuddered at the thought of
exposing poor Dresden to sack and plunder; and hoped to get it
by capitulation.
One of the rapidest and most furious Sieges anywhere on record.
Filled Europe with astonishment, expectancy, admiration, horror:--
must be very briefly recited here. The main chronological epochs,
salient points of crisis and successive phases of occurrence, will
sufficiently indicate it to the reader's fancy.
"It was Thursday Evening, 10th July, when Lacy got to his
Reichsfolk, and took breath behind Plauen Chasm. Maguire is
Governor of Dresden. The consternation of garrison and population
was extreme. To Lacy himself it did not seem conceivable that
Friedrich could mean a Siege of Dresden. Friedrich, that night, is
beyond the River, in Daun's old impregnability of Reichenberg:
'He has no siege-artillery,' thinks Lacy; 'no means, no time.'
"Nevertheless, Saturday, next day after to-morrow,--behold, there
is Hulsen, come from Schlettau to our neighborhood, on our Austrian
side of the River. And at Kaditz yonder, a mile below Dresden, are
not the King's people building their Pontoons; in march since 2 in
the morning,-- evidently coming across, if not to besiege Dresden,
then to attack us; which is perhaps worse! We outnumber them,--but
as to trying fight in any form? Zweibruck leaves Maguire an
additional 10,000;--every help and encouragement to Maguire;
whose garrison is now 14,000: 'Be of courage, Excellenz Maguire!
Nobody is better skilled in siege-matters. Feldmarschall and relief
will be here with despatch!'--and withdraws, Lacy and he, to the
edge of the Pirna Country, there to be well out of harm's way.
Lacy and he, it is thought, would perhaps have got beaten, trying
to save Dresden from its misery. Lacy's orders were, Not, on any
terms, to get into fighting with Friedrich, but only to cover
Dresden. Dresden, without fighting, has proved impossible to cover,
and Lacy leaves it bare." [Tempelhof, iv. 65.]
"At Kaditz," says Mitchell, "where the second bridge of boats took
a great deal of time, I was standing by his Majesty, when news to
the above effect came across from General Hulsen. The King was
highly pleased; and, turning to me, said: 'Just what I wished!
They have saved me a very long march [round by Dippoldiswalde or
so, in upon the rear of them] by going of will.' And immediately
the King got on horseback; ordering the Army to follow as fast as
it could." [Mitchell, ii. 168.] "Through Preisnitz, Plauen-ward,
goes the Army; circling round the Western and the Southern side of
Dresden; [a dread spectacle from the walls]; across Weistritz Brook
and the Plauen Chasm [comfortably left vacant]; and encamps on the
Southeastern side of Dresden, at Gruna, behind the GREAT GARDEN;
ready to begin business on the morrow. Gruna, about a mile to
southeast of Dresden Walls, is head-quarter during this Siege.
"Through the night, the Prussians proceed to build batteries, the
best they can;--there is no right siege-artillery yet; a few
accidental howitzers and 25-pounders, the rest mere field-guns;--
but to-morrow morning, be as it may, business shall begin.
Prince von Holstein [nephew of the Holstein Beck, or "Holstein
SILVER-PLATE," whom we lost long ago], from beyond the River,
encamped at the White Hart yonder, is to play upon the
Neustadt simultaneously.
MONDAY 14th, "At 6 A.M., cannonade began; diligent on Holstein's
part and ours; but of inconsiderable effect. Maguire has been
summoned: 'Will [with such a garrison, in spite of such
trepidations from the Court and others] defend himself to the last
man.' Free-Corps people [not Quintus's, who is on the other side of
the River], [Tempelhof, v. 67.] with regulars to rear, advance on
the Pirna Gate; hurl in Maguire's Out-parties; and had near got in
along with them,--might have done so, they and their supports, it
is thought by some, had storm seemed the recommendable method.
"For four days there is livelier and livelier cannonading;
new batteries getting opened in the Moschinska Garden and other
points; on the Prussian part, great longing that the Magdeburg
artillery were here. The Prussians are making diligently ready for
it, in the mean while (refitting the old Trenches, 'old Envelope'
dug by Maguire himself in the Anti-Schmettau time; these will do
well enough):--the Prussians reinforce Holstein at the Weisse,
Hirsch, throw a new bridge across to him; and are busy day and
night. Maguire, too, is most industrious, resisting and preparing:
Thursday shuts up the Weistritz Brook (a dam being ready this long
while back, needing only to be closed), and lays the whole South
side of Dresden under water. Many rumors about Daun: coming, not
coming;--must for certain come, but will possibly be slowish."
FRIDAY 18th. "Joy to every Prussian soul: here are the heavy guns
from Magdeburg. These, at any rate, are come; beds for them all
ready; and now the cannonading can begin in right earnest. As it
does with a vengeance. To Mitchell, and perhaps others, 'the King
of Prussia says He will now be master of the Town in a few days.
And the disposition he has made of his troops on the other side of
the River is intended not only to attack Dresden on that side [and
defend himself from Daun], but also to prevent the Garrison from
retiring. ... This morning, Friday, 18th, the Suburb of Pirna, the
one street left of it, was set fire to, by Maguire; and burnt out
of the way, as the others had been. Many of the wretched
inhabitants had fled to our camp: "Let them lodge in Plauen, no
fighting there, quiet artificial water expanses there instead."
Many think the Town will not be taken; or that, if it should, it
will cost very dear,--so determined seems Maguire. [Mitchell, iii.
170, 171.] And, in effect, from this day onwards, the Siege became
altogether fierce, and not only so, but fiery as well; and, though
lasting in that violent form only four, or at the very utmost
seven, days more, had near ruined Dresden from the face of
the world."
SATURDAY, 19th, "Maguire, touched to the quick by these new
artilleries of the Prussians this morning, found good to mount a
gun or two on the leads of the Kreuz-Kirche [Protestant High
Church, where, before now, we have noticed Friedrich attending
quasi-divine service more than once];--that is to say, on the crown
of Dresden; from which there is view into the bottom of Friedrich's
trenches and operations. Others say, it was only two or three old
Saxon cannon, which stand there, for firing on gala-days; and that
they hardly fired on Friedrich more than once. For certain, this is
one of the desirablest battery-stations,--if only Friedrich will
leave it alone. Which he will not for a moment; but brings terrific
howitzers to bear on it; cannon-balls, grenadoes; tears it to
destruction, and the poor Kreuz-Kirche along with it.
Kirche speedily all in flames, street after street blazing up round
it, again and again for eight-and-forty hours coming;
hapless Dresden, during two days and nights, a mere volcano
henceforth." "By mistake all that, and without order of mine," says
Friedrich once;--meaning, I think, all that of the Kreuz-Kirche:
and perhaps wishing he could mean the bombardment altogether,
[Schoning, ii. 361 "To Prince Henri, at Giessen [Frankfurt
Country], 23d July, 1760."]--who nevertheless got, and gets, most
of the credit of the thing from a shocked outside world.
"This morning," same Saturday, 19th, "Daun is reported to have
arrived; vanguard of him said to be at Schonfeld, over in THIRSTY-
SWEETHEART Country yonder which Friedrich, going to reconnoitre,
finds tragically indisputable: 'There, for certain; only five miles
from Holstein's post at the WHITE HART, and no River between;--as
the crow flies, hardly five from our own Camp. Perhaps it will be
some days yet before he do anything?' So that Friedrich persists in
his bombardment, only the more: 'By fire-torture, then! Let the
bombarded Royalties assail Maguire, and Maguire give in;--it is our
one chance left; and succeed we will and must!' Cruel, say you?--
Ah, yes, cruel enough, not merciful at all. The soul of Friedrich,
I perceive, is not in a bright mood at this time, but in a black
and wrathful, worn almost desperate against the slings and arrows
of unjust Fate: 'Ahead, I say! If everybody will do miracles,
cannot we perhaps still manage it, in spite of Fate?'" Mitchell is
very sorry; but will forget and forgive those inexorable passages
of war.
"I cannot think of the bombardment of Dresden without horror," says
he; "nor of many other things I have seen. Misfortunes naturally
sour men's temper [even royal men's]; and long continued, without
interval, at last extinguish humanity." "We are now in a most
critical and dangerous situation, which cannot long last: one lucky
event, approaching to a miracle, may still save all: but the
extreme caution and circumspection of Marshal Daun--!" [Mitchell,
ii. 184, 185.]
