ck 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, an