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ACHIEVEMENTS OE FIELD ARTILLERY. 
The most subtle of Generals early discerned their intention, waited 
till they were well under way, and then swiftly took ground to his left, 
wheeled to his left again, and marched rapidly parallel to his opponents, 
but concealed from view behind the intervening hills. The whole army 
disappeared in the hollow behind the high ground, and Soubise, fearing 
that it might escape, hurried on with increased rapidity. 
But the Prussians could outmarch their foes, and Seydlitz’s scouts 
from the hill-tops watched and reported on their progress. 
When Frederick judged that his cavalry were sufficiently ahead of 
the enemy’s column, he pushed out a battery of 18 12-pr. guns to the 
Janusberg and suddenly smote the head of their advance with an 
unexpected and concentrated fire, which quickly threw it into con¬ 
fusion. Then it was that Seydlitz’s squadrons emerged from their 
concealment, and taking advantage of the confusion which the artillery 
had occasioned, thundered down on the Allied horse, and rode through 
and through them. Later on again, when the cavalry had been drawn 
off to reform and gain breathing time, the great battery on the 
Janusberg plied the Allied infantry with a destructive fire, and pre¬ 
vented their forming up to their left to withstand the advance of the 
Prussian infantry under Prince Henry, and crushed by this fire the 
Allied troops broke and melted away. 
A Wiirtemberg Dragoon, 1 writing of this phase of the action, has 
said, “The artillery tore down whole ranks of us; the Prussian musketry 
did terrible execution.” 
It is unnecessary to enter here more closely into the details of this 
battle ; it is enough to say that by the genius of Frederick 50,000 to 
60,000 men were signally defeated by 4000 cavalry, seven battalions, 
and the action of 18 guns pushed early into the fight, and handled with 
decision, skill, and energy. 
Many lessons have been drawn from this justly celebrated fight, 
but it is doubtful whether the important share which artillery played 
in it has not often been lost sight of. Yet in it we have a magnificent 
example of the three arms all working together as they should, 
and artillery almost for the first time takes its place as an arm capable 
of producing an independent effect, and advances to try conclusions 
with the others boldly, and with confidence in what it can accom¬ 
plish. It first disorganised with fire the Allied cavalry attempting 
to deploy, and facilitated Seydlitz’s brilliant stroke. It then turned 
its attention on the Allied guns, and crushed them ere they could act 
against the Prussian cavalry and infantry. Finally, it genially co¬ 
operated with its own infantry in their advance and shattered the 
attempt at resistance which the numerous hostile infantry endeavoured 
to make, while eventually it again prepared the way for Seydlitz’s second 
charge, and paved its road to victory. 
Decker thus eulogises the performances of this battery. “We may 
say with all assurance that the success of the day belonged to the 
artillery. If, as at Kolin, it had remained inactive, the enemy’s infantry 
could have formed and advanced ; its defeat would not have been so 
complete, and the success of the (Prussian) cavalry would have been 
1 Life of Frederick the Great, by Major-General C. B. Brackenbury, E.A. 
