63 THE SILESIAN WARS, 1740-5still dangerously placed, for its inferiority in numbers to the Austrian
horse (6,000 against 7,000) was compounded by the difficulties which
the Prussians experienced in crossing the Striegauer-Wasser. Major-
General Kyau with ten squadrons of cuirassiers crossed by the bridge
at Teichau, and they advanced over-confidently across the plain
between Thomaswaldau and Halbendorf, unaware that the rickety
structure had collapsed behind them and that they were stranded.
The Austrian cavaliy bore down, and the isolated Prussian squadrons
would probably have succumbed if Major-General Zieten had not
discovered a ford between Teichau and Graben and got across the
stream with the Zieten Hussars (H 2; see Map 4, p. 343) and the
Alt-Wiirttemberg Dragoons (D 12). Zieten promptly fell on the Aus-
trian second line before it could intervene against Kyau.
Lieutenant-General Nassau fed twenty-five further squadrons
into the battle across Zieten's ford, and the left wing of the Austrian
cavalry came under effective musketry fire from the village of
Thomaswaldau, which had meanwhile been seized by Poleutz's
grenadiers. At about eight o'clock the Austrians gave way in disorder.
Many of the troopers became stuck in the marshy ground, and Prince
Charles himself was nearly taken prisoner.
Now that the Saxons and the Austrian cavalry had been elimi-
nated, the battle was prolonged only by the 19,500 men of the
Austrian infantry, falling back east over the open fields on either side
of Giinthersdorf. In places they contested the ground bitterly, 'giving
rise to a terrible fire. It did not last nearly as long as at Mollwitz, but it
was much noisier. The two sides often exchanged fire simultaneously
(though our men got off more rounds than the enemy, thanks to their
speed in loading), and all the time the rival artillery maintained its
bombardment, making a frightful, almost indescribable din' (officer
of t|ie regiment of Margrave Carl, quoted in Hoffmann, 1903, 21-2).
Frederick's whereabouts at this time are difficult to trace with
certainty, though Saxon prisoners caught sight of him behind the
lines of battle, dressed in an old overcoat and hat, issuing orders from
time to time, and making constant use of his telescope.
Neither the king nor any other of the senior officers noticed that
the ten-squadron-strong elite regiment of the Bayreuth Dragoons
(D 5) had so far been without useful employment. First light had
found the regiment on guard near the Nonnen-Busch, lest the enemy
light troops should emerge from the trees and harass the Prussian
flank. From there the dragoons marched in the tracks of the infantry,
crossed the Striegauer-Wasser at Teichau, and finally arrived south of
Giinthersdorf with the infantry of the second line. First Lieutenant
Chasot (Frederick's old companion) commanded the three right-hand
squadrons, and he halted the march of the regiment immediately