On and after June 9th, the bombardment at Prag abated, and never rose
to briskness again; the place of trial for decision of that Siege having
flitted else-whither, as we said. About that time, rumors came in, not
so favorable, from the Duke of Bevern; which Friedrich, strong in hope,
strove visibly to disbelieve, but at last could not. Bevern reports that
Daun is actually coming on, far too strong for his resisting;--in other
terms, that the Siege of Prag will not decide itself by bombardment, but
otherwise and elsewhere. Of which we must now give some account; brief
as may be, especially in regard to the preliminary or marching part.
Daun, whose light troops plundered Brandeis (almost within wind of the
Prussian Rear) on the day while Prag Battle was fighting, had, on that
fatal event, gradually drawn back to Czaslau, a place we used to know
fifteen years ago; and there, or in those neighborhoods, defensively
manoeuvring, and hanging upon Kuttenberg, Kolin, especially upon
his Magazine of Suchdol, Daun, always rather drawing back, with
Brunswick-Bevern vigilantly waiting on him, has continued ever since;
diligently recruiting himself; ranking the remains of the right wing
defeated at Prag; drawing regiments out of Mahren, or whencesoever to
be had. Till, by these methods, he is grown 60,000 strong; nearly thrice
superior to Bevern; though being a "Fabius Cunctator" (so called by and
by), he as yet attempts nothing. Forty thousand in Prag, with Sixty here
in the Czaslau Quarter, [Tempelhof, i. 196; Retzow (i. 107, 109)
counts 46,000+66,000.] that makes 100,000; say his Prussian Majesty
has two-thirds of the number: can the Fabius Cunctator attempt nothing,
before Prag utterly famish?
Order comes to him from Vienna: "Rescue Prag; straightway go upon it,
cost what it like!" Daun does go upon it; advances visibly towards Prag,
Bevern obliged to fall back in front of him. Sunday, 12th June, Daun
despatches several Officers to Prince Karl at Prag, with notice that,
"On the 20th, Monday come a week, he will be in the neighborhood of Prag
with this view:--they, of course, to sally out, and help from rearward."
"Several Officers, under various disguises," go with that message, June
12th; but none of them could get into the City; and some of them, I
judge, must have fallen into the Prussian Hussar Parties:--at any rate,
the news they carried did get into the Prussian circuit, and produced
an instant resolution there. Early next morning, Monday 13th, King
Friedrich, with what disposable force is on the spot,--10,000 capable
of being spared from siege-work, and 4,000 more that will be capable of
following, under Prince Moritz, in two days,--sets forth in all speed.
Joins Bevern that same night; at Kaurzim, thirty-five miles off, which
is about midway from Prag to Czaslau, and only three miles or so from
Daun's quarters that night,--had the King known it, which he did not.
Daun must be instantly gone into; and shall,--if he is there at all, and
not fallen back at the first rumor of us, as Friedrich rather supposes.
In any case, there are preliminaries indispensable: the 4,000 of Prince
Moritz still to come up; secondly, bread to be had for us, which is
baking at Nimburg, across the Elbe, twenty miles off; lastly (or rather
firstly, and most indispensable of all), Daun to be reconnoitred.
Friedrich reconnoitres Daun with all diligence; pushes on everything
according to his wont; much obstructed in the reconnoitring by Pandour
clouds, under which Daun has veiled himself, which far outnumber our
small Hussar force. Daun, as usual,--showing always great skill in
regard to camps and positions,--has planted himself in difficult
country: a little river with its boggy pools in front; behind and
around, an intricate broken country of knolls and swamps, one ridge in
it which they even call a BERG or Hill, Kamhayek Berg; not much of a
Hill after all, but forming a long backbone to the locality, west end
of it straight behind Daun's centre, at present. Friedrich's position is
from north to south; like Daun's, taking advantage of what heights and
brooks there are; and edging northward to be near his bread-ovens: right
wing still holds by Kaurzim, left wing looking down on Planian, a little
Town on the High Road (KAISER-STRASSE) from Prag to Vienna. Little Town
destined to get up its name in a day or two,--next little Town to which,
twelve miles farther on, is Kolin, secretly destined to become and
continue still more famous among mankind. Kolin is close to the Elbe,
left or south bank; Elbe hereabouts strikes into his long northwestern
course (to Wittenberg all the way; Pirna, say 150 miles off, is his
half-way house in that direction);--strikes off northward hereabouts,
making for Nimburg, among other places: Planian, right south of Nimburg,
is already fifteen good miles from Elbe.
