67 THE SILESIAN WARS, 1740-5exhausting completely all the supplies and fodder in the area of
Bohemia adjacent to our borders. We would then retire towards the
frontier, consuming as we went, and proceeding by short marches as a
measure of precaution' (PC 2004). The region in question was the part
of north-east Bohemia extending from the passes with Silesia and
Glatz down to the neighbourhood of Koniggratz. The mere consump-
tion of fodder and grain might appear to be a strange concern, but a
countryside that was eaten out in this way would embarrass the
enemy for the movement of his transport and cavalry, and constitute
a direct equivalent to a successful strike against the fuel supplies of a
modern army.
In accordance with this overall scheme of operations, the Prus-
sian army executed a very slow clockwise movement inside Bohemia
for the three months between the middle of July and the middle of
September 1745.
The first unresisted advance brought Frederick through the roll-
ing and lightly wooded country east of the upper Elbe to within sight
of the Austrian and Saxon positions, which extended behind the
Adler to the sizeable but unfortified town of Koniggratz.
Once the Prussian horses had munched their way through all the
grass and grain north of the Adler, Frederick moved his army to the
west, and on 20 July he crossed the upper Elbe on four bridges. On the
far bank he first of all ensconced himself on the low plateau of Chlum
(the scene of the Austrian defeat in 1866), then on 24 August he
retreated a short distance upstream to an extensive camp bordering
the river from Semonitz to Jaromiersch. All the time Prince Charles
kept ponderous pace with the Prussians. Frederick tells us: 'I had my
tent on a hill, and every day I could see the enemy generals coming to
reconnoitre my position. They observed the Prussians through enor-
mous telescopes, and then deliberated together - you might have
taken them for astronomers' (Oeuvres, III, 131).
The Prussians' position was gradually becoming untenable,
however. The communications with Silesia could be safeguarded
only by strong detachments, and the enemy Croats and hussars put
the Prussian camp under virtual siege. One night a group of sixty such
'partisans' penetrated a suburb of Jaromiersch and raided the house of
the Marquis de Valori, the French envoy. They mistook his secretary
for the great man himself, and Valori remained in his room unde-
tected:
Frederick laughed at this little adventure, but it was really
disgraceful to have allowed an enemy detachment to reach the
centre of his army. Generalising about the Prussian service, we
can say that no other army is quite as badly guarded. They are