117 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63of the first line of the left wing of the infantry to spill over the
meadows. Only now did the Prussians discover that some of the rich
green levels on either side of the upper Rocketnitzer-Bach were in fact
the drained beds of fishponds, and that the shoots of oats (upon which
the carp would feed when the ponds were re-filled) sprouted from a
soft black silt. In the worst patches the men were sinking up to their
waists.
The Austrians were already forming a coherent line of infantiy
on the eastern slopes of the plateau, and Winterfeldt and Schwerin
ordered their first fourteen battalions to press home the attack across
the meadows. Frederick arrived near Sterbohol and questioned
Schwerin as to the wisdom of this unsupported advance. The old
field-marshal replied, 'We must strike while the iron is hot!' (Gr.
Gstb., 1901-14, II, 131), and hastened ahead to assume personal
control.
In accordance with the Prussian tactical doctrine obtaining at
the start of the Seven Years War, the infantry were expected to
frighten the enemy out of their positions just by advancing towards
them with shouldered muskets. In the event the Austrians opened a
long-range fire from a heavy battery on the low Homole-Berg (a
Czech pillbox of the 1930s stands on the same spot), then employed
the canister of their battalion guns, and finally engaged with their
musketry. Whole files of the Prussians were being brought to the
ground, and in the face of this ordeal the regiment of Kurssell (37; see
Map 9, p. 351) fled under the scandalised eyes of the king, and the
regiment of Fouqu6 (33) made off in total disorder and cast aside its
muskets. Some of the men, Catholics from Silesia, stayed behind and
loaded their muskets for the Austrians.
At this critical juncture the Prussians lost two of their leaders in
rapitf succession. Some time before 11 a.m. Winterfeldt was riding in
front of the regiment of Schwerin (24) when a ball wounded him in
the neck, and he fell unconscious from the saddle. Field-Marshal
Schwerin now came hastening up on a little brown Polish horse and
had the bleeding form of Winterfeldt hoisted onto a spare mount.
Schwerin was disturbed to see that the men of his regiment were
inclined to run away, and he snatched a colour of the second
battalion in order to set an example to the troops. He had ridden
forward no more than a few paces before a blast of canister removed
half his head and lodged balls in his heart and stomach. As he fell to
the ground the green flag collapsed at his side. It was, in the words of a
royal archivist, 'the finest death in combat that has ever been related
in the annals of Prussian military history' (Augstein, 1968, 279).
The news was brought to Frederick. 'Our great hero was shat-
tered. A tear sprang from his eye, but few people noticed. He did his