This is Friedrich's position, Wednesday, June 15th and the day
following; somewhat nearer his ovens than yesterday. Daun is yet
parallel to him, has his centre behind Swoyschitz, an insignificant
Village at the foot of those Kamhayek Heights, which is, ever since,
to be found in Maps. Friday, 17th, Friedrich's bread-wagons and 4,000
having come in, as doubtless the Pandours report in the proper place,
Daun does not quite like his strong position any more, but would prefer
a stronger. Friday about sunset, "great clouds of dust" rise from Daun:
changing his position, the Prussians see, if for Pandours and gathering
darkness they can at present see little else. Daun, truly, observing the
King to have in that manner edged up, towards Planian, is afraid of his
right wing from such a neighbor. So that the reader must take his Map
again. Or, if he care not for such things, let him skip, and leave me
solitary to my sad function; till we can meet on easier ground, and
report the battle which ensued. Daun hustles his right wing back out of
that dangerous proximity; wheels his whole right wing and centre ninety
degrees round, so as to reach out now towards Kolin, and lie on the
north slope of the Kamhayek ridge; places his left wing EN POTENCE
(gibbet-wise), hanging round the western end of said Kamhayek, its
southern extremity at Swoyschitz, its northern at Hradenin, where (not
a mile from Planian) his right wing had formerly been;--with other
intricate movements not worth following, under my questionable guidance,
on a Map with unpronounceable names. Enough to say that Daun's right
wing is now far east at Krzeczhorz, well beyond Chotzemitz, whereabouts
his centre now comes to stand (and most of his horse THERE, both the
wings being hilly and rough, unfit for horse);--and that, this being
nearly the last of Daun's shiftings and hustlings for the present, or
indeed in essential respects the very last, readers may as well note the
above main points in it.
Hustled into this still stronger place, with wheeling and shoving, which
lasted to a late hour, Daun composes himself for the night. He lies now,
with centre and right looking northward, pretty much parallel to the
Planian-Kolin or Prag-Vienna Highway, and about a mile south of the
same; extreme posts extending almost to Kolin on that side; left wing
well planted EN POTENCE; Kamhayek ridge, north face and west end of it,
completely his on both the exposed or Anti-Prussian faces. Friedrich
feels uncertain whether he has not gone his ways altogether; but
proposes to ascertain by break of day.
By break of day Friedrich starts, having cleared off certain Pandour
swarms visible in places of difficulty, who go on first notice, and
without shot fired. [Lloyd, i. 61 et seq. (or Tempelhof's Translation,
i. 151-164); Tempelhof's own Account is, i. 179-196; Retzow's, i.
120-149 (fewer errors of detail than usual); Kutzen, _Der Tag von Kolin_
(Breslau, 1857), a useful little compilation from many sources. Very
incorrect most of the common accounts are; Kausler's _ Schlachten,_
Jomini, and the like.] Marches through Planian in two columns, along
the Kolin Highway and to north of it; marches on, four or five miles
farther, nothing visible but the skirts of retiring Pandours,--"Daun's
rear-guard probably?"--Friedrich himself is with Ziethen, who has the
vanguard, as Friedrich's wont is, eagerly enough looking out; reaches
a certain Inn on the wayside (WIRTHSHAUS "of Slatislunz or GOLDEN-SUN,"
say the Modern Books,--though I am driven to think it Novomiesto, nearer
Planian; but will not quarrel on the subject); Inn of good height for
one thing; and there, mounting to the top-story or perhaps the leads,
descries Daun, stretching far and wide, leant against the Kamhayek,
in the summer morning. What a sight for Friedrich: "Big game SHALL be
played, then; death sure, this day, to thousands of men: and to me--?
Well!"
Friedrich calls halt: rest here a little; to consider, examine, settle
how. A hot close morning; rest for an hour or two, till our rear from
Kaurzim come up: horses and men will be the better for it,--horses can
have a mouthful of grass, mouthful of water; some of them "had no drink
last night, so late in getting home." Poor quadrupeds, they also have to
get into a blaze of battle-rage this day, and be blown to pieces a great
many of them,--in a quarrel not of their seeking! Horse and rider are
alike satisfied on that latter point; silently ready for the task THEY
have; and deaf on questions that are bottomless.
