150 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63by Frederick's intimate knowledge of the terrain. The king wished to
make certain that the movement carried well clear of the enemy
flank, so avoiding the confusions which had occurred at Prague and
Kolin, and he told the puzzled army to continue marching towards
the distant grey pyramids of the Zobten-Berg.
Soon after mid-day the heads of the Prussian columns arrived
west of Lobetinz, where Frederick indicated a change of direction
half-left to the east-south-east, and so past the Austrian flank. The
limit of the march was established when Zieten and the battalions of
Carl of Bevern wheeled into line of battle beyond Schriegwitz.
While the centre and left were still marching up to their assigned
stations for the attack, Frederick rode out to a perilous viewpoint in a
small pinewood near Radaxdorf. This copse was directly in line
between some Austrian guns and a number of pieces of Prussian
battalion artillery which chose this moment to open a duel. The
cannon shot ripped through the trees from either side, and after a few
moments Frederick's adjutant Captain Dyhern galloped from the
trees waving his hat, and told Prince Ferdinand (commander of the
central division) to cease firing on his royal brother (Herrmann, 1918,
103; the Staff history, Gr. Gstb., 1901-14, VI, 34, postpones this
incident until the attack on Leuthen village).
The initial breakthrough was to be accomplished by Major-
General Wedel with the three remaining battalions of the advance
guard, namely the regiment of Meyerinck (26, see Map 16, p. 362) and
the second battalion of Itzenplitz (13). To their right rear was a
column of four battalions, mostly grenadiers, and a battery of 12-
pounders which was moving up to a site on the low Glanz-Berg. The
main body of the infantry was arrayed in a staggered line of battalions
extending back to the left at fifty-pace intervals. The whole formed a
textbook example of the Oblique Order (see p. 310).
Frederick aligned the attack with some deliberation. He gave
careful briefings to all the commanders concerned, and he halted to
speak to the Frey-Corporals Barsewisch and Unruh, who were bearing
the colours of the colonel's company of Meyerinck:
'Ensigns of the Life Company, take heed! You must march
against the abatis, but don't advance so quickly that the army
can't keep up with you.' Whereupon His Majesty indicated the
position of the enemy line to our battalions, and told the men:
'Lads, do you see the whitecoats over there? You've got to throw
them out of their earthwork. You just have to go straight at
them and turn them out with the bayonet. I will come up with
five [sic] grenadier battalions and the whole army to support
you. It's a case of do or die! You've got the enemy in front, and