64 THE SILESIAN WARS, 1740-5behind a dangerous-looking gap which yawned in the first line of
infantry, between the regiment of Bevern (7) and the brigade of
Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. Prince Ferdinand made Chasot very
welcome, and drew his attention to a line of Austrian grenadiers who
were drawn up three or four hundred paces to the front, screening the
main force of the enemy infantry.
Victory is a child of many fathers, as von Moltke has remarked,
and the initiative behind the ensuing charge of the Bayreuth Dra-
goons, the most celebrated episode of the Silesian Wars, has been
variously attributed to Chasot himself, to Lieutenant-General Gess-
ler, and to the immediate regimental commander, who was the
hard-drinking and amiable Colonel Otto Martin von Schwerin.
All we know for certain is that the dragoons filtered through the
gaps and intervals in the Prussian infantry, and that some time about
8.15 a.m. they opened their attack along a frontage of some six
hundred paces. Chasot records:
I immediately set the squadrons of the right wing in motion,
and at first we progressed at a walk. We crossed several ditches
one rank at a time, and on each occasion I made the leading
rank halt on the far side so as to give the rearward two ranks
time to catch up. Then we broke into a trot and finally into a
full gallop, putting our heads down and running into the
Austrian grenadiers. They at first stood bravely and delivered a
volley at twenty paces, after which they were overthrown and
mostly cut down. (Kroger, 1893, 38)
Behind the grenadiers the Bayreuth Dragoons collided with the main
force of the Austrian infantiy, and when the smoke lifted the troopers
were seen to be hewing into a mass of fleeing Austrians. In twenty
minutes the regiment took five cannon, sixty-seven colours and 2,500
prisoners, losing just ninety-four men in the process.
Only three regiments of Austrian infantry remained intact to
cover the retreat:
The Prussians continued to advance, but as slowly and in such
good order as if they had been at a review. They halted about
two thousand paces behind the battlefield, and not a single man
bent down to plunder the dead and wounded on the way. This
was quite admirable, but it was no more than was expected of
Prussian troops. (Valori, 1820, I, 234)The battle finished at 9. a.m. precisely.
In his joy Frederick wrote to the Old Dessauer: 'This is the best thing I
have ever seen. The army has surpassed itself (PC 1869). If the