At this Hostelry of Novomiesto (not of Slatislunz or "GOLDEN-SUN" at
all, which is a "Sun" fallen dismally eclipsed in other ways ["The Inn
of Slati-Slunz was burnt, about twenty years ago; nothing of it but
the stone walls now dates from Friedrich's time. It is a biggish
solid-looking House of two stories (whether ever of three, I could not
learn); stands pleasantly, at the crown of a long rise from Kolin;--and
inwardly, alas, in our day, offers little but bad smells and negative
quantities! Only the ground-floor is now inhabited. From the front,
your view northward, Nimburg way, across the Elbe Valley, is fertile,
wide-waving, pretty: but rearward, upstairs,--having with difficulty
got permission,--you find bare balks, tattered feathers, several
hundredweight of pigeon's dung, and no outlook at all, except into walls
of office-houses and the overhanging brow of Heights,--fatal, clearly,
to any view of Daun, even from a third story!" (TOURIST'S NOTE,
1858.)--Tempelhof (UBI SUPRA) seems to have known the right, place; not,
Retzow, or almost anybody since: and indeed the question, except for
expressly Military people, is of no moment.]), Friedrich halted for
three hours and more; saw Daun developing himself into new Order of
Battle, "every part of his position visible;" considered with his whole
might what was to be tried upon him;--and about noon, having made up his
mind, called his Generals, in sight of the phenomenon itself there, to
give them their various orders and injunctions in regard to the same.
The Plan of Fight, which was thought then, and is still thought by
everybody, an excellent one,--resting on the "oblique order of attack,"
Friedrich's favorite mode,--was, if the reader will take his Map,
conceivable as follows.
Daun has by this time deployed himself; in three lines, or two lines and
a reserve; on the high-lying Champaign south of the Planian-Kolin Great
Road; south, say a mile, and over the crests of the rising ground, or
Kamhayek ridge, so that from the Great Road you can see nothing of him.
His line, swaying here and there a little, to take advantage of its
ground, extends nearly five miles, from east to west; pointing towards
Planian side, the left wing of it; from Planian, eastward, the way
Friedrich has marched, Daun's left wing may be four miles distant. On
the other side, Daun's right wing--main line always pretty parallel
to the Highway, and pointing rather southward of Kolin--reaches to the
small Hamlet of Krzeczhorz, which is two miles off Kolin. In front of
his centre is a Village called Chotzemitz (from which for a while,
in those months, the Battle gets its name, "Battle of Chotzemitz," by
Daun's christening): in front of him, to right or to left of Chotzemitz,
are some four or even six other Villages (dim rustic Hamlets, invisible
from the High Road), every Village of which Daun has well beset with
batteries, with good infantry, not to speak of Croat parties hovering
about, or dismounted Pandours squatted in the corn. That easternmost
Village of his is spelt "Krzeczhorz" (unpronounceable to mankind),
a dirty little place; in and round which the Battle had its hinge or
cardinal point: the others, as abstruse of spelling, all but equally
impossible to the human organs, we will forbear to name, except in case
of necessity. Half a mile behind Krzeczhorz (let us write it Kreczor,
for the future: what can we do?), is a thin little Oak-wood, bushes
mainly, but with sparse trees too, which is now quite stubbed out,
though it was then important enough, and played a great part in the
result of this day's work. Radowesnitz, a pronounceable little Village,
half a mile farther or southward of the Oak-bush, is beyond the
extremity of Daun's position; low down on a marshy little Brook,
which oozes through lakes and swamps towards Kolin, in the northerly
direction.
Most or all of these Villages are on little Brooks (natural thirst so
leading them): always some little runlet of water, not so swampy when
there is any fall for it; in general lively when it gets over the ridge,
and becomes visible from this Highway. And it is curious to see what
a considerable dell, or green ascending chasm, this little thread of
water, working at all moments for thousands of years, has hollowed out
for itself in the sloping ground; making a great military obstacle, if
you are mounting to attack there. Poor Czech Hamlets all of them, dirty,
dark, mal-odorous, ignorant, abhorrent of German speech;--in what nook
those inarticulate inhabitants, diving underground at a great rate this
morning, have hidden themselves to-day, I know not. The country consists
of knolls and slopes, with swamps intermediate; rises higher on the
Planian side; but except the top of that Kamhayek ridge on the Planian
side, and "Friedrich's-Berg" on the Kolin side, there is nothing
that you could think of calling a Hill, though many Books (and even
Friedrich's Book) rashly say otherwise. Friedrich's-Berg, now so called,
is on the north side of the Highway: half a mile northeastward of
Slatislunz, the mal-odorous Inn. A conical height of perhaps a hundred
and fifty feet; rises rather suddenly from the still-sloping ground,
checking the slope there; on which the Austrian populations have built
some memorial lately, notable to Tourists. Here Friedrich "stood during
the Battle," say they; and the Prussians "had a battery there." Which
remains uncertain to me, at least the battery part of it: that Friedrich
himself was there, now and then, can be believed; but not that he kept
"standing there" for long together. Friedrich's-Berg does command some
view of the Kreczor scene, which at times was cardinal, at others not:
but Friedrich did not stand anywhere: "oftenest in the thick of the
fire," say those who saw.
