122 THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63
numerous and powerful, have great resources, whilst the king of
Prussia's superiority depends entirely on himself... as he has
an excellent understanding, he certainly sees that at last he
must succumb before the united powers of Austria, France and
Russia. (17 May, PRO SP 90/69)Frederick was elated to discover that the greater part of the
defeated army had not escaped into the country, but was piled up in
Prague. He did not have the means of prosecuting a formal siege, but
he was confident that the mass of humanity in Prague, which
according to his estimates comprised 70,000 citizens and 50,000
(actually 46,000) soldiers, would soon run through the provisions. He
hoped that a bombardment might hasten the process by setting fire to
some of the Austrian supply magazines.
The necessaiy siege train was shipped up the Elbe from Magde-
burg to Leitmeritz, and transported from there overland to the batter-
ies around Prague. Finally at midnight on 29 May a rocket snaked into
the sky from the Zisaka-Berg, and the Prussians opened fire simul-
taneously from nearly sixty mortars and heavy cannon. On 31 May
and 1 June very thick clouds of black smoke were seen rising from the
city, encouraging Frederick to believe that a couple of stores had
actually caught fire.
By 4 June, however, Frederick had begun to fear that his bom-
bardment was doing little effective damage, and that the city was
much better stocked with provisions than he had expected. He was
now also aware that the Austrians, as resilient as always, were
building up a big army of relief in eastern Bohemia. They had
entrusted the command to Field-Marshal Daun, of whom Frederick
knew little, though Austrian deserters told him that he was not a man
who was likely to risk battle for the sake of rescuing Prague. Frederick
had given Lieutenant-General the Duke of Bevern the responsibility
of holding these people at a distance from the city. Bevern was
gradually reinforced to a strength of 24,600 troops, and in accordance
with Frederick's instructions he took the offensive against Daun and
pushed him some way from the Kaiser-Strasse.
As a precautionary measure Frederick set out on 13 June to join
Bevern with a reinforcement of four battalions, sixteen squadrons of
cavalry and fifteen heavy guns. He had scarcely settled himself for the
night at the Zum letzten Pfennig inn when an officer arrived from
Bevern at eleven bearing the totally unexpected news that the whole
of the Austrian army was on the advance.
On the 14th Frederick's little corps marched on through Schwarz-
Kosteletz and over a plateau to a wooded brow above the village of
Zdanitz. He took in the wide but as yet empty view over the plain of