106 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63of the Rochow Cuirassiers (C 8) was one of those that had to be
rescued from the mud.
The disorganised cavalry was now good for nothing except to
help to fill out the single line of infantry which stretched across the
valley floor. All the rest of the battalions were being fed into the
battle on the Lobosch - the Jung-Billerbeck Grenadiers (5/20), the
second battalion of Itzenplitz (13), the Kleist Grenadiers (3/6), and
finally the first battalion of Munchow (36) and the second battalion
of Hiilsen (21). Frederick told Ferdinand of Brunswick to arrange to
have thirty cartridges taken from each man of the unengaged batta-
lions on the right and sent to the battling troops on the Lobosch.
The resistance of the Croats on the hill was now stiffened by
three battalions and three grenadier companies of Austrian regulars,
which were dispatched by Colonel Lacy from behind the hill. Mean-
while in the plain the mournful thudding of the Austrian drums
carried across to the Prussians, and a force of Austrian infantry
(cavalry, according to some accounts) appeared to be making ready
to launch a counter-attack from Sullowitz. They were driven back by
artillery fire from the Homolka, and some well-lobbed howitzer shells
set fire to the houses of Sullowitz, which made the village untenable
for the Austrians.
By 1 p.m., some of Frederick's generals on the Homolka were in
the grip of panic. The heavy batteries were almost out of ammuni-
tion, as was the infantry. The cavalry horses could hardly drag
themselves along, for their strength was sapped not only by the two
exhausting attacks, but by the previous days of hard marching and
inadequate fodder. Everywhere the initiative seemed to be passing to
the Austrians, in spite of the check at Sullowitz, and the fog had long
since lifted from the plain, revealing the unengaged main force of the
Austrian army drawn up in two lines behind the Morellen-Bach.
Frederick took his leave of the battle, after sending word to
Bevern to make one last attack on the Lobosch. The king was still
riding away from the field when Bevern's troops made a push with the
bayonet and dislodged the Austrians from their walls and ditches.
Ferdinand asked Keith if the infantry of the right wing should
advance in support, and he was told, 'Yes, go ahead' (Brunswick,
1902, I, Heft 4, 41).
The battle roared up again outside Lobositz town, where the
Austrians rallied and opened fire from windows and holes in the
roofs. Ferdinand brought up some howitzers, which usefully set fire to
a number of houses, and the Jung-Billerbeck and Kleist Grenadiers
and some of the musketeers of Arnim led a successful assault on the
little town, where the flames were claiming the Austrian dead and
wounded. The action came to an end between 3 and 4 p.m., when the