Friedrich, from his Inn near Planian, seeing how Daun deploys himself,
considers him impregnable on the left wing; impregnable, too, in front:
not so on the Kreczor side, right flank and rear; but capable of being
rolled together, if well struck at there. Thither therefore; that is his
vulnerable point. March along his front: quietly parallel in due Order
of Battle, till we can bend round, and plunge in upon that. The Van,
which consists of Ziethen's Horse and Hulsen's Infantry; Van, having
faced to right at the proper moment and so become Left Wing, will attack
Kreczor; probably carry it; each Division following will in like manner
face to right when it arrives there, and fall on in regular succession
in support of Hulsen (at Hulsen's right flank, if Hulsen be found
prospering): our Right Wing is to refuse itself, and be as a
Reserve,--no fighting on the road, you others, but steady towards
Hulsen, in continual succession, all you; no facing round, no fighting
anywhere, till we get thither:--"March!"
The word is given about 2 P.M.; and all, on the instant, is in motion;
rolls steadily eastward, in two columns, which will become First Line
and Second. One along the Highway, the second at due distance leftward
on the green ground, no hedge or other obstacle obstructing in that part
of the world. Daun's batteries, on the right, spit at them in passing,
to no purpose; sputters of Pandour musketry, from coverts, there may
be: Prussians finely disregarding, pass along; flowing tide-like towards
THEIR goal and place of choice. An impressive phenomenon in the sunny
afternoon; with Daun expectant of them, and the Czech populations well
hidden underground!--
Ziethen, vanmost of all, finds Nadasti and his Austrian squadrons drawn
across the Highway, hitherward of the Kreczor latitude: Ziethen dashes
on Nadasti; tumbles his squadrons and him away; clears the Road, and
Kreczor neighborhood, of Nadasti: drives him quite into the hollow of
Radowesnitz, where he stood inactive for the rest of the day. Hulsen now
at the level of Kreczor (in the latitude of Kreczor, as we phrased it),
halts, faces to right; stiffly presses up, opens his cannon-thunders,
his bayonet-charges and platoon-fires upon Kreczor. Stiffly pressing
up, in spite of the violent counter-thunders, Hulsen does manage Kreczor
without very much delay, completely enough, and like a workman; takes
the battery, two batteries; overturns the Infantry;--in a word, has
seized Kreczor, and, as new tenant, swept the old, and their litter,
quite out. Of all which Ziethen has now the chase, and by no means will
neglect that duty. Ziethen, driving the rout before him, has driven it
in some minutes past the little Oak-wood above mentioned; and, or
rather BUT,--what is much to be noted,--is there taken in flank with
cannon-shot and musketry, Daun having put batteries and Croat parties in
the Oak-wood; and is forced to draw bridle, and get out of range again.
Hulsen, advancing towards this little Oak-wood, is surprised to
discover, not the wood alone, but a strong Austrian force, foot and
horse, to rear of it;--such had been Daun's and Nadasti's precaution, on
view of those Friedrich phenomena, flowing on from Planian, guessed to
be hitherward. At sight of which Wood and foot-party, Hulsen, no new
Battalion having yet arrived to second him, pauses, merely cannonading
from the distance, till new Battalions shall arrive. Unhappily they did
not arrive, or not in due quantity at the set time,--for what reason,
by what strange mistake? men still ask themselves. Probably by more
mistakes than one. Enough, Hulsen struggling here all day, with
reinforcements never adequate, did take the Wood, and then lose it; did
take and lose this and that;--but was unable to make more of it than
keep his ground thereabouts. A resolute man, says Retzow, but without
invention of his own, or head to mend the mistakes of others. In and
about Kreczor, Hulsen did maintain himself with more and more tenacity,
till the general avalanche, fruit of sad mistakes swept HIM, quite
spasmodically struggling at that period, off to the edge of it, and all
the others clean away! Mistakes have been to rightwards, one or even
two, the fruit of which, small at first, suffices to turn the balance,
and ends in an avalanche, or precipitous descent of ruin on the Prussian
side
One mistake there was, miles westward on the right wing; due to
Mannstein, our too impetuous Russian friend, Mannstein well to right,
while marching forward according to order, has Croat musketry spitting
upon him from amid the high corn, to an inconvenient extent: such was
the common lot, which others had borne and disregarded: perhaps it
was beyond the average on Mannstein, or Mannstein's patience was less
infinite; any way it provoked Mannstein to boil over; and in an evil
moment he said, "Extinguish me that Croat canaille, then!" Regiment
Bornstedt faced to right, accordingly; took to extinguishing the Croat
canaille, which of course fled at once, or squatted closer, but came
back with reinforcements; drew Mannstein deeper in, fatally delayed
Bornstedt, and proved widely ruinous. For now he stopped the way to
those following him: regiments marching on to rear of Mannstein see
Mannstein halted, volleying with the Austrians; ask themselves "How? Is
there new order come? Attack to be in this point?" And successively fall
on to support Mannstein, as the one clear point in such dubiety. So that
the whole right wing from Regiment Bornstedt westward is storming up
the difficult steeps, in hot conflict with the Austrians there, where
success against them had been judged impracticable;--and there is now
no reserve force anywhere to be applied to in emergency, for Hulsen's
behoof or another's; and the Plan of Battle from Mannstein westward has
been fatally overturned. Poor Mannstein, there is no doubt, committed
this error, being too fiery a man. Surely to him it was no luxury,
and he paid the smart for it in skin and soul: "badly wounded in this
business;" nay, in direct sequel, not many weeks after, killed by it, as
we shall see!--
To Mannstein's mistake, Friedrich himself, in his account of Kolin,
mainly imputes the disaster that followed; and such, then and
afterwards, was the universal judgment in military circles; loading the
memory of too impetuous Mannstein with the whole. [See Retzow, i.
