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

Part 6: September 23, 1757

Translated and Edited
With Additional Materials By Neil Cogswell


The news of the Prussians is that they have made several movements in their camp towards their left. Apparently, this is to facilitate their retreat towards Neumarkt.

At noon, General Nadasdy departed with his corps in order to draw closer to Striegau, where General Jahnus continues to be encamped with his troops.

From Dresden, we hear that the King of Prussia marched to meet the French, who made several marches to the rear after leaving a garrison in the castle at Erfurt. On the 12th of this month, the Prussian Army was two miles (German) from that town. The King has detached Prince Moritz von Dessau with 6,000 men to retrace his steps to Torgau. Apparently this move resulted from a report that the Austrians had left General Marschall in Lusatia with a corps of 12,000 men, however, that general is still at Lauban.

The garrison of Dresden is once more said to be 4,000 strong, but it is suffering from heavy desertion. The Commandant there is neglecting no precautions capable of making us suppose that he intends to sustain a siege. Despite having an abundance of provisions, he has foraged all the villages around that town. The Governor of Magdeburg is being no less vigilant. He has expelled all the useless mouths from the town and obliged all the retired officers to return to duty. All the inhabitants of the countryside have been obliged to bring in all the grain and forage from the fields. The King of Prussia has issued an order that all the peasants around Magdeburg and Mansfeld are to take up arms, or answer for their negligence with their lives.

This evening, the Austrian Army received the order to hold itself ready to march tomorrow.

Journal of Horace St. Paul 1757 Part 6

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