If Daun could be swift, and end the miseries of Dresden, surely
Dresden would be much obliged to him. It was ten days yet, after
that of the Kreuz-Kirche, before Dresden quite got rid of its
Siege: Daun never was a sudden man. By a kind of accident, he got
Holstein hustled across the River that first night (July 19th),--
not annihilated, as was very feasible, but pushed home, out of his
way. Whereby the North side of Dresden is now open; and Daun has
free communication with Maguire.
Maguire rose thereupon to a fine pitch of spirits; tried several
things, and wished Daun to try; but with next to no result. For two
days after Holstein's departure, Daun sat still, on his safe
Northern shore; stirring nothing but his own cunctations and
investigations, leaving the bombardment, or cannonade, to take its
own course. One attempt he did make in concert with Maguire (night
of Monday 21st), and one attempt only, of a serious nature;
which, like the rest, was unsuccessful. And would not be worth
mentioning,--except for the poor Regiment BERNBURG'S sake;
Bernburg having got into strange case in consequence of it.
"This Attempt [night of 21st-22d July] was a combined sally and
assault--Sally by Maguire's people, a General Nugent heading them,
from the South or Plauen side of Dresden, and Assault by 4,000 of
Daun's from the North side--upon Friedrich's Trenches. Which are to
be burst in upon in this double way, and swept well clear, as may
be expected. Friedrich, however, was aware of the symptoms, and had
people ready waiting,--especially, had Regiment BERNBURG,
Battalions 1st and 2d; a Regiment hitherto without stain.
"Bernburg accordingly, on General Nugent's entering their trenches
from the south side, falls altogether heartily on General Nugent;
tumbles him back, takes 200 prisoners, Nudent himself one of them
[who is considered to have been the eye of the enterprise, worth
many hundreds this night] all this Bernburg, in its usually
creditable manner, does, as expected of it. But after, or during
all this, when the Dann people from the north come streaming in,
say four to one, both south and north, Bernburg looked round for
support; and seeing none, had, after more or less of struggle, to
retire as a defeated Bernburg,--Austrians taking the battery, and
ruling supreme there for some time. Till Wedell, or somebody with
fresh Battalions, came up; and, rallying Bernburg to him, retook
their Battery, and drove out the Austrians, with a heavy loss
of prisoners. [Tempelhof, iv. 79.]
"I did not hear that Bernburg's conduct was liable to the least
fair censure. But Friedrich's soul is severe at this time;
demanding miracles from everybody: 'You runaway Bernburg, shame on
you!'--and actually takes the swords from them, and cuts off their
Hat-tresses: 'There!' Which excited such an astonishment in the
Prussian Army as was seldom seen before. And affected Bernburg to
the length almost of despair, and breaking of heart,--in a way that
is not ridiculous to me at all, but beautiful and pathetic.
Of which there is much talk, now and long afterwards, in military
circles. 'The sorrows of these poor Bernburgers, their desperate
efforts to wash out this stigma, their actual washing of it out,
not many weeks hence, and their magnificent joy on the occasion,--
these are the one distinguishing point in Daun's relief of Dresden,
which was otherwise quite a cunctatory, sedentary matter."
Daun built three Bridges,--he had a broad stone one already,--but
did little or nothing with them; and never himself came across at
all. Merely shot out nocturnal Pandour Parties, and ordered up Lacy
and the Reichsfolk to do the like, and break the night's rest of
his Enemy. He made minatory movements, one at least, down the
River, by his own shore, on Friedrich's Ammunition-Boats from
Torgau, and actually intercepted certain of them, which was
something; but, except this, and vague flourishings of the Pandour
kind, left Friedrich to his own course.
Friedrich bombarded for a day or two farther; cannonaded, out of
more or fewer batteries, for eight, or I think ten days more.
Attacks from Daun there were to be, now on this side, now on that;
many rumors of attack, but, except once only (midnight Pandours
attempting the King's lodging, "a Farm-house near Gruna," but to
their astonishment rousing the whole Prussian Army "in the course
of three minutes" [Archenholtz, ii. 81 (who is very vivid, but does
not date); Rodenbeck, ii. 24 (quotes similar account by another
Eye-witness, and guesses it to be "night of July 22d-23d").]),
rumor was mainly all. For guarding his siege-lines, Friedrich has
to alter his position; to shift slightly, now fronting this way,
now the other way; is "called always at midnight" (against these
nocturnal disturbances), and "never has his clothes off."
Nevertheless, continues his bombardment, and then his cannonading,
till his own good time, which I think is till the 26th.
His "ricochet-battery," which is good against Maguire's people,
innocent to Dresden, he continued for three days more;--while
gathering his furnitures about Plauen Country, making his
arrangements at Meissen;--did not march till the night of June
29th. Altogether calmly; no Daun or Austrian molesting him in the
least; his very sentries walking their rounds in the trenches till
daylight; after which they also marched, unmolested, Meissen-ward.
Unfortunate Friedrich has made nothing of Dresden, then. After such
a June and July of it, since he left the Meissen Country; after all
these intricate manoeuvrings, hot fierce marchings and superhuman
exertions, here is he returning to Meissen Country poorer than if
he had stayed. Fouquet lost, Glatz unrelieved--Nay, just before
marching off, what is this new phenomenon? Is this by way of "Happy
journey to you!" Towards sunset of the 29th, exuberant joy-firing
rises far and wide from the usually quiet Austrian lines,--"Meaning
what, once more?" Meaning that Glatz is lost, your Majesty; that,
instead of a siege of many weeks (as might have been expected with
Fouquet for Commandant), it has held out, under Fouquet's Second,
only a few hours; and is gone without remedy! Certain, though
incredible. Imbecile Commandant, treacherous Garrison (Austrian
deserters mainly), with stealthy Jesuits acting on them: no use
asking what. Here is the sad Narrative, in succinct form.
CAPTURE OF GLATZ (26th July, 1760).
"Loudon is a swift man, when he can get bridle; but the curb-hand
of Daun is often heavy on him. Loudon has had Glatz blockaded since
June 7th; since June 23d he has had Fouquet rooted away, and the
ground clear for a Siege of Glatz. But had to abstain altogether,
in the mean time; to take camp at Landshut, to march and manoeuvre
about, in support of Daun, and that heavy-footed gallop of Daun's
which then followed: on the whole, it was not till Friedrich went
for Dresden that the Siege-Artillery, from Olmutz, could be ordered
forward upon Glatz; not for a fortnight more that the Artillery
could come; and, in spite of Loudon's utmost despatch, not till
break of day, July 26th, that the batteries could open.
After which, such was Loudon's speed and fortune,--and so diligent
had the Jesuits been in those seven weeks,--the 'Siege,' as they
call it, was over in less than seven hours.
"One Colonel D'O [Piedmontese by nation, an incompetent person,
known to loud Trenck during his detention here] was Commandant of
Glatz, and had the principal Fortress,--for there are two, one on
each side the Neisse River;--his Second was a Colonel Quadt, by
birth Prussian, seemingly not very competent he either, who had
command of the Old Fortress, round which lies the Town of Glatz:
a little Town, abounding in Jesuits;--to whose Virgin, if readers
remember, Friedrich once gave a new gown; with small effect on her,
as would appear. The Quadt-D'O garrison was 2,400,--and, if tales
are true, it had been well bejesuited during those seven weeks.
[ OEuvres de Frederic, v. 55.] At four in the
morning, July 26th) the battering began on Quadt; Quadt, I will
believe, responding what he could,--especially from a certain
Arrowhead Redoubt (or FLECHE) he has, which ought to have been
important to him. After four or five hours of this, there was
mutual pause,--as if both parties had decided upon breakfast before
going farther.
"Quadt's Fortress is very strong, mostly hewn in the rock; and he
has that important outwork of a FLECHE; which is excellent for
enfilading, as it extends well beyond the glacis; and, being of
rock like the rest, is also abundantly defensible. Loudon's people,
looking over into this FLECHE, find it negligently guarded;
Quadt at breakfast, as would seem:--and directly send for Harsch,
Captain of the Siege, and even for Loudon, the General-in-Chief.
