storming the heights before him, left a corps under Keith and a
few detachments to watch Prague and the fords across the river,
and marched during the night upstream and, crossing above
the Austrian right, formed his army (about 64,000) for attack
at right angles to the Austrian front. The ground had not
been reconnoitred, and in the morning mist many mistakes in
the deployment had been made, but as Daun was known to be
but 20 m. away and the Austrian army was changing its front
to meet the unexpected attack, the king threw caution to the
winds and sending Zieten with his cavalry by a wide détour
to cover his left, he ordered the whole to advance. One of
the most savage battles in history was the result. Almost
immediately the Prussian infantry became entangled in a series
of morasses, the battalion guns had to be left behind and the
troops had to correct their alignment under the round shot fired
by the Austrians, who had completed their change of front in
time and now stood ready to sweep the open glacis before them.
Before the storm of bullets and the grape and canister of the
heavy and battalion guns the Prussian first line faltered and
fell in thousands. Their attempts to prepare the way for the
bayonet assault broke down. Schwerin was killed. But the
second line carried the survivors on, and in the nick of time
Zieten’s cavalry drove the Austrian horsemen off the field and
broke in on the flank and rear of their infantry. This turned
the scale, and the Austrians retreated into Prague in hopeless
confusion, leaving some 10,000 men (14·8%) on the ground, and
4275 prisoners, out of about 66,000, in their enemy's hands. The
Prussians lost 11,740 men killed and wounded and 1560 prisoners,
and in all 20·8% of their strength. The actual fighting seems
only to have lasted about two hours, though tiring did not cease
till late at night; 16,000 Austrians managed in the confusion
to evade capture and join Daun, who made no movement either
on this or succeeding days to come to the assistance of his
comrades, but began a leisurely retreat towards Vienna.
The Prussians immediately began the siege of the town, and after a month’s delay Daun, now at the head of some 60,000 men, moved forward to the relief of the city. Learning of his approach, the king, taking with him all the men who could be spared from the investment and uniting all available detachments, moved to meet him with only 34,000 men,Kolin. and on the 18th of June he found Daun strongly entrenched. He immediately endeavoured to march past him and attack him on the right flank as at Prague, but the Austrian light troops harassed his columns so severely during the movement that without orders they wheeled up to drive them off and, being thus thrown into disarray, they took three divergent objectives. Their disunited attacks all fell upon superior numbers, and after a most obstinate struggle they were badly beaten with a loss in killed and wounded of 6710 (18·6%) and 5380 prisoners with 22 colours and 45 guns. The fighting lasted 512 hours. The Austrian loss was only 8000 out of 53,500, or 15·2%, of whom only 1500 were taken prisoners.
This disaster entailed raising the siege of Prague, and the Prussians fell back on Leitmeritz. The Austrians, reinforced by the 48,000 troops in Prague, followed them 100,000 strong, and, falling on Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia, who was retreating eccentrically (for commissariat reasons) on Zittau, indicted a severe check upon him. The king was compelled to abandon Bohemia, falling back on Bautzen. Having re-formed his men and calling in Keith’s 27,000 men from Pirna,
