174 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63
Berg, which was swarming with the enemy Croats. Again and again
the eyes of the anxious Prussian officers turned to the dark mass of
that hill, with its serrated outline of massive conifers.
If the Austrians lacked the elemental ferocity of the Russians,
they were accumulating a great fund of technical expertise. Daun
had 80,000 troops at his command, which was well over double the
force immediately available to the Prussians, and his gifted chief of
staff, Lieutenant-General Franz Moritz Lacy, persuaded him to em-
ploy this superiority in an attack by multiple columns. The weight-
iest blow was aimed against Hochkirch itself- the main army was to
approach over the Kuppritzer-Berg in two massive columns, while
Generals Loudon and O'Donnell led two further columns (mostly of
cavaliy) against the flank and rear of the village respectively. The
tightly packed regimental columns were calculated to bring a great
concentration of force to bear on an objective in a short time. The
attack of the main army promised to be particularly effective, for on
this side the Austrians could take advantage of the cover offered by
the tongues of woodland which reached into the Wuischke hollow.
When the woods finally gave out, the Austrians needed only to cross a
short stretch of open fields before they entered dead ground, screened
by the further hill slopes from the view of the Prussians around
Hochkirch. The two Prussian free battalions were badly positioned to
see anything of interest, and they were isolated from all support.
The night of 13 October was damp, misty and starless. At five in
the morning half a dozen signal rockets streaked through the murk,
and the Austrians began to drive in the Prussian pickets. Frederick
was still resting in his headquarters at Rodewitz, and the battle
around Hochkirch was well under way before he was aware that
anything was amiss. The king had grown all too accustomed to the
noise of early-morning skirmishing around his camps, and though he
had spent the night half-dressed, his adjutants had been unable to get
him to stir. Finally a number of spent musket balls began to slap
against his lodging. He got up cursing, and in his bad temper he
smashed a pane of his bedroom window with his stick. Outside he
walked along the front of his troops, still repeating the formula 'They
are only Croats!'
The firing increased in force. Captain von Troschke now came up
with the report that the Austrians had taken the redoubt to the south
of Hochkirch:
'How can you possibly think that?' retorted Frederick. 'I am sure
of it,' said Troschke, 'and it won't be long before they start firing
at us with our own cannon.' He had scarcely finished when the
Austrians opened up with the 12-pounders from the redoubt