129 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63Serbelloni withdrew to the side, but the infantry of Starhemberg were
standing firm behind and threw the Prussians back.
For some time now the Duke of Bevern had been moving eight
battalions diagonally across the rear of the army from the Kaiser-
Strasse towards the left centre of the line of battle. This body consti-
tuted the last uncommitted force of Prussian infantry, and it suffered
heavy losses from canister fire before it so much as reached its
assigned place in the front. The First Battalion of the Garde (15),
which made up the rear of the column, was savaged by the Darmstadt
Dragoons (D 19) and lost its battalion guns.
Bevern's command was drawn into one final concerted push over
the crest of the Krzeczhorz Hill - an attack in which the king also
engaged the remaining battalions of Tresckow's division, a couple of
battalions of Hiilsen's, and all the available squadrons of Penavaire
and the cavalry reserve. At about 7 p.m. the Prussians burst over the
ridge, which opened a clear breach in the enemy line, and put the
issue of the day in the balance. (See Map 11, p. 354.)
Colonel Prince Kinsky won a few precious minutes for Daun by
forming the regiment of Botta (12), the one surviving unit of the
division of Sincere, into a coherent flank on the western side of the
breakthrough. Reinforcements from the division of Andlau prolonged
the line to either side, and soon the bulk of the Prussian infantry
swung to its right and engaged in a fire-fight athwart the ridge. At
this juncture a mass of Austrian cavalry irrupted against their rear
from the direction of the Oak Wood.
The initiative in this devastating attack was taken by the young
Netherlandish troopers of the de Ligne Dragoons (D 31), who, accord-
ing to legend, had been put on their mettle by a disparaging remark
from Daun. Altogether more than eighty Austrian and Saxon squad-
rons were directed against the exhausted Prussian troops. The Saxons
in particular had many old scores to settle, and their cry of 'Dies ist fur
Striegau!' (i.e. Hohenfriedeberg) rang in the dying ears of defenceless
creatures like the boy ensigns of the Prussian infantry.
The battle was lost beyond recall, and between about 8 and 9
p.m. the Prussians made back towards the Kaiser-Strasse in groups of
thirty or forty at a time. Hiilsen staged a stand at Krzeczhorz, which
helped to deter the Austrians from pursuit, but the last men to leave
the field were the hussars of Zieten's first line, who were cursing most
mightily in their frustration.
Frederick had long since departed with an escort of thirty hussars
and a squadron of the Garde du Corps. He dismounted at Nimburg and
sat down on a wooden water pipe, 'gazing fixedly at the ground, and
describing circles with his stick in the dust' (Archenholtz, 1840, I,
67-8). He left Prince Moritz in command of the army, and early in the