128 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63person, at the head of the Normann Dragoons (D 1; see Map 10,
p. 352):
His courage and zeal for the service were undiminished by two
bad sword cuts which he had received to the head. But a lethal
canister shot, which took him in the stomach below the
breastplate, at last threw him to the ground ... A dragoon saw
him fall. He testifies that he was still able to call out: 'Lads, I
can do no more. The rest is up to you!' (Pauli, 1758-64, II, 125)
The commission was taken up by Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, the
thirty-six-year-old colonel of the Rochow Cuirassiers (C 8). Together
with the supporting cuirassiers of Prinz von Preussen (C 2), which
made up the third regiment of the brigade, the Prussian troopers
worked their devastating way west, overthrowing the Austrian Wtirt-
temberg Dragoons and the Saxon Carabiniers, riding down the
Hungarian infantry regiment of Haller, and pushing back the 'Ger-
man' infantry regiments of Baden and Deutschmeister. Only the
regiment of Botta held firm at the far left of the division of Sincere.
Over the next two hours Frederick rallied force after force in an
attempt to exploit the opportunity which had been opened by Kro-
sigk's initiative. The action became nearly continuous along the
length of the line, and it absorbed the commands of Hiilsen, Tre-
sckow, and Manstein, as well as the exhausted survivors of Krosigk's
brigade. Most of the anecdotes about Frederick's activity at Kolin
derive from this period. The famous and kindly sentiment 'Rogues, do
you wish to live for ever!' was advanced (if it was ever uttered at all)
to Manstein's troops at about 6.30 p.m. At this time the Prussians
were shrinking in the face of four heavy guns and four companies of
grenadiers which were emplaced on the Przerovsky Hill, and
Frederick set an example to the first battalion of Anhalt (3) by
drawing his sword and advancing with the colours. The men con-
tinued to fall back in disorder behind him.
These efforts drew in almost all the reserves of the army. Towards
6 p.m. a heavy mass of Prussian cavalry approached the crest of the
sector of the ridge to the south-west of Krzeczhorz. This was an
altogether slower-moving affair than the brilliant offensive of Kro-
sigk. The nominal commander was Lieutenant-General Penavaire,
who was in his eighties. He had at his immediate disposal twenty
cuirassier squadrons of his first line, and he was supposed to be
strengthened by the second line of Zieten's command and possibly
also by some of the cavalry of the right. The attack ('charge' is
altogether too dramatic a term) was slowed by the slope and the
dense growth of rye, and scarcely ten squadrons appear to have
reached the crest of the ridge. The Austrian cavalry division of