73 THE SILESIAN WARS, 1740-5territory of Upper Lusatia, which was more than fifty miles further to
the west and offered a more direct route to the Brandenburg heart-
land.
Frederick decided to make a two-pronged counter-attack. The
western jaws of the pincers were constituted by an Elbe-Armee of
25,000 men, which the Old Dessauer had been gathering over a period
of two months, and which was poised to invade northern and central
Saxony from Halle. Frederick set off for Silesia on 16 November to
reassemble the victorious troops of Soor for the other offensive, which
was to cut into Lusatia from the east, before the enemy could
assemble to give battle.
Frederick held the royal army short of the Silesian-Saxon border
for a few days, until it was clear that the Saxons had admitted
Austrian troops to their territoiy, and thereby become full belliger-
ents. On 23 November the four columns of the army crossed the Queiss
into Lusatia by the bridges and fords at Naumburg, and in the fine
afternoon of the same day Zieten's hussars caught a force of Saxons in
their quarters at Katholisch-Hennersdorf. Frederick sent a body of
cavaliy in support, and by the evening the Prussians had more than
nine hundred prisoners in their hands. The fast-moving detachments
seized the important allied magazine at Gorlitz on 25 November,
almost under the eyes of Prince Charles, and two days later, when the
Austrians were turning back towards Bohemia, their rearguard was
pushed in disorder through Zittau.
This five-day pre-emptive campaign in Lusatia had, at negligible
cost, eliminated an immediate threat to Brandenburg, and deprived
the enemy of 5,000 men and precious provisions and transport. The
Marquis de Valori suspected that Frederick's achievement was still
greater than at Hohenfriedeberg or Soor:
It is true that the enemy forced him into moving, but what he
did was no less admirable. He acted with a boldness that
surpasses belief, making use of an army that was exhausted and
reduced by a good one-third of its effectives. And all of this in a
season of harsh weather. (Valori, 1820,1, 260)
Frederick remained for a few days in Gorlitz, hoping in vain that
the Saxons would come to terms. At the same time he detached
Lieutenant-General Lehwaldt with 8,500 troops in order to threaten
Dresden from the east and establish communications with the Old
Dessauer.
There seemed to be no end to Frederick's capacity for being
surprised by the resilience of the Austrians. On 5 December he learnt
that Prince Charles had ducked behind the hills, and was moving
down the Bohemian Elbe in support of the Saxons. A detachment of