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
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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