135; Templehof, i. 214, 220.] Much talk there was in Prussian military
circles; but there must also have been an admirable silence on the part
of some. To Three Persons it was known that another strange incident
had happened far ahead, far eastward, of Mannstein's position:
incident which did not by any means tend to alleviate, which could only
strengthen and widen, the evil results of Mannstein; and which might
have lifted part of the load from Mannstein's memory! Not till the
present Century, after the lapse of almost fifty years, was this secret
slowly dug out of silence, and submitted to modern curiosity.
The incident is this;--never whispered of for near fifty years (so
silent were the three); and endlessly tossed about since that; the sense
of it not understood till almost now. [See Retzow, i. 126; Berenhorst;
&c. &c.;--then FINALLY Kutzen, pp. 99, 217.] The three parties were:
King Friedrich; Moritz of Dessau, leading on the centre here; Moritz's
young Nephew Franz, Heir of Dessau, a brisk lad of seventeen, learning
War here as Aide-de-camp to Moritz: the exact spot is not known to
me,--probably the ground near that Inn of Slatislunz, or Golden-Sun;
between the foot of Friedrich's-Berg and that:--fact indubitable, though
kept dark so long. Moritz is marching with the centre, or main battle,
that way, intending to wheel and turn hillwards, Kreczor-wise, as per
order, certain furlongs ahead; when Friedrich (having, so I can conceive
it, seen from his Hill-top, how Hulsen had done Kreczor, altogether
prosperous there; and what endless capability there was of prospering to
all lengths and speeding the general winning, were Hulsen but supported
soon enough, were there any safe short-cut to Hulsen) dashed from his
Hill-top in hot haste towards Prince Moritz, General of the centre,
intending to direct him upon such short-cut; and hastily said, with
Olympian brevity and fire, "Face to right HERE!" With Jove-like brevity,
and in such blaze of Olympian fire as we may imagine. Moritz himself
is of brief, crabbed, fiery mind, brief in temper; and answers to the
effect, "Impossible to attack the enemy here, your Majesty; postured as
they are; and we with such orders gone abroad!"--"Face to right, I
tell you!" said the King, still more Olympian, and too emphatic for
explaining. Moritz, I hope, paused, but rather think he did not, before
remonstrating the second time; neither perhaps was his voice so low as
it should have been: it is certain Friedrich dashed quite up to Moritz
at this second remonstrance, flashed out his sword (the only time he
ever drew his sword in battle); and now, gone all to mere Olympian
lightning and thundertone, asks in THIS attitude, "WILL ER (Will He)
obey orders, then?"--Moritz, fallen silent of remonstrance, with gloomy
rapidity obeys.
Prince Franz, the young Nephew of Moritz, alone witnessed this scene;
scene to be locked in threefold silence. In his old age, Franz had
whispered it to Berenhorst, his bastard Half-Uncle, a famed military
Critic,--who is still in the highest repute that way (Berenhorst's
KRIEGSKUNST, and other deep Books), and is recognizable, to LAY readers,
for an abstruse strong judgment; with equal strength of abstruse temper
hidden behind it, and very privately a deep grudge towards Friedrich,
scarcely repressible on opportunity. From Berenhorst it irrepressibly
oozed out; ["Heinrich van Berenhorst [a natural son of the Old
Dessauer's], in his _Betrachtungen uber die Kriegskunst,_ is the first
that alludes to it in print. (Leipzig, 1797,--page in SECOND edition,
1798, is i. 219)."] much more to Friedrich's disadvantage than it now
looks when wholly seen into. Not change of plan, not ruinous caprice on
Friedrich's part, as Berenhorst, Retzow and others would have it; only
excess of brevity towards Moritz, and accident of the Olympian fire
breaking out. Friedrich is chargeable with nothing, except perhaps
(what Moritz knows the evil of) trying for a short-cut! Such is now the
received interpretation. Prince Franz, to his last day, refused to speak
again on the subject; judiciously repentant, we can fancy, of having
spoken at all, and brought such a matter into the streets and their
pie-powder adjudications. [In KUTZEN, pp. 217-237, a long dissertation
on it.] For the present, he is Adjutant to Moritz, busy obeying to the
letter.
