220 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63
From 15 May to 6 July Frederick held his army on the long, low
and open ridge of Kunzendorf, just to the west of Schweidnitz,
waiting for the allies to declare their intentions. He had hoped to
anticipate the Russians by sending 12,000 men to attack their col-
umns as they marched up through Poland, but on 29 June he heard
that the Russians had already set out from their forward depot at
Posen. Frederick also learnt that Austrian reinforcements were on
their way to join Loudon, and from all of this he deduced that the
allies intended to execute a pincer movement, and that the jaws
would meet in the south-eastern corner of Silesia. He accordingly
abandoned the Kunzendorf camp on 6 July and took up a position on
the eastern side of Schweidnitz at Pilzen, where he was on the
excellent road to Frankenstein.
On 19 July Loudon advanced boldly from the border hills and
gained the Silesian plain by way of the Eulen-Gebirge passes at
Silberberg and Wartha. Frederick had only 32,000 troops immediately
at hand, but by dint of forced marches he beat Loudon to the heights
of Gross-Nossen on 23 July. He thereby interposed himself between
the Austrians and the upper Oder, and barred their way to the
Russians. On 29 Frederick continued his move into south-eastern
Silesia, and from 31 July to 3 August he occupied a new blocking
position at Oppersdorf behind the line of the Biele. Loudon was not
tempted to try to break through to his Russian friends, and he fell back
west to the Eulen-Gebirge. This successful campaign had so far cost
the Prussian army just eight fatalities - namely two hussars, and six
of the men of the free battalions (who hardly counted as human
beings). With his attention still fixed on Upper Silesia, Frederick
withdrew his army on 5 August to the central position of Strehlen,
which was within a single march of the upper Oder, and equidistant
from his fortresses at Breslau, Neisse and Schweidnitz.
By the middle of August, however, the state of affairs changed
rapidly to Frederick's disadvantage. Effectively, while the king was
still looking north and east, the allies reached out to one another
behind his back. On 12 August the Russians passed the middle Oder at
Leubus, and three days later they united with forty squadrons of
Austrian horse, which had advanced from the Eulen-Gebirge. On the
15th Frederick went in search of the Russians, and now at last he
found them strongly emplaced near Liegnitz. He was disinclined to
attack them, after the Prussian experiences at Zorndorf, Paltzig and
Kunersdorf. Frederick forfeited his last chance of defeating the allied
armies in isolation when, on 19 August, Buturlin executed a bold
march by way of Liegnitz and reached the main body of the Aus-
trians.
Frederick had failed in the purpose of his campaign, which had