THE SEVEN YEARS WAR, 1756-63
134U demoralised by the defeat at Kolin and still suffering from the
privations of the campaign (11 August, PRO SP 90/69)
On 16 August Frederick was in the immediate proximity of the
of 100,000 Austrians in their position on the Eckartsberg plateau
north of Zittau. 'We could see him from our camp', wrote one of the
Austrians. 'He was riding through his position on a great grey horse,
giving orders left, right and centre' (Ligne, 1795-1811, XIV, 36).
Frederick was set on attacking the right flank of the Austrian
position. Prince Henry was equally sure that such an enterprise
would be suicidal, and in the evening he betook himself to the royal
headquarters at Tittelsdorf:
The king was already at supper under a tree. Several officers
stood about him. They awaited his orders, and they were
entranced to be in his proximity and hear his voice. The king
spoke in a monologue, developing all sorts of splendid plans, and
proclaiming how he would beat those buggers the next day, and
so on. (Henckel von Donnersmarck, 1858,1, Part 2, 275)
The royal brothers entered the rough cabin behind, and a crowd of
officers gathered outside under a fine and warm rain.We could see them both. The prince was speaking with evident
animation, but we could not catch what they were saying. This
scene continued for one and a half hours. Finally the prince
came out to announce the orders, namely 'Tomorrow is a rest
day!'Everybody was overjoyed. (Kalkreuth, 1840, III, 165)Henry thereby entered a claim to the enduring gratitude of the army,
and established himself in the eyes of many of the officers as a
restraining force on what seemed to them to be the bloodthirsty
irresponsibility of his brother.
On 20 August the Prussians retreated closer to their magazine at
Bautzen. 'They executed this movement with such order and compo-
sure ... as to lend an air of superiority to what was in fact a pretty
humiliating episode' (Ligne, 1795-1811, XIV, 58).The Prague-Kolin phase of operations was now definitely at an end,
and Frederick was forced to establish new priorities in his grand
strategic calculations now that he had to face the possibility of a
converging allied attack. (See Map 12, p. 356.)
On the far eastern flank the field-marshal Hans von Lehwaldt
had been commissioned to hold East Prussia against the Russians. He
was known as a brave officer, but one who was unused to indepen-
dent command.
More immediately Frederick had to reckon with a threat to his