176 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63
later called, the troops were jammed so tightly that the blood flowed
in a veritable river, and the dead were held upright by the press of
their comrades. This massacre was occasioned by the confusion in
command, by the inadequate space for the infantiy to deploy be-
tween Hochkirch and the Prussian cavaliy to the west, and by the
effects of the near-impenetrable fog and smoke.
More dangerous still, for the tenure of the position, was the
attack which one of the columns of the Austrian right delivered
against the north-eastern salient beyond Rodewitz. The grenadier
battalions of Wangen and Heyden (St. gb 1; 19/25) for a time put up a
brave fight, but the rest of the infantry melted away, and the
Austrians stormed into the great batteiy that was the key to this
flank.
Frederick was twice observed among the troops battling for
Hochkirch. He was under musket fire with the regiment of Wedel (26)
and suffered the loss of his fine brown English horse, and when
daylight came he was seen with the cavaliy of the right, covered with
dust and earth from a cannon shot which had fallen nearby. By about
8 a.m., however, the king had to give all his attention to the business
of forming a new rearward line north-east of Pommritz.
In front, the cool and capable Lieutenant-Colonel Saldern had
reassembled the regiment of Alt-Braunschweig (5) and elements of
five other battalions into an improvised rearguard, and he was now
executing a zig-zag retreat that was calculated to throw the Austrian
gunners off their aim. On the right flank Frederick received veiy
welcome support from the corps of Retzow, who had seen the flashes
and flames from Hochkirch, and dispatched Prince Eugene of Wiirt-
temberg to assist the royal army with four battalions and fifteen
squadrons. Wiirttemberg spurred ahead with the cavaliy, and he
averted the veiy considerable danger that was presented by the
division of O'Donnell, which might easily have cut across the path of
retreat.
From Pommritz the king fell back to another temporaiy position
on the heights north-west of Klein-Bautzen. He was in as much
physical disorder as any of his men. His sash was stained with the
blood from his horse. The order of the Black Eagle was torn from his
chest, and his coat was blackened with mud and powder smoke. The
subaltern Barsewisch reached him with three colours and thirty
soldiers of the regiment of Wedel. The young man had had his hat
knocked from his head by an Austrian cuirassier, and he had cast off
his new sash in an attempt to divert his pursuers. Others arrived
without coats, breeches or footwear.
The gallant Major Langen was one of those who had failed to
make good their escape. He and his battalion had tried to break out of