Friedrich, withdrawing to his Height again, and looking back on Moritz,
finds that he is making right in upon the Austrian line; which was by
no means Friedrich's meaning, had not he been so brief. Friedrich,
doubtless with pain, remembers now that he had said only, "Face to
right!" and had then got into Olympian tempest, which left things dark
to Moritz. "HALB-LINKS, Half to left withal!" he despatches that new
order to Moritz, with the utmost speed: "Face to right; THEN, forward
half to left." Had Moritz, at the first, got that commentary to his
order, there had probably been no remonstrance on Moritz's part,
no Olympian scene to keep silent; and Moritz, taking that diagonal
direction from the first, had hit in at or below Kreczor, at the very
point where he was needed. Alas for overhaste; short-cuts, if they are
to be good, ought at least to be made clear! Moritz, on the new order
reaching him, does instantly steer half-left: but he arrives now above
Kreczor, strikes the Austrian line on this side of Kreczor; disjoined
from Hulsen, where he can do no good to Hulsen: in brief, Moritz, and
now the whole line with him, have to do as Mannstein and sequel are
doing, attack in face, not in flank; and try what, in the proportion of
one to two, uphill, and against batteries, they can make of it in that
fashion!
And so, from right wing to left, miles long, there is now universal
storm of volleying, bayonet-charging, thunder of artillery, case-shot,
cartridge-shot, and sulphurous devouring whirlwind; the wrestle very
tough and furious, especially on the assaulting side. Here, as at Prag,
the Prussian troops were one and all in the fire; each doing strenuously
his utmost, no complaint to be made of their performance. More perfect
soldiers, I believe, were rarely or never seen on any field of war. But
there is no reserve left: Mannstein and the rest, who should have been
reserve, and at a General's disposal, we see what they are doing! In
vain, or nearly so, is Friedrich's tactic or manoeuvring talent; what
now is there to manoeuvre? All is now gone up into one combustion. To
fan the fire, to be here, there, fanning the fire where need shows: this
is now Friedrich's function; "everywhere in the hottest of the fight,"
that is all we at present know of him, invisible to us otherwise. This
death-wrestle lasted perhaps four hours; till seven or towards eight
o'clock in the June evening; the sun verging downwards; issue still
uncertain.
And, in fact, at last the issue turned upon a hair;--such the empire of
Chance in War matters. Cautious Daun, it is well known, did not like the
aspect of the thing; cautious Daun thinks to himself, "If we get pushed
back into that Camp of yesternight, down the Kamhayek Heights, and right
into the impassable swamps; the reverse way, Heights now HIS, not
ours, and impassable swamps waiting to swallow us? Wreck complete, and
surrender at discretion--!" Daun writes in pencil: "The retreat is to
Suchdol" (Kuttenberg way, southward, where we have heights again and
magazines); Daun's Aide-de-camp is galloping every-whither with
that important Document; and Generals are preparing for retreat
accordingly,--one General on the right wing has, visibly to Hulsen and
us, his cannon out of battery, and under way rearwards; a welcome sight
to Hulsen, who, with imperfect reinforcement, is toughly maintaining
himself there all day.
And now the Daun Aide-de-camp, so Chance would have it, cannot find
Nostitz the Saxon Commandant of Horse in that quarter; finds a "Saxon
Lieutenant-Colonel B---" ("Benkendorf" all Books now write him plainly),
who, by another little chance, had been still left there: "Can the Herr
Lieutenant-Colonel tell me where General Nostitz is?" Benkendorf can
tell;--will himself take the message: but Benkendorf looks into the
important Pencil Document; thinks it premature, wasteful, and that the
contrary is feasible! persuades Nostitz so to think; persuades this
regiment and that (Saxon, Austrian, horse and foot); though the cannon
in retreat go trundling past them: "Merely shifting their battery, don't
you see:--Steady!" And, in fine, organizes, of Saxon and Austrian horse
and foot in promising quantity (Saxons in great fury on the Pirna score,
not to say the Striegau, and other old grudges), a new unanimous assault
on Hulsen.
