180 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63Whilst they [the Austrians] expected to have been attacked in
the centre, the extremities of their army at Troppau and
Leitmeritz (distant from each other upwards of two hundred
English miles) have been defeated, and their magazines ruined
nearly in the same moment, His Prussian Majesty remaining all
the time quiet in his quarters at Landeshut; with such justness,
ease and ability does he guide this vast machine. (Mitchell,
1850,II, 55-6)In May Prince Henry turned west against the upper Main and
wreaked similar destruction at the expense of the Reichsarmee,
compelling the Germans to fall back towards Nuremberg.
The main Austrian army finally left its quarters on 2 May, but
instead of obliging Frederick by crossing the hills to do battle, Daun
merely hung about on the Bohemian side of the border, drilling his
troops. Austrian officers were occasionally to be seen on the summits,
reconnoitring the Prussian position, but they invariably withdrew
again as soon as the Prussian hussars put in an appearance. 'Would
you have believed', Frederick remarked to Catt, 'that I would have
been capable of staying quiet so long?' 'Not at all, Your Majesty.'
'Neither do my enemies. They still do not know me very well. They
imagine that I am unable to stay put, that I must always be on the
attack. But I know how to remain on the defensive when I have to'
(Catt, 1884, 239). This waiting game was, however, veiy uncongenial
to Frederick's temperament. He was plagued by toothache, he con-
tinued to weep for Wilhelmine, and he wrote to d'Argens that he
feared that his fire and his good humour had gone for ever.
At the beginning of July the allied intentions at last made
themselves known. Daun with 75,000 troops was moving on Lusatia,
as if to draw Frederick to the south-west, while General Saltykov
completed the concentration of 60,000 Russians at Posen undisturbed
by Dohna, and he made ready to move against the Oder by the back
door:It is feared the King of Prussia's project of cutting [off] the
Russian army has failed by the slowness of his generals. This has
put His Prussian Majesty in very bad humour; and it is truly a
hard case to be under the almost fatal necessity of executing in
person the projects he has formed. (Mitchell, 1850, II, 74)Frederick got the Prussian army on the move on 4 July. He made it
his first priority to guard the Bober crossings on the most direct route
between Daun and Saltykov, and to this end he planted himself in the
exceptionally strong position of Schmottseiffen on 10 July. He hoped
to fix the Austrians in Lusatia, while retaining the freedom of action