205 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63In this action the king of Prussia exposed his person to the
greatest dangers. A grape shot pierced the skirts of his coat; the
horse he rode was wounded by a musket ball; one of his pages
had a horse killed by a cannon shot; and his ecuyer, and one of
his grooms, were both mortally wounded. (Mitchell, 1850, II,
201)The Austrians executed a fighting retreat in very good order, and
before they reached the Katzbach their cavalry dealt a vicious
counter-blow which rode down the Stechow Grenadiers and hewed
into the exposed left flank of the Bernburg and Prinz Ferdinand
regiments. Loudon left about 3,000 casualties and prisoners on the
field, and after 6 a.m. he brought the engagement to an end by
withdrawing to the south bank of the Katzbach.
The battle of Liegnitz had been fought and lost by Loudon
without the Austrian main force ever having come into action. Lacy's
corps had indeed reached the upper Schwarzwasser in good time, but
nowhere could it find a suitable passage. Only a few squadrons of
dragoons and hussars availed themselves of a ford at Riistern, and
these folk were beaten off when they tried to attack the baggage of
Frederick's headquarters at Kuchelberg. Meanwhile Daun's army had
been very slow in crossing to the north bank of the Katzbach. It was
5 a.m. before the Austrians were in position on the high ground
between Weissenhof and Lindenbusch, and even then Daun refused
to plunge across the Schwarzwasser valley before he knew more
about the progress of the action which had broken out so unexpected-
ly on Loudon's front. Word of Loudon's defeat came two hours later.
According to patriotic legend Frederick rode to the survivors of
the Bernburg regiment immediately after the battle. Nobody was sure
whether their impetuous bravery had effaced the impression of that
disastrous night in the trenches before Dresden:
The officers uttered not a word, in the silent expectation that
the king would render them justice. But four old soldiers rushed
to his stirrups, clasped his knee and begged him to restore them
to favour in recognition of how well they had done their duty
this day. Frederick was moved. He answered: 'Yes, lads,
everything will be given back to you. All is forgotten!'
(Archenholtz, 1840, II, 68)No time remained for further congratulations. Frederick got the
army on the move again with a speed that was the best evidence of the
continuing urgency of strategic affairs. Saldern saw to the business of
collecting up the transportable wounded and the captured Austrian
guns and muskets, and already at nine o'clock on the morning of the