The army of Sobieski reached Klosterenburg, Koenigstetten, St. Andre,
the Valley of Hagen and Kirling, where it effected its junction with the
Austrians and the Saxons who had arrived there in passing by Hoeflin. On
Sunday, September 15th, in the earliest rays of a fine autumnal day, the
holy priest Marco d'Aviano celebrated mass in the chapel of Kahlenberg, and
the King of Poland served him during the sacrifice. Afterward, Sobieski
made his son kneel down and dubbed him a knight in remembrance of the great
occasion on which he was going to be present; then, turning toward his
officers, he reminded them of the victory of Choczim, adding that the
triumph they were about to achieve under the walls of Vienna would not only
save a city, but Christendom. Next morning the Christian army descended the
Hill of Kahlen in order of battle. A salvo of five cannon-shot gave the
signal for the fight. Sobieski commanded the right wing, the Duke of
Lorraine the left, under whose orders served Prince Eugene of Savoy, then
aged nineteen. The Elector of Bavaria was in the centre. The village of
Naussdorf, situated upon the Danube, was attacked by the Saxon and
imperial troops which formed the left wing, and carried after an obstinate
resistance. Toward noon the King of Poland, having descended into the
plain with the right wing, at the head of his Polish cavalry, attacked the
innumerable squadrons of Turkish horse. Flinging himself upon the enemy's
centre with all the fury of a hurricane, he spread confusion in their
ranks; but his courage carried him too far; he was surrounded and was on
the point of being overwhelmed by numbers. Then, shouting for aid, the
German cavalry, which had followed him, charged the enemy at full gallop,
delivered the King, and soon put the Turks to flight on all sides. The
right wing had decided the victory; by seven o'clock in the evening the
deliverance of Vienna was achieved. The bodies of more than ten thousand
infidels strewed the field of battle.
But all those combats were mere preludes to the great battle which must
decide the fortune of the war. For the Turkish camp, with its thousands of
tents, could still be seen spreading around as far as the eye could
reach, and its artillery continued to play upon the city. The victorious
commander-in-chief was holding a council of war to decide whether to give
battle again on that same day, or wait till the morrow to give his troops
an interval of rest, when a messenger came with the announcement that the
enemy appeared to be in full flight; and it proved to be the fact. A panic
had seized the Turks, who fled in disorder, abandoning their camp and
baggage; and soon even those who were attacking the city were seen in full
flight with the rest of the army.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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