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

Part 7: September 30, 1757

Translated and Edited
With Additional Materials By Neil Cogswell


On the day before yesterday, some confusion arose around the name of Neukretscham, of which there are two places in this region so called. One is to the right beyond Neumarkt towards Lampersdorf; the other is on the left close to Parchwitz. Instead of being guided to the villages of Neukretscham and Lampersdorf between Neumarkt and Breslau, the Grenadiers of General Sprecher and the Croats of General Beck were instead conducted to the Neukretscham that is near Parchwitz.29

This contretemps was in part responsible for the army resting today and it also caused the precipitate march of the Prussians. Because the latter believed that those troops indicated an intention of closely pursuing them, they hastily crossed to the opposite bank of the Oder and yesterday encamped between Mondschtitz - where the Duke of Bevern made his Headquarters - and Stuben.

The Reserve Corps rejoined the army. It made its camp on the far side of Neumarkt to take over the advanced posts.

The hussars and Croats of General Morocz went on to Lissa and pushed some detachments as far as the opposite bank of the Schweidnitz.

The Corps of General Marshall has finally left Lauban. It marched yesterday in order - so we hear - to draw closer to the Elbe near Grossenhain. General Marshall has been sent orders to act in concert with General Hadik, who has five to six thousand men thereabouts. 29 St Paul actually refers to Neu-Kretschman. I can find no village of - or approaching - that name near Neumarkt. There is, however, a hamlet of Neukretscham 2 km East of Parchwitz and so this is the spelling that I have adopted in this version of his Journal. That there was a village of similar name near Neumarkt is clear from two subsequent references to it in these pages. Possibly the village that he refers to near Neumarkt was subsequently renamed Kammendorf, now Komorniki, which is the only village between Neumarkt and Lampersdorf; alternatively, there is a minor cross-roads just North of Kammendorf that may well have previously been a small hamlet. This latter is he site that I have marked on the accompanying map. To make the confusion worse, there are actually two villages of Lampersdorf: one is 10 km NNE of Parchwitz; the other is 6 km E of Neumarkt. The mistake by the guide, who may well have supposed that the Austrian Advance Guard would wish to approach the Prussian army that was then North of Parchwitz, is readily understandable.

Journal of Horace St. Paul 1757 Part 7

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