Negligently guarded, sure enough; nothing in the FLECHE but a few
sentries, and these in the horizontal position, taking their
unlawful rest there, after such a morning's work. 'Seize me that,'
eagerly orders Loudon; 'hold that with firm grip!' Which is done;
only to step in softly, two battalions of you, and lay hard hold.
Incompetent Quadt, figure in what a flurry, rushing out to
recapture his FLECHE,--explodes instead into mere anarchy, whole
Companies of him flinging down their arms at their Officers' feet,
and the like. So that Quadt is totally driven in again, Austrians
along with him; and is obliged to beat chamade;--D'O following the
example, about an hour after, without even a capitulation.
Was there ever seen such a defence! Major Unruh, one of a small
minority, was Prussian, and stanch; here is Unruh's personal
experience,--testimony on D'O's Trial, I suppose,--and now pretty
much the one thing worth reading on this subject.
"MAJOR ULZRUH TESTIFIES: 'At four in the morning, 26th July, 1760,
the Enemy began to cannonade the Old Fortress [that of Quadt];
and about nine, I was ordered with 150 men to clear the Envelope
from Austrians. Just when I had got to the Damm-Gate, halt was
called. I asked the Commandant, who was behind me, which way I
should march; to the Crown-work or to the Envelope? Being answered,
To the Envelope, I found on coming out at the Field-Gate nothing
but an Austrian Lieutenant-colonel and some men. He called to me,
"There had been chamade beaten, and I was not to run into
destruction (MICH UNGLUCKLICH MACHEN)!" I offered him Quarter;
and took him in effect prisoner, with 20 of his best men; and sent
him to the Commandant, with request that he would keep my rear
free, or send me reinforcement. I shot the Enemy a great many
people here; chased him from the Field-Gate, and out of both the
Envelope and the Redoubt called the Crane [that is the FLECHE
itself, only that the Austrians are mostly not now there, but gone
THROUGH into the interior there!]--Returning to the Field-Gate, I
found that the Commandant had beaten chamade a second time;
there were marching in, by this Field-Gate, two battalions of the
Austrian Regiment ANDLAU; I had to yield myself prisoner, and was
taken to General Loudon. He asked me, "Don't you know the rules of
war, then; that you fire after chamade is beaten?" I answered in my
heat, "I knew of no chamade; what poltroonery or what treachery had
been going on, I knew not!" Loudon answered, "You might deserve to
have your head laid at your feet, Sir! Am I here to inquire which
of you shows bravery, which poltroonery?"' [Seyfarth, ii. 652.]
A blazing Loudon, when the fire is up!"--
After the Peace, D'O had Court-Martial, which sentenced him to
death, Friedrich making it perpetual imprisonment: "Perhaps not a
traitor, only a blockhead!" thought Friedrich. He had been
recommended to his post by Fouquet. What Trenck writes of him is,
otherwise, mostly lies.
Thus is the southern Key of Silesia (one of the two southern Keys,
Neisse being the other) lost to Friedrich, for the first time;
and Loudon is like to drive a trade there; "Will absolutely nothing
prosper with us, then?" Nothing, seemingly, your Majesty!
Heavier news Friedrich scarcely ever had. But there is no help.
This too he has to carry with him as he can into the Meissen
Country. Unsuccessful altogether; beaten on every hand.
Human talent, diligence, endeavor, is it but as lightning smiting
the Serbonian Bog? Smite to the last, your Majesty, at any rate;
let that be certain. As it is, and has been. That is always
something, that is always a great thing.
Friedrich intends no pause in those Meissen Countries. JULY 30th,
on his march northward, he detaches Hulsen with the old 10,000 to
take Camp at Schlettau as before, and do his best for defence of
Saxony against the Reichsfolk, numerous, but incompetent;
he himself, next day, passes on, leaving Meissen a little on his
right, to Schieritz, some miles farther down,--intending there to
cross Elbe, and make for Silesia without loss of an hour.
Need enough of speed thither; more need than even Friedrich
supposes! Yesterday, July 30th, Loudon's Vanguard came blockading
Breslau, and this day Loudon himself;--though Friedrich heard
nothing, anticipated nothing, of that dangerous fact, for a week
hence or more.
Soltikof's and Loudon's united intentions on Silesia he has well
known this long while; and has been perpetually dunning Prince
Henri on the subject, to no purpose,--only hoping always there
would probably be no great rapidity on the part of these discordant
Allies. Friedrich's feelings, now that the contrary is visible, and
indeed all through the Summer in regard to the Soltikof-Loudon
Business, and the Fouquet-Henri method of dealing with it, have
been painful enough, and are growing ever more so. Cautious Henri
never would make the smallest attack on Soltikof, but merely keep
observing him;--the end of which, what can the end of it be? urges
Friedrich always: "Condense yourselves; go in upon the Russians,
while they are in separate corps;"--and is very ill-satisfied with
the languor of procedures there. As is the Prince with such
reproaches, or implied reproaches, on said languor. Nor is his
humor cheered, when the King's bad predictions prove true. What has
it come to? These Letters of King and Prince are worth reading,--if
indeed you can, in the confusion of Schoning (a somewhat exuberant
man, loud rather than luminous);--so curious is the Private
Dialogue going on there at all times, in the background of the
stage, between the Brothers. One short specimen, extending through
the June and July just over,--specimen distilled faithfully out of
that huge jumbling sea of Schaning, and rendered legible,--the
reader will consent to.
DIALOGUE OF FRIEDRICH AND HENRI
(from their Private Correspondence: June 7th-July 29th, 1760).
FRIEDRICH (June 7th; before his first crossing Elbe: Henri at
Sagan; he at Schlettau, scanning the waste of fatal possibilities).
... Embarrassing? Not a doubt, of that! "I own, the circumstances
both of us are in are like to turn my head, three or four times a
day." Loudon aiming for Neisse, don't you think? Fouquet all in the
wrong.--"One has nothing for it but to watch where the likelihood
of the biggest misfortune is, and to run thither with one's
whole strength."
henri ... "I confess I am in great apprehension for Colberg:"--
shall one make thither; think you? Russians, 8,000 as the first
instalment of them, have ARRIVED; got to Posen under Fermor, June
1st:--so the Commandant of Glogau writes me (see enclosed).
FRIEDRICH (June 9th). Commandant of Glogau writes impossibilities:
Russians are not on march yet, nor will be for above a week.
"I cross Elbe, the 15th. I am compelled to undertake something of
decisive nature, and leave the rest to chance. For desperate
disorders desperate remedies. My bed is not one of roses.
Heaven aid us: for human prudence finds itself fall short in
situations so cruel and desperate as ours." [Schoning, ii. 313
("Meissen Camp, 7th June, 1760"); ib. ii. 317 ("9th June").]
HENRI. Hm, hm, ha (Nothing but carefully collected rumors, and
wire-drawn auguries from them, on the part of Henri; very intense
inspection of the chicken-bowels,--hardly ever without a shake of
the head).
FRIEDRICH (June 26th; has heard of the Fouquet disaster). ...
"Yesterday my heart was torn to pieces [news of Landshut, Fouquet's
downfall there], and I felt too sad to be in a state for writing
you a sensible Letter; but to-day, when I have come to myself a
little again, I will send you my reflections. After what has
happened to Fouquet, it is certain Loudon can have no other design
but on Breslau [he designs Glatz first of all]: it will be the
grand point, therefore, especially if the Russians too are bending
thither, to save that Capital of Silesia. Surely the Turks must be
in motion:--if so, we are saved; if not so, we are lost! To-day I
have taken this Camp of Dobritz, in order to be more collected, and
in condition to fight well, should occasion rise,--and in case all
this that is said and written to me about the Turks is TRUE [which
nothing of it was], to be able to profit by it when the time
comes." [Schoning, ii. 341 ("Gross-Dobritz, 26th June, 1760").]
HENRI (simultaneously, June 26th: Henri is forward from Sagan,
through Frankfurt, and got settled at Landsberg, where he remains
through the rest of the Dialogue). ... Tottleben, with his
Cossacks, scouring about, got a check from us,--nothing like
enough. "By all my accounts, Soltikof, with the gross of the
Russians, is marching for Posen. The other rumors and symptoms
agree in indicating a separate Corps, under Fermor, who is to join
Tottleben, and besiege Colberg: if both these Corps, the Colberg
and the Posen one, act, in concert, my embarrassment will be
extreme. ... I have just had news of what has befallen General
Fouquet. Before this stroke, your affairs were desperate enough;
now I see but too well what we have to look for." [Ib. ii. 339
("Landsberg, 26th June, 1760").] (How comforting!)
