239 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63the leading battalions of Brentano. Wied sent two battalions in
support, and Bernburg was now able to push over the crest and drive
back Brentano's right wing.
Meanwhile, on Wied's left, Colonel Lottum ascended the heights
near Ludwigsdorf with the regiments of Schulenburg (22) and Mosel
(10). (See Map 27, p. 378.) The troops knew that they were under the
king's eye, and the Pomeranians of Schulenburg hauled each other up
the slope in their eagerness to get to the top. Lottum cleared the work
to the north of Ludwigsdorf, and with the help of the regiment of
Ramin (25) he forced back Brentano's left towards Michelsdorf.
With deep satisfaction Frederick saw the colours of Lottum's
battalions appear on the captured fortification, and he sent an
adjutant to tell him that he had been promoted to major-general. The
king then turned his horse around and made for the west, where
Mollendorff s battle had been opened by the great battery. An enemy
officer records that two regiments of Austrian cavalry, the Wiirttem-
berg Dragoons (D 38) and the NSdasti Hussars (H 11), had been
feeding their horses at the exit of the Weistritz valley, and 'the first
impact was terrible. I have seen few actions which began with such a
blow... The shot and the howitzer shells wrought terrible devasta-
tion. The horses broke their halters and ran for half a league' (Ligne,
1795-1811, XVI, 132).
The infantry attack was a most scientific affair. Instead of
bludgeoning his way into possession of the Weistritz valley redoubts,
Major-General Mollendorff explored a narrow path through the
woods with the help of a forester, and then, undetected by the
Austrians, he carried his brigade clear of the lower three fortifications
and all the way to a position opposite the eastern flank of the work at
the top. Two hundred volunteers led the assault across the narrow
Kohl-Bach valley, and up through a growth of hazel bushes and oak
saplings against the redoubt. An enterprising grenadier named Wolf
set fire to the surrounding abatis and cleared a way through, but the
moment of triumph was not survived by First Lieutenant Cunno
Friedrich von der Hagen, who was one of the most distinguished
junior officers of the army. 'A ball drilled his head above the left eye.
He fell to the ground without a sign of life, and took his newly won
laurels to the grave' (Pauli, 1758-64, IX, 305).
The Austrians abandoned their fortifications in the lower valley,
which were now untenable, and the advance of Manteuffel's brigade
from the north persuaded O'Kelly to evacuate his position altogether.
Frederick called off the intended attack of Knobloch's brigade, and he
ascended the Weistritz valley in person. According to one story he
encountered a wounded musketeer on the way: