Marshal Saxe, in the campaign of 1741, having passed the Moldau in
quest of a detached corps of fourteen thousand men, which was about to
throw itself into Prague, left a thousand infantry upon that river,
with orders to entrench themselves upon a height directly opposite the
_tête de pont_. By this precaution, the marshal secured his retreat,
and also the facility of repassing the bridge without disorder, by
rallying his divisions between the entrenched height and the _tête de
pont_.
Were these examples unknown to the generals of modern times, or are
they disposed to think such precautions superfluous?