FRIEDRICH. "Would to God your prayers for the swift capture of
Dresden had been heard; but unfortunately I must tell you, this
stroke has failed me. ... Dresden has been reduced to ashes, third
part of the Altstadt lying burnt;--contrary to my intentions: my
orders were, To spare the City, and play the Artillery against
the works. My Minister Graf von Finck will have told you what
occasioned its being set on fire." [Schoning, ii. 361
("2d-3d July").]
HENRI (July 26th; Dresden Siege gone awry). ... "I am to keep the
Russians from Frankfurt, to cover Glogau, and prevent a besieging
of Breslau! All that forms an overwhelming problem;--which I, with
my whole heart, will give up to somebody abler for it than I am."
[Ib. ii. 369-371 ("Landsherg, 26th July").]
FRIEDRICH (29th July; quits the Trenches of Dresden this night).
... "I have seen with pain that you represent everything to
yourself on the black side. I beg you, in the name of God, my
dearest Brother, don't take things up in their blackest and worst
shape:--it is this that throws your mind into such an indecision,
which is so lamentable. Adopt a resolution rather, what resolution
you like, but stand by it, and execute it with your whole strength.
I conjure you, take a fixed resolution; better a bad than none at
all. ... What is possible to man, I will do; neither care nor
consideration nor effort shall be spared, to secure the result of
my plans. The rest depends on circumstances. Amid such a number of
enemies, one cannot always do what one will, but must let them
prescribe." [Ib. ii. 370-372 ("Leubnitz, before Dresden, 29th
July, 1760").]
An uncomfortable little Gentleman; but full of faculty, if one can
manage to get good of it! Here, what might have preceded all the
above, and been preface to it, is a pretty passage from him;
a glimpse he has had of Sans-Souci, before setting out on those
gloomy marchings and cunctatory hagglings. Henri writes (at Torgau,
April 26th, just back from Berlin and farewell of friends):--
"I mean to march the day after to-morrow. I took arrangements with
General Fouquet [about that long fine-spun Chain of Posts, where we
are to do such service?]--the Black Hussars cannot be here till
to-morrow, otherwise I should have marched a day sooner. My Brother
[poor little invalid Ferdinand] charged me to lay him at your feet.
I found him weak and thin, more so than formerly. Returning hither,
the day before yesterday, I passed through Potsdam; I went to
Sans-Souci [April 24th, 1760]:--all is green there; the Garden
embellished, and seemed to me excellently kept. Though these
details cannot occupy you at present, I thought it would give you
pleasure to hear of them for a moment." [Schoning, ii. 233
("Torgau, 26th April, 1760").] Ah, yes; all is so green and
blessedly silent there: sight of the lost Paradise, actually IT,
visible for a moment yonder, far away, while one goes whirling in
this manner on the illimitable wracking winds!--
Here finally, from a distant part of the War-Theatre, is another
Note; which we will read while Friedrich is at Schieritz. At no
other place so properly; the very date of it, chief date (July
31st), being by accident synchronous with Schieritz:--
DUKE FERDINAND'S BATTLE OF WARBURG (31st July, 1760).
Duke Ferdinand has opened his difficult Campaign; and especially--
just while that Siege of Dresden blazed and ended--has had three
sharp Fights, which were then very loud in the Gazettes, along with
it. Three once famous Actions; which unexpectedly had little or no
result, and are very much forgotten now. So that bare enumeration
of them is nearly all we are permitted here. Pitt has furnished
7,000 new English, this Campaign,--there are now 20,000 English in
all, and a Duke Ferdinand raised to 70,000 men. Surely, under good
omens, thinks Pitt; and still more think the Gazetteers, judging by
appearances. Yes: but if Broglio have 130,000, what will it come
to? Broglio is two to one; and has, before this, proved himself a
considerable Captain.
Fight FIRST is that of KORBACH (July 10th): of Broglio, namely, who
has got across the River Ohm in Hessen (to Ferdinand's great
disgust with the General Imhof in command there), and is streaming
on to seize the Diemel River, and menace Hanover; of Broglio, in
successive sections, at a certain "Pass of Korbach," VERSUS the
Hereditary Prince (ERBPRINZ of Brunswick), who is waiting for him
there in one good section,--and who beautifully hurls back one and
another of the Broglio sections; but cannot hurl back the whole
Broglio Army, all marching by sections that way; and has to retire,
back foremost, fencing sharply, still in a diligently handsome
manner, though with loss. [Mauvillon, ii. 105.] That is the Battle
of Korbach, fought July 10th,--while Lacy streamed through Dresden,
panting to be at Plauen Chasm, safe at last.
Fight SECOND (July 16th) was a kind of revenge on the Erbprinz's
part: Affair of EMSDORF, six days after, in the same neighborhood;
beautiful too, said the Gazetteers; but of result still more
insignificant. Hearing of a considerable French Brigade posted not
far off, at that Village of Emsdorf, to guard Broglio's meal-carts
there, the indignant Erbprinz shoots off for that; light of
foot,--English horse mainly, and Hill Scots (BERG-SCHOTTEN so
called, who have a fine free stride, in summer weather);--dashes in
upon said Brigade (Dragoons of Bauffremont and other picked men),
who stood firmly on the defensive; but were cut up, in an amazing
manner, root and branch, after a fierce struggle, and as it were
brought home in one's pocket. To the admiration of military
circles,--especially of mess-rooms and the junior sort. "Elliot's
light horse [part of the new 7,000], what a regiment! Unparalleled
for willingness, and audacity of fence; lost 125 killed,"--in fact,
the loss chiefly fell on Elliot. [Ib. ii. 109 (Prisoners got "were
2,661, including General and Officers 179," with all their
furnitures whatsoever, "400 horses, 8 cannon," &c.).] The BERG-
SCHOTTEN too,--I think it was here that these kilted fellows,
who had marched with such a stride, "came home mostly riding:" poor
Beauffremont Dragoons being entirely cut up, or pocketed as
prisoners, and their horses ridden in this unexpected manner!
But we must not linger,--hardly even on WARBURG, which was the
THIRD and greatest; and has still points of memorability, though
now so obliterated.
"Warburg," says my Note on this latter, "is a pleasant little
Hessian Town, some twenty-five miles west of Cassel, standing on
the north or left bank of the Diemel, among fruitful knolls and
hollows. The famous 'BATTLE OF WARBURG,'--if you try to inquire in
the Town itself, from your brief railway-station, it is much if
some intelligent inhabitant, at last, remembers to have heard of
it! The thing went thus: Chevalier du Muy, who is Broglio's Rear-
guard or Reserve, 30,000 foot and horse, with his back to the
Diemel, and eight bridges across it in case of accident, has his
right flank leaning on Warburg, and his left on a Village of
Ossendorf, some two miles to northwest of that. Broglio, Prince
Xavier of Saxony, especially Duke Ferdinand, are all vehemently and
mysteriously moving about, since that Fight of Korbach;
Broglio intent to have Cassel besieged, Du Muy keeping the Diemel
for him; Ferdinand eager to have the Diemel back from Du Muy
and him.
"Two days ago (July 29th), the Erbprinz crossed over into these
neighborhoods, with a strong Vanguard, nearly equal to Du Muy;
and, after studious reconnoitring and survey had, means, this
morning (July 31st), to knock him over the Diemel again, if he can.
No time to be lost; Broglio near and in such force. Duke Ferdinand
too, quitting Broglio for a moment, is on march this way;
crossed the Diemel, about midnight, some ten miles farther down, or
eastward; will thence bend southward, at his best speed, to support
the Erbprinz, if necessary, and beset the Diemel when got;--
Erbprinz not, however, in any wise, to wait for him; such the
pressure from Broglio and others. A most busy swift-going scene
that morning;--hardly worth such describing at this date of time.