The assault was furious, and became ever more so; at length irresistible
to Hulsen. Hulsen's horse, pressing on as to victory, are at last hurled
back; could not be rallied; [That of "RUCKER, WOLLT IHR EWIG LEBEN,
Rascals, would you live forever?" with the "Fritz, for eight groschen,
this day there has been enough!"--is to be counted pure myth; not
unsuccessful, in its withered kind.] fairly fled (some of them);
confusing Hulsen's foot,--foot is broken, instantly ranks itself, as the
manner of Prussians is; ranks itself in impromptu squares, and stands
fiercely defensive again, amid the slashing and careering: wrestle of
extreme fury, say the witnesses. "This for Striegau!" cried the Saxon
dragoons, furiously sabring. [Archenholtz, i. 100.] Yes; and is there
nothing to account of Pirna, and the later scores? Scores unliquidated,
very many still; but the end is, Hulsen is driven away; retreats,
Parthian-like, down-hill, some space; whose sad example has to spread
rightwards like a powder-train, till all are in retreat,--northward,
towards Nimburg, is the road;--and the Battle of Kolin is finished.
Friedrich made vehement effort to rally the Horse, to rally this and
that; but to no purpose: one account says he did collect some small
body, and marched forth at the head of it against a certain battery;
but, in his rear, man after man fell away, till Lieutenant-Colonel Grant
(not "Le Grand," as some call him, and indeed there is an ACCENT of
Scotch in him, still audible to us here) had to remark, "Your Majesty
and I cannot take the battery ourselves!" Upon which Friedrich turned
round; and, finding nobody, looked at the Enemy through his glass, and
slowly rode away [Retzow, i. 139.]--on a different errand.
Seeing the Battle irretrievably lost, he now called Bevern and Moritz
to him; gave them charge of the retreat--"To Nimburg; cross Elbe there
[fifteen good miles away]; and in the defiles of Planian have especial
care!" and himself rode off thitherward, his Garde-du-Corps escorting.
Retzow says, "a swarm of fugitive horse-soldiers, baggage-people,
grooms and led horses gathered in the train of him: these latter, at one
point," Retzow has heard in Opposition circles, "rushed up, galloping:
'Enemy's hussars upon us!' and set the whole party to the gallop for
some time, till they found the alarm was false." [Ib. i. 140.] Of
Friedrich we see nothing, except as if by cloudy moonlight in an
uncertain manner, through this and the other small Anecdote, perhaps
semi-mythical, and true only in the essence of it.
Daun gave no chase anywhere; on his extreme left he had, perhaps as
preparative for chasing, ordered out the cavalry; "General Stampach and
cavalry from the centre," with cannon, with infantry and appliances, to
clear away the wrecks of Mannstein, and what still stands, to right of
him, on the Planian Highway yonder. But Stampach found "obstacles
of ground," wet obstacles and also dry,--Prussian posts, smaller and
greater, who would not stir a hand-breadth: in fact, an altogether
deadly storm of Negative, spontaneous on their part, from the indignant
regiments thereabouts, King's First Battalion, and two others; who
blazed out on Stampach in an extraordinary manner, tearing to shreds
every attempt of his, themselves stiff as steel: "Die, all of us, rather
than stir!" And, in fact, the second man of these poor fellows did
die there? [Kutzen, p. 138 (from the canonical, or "STAFF-OFFICER'S"
enumeration: see SUPRA, p. 403 n.).] So that Bevern, Commander in that
part, who was absent speaking with the King, found on his return a new
battle broken out; which he did not forbid but encourage; till Stampach
had enough, and withdrew in rather torn condition. This, if this were
some preparative for chasing, was what Daun did of it, in the cavalry
way; and this was all. The infantry he strictly prohibited to stir from
their position,--"No saying, if we come into the level ground, with such
an enemy!"--and passed the night under arms. Far on our left, or what
was once our left, Ziethen with all his squadrons, nay Hulsen with most
of his battalions, continued steady on the ground; and marched away at
their leisure, as rear-guard.
"It seemed," says Tempelhof, in splenetic tone, "as if Feldmarschall
Daun, like a good Christian, would not suffer the sun to go down on his
wrath. This day, nearly the longest in the year, he allowed the Prussian
cavalry, which had beaten Nadasti, to stand quiet on the field till ten
at night [till nine]; he did not send a single hussar in chase of the
infantry. He stood all night under arms; and next day returned to his
old Camp, as if he had been afraid the King would come back. Arriving
there himself, he could see, about ten in the morning, behind Kaurzim
and Planian, the whole Prussian Baggage fallen into such a coil that the
wagons were with difficulty got on way again; nevertheless he let
it, under cover of the grenadier battalion Manteuffel, go in peace."
