ANNUAL REGISTER, 1758.
60
whole Auftrian army pnrfued, lie followed the King no farther than Gorlitz: which place he immedi- ately quitted, and having by forced inarches gained the Elbe, he pailcd , thatri\erat Pirna, and ad- ^°-^- vanccdtowardsDrefden. At the fame time the army of the Em- pire, by its motions, having oblig- ed the PrufTian army, then extreme- ly weakened by the detachments that had been drawn from lU to re- tire from its poll before Drefden, fome miles to the wcihvard of that city, cut off their communication with Leipiic, whilft M. D:.un at- tempted to cut off thtir communi- cation with Drefden; but they found means to throw themfeives into that city, and afterwards to retire to the other iide of the Elbe. The Auilrians and Imperialilis be- gan at once to inveft thofe two important places ; another party advanced towards Torgau, and at- tempted that town. It leemed ut- terly impofiible to prevent the Au- ftrians from becoming mailers of Saxony, who in a manner covered the whole country with their forces.
In the mean time, the King of PruiTia drew nearer and nearer to Neib. The fiege of that fortrefs was commenced on the 4th of Au- gulU en t^ 3d of Odv b: r it was compleatly invefted ; and the place was pufhed on one fide with the greateft vigour, and on the other maintained with the moft confum- inate fkill and bravery, until the approach of the King of Prufiia obliged the Auftrians, on the tirll of November, to raile the fifge, leaving a conuderable quantity of military ftores behind them. The fame terror obliged the purtii s em^ ployed in the blockade of Coiel, to leave that place at liberty, and to fall back, together with the ar-
mies of the Generals Harfch and de Ville, into Bohemia, and the Auflrian Sileiia.
The King of Pruffia, when ^ ^ he had thus by the report of ^ ^'^' his march, without fighting, driven his enemies out of Silelia, loft not a moment to return by the fame route, and uith the fame expedi- tion to tlie relief of Saxony. I'wo bodies of his troops had moved for the fame purpcfe out of Pomera- nia, one under Count Dohna, and one under General Wedel. The corps under Wedel had thrown itfelf into Torgau, repulfed. the Auilrians, who had attempted that place, and purfued them as far as Eulenburg. The grand operation of the Auilrians was againll Dref- den. M. Daun, with an army of 60, ceo men, came before that city, on the very day on which the King of Prufiia began his march to op- pofe him, fo that he might well imagine his fuccefs certain againft a place meanly fortified, and de- fended only by 12,000 men. 1 he fame day he began to cannonade it, and his light troops, fupported by the grenadiers of the arm.y, made a fharp attack upon the fuburbs. ■^rhe Governor Count Schmettau faw that from the weaknefs of tiie.^ fuburbs it would prove impolfible for him to prevent the enemy ircm pollefiing himielf of them by a coup i-e muin; and if they lucceeded m this attempt, the great height ot the houfe.'-, being fix or <even ftories, and entirely commanding the ram- parts, would render the reduction of the body of the place equally ealy and certain. Thefe cuniideraticns determined him to fet thefe fuburbs on fir^-
It is well known that the fuburbs of Dreiden compofe one of the linell towns in Europe, and are
greatly