"The Erbprinz, who is still rather to northeastward, that is to
rightward, not directly frontward, of Du Muy's lines; and whose
plan of attack is still dark to Du Muy, commences [about 8 A.M., I
should guess] by launching his British Legion so called,--which is
a composite body, of Free-Corps nature, British some of it
('Colonel Beckwith's people,' for example), not British by much the
most of it, but an aggregate of wild strikers, given to plunder
too:--by launching his British Legion upon Warburg Town, there to
take charge of Du Muy's right wing. Which Legion, 'with great
rapidity, not only pitched the French all out, but clean plundered
the poor Town;' and is a sad sore on Du Muy's right, who cannot
get it attended to, in the ominous aspects elsewhere visible.
For the Erbprinz, who is a strategic creature, comes on, in the
style of Friedrich, not straight towards Du Muy, but sweeps out in
two columns round northward; privately intending upon Du Muy's left
wing and front--left wing, right wing, (by British Legion), and
front, all three;--and is well aided by a mist which now fell, and
which hung on the higher ground, and covered his march, for an hour
or more. This mist had not begun when he saw, on the knoll-tops,
far off on the right, but indisputable as he flattered himself,
--something of Ferdinand emerging! Saw this; and pours along, we
can suppose, with still better step and temper. And bursts, pretty
simultaneously, upon Du Muy's right wing and left wing, coercing
his front the while; squelches both these wings furiously together;
forces the coerced centre, mostly horse, to plunge back into the
Diemel, and swim. Horse could swim; but many of the Foot, who
tried, got drowned. And, on the whole, Du Muy is a good deal
wrecked [1,600 killed, 2,000 prisoners, not to speak of cannon
and flags], and, but for his eight bridges, would have been
totally ruined.
"The fight was uncommonly furious, especially on Du Muy's left;
'Maxwell's Brigade' going at it, with the finest bayonet-practice,
musketry, artillery-practice; obstinate as bears. On Du Muy's
right, the British Legion, left wing, British too by name, had a
much easier job. But the fight generally was of hot and stubborn
kind, for hours, perhaps two or more;--and some say, would not have
ended so triumphantly, had it not been for Duke Ferdinand's
Vanguard, Lord Granby and the English Horse; who, warned by the
noise ahead, pushed on at the top of their speed, and got in before
the death. Granby and the Blues had gone at the high trot, for
above five miles; and, I doubt not, were in keen humor when they
rose to the gallop and slashed in. Mauvillon says, 'It was in this
attack that Lord Granby, at the head of the Blues, his own
regiment, had his hat blown off; a big bald circle in his head
rendering the loss more conspicuous. But he never minded; stormed
still on,' bare bald head among the helmets and sabres; 'and made
it very evident that had he, instead of Sackville, led at Minden,
there had been a different story to tell. The English, by their
valor,' adds he, 'greatly distinguished themselves this day.
And accordingly they suffered by far the most; their loss amounting
to 590 men:' or, as others count,--out of 1,200 killed and wounded,
800 were English." [Mauvillon, ii. 114. Or better, in all these
three cases, as elsewhere, Tempelhof's specific Chapter on
Ferdinand (Tempelhof, iv. 101-122). Ferdinand's Despatch (to King
George), in Knesebeck, ii. 96-98;--or in the
Old Newspapers ( Gentleman's Magazine, xxx.
386, 387), where also is Lord Granby's Despatch.]
This of Granby and the bald head is mainly what now renders Warburg
memorable. For, in a year or two, the excellent Reynolds did a
Portrait of Granby; and by no means forgot this incident; but gives
him bare-headed, bare and bald; the oblivious British connoisseur
not now knowing why, as perhaps he ought. The portrait, I suppose,
may be in Belvoir Castle; the artistic Why of the baldness is this
BATTLE OF WARBURG, as above. An Affair otherwise of no moment.
Ferdinand had soon to quit the Diemel, or to find it useless for
him, and to try other methods,--fencing gallantly, but too weak for
Broglio; and, on the whole, had a difficult Campaign of it, against
that considerable Soldier with forces so superior.
Chapter III.
BATTLE OF LIEGNITZ.
Friedrich stayed hardly one day in Neissen Country; Silesia, in the
jaws of destruction, requiring such speed from him. His new Series
of Marches thitherward, for the next two weeks especially, with
Daun and Lacy, and at last with Loudon too, for escort, are still
more singular than the foregoing; a fortnight of Soldier History
such as is hardly to be paralleled elsewhere. Of his inward gloom
one hears nothing. But the Problem itself approaches to the
desperate; needing daily new invention, new audacity, with imminent
destruction overhanging it throughout. A March distinguished in
Military Annals;--but of which it is not for us to pretend
treating. Military readers will find it in TEMPELHOF, and the
supplementary Books from time to time cited here. And, for our own
share, we can only say, that Friedrich's labors strike us as
abundantly Herculean; more Alcides-like than ever,--the rather as
hopes of any success have sunk lower than ever. A modern Alcides,
appointed to confront Tartarus itself, and be victorious over the
Three-headed Dog. Daun, Lacy, Loudon coming on you simultaneously,
open-mouthed, are a considerable Tartarean Dog! Soldiers judge that
the King's resources of genius were extremely conspicuous on this
occasion; and to all men it is in evidence that seldom in the Arena
of this Universe, looked on by the idle Populaces and by the
eternal Gods and Antigods (called Devils), did a Son of Adam fence
better for himself, now and throughout.
This, his Third march to Silesia in 1760, is judged to be the most
forlorn and ominous Friedrich ever made thither; real peril, and
ruin to Silesia and him, more imminent than even in the old Leuthen
days. Difficulties, complicacies very many, Friedrich can foresee:
a Daun's Army and a Lacy's for escort to us; and such a Silesia
when we do arrive. And there is one complicacy more which he does
not yet know of; that of Loudon waiting ahead to welcome him, on
crossing the Frontier, and increase his escort thenceforth!--Or
rather, let us say, Friedrich, thanks to the despondent Henri and
others, has escaped a great Silesian Calamity;--of which he will
hear, with mixed emotions, on arriving at Bunzlau on the Silesian
Frontier, six days after setting out. Since the loss of Glatz (July
26th), Friedrich has no news of Loudon; supposes him to be trying
something upon Neisse, to be adjusting with his slow Russians;
and, in short, to be out of the dismal account-current just at
present. That is not the fact in regard to Loudon; that is far from
the fact.
LOUDON IS TRYING A STROKE-OF-HAND ON BRESLAU, IN THE
GLATZ FASHION, IN THE INTERIM (July 30th-August 3d).
Hardly above six hours after taking Glatz, swift Loudon, no Daun
now tethering him (Daun standing, or sitting, "in relief of
Dresden" far off), was on march for Breslau--Vanguard of him
"marched that same evening (July 26th):" in the liveliest hope of
capturing Breslau; especially if Soltikof, to whom this of Glatz
ought to be a fine symbol and pledge, make speed to co-operate.
Soltikof is in no violent enthusiasm about Glatz; anxious rather
about his own Magazine at Posen, and how to get it carted out of
Henri's way, in case of our advancing towards some Silesian Siege.
"If we were not ruined last year, it was n't Daun's fault!" growls
he often; and Montalembert has need of all his suasive virtues
(which are wonderful to look at, if anybody cared to look at them,
all flung into the sea in this manner) for keeping the barbarous
man in any approach to harmony. The barbarous man had, after haggle
enough, adjusted himself for besieging Glogau; and is surly to
hear, on the sudden (order from Petersburg reinforcing Loudon),
that it is Breslau instead. "Excellenz, it is not Cunctator Daun
this time, it is fiery Loudon." "Well, Breslau, then!" answers
Soltikof at last, after much suasion. And marches thither;
[Tempelhof, iv. 87-89 ("Rose from Posen, July 26th").] faster than
usual, quickened by new temporary hopes, of Montalembert's raising
or one's own: "What a place-of-arms, and place of victual, would
Breslau be for us, after all!"
And really mends his pace, mends it ever more, as matters grow
stringent; and advances upon Breslau at his swiftest:
"To rendezvous with Loudon under the walls there,--within the walls
very soon, and ourselves chief proprietor!"--as may be hoped.
Breslau has a garrison of 4,000, only 1,000 of them stanch;
and there are, among other bad items, 9,000 Austrian Prisoners in
it. A big City with weak walls: another place to defend than rock-
hewn little Glatz,--if there be no better than a D'O for Commandant
in it! But perhaps there is.
