187 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63For most of the afternoon the Prussian cavalry arrived on the
scene in small and badly co-ordinated groups. Manfred Laubert
(1900) has identified a number of episodes. First, the Kleist Hussars
(H 1) and the Jung-Platen Dragoons (D 11) moved around to the
north-western flank of the Kuh-Grund position and attacked in
support of the initial assaults of the infantiy. Eleven squadrons of
enemy horse arrived on the scene and drove them back.
In response to a call from the king, Seydlitz then descended from
his viewpoint on the Kleiner-Spitzberg and brought the regiments of
the left wing through the reassembled infantiy of the advance guard.
He scattered the allied cavaliy, but on the far side of the Kuh-Grund
he was thrown back by the fire of three newly arrived regiments of
Russian infantiy - the Azov and Second Moscow regiments and the
First Grenadiers.
Some time after this attack a musket ball or canister shot hit the
guard of Seydlitz's sword and lodged in his hand. The wound was very
painful, and the command of the cavaliy passed to Lieutenant-
General the Prince of Wiirttemberg, who was a brave man but
suffered from poor eyesight. Wiirttemberg rode ahead on reconnaiss-
ance with a single regiment (probably the Meinecke Dragoons, D 3).
He believed that he could detect a way around the north-western
flank of the Kuh-Grund position, but when he turned to give the
signal for the attack he found that his men were already riding for
their lives.
With ill-timed courage Major-General Puttkamer (a favourite of
the king) sought to exploit Wiirttemberg's initiative by throwing in
his own regiment of White Hussars (H 4). These men were promptly
engulfed by Austrian dragoons and Russian Tartars and Cossacks.
For a time Puttkamer defended himself successfully with his
sword, but then a shot rang out and he fell dead with a bullet in his
chest.
By about 5 p.m. the efforts of the Prussian infantiy were spent,
and now that Seydlitz and Wiirttemberg were both wounded the
command of the cavaliy passed to Lieutenant-General Platen. With-
out reference to the king Platen sought to bring the battle back to life
by advancing the united cavalry between the ponds south of Kuners-
dorf and wheeling it against the hitherto inviolate earthworks to the
west. The leading regiment, the Schorlemer Dragoons (D 6), sought
to attack the formidable bastion of the Grosser-Spitzberg, and was
annihilated by the Russian guns. The rest of the Prussian cavalry was
still trying to form into line when it was hit by Lieutenant-General
Loudon with the combined Russian and Austrian horse. The Prus-
sians were caught at a fatal disadvantage, with their backs to the
lakes and marshes, and their regiments were broken into fragments.