216 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63
were concentrating their forces on their far, or eastern, flank.
Saldern's brigade and a battalion of Grumbkow's brigade filled
across the causeway and climbed the slopes beyond. Zieten moved up
the rearward elements of his corps in support (Tettenborn's brigade
forded the stream nearby), and the Prussians were able to establish
themselves on the plateau. No effective counter-attack came from
the enemy, for Daun was wounded and had been carried from the
field, and in the darkness the Austrians knew little of what was
happening on their distant western flank.
On Frederick's side of the plateau, just as in Zieten's battle, some
quite junior officers seem to have had the power to breathe fresh life
into their seniors. The means of delivering one last attack were at
hand in the shape of the uncommitted regiments of Schenkendorff
(9) and Dohna (16), which had marched with the cavalry column,
together with 1,000 fugitives who had been rallied by Major Lestwitz
of the regiment of Alt-Braunschweig. The Prussians could see that the
enemy were feeling the impact of Zieten's intervention, and the staff
officer Gaudi, according to his own account, persuaded old
Lieutenant-General Hiilsen that he must make a final attempt on the
Austrian position, though Frederick's admirers find it difficult to
believe that such an important initiative could have come from
anybody but the king.
Hiilsen was determined to accompany the attack in person, in
spite of the darkness and the loss of all his horses. 'His age and his
wounds prevented him from going on foot, and so he planted himself
on a cannon and had himself pulled into the enemy fire'
(Archenholtz, 1840, II, 110). The drummers were kept hard at work,
to keep the men together, and when Hiilsen's troops encountered
Zieten's the Prussians had the equivalent of about twenty-five bat-
talions on the summit, which rendered the rest of the position
untenable for the enemy. As Daun's successor, General O'Donnell
withdrew the Austrian army as best as he could over the Torgau
bridges.
Thousands of Austrians were left wandering on the muddy
plateau, and they mingled with the Prussians, many of whom had
also lost their bearings and were equally ignorant of the outcome of
the day. Mollendorff himself was taken prisoner by four Austrian
hussars whom he mistook for Prussians. Likewise the Austrian gener-
al Migazzi gave orders to an astonished Prussian battalion, which
took him into custody without more ado.
Frederick had meanwhile made his way from the field, apparent-
ly in search of some quiet spot where he could write out his orders and
dispatches. He dismounted a couple of miles away at Elsnig. At first
he intended to stop at the parsonage, but on finding the rooms full of