"WEDNESDAY, 30th JULY, Loudon's Vanguard arrived at Breslau;
next day Loudon himself;--and besieged Breslau very violently,
according to his means, till the Sunday following. Troops he has
plenty, 40,000 odd, which he gives out for 50 or even 60,000;
not to speak of Soltikof, 'with 75,000' (read 45,000), striding on
in a fierce and dreadful manner to meet him here. 'Better surrender
to Christian Austrians, had not you?' Loudon's Artillery is not
come up, it is only struggling on from Glatz; Soltikof of his own
has no Siege-Artillery; and Loudon judges that heavy-footed
Soltikof, waited on by an alert Prince Henri, is a problematic
quantity in this enterprise. 'Speedy oneself; speedy and fiery!'
thinks Loudon: 'by violence of speed, of bullying and bombardment,
perhaps we can still do it!' And Loudon tried all these things to a
high stretch; but found in Tauentzien the wrong man.
"THURSDAY, 3lst, Loudon, who has two bridges over Oder, and the
Town begirt all round, summons Tauentzien in an awful sounding
tone: 'Consider, Sir: no defence possible; a trading Town, you
ought not to attempt defence of it: surrender on fair terms, or I
shall, which God forbid, be obliged to burn you and it from the
face of the world!' 'Pooh, pooh,' answers Tauentzien, in brief
polite terms; 'you yourselves had no doubt it was a Garrison, when
we besieged you here, on the heel of Leuthen; had you? Go to!'--
Fiery Loudon cannot try storm, the Town having Oder and a wet ditch
round it. He gets his bombarding batteries forward, as the one
chance he has, aided by bullying. And to-morrow,
"FRIDAY, AUGUST 1st, sends, half officially, half in the friendly
way, dreadful messages again: a warning to the Mayor of Breslau
(which was not signed by Loudon), 'Death and destruction, Sir,
unless'--!--warning to the Mayor; and, by the same private half-
official messenger, a new summons to Tauentzien: 'Bombardment
infallible; universal massacre by Croats; I will not spare the
child in its mother's womb.' 'I am not with child,' said
Tauentzien, 'nor are my soldiers! What is the use of such talk?'
And about 10 that night, Loudon does accordingly break out into all
the fire of bombardment he is master of. Kindles the Town in
various places, which were quenched again by Tauentzien's
arrangements; kindles especially the King's fine Dwelling-house
(Palace they call it), and adjacent streets, not quenchable till
Palace and they are much ruined. Will this make no impression?
Far too little.
"Next morning Loudon sends a private messenger of conciliatory
tone: 'Any terms your Excellency likes to name. Only spare me the
general massacre, and child in the mother's womb!' From all which
Tauentzien infers that you are probably short of ammunition;
and that his outlooks are improving. That day he gets guns brought
to bear on General Loudon's own quarter; blazes into Loudon's
sitting-room, so that Loudon has to shift else-whither.
No bombardment ensues that night; nor next day anything but
desultory cannonading, and much noise and motion;--and at night,
SUNDAY, 3d, everything falls quiet, and, to the glad amazement of
everybody, Loudon has vanished." [Tempelhof, iv. 90-100;
Archenholtz, ii. 89-94; HOFBERICHT VON DER BELAGERUNG VON BRESLAU
IM AUGUST 1760 (in Seyfarth, Beylagen,
ii. 688-698); also in Helden-Geschichte,
vi. 299-309: in Anonymous of Hamburg
(iv. 115-124), that is, in the OLD NEWSPAPERS, extremely particular
account, How "not only the finest Horse in Breslau, and the finest
House [King's Palace], but the handsomest Man, and, alas, also the
prettiest Girl [poor Jungfer Muller, shattered by a bomb-shell on
the streets], were destroyed in this short Siege,"--world-famous
for the moment. Preuss, ii. 246.]
Loudon had no other shift left. This Sunday his Russians are still
five days distant; alert Henri, on the contrary, is, in a sense,
come to hand. Crossed the Katzbach River this day, the Vanguard of
him did, at Parchwitz; and fell upon our Bakery; which has had to
take the road. "Guard the Bakery, all hands there," orders Loudon;
"off to Striegau and the Hills with it;"--and is himself gone
thither after it, leaving Breslau, Henri and the Russians to what
fate may be in store for them. Henri has again made one of his
winged marches, the deft creature, though the despondent; "march of
90 miles in three days [in the last three, from Glogau, 90; in the
whole, from Landsberg, above 200], and has saved the State," says
Retzow. "Made no camping, merely bivouacked; halting for a rest
four or five hours here and there;" [Retzow, ii. 230 (very vague);
in Tempelhof (iv. 89, 90, 95-97) clear and specific account.] and
on August 5th is at Lissa (this side the Field of Leuthen);
making Breslau one of the gladdest of cities.
So that Soltikof, on arriving (village of Hundsfeld, August 8th),
by the other side of the River, finds Henri's advanced guards
intrenched over there, in Old Oder; no Russian able to get within
five miles of Breslau,--nor able to do more than cannonade in the
distance, and ask with indignation, "Where are the siege-guns,
then; where is General Loudon? Instead of Breslau capturable, and a
sure Magazine for us, here is Henri, and nothing but steel to eat!"
And the Soltikof risen into Russian rages, and the Montalembert
sunk in difficulties: readers can imagine these.
Indignant Soltikof, deaf to suasion, with this dangerous Henri in
attendance, is gradually edging back; always rather back, with an
eye to his provisions, and to certain bogs and woods he knows of.
But we will leave the Soltikof-Henri end of the line, for the
opposite end, which is more interesting.--To Friedrich, till he got
to Silesia itself, these events are totally unknown. His cunctatory
Henri, by this winged march, when the moment came, what a service
has he done!--
Tauentzien's behavior, also, has been superlative at Breslau;
and was never forgotten by the King. A very brave man, testifies
Lessing of him; true to the death: "Had there come but three, to
rally with the King under a bush of the forest, Tauentzien would
have been one." Tauentzien was on the ramparts once, in this
Breslau pinch, giving orders; a bomb burst beside him, did not
injure him. "Mark that place," said Tauentzien; and clapt his hat
on it, continuing his orders, till a more permanent mark were put.
In that spot, as intended through the next thirty years, he now
lies buried. [ Militair-Lexikon, iv. 72-75; Lessing's Werke; &c. &c.]
FRIEDRICH ON MARCH, FOR THE THIRD TIME, TO RESCUE SILESIA
(August 1st-15th).
AUGUST 1st, Friedrich crossed the Elbe at Zehren, in the Schieritz
vicinity, as near Meissen as he could; but it had to be some six
miles farther down, such the liabilities to Austrian disturbance.
All are across that morning by 5 o'clock (began at 2); whence we
double back eastward, and camp that night at Dallwitz,--are quietly
asleep there, while Loudon's bombardment bursts out on Breslau, far
away! At Dallwitz we rest next day, wait for our Bakeries and
Baggages; and SUNDAY, AUGUST 3d, at 2 in the morning, set forth on
the forlornest adventure in the world.
The arrangements of the March, foreseen and settled beforehand to
the last item, are of a perfection beyond praise;--as is still
visible in the General Order, or summary of directions given out;
which, to this day, one reads with a kind of satisfaction like that
derivable from the Forty-seventh of Euclid: clear to the meanest
capacity, not a word wanting in it, not a word superfluous, solid
as geometry. "The Army marches always in Three Columns, left Column
foremost: our First Line of Battle [in case we have fighting] is
this foremost Column; Second Line is the Second Column; Reserve is
the Third. All Generals' chaises, money-wagons, and regimental
Surgeons' wagons remain with their respective Battalions; as do the
Heavy Batteries with the Brigades to which they belong. When the
march is through woody country, the Cavalry regiments go in between
the Battalions [to be ready against Pandour operations
and accidents].
"With the First Column, the Ziethen Hussars and Free-Battalion
Courbiere have always the vanguard; Mohring Hussars and Free-
Battalion Quintus [speed to you, learned friend!] the rear-guard.