[Tempelhof, i. 195.] A man that for caution and slowness could make no
use of his victory!
The Austrian force in the Field this day is counted to have been 60,000;
their losses in killed, wounded and missing, 8,114. The Prussians, who
began 34,000 in strength, lost 13,773; of whom prisoners (including all
the wounded), 5,380. Their baggage, we have seen, was not meddled with:
they lost 45 cannon, 22 flags,--a loss not worth adding, in comparison
to this sore havoc, for the second time, in the flower of the Prussian
Infantry. [Retzow, i. 141 (whose numbers are apt to be inaccurate);
Kutzen, p. 144 (who depends on the Canonical STAFF-OFFICER Account).]
The news reached Prag Camp at two in the morning (Sunday, 19th): to the
sorrowful amazement of the Generals there; who "stood all silent;
only the Prince of Prussia breaking out into loud lamentations and
accusations," which even Retzow thinks unseemly. Friedrich arrived that
Sunday evening: and the Siege was raised, next day; with next to no
hindrance or injury. With none at all on the part of Daun; who was still
standing among the heights and swamps of Planian,--busy singing, or
shooting, universal TE-DEUM, with very great rolling fire and other
pomp, that day while Friedrich gathered his Siege-goods and got on
march.
THE MARIA-THERESA ORDER, NEW KNIGHTHOOD FOR AUSTRIA.
No tongue can express the joy of the Austrians over this
victory,--vouchsafed them, in this manner, by Lieutenant-Colonel
Benkendorf and the Powers above. Miraculously, behold, they are not upon
the retreat to Suchdol, at double-quick, and in ragged ever-lengthening
line; but stand here, keeping rank all night, on the Planian-Kolin
upland of the Kamhayek:--behold, they have actually beaten Friedrich;
for the first time, not been beaten by him. Clearly beaten that
Friedrich, by some means or other. With such a result, too; consider
it,--drawn sword was at our throat; and marvellously now it is turned
round upon his (if Daun be alert), and we--let us rejoice to all
lengths, and sing TE-DEUM and TE-DAUNUM with one throat, till the
Heavens echo again.
There was quite a hurricane, or lengthened storm, of jubilation
and tripudiation raised at Vienna on this victory: New ORDER OF MARIA
THERESA, in suitable Olympian fashion, with no end of regulating and
inaugurating,--with Daun the first Chief of it; and "Pensions to Merit"
a conspicuous part of the plan, we are glad to see. It subsists to this
day: the grandest Military Order the Austrians yet have. Which
then deafened the world, with its infinite solemnities, patentings,
discoursings, trumpetings, for a good while. As was natural, surely, to
that high Imperial Lady with the magnanimous heart; to that loyal solid
Austrian People with its pudding-head. Daun is at the top of the Theresa
Order, and of military renown in Vienna circles;--of Lieutenant-Colonel
Benkendorf I never heard that he got the least pension or
recognition;--continued quietly a military lion to discerning men, for
the rest of his days. ["Died at Dresden, General of Cavalry," 5th May,
1801 (Rodenbeck, i. 338, 339).]
Nay once, on Dauu's TE-DEUM day, he had a kind of recognition;--and
even, by good accident, can tell us of it in his own words: [Kutzen
(citing some BIOGRAPHY of Benkendorf), p. 143.]--
"I was sent for to head-quarters by a trumpeter,"--Benkendorf
was,--"when all was ready for the TE-DEUM. Feldmarschall Daun was
pleased to say at sight of me, 'That as I had had so much to do with the
victory, it was but right I should thank our Herr Gott along with him.'
Having no change of clothes,--as the servant, who was to have a uniform
and some linens ready for me, had galloped off during the Fight, and our
baggage was all gone to rearward,--I tried to hustle out of sight among
the crowd of Imperial Officers all in gala: but the reigning Duke of
Wurtemberg [Wilhelmina's Son-in-law, a perverse obstinate Herr, growing
ever more perverse; one of Wilhelmina's sad afflictions in these days]
called me to him, and said, 'He would give his whole wardrobe, could he
wear that dusty coat with such honor as I!'"--yes; and tried hard, in
his perverse way, for some such thing; but never could, as we shall see.
How lucky that Polish Majesty had some remains of Cavalry still at
Warsaw in the Pirna time; that they were made into a Saxon Brigade, and
taken into the Austrian service; Brigade of three Regiments, Nostitz for
Chief, and this Benkendorf a Lieutenant-Colonel, among them;--and that
Polish Majesty, though himself lost, has been the saving of Austria
twice within one year!