History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 18Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 18
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
Indisputably the Wurtembergers and the abatis are gone; and the
Brandenburgers, storming after them, storm Nadasti's interior battery of
14 pieces; and Nadasti's affairs are rapidly getting desperate in this
quarter. Figure Prince Karl's scouts, galloping madly to recall that
Daun Cavalry! Austrian Battalions, plenty of them, rush down to help
Nadasti; but they are met by the crowding fugitives, the chasing
Prussians; are themselves thrown into disorder, and can do no good
whatever. They arrive on the ground flurried, blown; have not the
least time to take breath and order: the fewest of them ever got fairly
ranked, none of them ever stood above one push: all goes rolling wildly
back upon the centre about Leuthen. Chaos come on us;--and all for mere
lack of time: could Nadasti but once stretch out one minute into twenty!
But he cannot. Nadasti does not himself lose head; skilfully covers the
retreat, trying to rally once and again. Not for the first few furlongs,
till the ditches, till the firwood, quagmires are all done, could
Ziethen, now on the open ground, fairly hew in; "take whole battalions
prisoners;" drive the crowd in an altogether stormy manner; and wholly
confound the matter in this part.
Prince Karl, his messengers flying madly, has struggled as man seldom
did to put himself in some posture about Leuthen, to get up some
defences there. Leuthen itself, the churchyard of it especially, is on
the defensive. Men are bringing cannon to the windmills, to the
swelling ground on the north side of Leuthen; they dig ditches, build
batteries,--could they but make Time halt, and Friedrich with him, for
one quarter of an hour. But they cannot. By the extreme of diligence,
the Austrians have in some measure swung themselves into a new position,
or imperfect Line round Leuthen as a centre,--Lucchesi, voluntarily
or by order, swinging southwards on the one hand; Nadasti swinging
northwards by compulsion;--new Line at an angle say of 75 degrees to
the old one. And here, for an hour more, there was stiff fighting,
the stiffest of the day;--of which, take one direct glimpse, from the
Austrian side, furnished by a Young Gentleman famous afterwards:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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