272 THE WAR OF THE BAVARIAN SUCCESSION, 1778-9All of the Austrian plans for the defence of northern Bohemia
were overthrown at one stroke. Prague was abandoned by the garri-
son and the aristocracy, and the Austrian tenure of the whole of
Bohemia now hung upon the troops who were re-grouping along the
line of the Iser. Joseph betook himself to what was now called the
Iser-Armee, and he found an atmosphere of despondency reigning in
Loudon's headquarters at Miinchengratz. The Emperor did what he
could to stiffen Loudon's resolution before he had to return to the
Elbe-Armee at Jaromiersch. T am setting off today', he wrote on 14
August. 'I leave most unwillingly, because I fear that the slightest
alarm will occasion our retreat' (Koser, 1910, 524). Three days later
Lieutenant-General Mollendorff proposed to Heniy a push which, as
we can now appreciate, would certainly have unseated Loudon from
the Iser. Henry rejected the idea, because he feared for his com-
munications in this wild country, and he believed that the possible
rewards from Mollendorff s scheme were not commensurate with the
risks.
Frederick was quite unable to persuade Henry to advance to the
Iser, and he had to be satisfied with getting his brother to move to the
left bank of the middle Elbe, from where he could threaten Prague.
Henry hung around dejectedly in the neighbourhood of Lobositz, and
then on 24 September he began a retreat on Saxony.
Meanwhile Frederick had got the royal army on the move while
the Austrians were still alarmed by Henry's original excursion. He
planned first to consume all the cereals and fodder in the Welsdorf
area, so as to deny the Austrians a base from which to invade Silesia.
He would then disengage the army, take it on a wide circuit to the
north and west through the wooded valleys, and reinsert it on the
uppermost reaches of the river near Hohenelbe (Map 30, p. 382),
where the ground began to rise more than 4,000 feet to the summits of
the Riesen-Gebirge. This march would carry the army clear of the
densely wooded hills along the right bank of the Elbe between Schurz
and the Bradl-Berg, and Frederick hoped that the Austrians would not
have time to occupy the Hohenelbe sector in any strength. Any
opposition would be cleared away by a mighty concentration of
howitzer fire.
On 16 August the royal army decamped from the devastated
surroundings of Welsdorf and marched to a new camp at the Bohe-
mian Burkersdorf, on the site of the battle of Soor. Now that speed was
imperative, six days were lost while working parties cleared the paths
for the further advance of the artillery by way of Trautenau, Wild-
shiitz, Mohren, Leopold, and Hermannseiffen.
At last, on 22 August, the main army and the cumbersome train
of artillery began the march on Leopold, while Frederick took off with
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