Journal of Horace St. Paul
1757: Advance Astride the Neisse

September 3, 1757

Translated and Edited With Additional Materials By Neil Cogswell


The army, having been ordered to hold itself ready to march, did not leave camp. His Royal Highness Prince Charles of Lorraine and Marshal Daun went out, each on his own side, to reconnoitre the position of the Prussians. The Prince went to Schonberg, where the Corps of General Nadasdy is encamped, to reconnoitre the position of the Corps of General Winterfeldt.

Marshal Daun went towards Jauernick to study the position of the Duke of Bevern. The Prussian corps encamped beyond the Neisse does not appear to be more than 10 to 12,000 men. Their camp is in front of the Neisse, North of the Roths-Wasser. The infantry is in the centre and the cavalry on the two wings.

The Army of the Duke of Bevern is encamped in three lines - the first two of infantry, the third of cavalry. Its right is on the slope of the Landeskrone mountain; its left rests on the town of Gorlitz. On its right, the first line is encamped in clumps; it forms a flank covering the right wing.

The Austrian grenadier companies, under the orders of Lieutenant-General Sprecher, are encamped between the right flank of the army and the village of Leuba. We detached 6 of these companies to occupy Rademeritz, where 100 Croats already hold the redoubt that the Prussians built last Winter. The 500 horse, detached with the grenadiers, hold the ground between the highroad and the river.

Although the news from Dresden says that the Army of the King of Prussia has marched to Klein Schonberg, deserters from the Army of the Duke of Bevern claim that they are not expecting the King at any moment.

Our uncertainty concerning the operations of the Army of the Prince de Soubise had determined His Royal Highness Prince Charles of Lorraine to send a man to him expressly to gain positive news. That man, who returned today, says that he found the Prince at Erfurt; there, he had already joined a part of the French army to that of the Empire. French detachments have already pushed forwards as far as the outskirts of Leipzig. The Prussians hold that town with about 2 battalions and 200 horse; the majority of these are Saxon recruits. The 6,000 Bavarians in the pay of France should have arrived at Prague today.

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