GENERAL FINCK SURROUNDED AND TAKEN.

This advantage was succeeded by another exploit of prince Henry, who, on the twenty-third day of the month, quitted his camp at Hornsdorf, near Gorlitz; and, after an incredible march of eleven German miles, by the way of Rothenberg, arrived about five in the afternoon at Hoyerswerda, where he surprised a body of four thousand men, commanded by general Vehla, killed six hundred, and made twice that number prisoners; including the commander himself. After this achievement he joined the corps of Finck and Wunch; while mareschal Daun likewise abandoned his camp in Lusatia, and made a forced march to Dresden, in order to frustrate the prince’s supposed design on that capital. The Russians, disappointed in their scheme upon Glogau, had repassed the Oder at Neusalze, and were en? camped at Fraustadt; general Laudohn, with a body of Austrians, lay at Sclichtingsheim; and the king of Prussia at Koben; all three on or near the banks of that river. Prince Henry, perceiving his army almost surrounded by Austrian detachments, ordered general Finck to drive them from Vogelsang, which they abandoned accordingly; and sent Wunch, with six battalions and some cavalry, across the Elbe, to join the corps of general Rebentish at Wittenberg, whither he retired from Duben at the approach of the Austrians. On the twenty-ninth day of October, the duke d’Aremberg, with sixteen thousand Austrians, decamped from Dammitch, in order to occupy the heights near Pretsch, and was encountered by general Wunch; who, being posted on two rising grounds, cannonaded the Austrians on their march with considerable effect; and the prince took twelve hundred prisoners, including lieutenant-general Gemmington, and twenty inferior officers, with some cannon, great part of their tents, and a large quantity of baggage. The duke was obliged to change his route, while Wunch marched from Duben to Rulenburgh; and general Wassersleben occupied Strehla, where next day the whole army encamped. In this situation the prince remained till the sixteenth day of November; when, being in danger of having his communication with Torgau cut off by the enemy, he removed to a strong camp, where his left flank was covered with that city and the river Elbe; his right being secured by a wood, and great part of his front by an impassable morass. Here he was reinforced with about twenty thousand men from Silesia, and joined by the king himself, who forthwith detached general Finck, with nineteen battalions and thirty-five squadrons, to take possession of the defiles of Maxen and Ottendorf, with a view to hinder the retreat of the Austrians to Bohemia. This motion obliged Daun to retire to Plauen; and the king advanced to Wilsdurf, imagining that he had effectually succeeded in his design. Letters were sent to Berlin and Magdebourg, importing, that count Daun would be forced to hazard a battle, as he had now no resource but in victory. Finck had no sooner taken post on the hill near the village of Maxen, than the Austrian general sent officers to reconnoitre his situation, and immediately resolved to attack him with the corps de reserve, under the baron de Sincere, which was encamped in the neighbourhood of Dippodeswalda. It was forthwith divided into four columns, which filed off through the neighbouring woods; and the Prussians never dreamed of their approach until they saw themselves entirely surrounded. In this emergency they defended themselves with their cannon and musketry until they were overpowered by numbers, and their battery was taken; then they retired to another rising ground, where they rallied, but were driven from eminence to eminence, until, by favour of the night, they made their last retreat to Falkenhayn. In the meantime, count Daun had made such dispositions, that at day-break general Finck found himself entirely enclosed, without the least possibility of escaping, and sent a trumpet to count Daun to demand a capitulation. This was granted in one single article, importing, that he and eight other Prussian generals, with the whole body of troops they commanded, should be received as prisoners of war. He was obliged to submit; and his whole corps, amounting to nineteen battalions and thirty-five squadrons, with sixty-four pieces of cannon, fifty pair of colours, and twenty-five standards, fell into the hands of the Austrian generals. This misfortune was the more mortifying to the king of Prussia, as it implied a censure on his conduct, for having detached such a numerous body of troops to a situation where they could not be sustained by the rest of the army. On the other hand, the court of Vienna exulted in this victory, as an infallible proof of Daun’s superior talents; and, in point of glory and advantage, much more than an equivalent for the loss of the Saxon army, which, though less numerous, capitulated in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, after having held out six weeks against the whole power of the Prussian monarch. General Hulsen had been detached, with about nine battalions and thirty squadrons, to the assistance of Finck; but he arrived at Klingenberg too late to be of any service; and, being recalled, was next day sent to occupy the important post of Fribourg.