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

September 6, 1757

Translated and Edited With Additional Materials By Neil Cogswell


According to the order of march given yesterday, the army marched at noon. Order of March from Ostritz to Schonau

The Right Wing made a simple advance of 1,000 paces all along its front; the Left Wing marched in three columns to the heights of Berzdorf and Jauernick. The 1st Column was composed of the Left Wing of the Second Line of infantry - Regiment Browne at the head. It marched by the right passing, to its left, the village of Keisdorf. It then went to Berzdorf, where it encamped.

The 2nd Column, composed of the infantry of the Left Wing of the First Line - Regiment Wolfenbuttel at the head, passed through Schonau and followed the road to Jauernick, where it encamped.

The 3rd Column was formed of all the cavalry of the Left Wing - Regiment Anspach in the lead. Like the others, it marched by the right passing through Altbernsdorf and Friedersdorf before entering camp.

Headquarters are established at Schonau behind the centre of the Second Line. In this new position, the army rests its right on the Neisse and its left on the other side of the heights of Jauernick not far from the high road from Gorlitz to Bautzen. 6 companies of grenadiers with 6 cannon are in front of Jauernick. 6 other companies of grenadiers, under the orders of General Sprecher, occupy the ground between the Right Wing and the village of Tauchernitz. These posts support the Croats, who have pushed forward through the undergrowth and the ravines separating the two armies. The Reserve Corps is encamped in two lines: its left rests on the Neisse, behind the village of Rademeritz; the right extends towards Schonberg, where General Nadasdy rests his left beyond the Roths-Wasser.

From the heights of Jauernick, we could see that General Winterfeldt had sent forward a detachment to defend the ravine which separates him from General Nadasdy, who fired several cannon shots against them. We could also distinctly see works being constructed on the side of the Landeskrone mountain. These will form a large retrenchment in the shape of a cap, with its two flanks resting on the wood which covers the summit of the mountain.

According to news coming from Dresden and from the Army of the King, the King has left no more than 4 regiments, totalling about 4,000 men, as garrison in Dresden. With the remainder of his army, he has marched to Nossen. According to deserters, he is heading towards Leipzig. 60 boats, which had come from Torgau to Dresden loaded with flour and all sorts of provisions, have been sent back with the sick and the wounded; they are due to return in order to embark the remainder of the sick.

Of the 10 Prussian battalions who had been at Bautzen, there remains only a single one holding the castle. There is also no more than a single battalion at the Sonnenstein of Pirna, and the provinces called the Metal Mountains have been almost entirely abandoned.

In his map of this position, St Paul appears to me greatly to exaggerate the strength of the Prussian army. In the first plate, I have thinned the lines out somewhat to accord with the numbers known to be there.

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