Page:Decisive Battles Since Waterloo.djvu/346

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DECISIVE BATTLES SINCE WATERLOO.

increased and considerably affected the soldiers, who had had little sleep and scanty food for the past two days.

At daylight, the various corps and divisions of the First Army had formed their line for attacking the Austrians. The main body of the army was at Milowitz, which is a small village on the road from Koeniggratz to Horwitz. General Franseky, commanding the 7th division was at Cesekwitz, holding the left, while the 4th and 5th divisions were at Pristan and Psauch, these divisions forming the right of the line. General Herewarth von Bittenfeld with the 8th and part of the 7th corps held the extreme right about ten miles from Milowitz. At four o'clock in the morning the advance began, and the army marched slowly up the first declivity between Milowitz and Dub, five miles nearer Kommenitz. The ground being soaked by rain, which had been falling for several hours, was difficult for the advancing army. The skirmishers managed to move ahead without much trouble, but the battalions advancing in closer order struggled more slowly along, while the wheels of the gun carriages sank heavily into the sticky mud, and the horses of the artillery were frequently brought to a halt.

By six o'clock the whole army was quite near Dub, where it halted for a time somewhat below the summit of the slope, as the ridge on which the village is built had completely masked all the movements of the troops. The Austrians were known to be on the other side of the ridge, and they were probably unaware that any Prussians were in the vicinity other than the advanced pickets. The Prussian cavalry videttes had been sent forward the previous evening and held the crest of the ridge, so that the Austrians were unable to come up and ascertain what was going on behind this thin screen of mounted soldiers. After a halt of nearly an hour to enable the columns to close up, Prince Frederick Charles ordered the advance of the horse artillery and cavalry. They moved forward as