185 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63were strongest. Second, it appears that Frederick only now discovered
that the frontage available for the assault was severely cramped by a
chain of ponds which extended from the south into Kunersdorf
village. In this context it was probably significant that the Dorf-See,
the most considerable of these meres, lay concealed from view in a
sunken bed.
Lacking the opportunity for a further reconnaissance, Frederick
seems to have decided on the spur of the moment that the whole
weight of the attack must be delivered to the east of the ponds against
the salient of the Russian position on the Miihl-Berge. This (accord-
ing to Tempelhoff) occasioned some delay and confusion while the
heads of the columns retraced their steps and the drivers of the teams
of the 12-pounders manoeuvred their pieces around on the narrow
tracks between the trees.
Finally at 11.30 a.m. the Prussians opened a prolonged bombard-
ment with an overwhelming force of at least sixty heavy guns. 'The
heat was hideous. The rays of the sun were burning like jets of flame,
and the dust and the scorching sand made the torture quite intoler-
able' (Lojewsky, 1843, II, 259).
The Prussian pieces were arranged in three batteries (on the
Walk-Berge, the Kloster-Berg and the Kleiner-Spitzberg) and their
concentric fire embraced the Miihl-Berge salient like siege guns
destroying a hornwork in an attack on a fortress. The forty or more
Russian heavy guns were beaten down, and the ordeal broke the
morale of the five super-large regiments of the Observation Corps who
were holding the position.
At 12.30 the nine battalions (about 4,300 men) of Frederick's
advance guard marched to assault the Miihl-Berge. Just short of this
position the Prussians disappeared from the sight of the enemy into a
hollow in the ground, which gave the officers an opportunity to dress
the lines. The leading four battalions of grenadiers then crashed
through the abatis and routed the Observation Corps in a matter of
minutes. 'The Russians made no attempt to defend themselves. The
men of this splendid formation simply lay on the ground and let
themselves be massacred by the Prussian bayonets, and all in honour
of their patron saint, Nicholas' (Warnery, 1788, 312).
The Russians had lost more than one-quarter of their position
together with perhaps as many as eighty pieces of all calibres, and
Frederick was told by Finck, and probably also by Seydlitz and several
other generals, that the enemy would surely abandon their camp
during the night without any further sacrifice of Prussian blood.
However, the king was determined to continue the attack, despite the
heat of the day and the exhaustion of the troops.
There was a delay while the heavy batteries were brought