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advance;—it was a good deal in rear of the rest; and was also below its full 
strength ; the other three marched with an even front along the three roads 
above mentioned. The corps on the left flank, the 5th was in the most 
dangerous place; fortunately it was in the hands of General Steinmetz, a 
veteran whose military career dates from the campaign of 1813, but whose 
age does not prevent his being esteemed one of the best generals in the 
Prussian service. On the 27th June, the 6th Austrian Corps met him at 
Nachod, and he defeated it: on the 28th he repeated the victory at Skalitz 
over the remains of the same corps, supported by two brigades of the 
2nd Corps; and on the 29th his troops again engaged the advanced guard 
of the 4th Austrian corps near Jaromirz. Being at the close of these severe 
encounters much weakened in numbers, the 5th Corps held back, to form 
the reserve, and its place was taken by the 6th Corps. 
The 1st Prussian Corps held the right of the 2nd Army; it met the 
advanced troops of the Austrian 10th Corps at Trautenau, and at first 
repulsed them, but later in the day General Gablentz the Austrian Com¬ 
mander brought up the whole of his corps, and the Prussians in turn were 
driven back beyond Trautenau. This was on the 27th June, the day of the 
first action fought by Steinmetz. On the 28th General Gablentz was 
directed to pursue his advantage, supported by part of the 4th Corps, 
and to move towards his right, to retrieve the injury suffered by the dis¬ 
comfiture of the 6th Corps. But the Prussian Guards Corps, which was 
marching between the two flanks of the 2nd Army, had moved boldly 
forwards to prevent this very manoeuvre : it met Gablentz at Burgersdorf and 
Soor (near where Prederick the Great had defeated the Duke of Lorraine in 
1745), and robbed him of what few laurels he had won on the previous day. 
Purther encounters took place on the 29th and 30th, always to the 
advantage of the Prussians. Koniginhof was taken, and a passage over the 
Elbe secured there. The Austrian attempts to arrest the 2nd Army had 
ended in failure; and now Benedek learned,—what he might have calculated 
on sooner or later, but which he spoke of as an unexpected disaster,—viz. 
that the 1st Austrian Corps and the Saxons had been beaten by Prince 
Prederick Charles, and that the position of the 1st Prussian Army had 
become threatening to his left rear. Under these circumstances he gave 
orders to fall back upon Koniggratz. 
That Prince Prederick Charles's army should steadily advance, in spite of 
the Austrian force opposed to it, was (as we have already observed) the 
natural consequence of their disparity in numbers. There had been en¬ 
counters before reaching the Iser; and again at the river side, on the 26th 
and 28th June.* On the 29th a more serious contest took place for the 
possession of Gitschin or Jicin; a position which Count Clam Gallas, the 
Austrian General held, with all the forces under his command. The action 
began in the afternoon, the place was stormed at midnight. Next morning 
Clam Gallas' troops were hurrying in disorder towards Koniggratz; there 
were no longer any hostile bodies between the 1st and 2nd Prussian 
Armies ; free communication could be established between them; and their 
junction being thus effected, the first stage of the invasion was completed. 
* For particulars, see the “Times” of 3rd July and 6tli July; Liebenau, Hunerwasser, Turnau, 
Pedol, and Munchengratz (the last three on the river), were the scenes of action. 
