45 THE SILESIAN WARS, 1740-5Driesen to lieutenant-colonel, and hung the Pour le Mirite around
the neck of his crony Count Chasot, who had rescued the royal
baggage from Austrian hussars. Seegebart's deeds became known
even to Voltaire, and Frederick rewarded this heroic clergyman by
presenting him with a comfortable living.
Frederick pondered the tactical lessons at his leisure, and did not
incorporate them into comprehensive instructions until July 1744.
Meanwhile it was evident that the infantry was basically as sound as
ever, and that the cavalry, although lacking a sense of ensemble, had
acted with much more spirit than at Mollwitz.
Frederick was delighted at the figure he was sure he must be
cutting in European opinion. He wrote to Jordan: 'This is the second
time in thirteen months thatyour friend has been victorious in battle.
Who would have said a few years ago thatyour philosophy pupil...
would now be playing a military role in the world?' (undated,
Oeuvres, XVII, 213-14). Voltaire in secret deplored the bloodshed,
but he complimented Frederick on the simplicity of his official relation
of the battle, rebuking him only for not having beaten the Austrians
in a location more euphonious than Chotusitz. Frederick replied that
Voltaire would discover that the place rhymed well enough with
somewhere called Mollwitz.
Displaying all the tenacity of the Austrian military tradition,
Prince Charles rallied his troops within a distance of a couple of
marches of the Prussians. On 21 May Frederick advanced warily to a
camp at Brscheschi, and he remained there until it became clear that
the Austrians were moving west against the French. So as to be
prepared for any eventuality, Frederick formed the celebrated camp
of Kuttenberg on 1 June. This position faced south-east, and extended
for rather more than three miles across a low plateau which comman-
dea views over the immense and fertile plain of the upper Elbe.
Frederick had his headquarters at Maleschau, near to the right flank
at the little settlement of Bykan, where a cluster of redoubts stood
above a bare slope which descended to a rivulet. The left flank
extended to Neschkareditz, close to the old and substantial mining
town of Kuttenberg, with its prominent church of St Barbara, a
box-like structure sprouting three slender spires. The rear of the camp
was closed up by a steep gorge produced by old silver workings.
Frederick was delighted to have the facility of such a barrier against
desertion, and he accepted the risk of denying his army any retreat if
he once more came under attack from Prince Charles.
At Maleschau Frederick heard that the Austrians had been
successful in bringing together their Bohemian and Danubian armies,
and that this combined force was threatening to throw the French
back to Prague. Frederick told himself that he had now done more