With the Second Column always the Dragoon regiments Normann and
Krockow have the vanguard; Regiment Czetteritz [Dragoons, poor
Czetteritz himself, with his lost MANUSCRIPT, is captive since
February last], the rear-guard. With the Third Column always the
Dragoon regiment Holstein as head, and the ditto Finkenstein to
close the Column.--During every march, however, there are to be of
the Second Column 2 Battalions joined with Column Third; so that
the Third Column consists of 10 Battalions, the Second of 6, while
on march.
"Ahead of each Column go three Pontoon Wagons; and daily are 50
work-people allowed them, who are immediately to lay Bridge, where
it is necessary. The rear-guard of each Column takes up these
Bridges again; brings them on, and returns them to the head of the
Column, when the Army has got to camp. In the Second Column are to
be 500 wagons, and also in the Third 500, so shared that each
battalion gets an equal number. The battalions--" [In TEMPELHOF
(iv. 125, 126) the entire Piece.] ... This may serve as specimen.
The March proceeded through the old Country; a little to left of
the track in June past: Roder Water, Pulsnitz Water;
Kamenz neighborhood, Bautzen neighborhood,--Bunzlau on Silesian
ground. Daun, at Bischofswerda, had foreseen this March; and, by
his Light people, had spoiled the Road all he could; broken all the
Bridges, HALF-felled the Woods (to render them impassable).
Daun, the instant he heard of the actual March, rose from
Bischofswerda: forward, forward always, to be ahead of it, however
rapid; Lacy, hanging on the rear of it, willing to give trouble
with his Pandour harpies, but studious above all that it should not
whirl round anywhere and get upon his, Lacy's, own throat. One of
the strangest marches ever seen. "An on-looker, who had observed
the march of these different Armies," says Friedrich, "would have
thought that they all belonged to one leader. Feldmarschall Daun's
he would have taken for the Vanguard, the King's for the main Army,
and General Lacy's for the Rear-guard." [ OEuvres de
Frederic, v. 56.] Tempelhof says: "It is given only to
a Friedrich to march on those terms; between Two hostile Armies,
his equals in strength, and a Third [Loudon's, in Striegau Country]
waiting ahead."
The March passed without accident of moment; had not, from Lacy or
Daun, any accident whatever. On the second day, an Aide-de-Camp of
Daun's was picked up, with Letters from Lacy (back of the cards
visible to Friedrich). Once,--it is the third day of the March
(August 6th, village of Rothwasser to be quarter for the night),--
on coming toward Neisse River, some careless Officer, trusting to
peasants, instead of examining for himself and building a bridge,
drove his Artillery-wagons into the so-called ford of Neisse;
which nearly swallowed the foremost of them in quicksands.
Nearly, but not completely; and caused a loss of five or six hours
to that Second Column. So that darkness came on Column Second in
the woody intricacies; and several hundreds of the deserter kind
took the opportunity of disappearing altogether. An unlucky,
evidently too languid Officer; though Friedrich did not annihilate
the poor fellow, perhaps did not rebuke him at all, but merely
marked it in elucidation of his qualities for time coming."
This miserable village of Rothwasser" (head-quarters after the
dangerous fording of Neisse), says Mitchell, "stands in the middle
of a wood, almost as wild and impenetrable as those in North
America. There was hardly ground enough cleared about it for the
encampment of the troops." [Mitchell, ii. 190; Tempelhof, iv. 131.]
THURSDAY, AUGUST 7th, Friedrich--traversing the whole Country, but
more direct, by Konigsbruck and Kamenz this time--is at Bunzlau
altogether. "Bunzlau on the Bober;" the SILESIAN Bunzlau, not the
Bohemian or any of the others. It is some 30 miles west of
Liegnitz, which again lies some 40 northwest of Schweidnitz and the
Strong Places. Friedrich has now done 100 miles of excellent
marching; and he has still a good spell more to do,--dragging
"2,000 heavy wagons" with him, and across such impediments within
and without. Readers that care to study him, especially for the
next few days, will find it worth their while.
Tempelhof gives, as usual, a most clear Account, minute to a
degree; which, supplemented by Mitchell and a Reimann Map, enables
us as it were to accompany, and to witness with our eyes.
Hitherto a March toilsome in the extreme, in spite of everything
done to help it; starting at 3 or at 2 in the morning; resting to
breakfast in some shady place, while the sun is high, frugally
cooking under the shady woods,--"BURSCHEN ABZUKOCHEN here," as the
Order pleasantly bears. All encamped now, at Bunzlau in Silesia, on
Thursday evening, with a very eminent week's work behind them.
"In the last five days, above 100 miles of road, and such road;
five considerable rivers in it"--Bober, Queiss, Neisse, Spree,
Elbe; and with such a wagon-train of 2,000 teams. [Tempelhof, iv.
123-150.]
Proper that we rest a day here; in view of the still swifter
marchings and sudden dashings about, which lie ahead. It will be by
extremely nimble use of all the limbs we have,--hands as well as
feet,--if any good is to come of us now! Friedrich is aware that
Daun already holds Striegau "as an outpost [Loudon thereabouts,
unknown to Friedrich], these several days;" and that Daun
personally is at Schmottseifen, in our own old Camp there, twenty
or thirty miles to south of us, and has his Lacy to leftward of
him, partly even to rearward: rather in advance of US, both of
them,--if we were for Landshut; which we are not. "Be swift enough,
may not we cut through to Jauer, and get ahead of Daun?" counts
Friedrich: "To Jauer, southeast of us, from Bunzlau here, is 40
miles; and to Jauer it is above 30 east for Daun: possible to be
there before Daun! Jauer ours, thence to the Heights of Striegau
and Hohenfriedberg Country, within wind of Schweidnitz, of Breslau:
magazines, union with Prince Henri, all secure thereby?" So reckons
the sanguine Friedrich; unaware that Loudon, with his corps of
35,000, has been summoned hitherward; which will make important
differences! Loudon, Beck with a smaller Satellite Corps, both
these, unknown to Friedrich, lie ready on the east of him:
Loudon's Army on the east; Daun's, Lacy's on the south and west;
three big Armies, with their Satellites, gathering in upon this
King: here is a Three-headed Dog, in the Tartarus of a world he now
has! On the fourth side of him is Oder, and the Russians, who are
also perhaps building Bridges, by way of a supplementary or
fourth head.
AUGUST 9th (BUNZLAU TO GOLDBERG), Friedrich, with his Three Columns
and perfect arrangements, makes a long march: from Bunzlau at 3 in
the morning; and at 5 afternoon arrives in sight of the Katzbach
Valley, with the little Town of Goldberg some miles to right.
Katzbach River is here; and Jauer, for to-morrow, still fifteen
miles ahead. But on reconnoitring here, all is locked and bolted:
Lacy strong on the Hills of Goldberg; Daun visible across the
Katzbach; Daun, and behind him Loudon, inexpugnably posted:
Jauer an impossibility! We have bread only for eight days;
our Magazines are at Schweidnitz and Breslau: what is to be done?
Get through, one way or other, we needs must! Friedrich encamps for
the night; expecting an attack. If not attacked, he will make for
Liegnitz leftward; cross the Katzbach there, or farther down at
Parchwitz:--Parchwitz, Neumarkt, LEUTHEN, we have been in that
country before now:--Courage!
AUGUST 10th-11th (TO LIEGNITZ AND BACK). At 5 A.M., Sunday, August
10th, Friedrich, nothing of attack having come, got on march again:
down his own left bank of the Katzbach, straight for Liegnitz;
unopposed altogether; not even a Pandour having attacked him
overnight. But no sooner is he under way, than Daun too rises;
Daun, Loudon, close by, on the other side of Katzbach, and keep
step with us, on our right; Lacy's light people hovering on our
rear:--three truculent fellows in buckram; fancy the feelings of
the way-worn solitary fourth, whom they are gloomily dogging in
this way! The solitary fourth does his fifteen miles to Liegnitz,
unmolested by them; encamps on the Heights which look down on
Liegnitz over the south; finds, however, that the Loudon-Daun
people have likewise been diligent; that they now lie stretched out
on their right bank, three or four miles up-stream or to rearward,
and what is far worse, seven miles downwards, or ahead: that, in
fact, they are a march nearer Parchwitz than he;--and that there is
again no possibility. "Perhaps by Jauer, then, still? Out of this,
and at lowest, into some vicinity of bread, it does behoove us to
be!" At 11 that night Friedrich gets on march again; returns the
way he came. And,
AUGUST 11th, At daybreak, is back to his old ground; nothing now to
oppose him but Lacy, who is gone across from Goldberg, to linger as
rear of the Daun-Loudon march. Friedrich steps across on Lacy,
thirsting to have a stroke at Lacy; who vanishes fast enough,
leaving the ground clear. Could but our baggage have come as fast
as we! But our baggage, Quintus guarding and urging, has to groan
on for five hours yet; and without it, there is no stirring.
