Prussian Preparations
Information from captured Austrian soldiers allowed Frederick to determine the exact location of Neipperg's forces and position at Mollwitz. The morning fog and snow allowed Frederick's army to advance undetected all the way to within 2000 paces of Neipperg's army camp. Most commanders would have then given the order to charge the camp and rout the Austrian army, but since Frederick had never fought a campaign or a battle before, he instead decided to deploy his army in a battle line. There was very heavy snow on the ground which caused snow-blindness and so Frederick miscalculated the distance between the river on his right. He deployed several of his units behind a bend in the river where they would be unable to take part in the battle, and several more units were deployed perpendicular to his two battle lines on the right side. It is said that Schwerin commented early on that Frederick made a mistake in his calculation of the distance but was ignored.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Mollwitz
Famous quotes containing the word preparations:
“At the ramparts on the cliff near the old Parliament House I counted twenty-four thirty-two-pounders in a row, pointed over the harbor, with their balls piled pyramid-wise between them,—there are said to be in all about one hundred and eighty guns mounted at Quebec,—all which were faithfully kept dusted by officials, in accordance with the motto, “In time of peace prepare for war”; but I saw no preparations for peace: she was plainly an uninvited guest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)