154 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63December... with the modesty becoming a hero, whose magnanim-
ity is not affected with the smiles, nor with the frowns of fortune' (11
January 1758, PRO SP 90/71).On 6 December the Prussians crossed the Schweidnitzer-Wasser in
four columns, and rounded up four hundred baggage carts and con-
siderable quantities of prisoners. The pursuit proper began only on
the 7th (unaccountably late, according to some of Frederick's critics,
Gr. Gstb., 1901-14, VI, 67-8), when the king dispatched Zieten with
a corps of sixty-three squadrons and eleven and a half battalions. By
that time the main body of the Austrians was making south-east
towards Schweidnitz and the Bohemian border, and thousands more
had surged through the gates of Breslau:
Just imagine a cloudburst descending from the hills with
thunder and lightning, and flooding the valley at the foot... in
the same way we saw those countless troops flowing under our
eyes... Every street became a river of men, and every lane a
torrent. (Belach, 1758, 127)On 8 December Zieten was checked at the Kleine-Lohe by a strong
Austrian rearguard, and Frederick wrote urgently to him the next
day: 'My dear Zieten, in these circumstances one day of exhaustion
will be repaid by one hundred of repose later on' (PC 9573).
Lieutenant-General Fouqu6 was sent to replace Zieten as commander
of the pursuing force, and on the 22nd and the 23rd he pushed the last
of the Austrian main army across the Bohemian border.
The Austrians still had many troops stranded inside Silesia at
Schweidnitz and Breslau. The siege of Schweidnitz was a formidable
undertaking which Frederick postponed until the next year, but the
Prussians subjected Breslau to an intensive bombardment and the
demoralised garrison surrendered as prisoners of war on 20 December.
Frederick exclaimed: 'God be thanked! I have drawn this terrible
thorn from my foot' (PC 9612).
On the 21st the Austrians began to march out of the Schweidnit-
zer Tor in a seemingly endless column. There were in excess of 17,000
troops in all, which was considerably more than some of the Prussians
had expected. Frederick was looking on, escorted only by a small
party of officers, and it seemed extraordinary that none of the
Austrians seized the opportunity to shoot him down (Hildebrandt,
1829-35, V, 127).
The Prussians finally entered winter quarters across central
Silesia and southern Saxony, and in their cramped accommodation a
terrible epidemic carried off far more men than had succumbed to the
bullets of French and Austrians.