88 THE ARMED CAMP, 1745-56
Winterfeldt managed the mobilisation with undoubted techni-
cal skill. The necessary reserves of clothing, ammunition, flour and
grain had been at hand since 1752, and in the second half of June 1756
the orders went out to buy horses for the transport train, and recall
the first troops from leave to their colours. Frederick, Winterfeldt and
the supply superintendant Wolf Friedrich von Retzow were probably
the only people who were aware of the objective of all these prepara-
tions.
Frederick probably took the political decision to open hostilities
on 20 or 21 July, after weighing up the reports he had received from
von der Hellen, his envoy at The Hague, concerning the allies' hostile
plans for 1757.
In August, Frederick dispatched two ultimata to Austria, and
received unsatisfactoiy replies. On the 26th he sent a third message to
Vienna, declaring that he must take the necessary measures for his
security, but that he was still prepared to call back his troops if Maria
Theresa promised not to attack him in this year or the next. On the
morning of the 28th Frederick raised himself into the saddle before the
Schloss at Potsdam, put the troops of the garrison through a few drill
movements, then led them across the bridge over the Havel on the
way to Saxony.