168 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63
the right of the enemy] was so ill-treated that it broke and fled into
the wood of Quartschen and towards the Mietzel, but unhappily the
peasants had burnt the bridges, otherwise it is probable the battle had
there ended. But the Russians finding no retreat remained in the wood
firing' (Mitchell, 'Notes on the campaign 1758', British Library, Add.
Mss. 6867).
This extraordinary battle took on new life at about 1.30 p.m.,
after Frederick had betaken himself to the right wing, where Dohna
held the remaining fifteen battalions of the Prussian army. The king
was weighed down by a moral inertia, after the various disasters on
the left, and he halted in front of the regiment of Prinz von Preussen
(18) and gave vent to the encouraging cry 'May God have mercy on
us!'
Prince Moritz was aware of the unfortunate turn of events, and
of how badly things could turn out. He was, it seems, none too
pleased with the king's exclamation. He took off his hat, cast it
into the sky, and with a resolute air and a deep voice he
bellowed: 'Long live the king, we've won the battle!' The line of
troops responded with a 'Long live the king!' of their own,
which appeared to evoke a fleeting smile from His Majesty.
Prince Moritz and General Below told the troops: 'Lads, you see
those men falling back over there? They are Russian prisoners
under escort. Forward! Long live the king! March on!' (Catt,
1884, 159-60)The advance had scarcely got under way before the enterprising
Russian major-general D£micoud thundered down on Dohna's infan-
try with the thirty-six squadrons of the Russian left. Within minutes
the second battalion of Alt-Kreytzen (40) was taken prisoner, and the
Russians captured the heavy battery which it had been guarding.
Some of the Prussian regiments came near to breaking in panic when
they espied a cloud of dust emerging from around the south side of the
trees of the Stein-Busch, but the newcomers proved to be the Pletten-
berg and Alt-Platen Dragoons (D 7, D 8) which had been summoned
by Frederick (or sent by Seydlitz) from the left. The hopes of the men
of Alt-Kreytzen now revived. One of their number describes how the
Prussian dragoons
charged with loose reins so frightfully that the earth shook
beneath us. They surrounded both us and the enemy cavalry,
and threw up such a thick cloud of dust that they mistook us for
Russians, and we too began to feel their terrible blows. We
infantrymen then grabbed our guns again, fired bravely, and
shouted: 'Victory! Long live the King of Prussia!' At this point