194 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63eventuality, but with perhaps affected unconcern Frederick sat down
on the afternoon of that same 18 November to write a verse parody of
Voltaire's Ecclesiaste. His reader Catt entered at four o'clock, and
Frederick indicated the position of Finck's corps on the large map
which invariably hung in his room. With a pounding heart Catt told
his master of the criticisms he had heard. The king replied: 'No, my
friend, you have nothing to fear. You will see that our man with the
papally blessed hat [i.e. Daun] and his minions will be only too happy
to return to Bohemia, where they can scratch their balls at their
ease. Now I'll read my verses over to you again' (Catt, 1884, 260).
Events now passed beyond Frederick's control. Daun maintained
his first line intact above the Plauensche-Grund, but meanwhile he
assembled a total of 32,000 Austrians and troops of the Reichsarmee
around Maxen. Three of the groups had specific local tasks:
Lieutenant-General Prince Stolberg with 4,500 Germans, together
with Croats and two regiments of Austrian hussars, positioned him-
self to the east to prevent Finck escaping down the Miiglitz valley to
the Elbe; Brentano and 6,000 men descended from the north; finally
the main Austrian force of 17,000 troops approached from Dippoldis-
walde in the south-west. The Austrians had to march over ice and
snow, but the valleys enabled them to concentrate close to their
objective without being seen, and the heights to the north, west and
south of Hausdorf offered them excellent sites for their artillery.
The battle began on all sides at 3.30 p.m. on 20 November, and it
lasted scarcely three hours. For the principal attack from the south
the Austrians were formed in four columns on single-battalion front-
ages, and they delivered their assault against the centre of the
position. Finck soon discovered how unreliable his troops were. The
battalions of Grabow and Zastrow contained large numbers of pressed
Saxons, and they offered little resistance. The lone battalion of the
Willemy Grenadiers counter-attacked from the east of Maxen and
drove the Austrians from the village, but the regiment of Rebentisch,
instead of lending support, began to disintegrate. The conscripted
Austrian and Russian prisoners were now coming over to their friends
en masse, and altogether the uncontrollable desertion deprived
Finck of half of his infantry during this action.
As night fell the Prussians abandoned Maxen and a general flight
set in. Wunsch and twenty squadrons of cavalry gained the authorisa-
tion to break out, but the troopers had to dismount and lead their
horses in the darkness, and they progressed no great distance before
they were told that they were embraced in a general capitulation of
the corps.
On the evening of 19 November a Green Hussar had reached
Frederick with a not altogether reassuring message from Finck. The