The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck, vol 1 | Page 8

officers, on the morning of our departure from
Potzdam.
Should any one be desirous of writing the lives of him and his
opponent, Maria Theresa, without flattery and without fear, let him
apply to me, and I will relate anecdotes most surprising on this subject,
unknown to all but myself, and which never must appear under my own
name.
All monarchs going to war have reason on their side; and the churches
of both parties resound with prayers, and appeals to Divine Justice, for
the success of their arms. Frederic, on this occasion, had recourse to
them with regret, of which I was a witness.
If I am not mistaken, the King's army came before Prague on the 14th
of September, and that of General Schwerin, which had passed through
Silesia, arrived the next day on the other side of the Moldau. In this
position we were obliged to wait some days for pontoons, without
which we could not establish a communication between the two armies.
The height called Zischka, which overlooks the city, being guarded
only by a few Croats, was instantly seized, without opposition, by some
grenadiers, and the batteries, erected at the foot of that mountain, being
ready on the fifth day, played with such success on the old town with
bombs and red-hot balls that it was set on fire. The King made every
effort to take the city before Prince Charles could bring his army from
the Rhine to its relief.

General Harsh thought proper to capitulate, after a siege of twelve days,
during which not more than five hundred men of the garrison, at the
utmost, were killed and wounded, though eighteen thousand men were
made prisoners.
Thus far we had met with no impediment. The Imperial army, however,
under the command of Prince Charles of Lorraine, having quitted the
banks of the Rhine, was advancing to save Bohemia.
During this campaign we saw the enemy only at a distance; but the
Austrian light troops being thrice as numerous as ours, prevented us
from all foraging. Winter was approaching, dearth and hunger made
Frederic determine to retreat, without the least hope from the countries
in our rear, which we had entirely laid waste as we had advanced. The
severity of the season, in the month of November, rendered the soldiers
excessively impatient of their hardships; and, accustomed to conquer,
the Prussians were ashamed of and repined at retreat: the enemy's light
troops facilitated desertion, and we lost, in a few weeks, above thirty
thousand men. The pandours of my kinsman, the Austrian Trenck, were
incessantly at our heels, gave us frequent alarms, did us great injury,
and, by their alertness, we never could make any impression upon them
with our cannon. Trenck at length passed the Elbe, and went and burnt
and destroyed our magazines at Pardubitz: it was therefore resolved
wholly to evacuate Bohemia.
The King hoped to have brought Prince Charles to the battle between
Benneschan and Kannupitz, but in vain: the Saxons, during the night,
had entered a battery of three-and-twenty cannon on a mound which
separated two ponds: this was the precise road by which the King
meant to make the attack.
Thus were we obliged to abandon Bohemia. The dearth, both for man
and horse, began to grow extreme. The weather was bad; the roads and
ruts were deep; marches were continual, and alarms and attacks from
the enemy's light troops became incessant. The discontent all these
inspired was universal, and this occasioned the great loss of the army.
Under such circumstances, had Prince Charles continued to harass us,
by persuading us into Silesia, had he made a winter campaign, instead
of remaining indolently at ease in Bohemia, we certainly should not
have vanquished him, the year following, at Strigau; but he only
followed at a distance, as far as the Bohemian frontiers. This gave

Frederic time to recover, and the more effectually because the
Austrians had the imprudence to permit the return of deserters.
This was a repetition of what had happened to Charles XII. when he
suffered his Russian prisoners to return home, who afterwards so
effectually punished his contempt of them at the battle of Pultawa.
Prague was obliged to be abandoned, with considerable loss; and
Trenck seized on Tabor, Budweis, and Frauenberg, where he took
prisoners the regiments of Walrabe Kreutz.
No one would have been better able to give a faithful history of this
campaign than myself, had I room in this place, and had I at that time
been more attentive to things of moment; since I not only performed
the office of adjutant to the King, when he went to reconnoitre, or
choose a place of encampment, but it was, moreover, my duty to
provide forage for the headquarters. The King having only permitted