186 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63
forward, and four of the new 'Austrian' 12-pounders were dragged
through the sandy soil to the conquered Miihl-Berge. When the
process was complete, the guns opened fire once more and enveloped
the troops and the woods in a dense smoke.
The cannon smoke of Kunersdorf not only obscured the battle-
field, but has ever since made it almost impossible for historians to
determine how much more of the enemy position fell into Prussian
hands, and when and where the formations of Prussian cavalry came
into action. Only the outlines of this second phase of the battle are at
all clear.
Unknown to Frederick, a sandy little valley called the Kuh-
Grund snaked north-west from Kunersdorf village and served to
isolate the Miihl-Berge from the main allied positions. Here Saltykov
formed a new line of defence. Now that the Prussian attack had
declared itself on such a narrow sector he could safely draw on the
unengaged men and guns in the direction of Frankfurt, and feed them
into the defence of the Kuh-Grund and the adjacent earthworks.
The Prussian infantry closed in from three sides. The eight
battalions of Finck struggled across the swamp to the north, and
launched repeated and vain assaults in the teeth of an Austrian
battery and the massed Shuvalov- and unicorn-howitzers of the
Russians. One of the most determined attacks was pressed home by a
battalion of Hauss (55) under the command of Major Ewald Christian
von Kleist, the celebrated poet of the Prussian army. He had already
been injured in the right hand, and 'he received a further wound in
the left arm from a small bullet... and ultimately was able to hold
his sword only by the last two fingers and the thumb. He continued in
command, and he came to within thirty paces of his next objective, a
further battery, when three canister shot shattered his right leg. He
fell from his horse' (Pauli, 1758-64, V, 216-7; Kleist died after the
battle).
Frederick meanwhile brought up the main army. The right wing
wheeled to the left in the tracks of the advance guard, and at the same
time the centre and left marched through and around the smoulder-
ing remains of Kunersdorf and piled up against the south-eastern
salient in dense ranks:
Both sides were putting up the most bitter fight... on the
Kuh-Grund, and this part of the field was covered with bodies... Our infantry had been marching through sand on a very hot
day. They were tormented with thirst, and could scarcely drag
themselves along. On our side it was always the same battalions
which went into action, whereas the enemy kept bringing up
fresh troops. (Retzow, 1802, II, 113; Warnery, 1788, 306)