Five mortal hours;--by which time, Daun, Lacy, Loudon are all up
again; between us and Jauer, between us and everything helpful;--
and Friedrich has to encamp in Seichau,--"a very poor Village in
the Mountains," writes Mitchell, who was painfully present there,
"surrounded on all sides by Heights; on several of which, in the
evening, the Austrians took camp, separated from us by a deep
ravine only." [Mitchell, ii. 194.]
Outlooks are growing very questionable to Mitchell and everybody.
"Only four days' provisions" (in reality six), whisper the Prussian
Generals gloomily to Mitchell and to one another: "Shall we have to
make for Glogau, then, and leave Breslau to its fate? Or perhaps it
will be a second Maxen to his Majesty and us, who was so indignant
with poor Finck?" My friends, no; a Maxen like Finck's it will
never be: a very different Maxen, if any! But we hope
better things.
Friedrich's situation, grasped in the Three-lipped Pincers in this
manner, is conceivable to readers. Soltikof, on the other side of
Oder, as supplementary or fourth lip, is very impatient with these
three. "Why all this dodging, and fidgeting to and fro? You are
above three to one of your enemy. Why don't you close on him at
once, if you mean it at all? The end is, He will be across Oder;
and it is I that shall have the brunt to bear: Henri and he will
enclose me between two fires!" And in fact, Henri, as we know,
though Friedrich does not or only half does, has gone across Oder,
to watch Soltikof, and guard Breslau from any attempts of his,--
which are far from HIS thoughts at this moment;--a Soltikof fuming
violently at the thought of such cunctations, and of being made
cat's-paw again. "Know, however, that I understand you," violently
fumes Soltikof, "and that I won't. I fall back into the Trebnitz
Bog-Country, on my own right bank here, and look out for my own
safety."--"Patience, your noble Excellenz," answer they always;
"oh, patience yet a little! Only yesterday (Sunday, 10th) the day
after his arrival in this region), we had decided to attack and
crush him; Sunday very early: [Tempelhof, iv. 137, 148-150.] but he
skipped away to Liegnitz. Oh, be patient yet a day or two: he skips
about at such a rate!" Montalembert has to be suasive as the Muses
and the Sirens. Soltikof gloomily consents to another day or two.
And even, such his anxiety lest this swift King skip over upon HIM,
pushes out a considerable Russian Division, 24,000 ultimately,
under Czernichef, towards the King's side of things, towards Auras
on Oder, namely,--there to watch for oneself these interesting
Royal movements; or even to join with Loudon out there, if that
seem the safer course, against them. Of Czernichef at Auras we
shall hear farther on,--were these Royal movements once got
completed a little.
MORNING OF AUGUST 12th, Friedrich has, in his bad lodging at
Seichau, laid a new plan of route: "Towards Schweidnitz let it be;
round by Pombsen and the southeast, by the Hill-roads, make a sweep
flankward of the enemy!"--and has people out reconnoitring the
Hill-roads. Hears, however, about 8 o'clock, That Austrians in
strength are coming between us and Goldberg! "Intending to enclose
us in this bad pot of a Seichau; no crossing of the Katzbach, or
other retreat to be left us at all?" Friedrich strikes his tents;
ranks himself; is speedily in readiness for dispute of such
extremity;--sends out new patrols, however, to ascertain.
"Austrians in strength" there are NOT on the side indicated;--
whereupon he draws in again. But, on the other hand, the Hill-roads
are reported absolutely impassable for baggage; Pombsen an
impossibility, as the other places have been. So Friedrich sits
down again in Seichau to consider; does not stir all day.
To Mitchell's horror, who, "with great labor," burns all the
legationary ciphers and papers ("impossible to save the baggage if
we be attacked in this hollow pot of a camp"), and feels much
relieved on finishing. [Mitchell, ii. 144; Tempelhof, iv. 144.]
Towards sunset, General Bulow, with the Second Line (second column
of march), is sent out Goldberg-way, to take hold of the passage of
the Katzbach: and at 8 that night we all march, recrossing there
about 1 in the morning; thence down our left bank to Liegnitz for
the second time,--sixteen hours of it in all, or till noon of the
13th. Mitchell had been put with the Cavalry part; and "cannot but
observe to your Lordship what a chief comfort it was in this long,
dangerous and painful March," to have burnt one's ciphers and dread
secrets quite out of the way.
And thus, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13th, about noon, we are in our old
Camp; Head-quarter in the southern suburb of Liegnitz (a wretched
little Tavern, which they still show there, on mythical terms):
main part of the Camp, I should think, is on that range of Heights,
which reaches two miles southward, and is now called "SIEGESBERG
(Victory Hill)," from a modern Monument built on it, after nearly
100 years. Here Friedrich stays one day,--more exactly, 30 hours;--
and his shifting, next time, is extremely memorable.
BATTLE, IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF LIEGNITZ, DOES ENSUE
(Friday morning, 15th August, 1760).
Daun, Lacy and Loudon, the Three-lipped Pincers, have of course
followed, and are again agape for Friedrich, all in scientific
postures: Daun in the Jauer region, seven or eight miles south;
Lacy about Goldberg, as far to southwest; Loudon "between
Jeschkendorf and Koischwitz," northeastward, somewhat closer on
Friedrich, with the Katzbach intervening. That Czernichef, with an
additional 24,000, to rear of Loudon, is actually crossing Oder at
Auras, with an eye to junction, Friedrich does not hear till
to-morrow. [Tempelhof, iv. 148-151; Mitchell, ii. 197.]
The scene is rather pretty, if one admired scenes. Liegnitz, a
square, handsome, brick-built Town, of old standing, in good repair
(population then, say 7,000), with fine old castellated edifices
and aspects: pleasant meeting, in level circumstances, of the
Katzbach valley with the Schwartz-wasser (BLACK-WATER) ditto, which
forms the north rim of Liegnitz; pleasant mixture of green poplars
and brick towers,--as seen from that "Victory Hill" (more likely to
be "Immediate-Ruin Hill!") where the King now is. Beyond Liegnitz
and the Schwartzwasser, northwestward, right opposite to the
King's, rise other Heights called of Pfaffendorf, which guard the
two streams AFTER their uniting. Kloster Wahlstatt, a famed place,
lies visible to southeast, few miles off. Readers recollect one
Blucher "Prince of Wahlstatt," so named from one of his Anti-
Napoleon victories gained there? Wahlstatt was the scene of an
older Fight, almost six centuries older, [April 9th, 1241 (Kohler,
REICHS-HISTORIE).]--a then Prince of Liegnitz VERSUS hideous Tartar
multitudes, who rather beat him; and has been a CLOISTER Wahlstatt
ever since. Till Thursday, 14th, about 8 in the evening, Friedrich
continued in his Camp of Liegnitz. We are now within reach of a
notable Passage of War.
Friedrich's Camp extends from the Village of Schimmelwitz, fronting
the Katzbach for about two miles, northeastward, to his Head-
quarter in Liegnitz Suburb: Daun is on his right and rearward, now
come within four or five miles; Loudon to his left and frontward,
four or five, the Katzbach separating Friedrich and him; Lacy lies
from Goldberg northeastward, to within perhaps a like distance
rearward: that is the position on Thursday, 14th. Provisions being
all but run out; and three Armies, 90,000 (not to count Czernichef
and his 24,000 as a fourth) watching round our 30,000, within a few
miles; there is no staying here, beyond this day. If even this day
it be allowed us? This day, Friedrich had to draw out, and stand to
arms for some hours; while the Austrians appeared extensively on
the Heights about, apparently intending an attack; till it proved
to be nothing: only an elaborate reconnoitring by Daun; and we
returned to our tents again.
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