At this startling crisis Count Brown was in command at Breslau. The first blow of this new and general contest was struck by Frederick III. of Prussia, who, having at his disposal all the immense treasure which had been accumulated by the rigid economy of his politic father, together with 76,000 idle troops, for whom he had been left to find employment, now revived an ancient claim to Silesia, based upon such pretensions as the English kings of old advanced to the thrones of Scotland and France; and suddenly marching twenty battalions of infantry and thirty-six squadrons of horse into the duchy, he took possession of Breslau, its capital, from which Count Brown was forced to retire, having only 3000 men, with whom he retreated towards Moravia, leaving small garrisons in Glogau and Breig, which Frederick blockaded with six battalions. This was in the January of 1741.
Frederick now offered to supply the Queen of Hungary (as Maria Theresa was styled) with money and troops to support her claims against the other violators of the Pragmatic Sanction, provided she would cede to him the Silesian province. Aware of the danger of yielding to one pretender, she sent Count Neuperg (who, since the Peace of Belgrade, had been a captive) with an army to the assistance of the faithful Brown, who, after disputing every inch of Frederick's progress, had maintained the contest with him single-handed for two months.
The King of Prussia sent a detachment of infantry across the Oder to attack Brown's garrison of 300 men in Namslau, where they surrendered in a fortnight. Leaving one regiment in Breslau, he marched against Brown's next garrison, consisting of 400 men, in Ohlau, under Colonel Formentini, who finding the place ruinous, and the Prussians overwhelming, capitulated. Then General Kleist invested Breig with five battalions and four squadrons.
Count Neuperg, one of Austria's best generals, being a senior officer, assumed the command of the whole force, which he had first assembled in the environs of Olmutz, and sent General Lentulus to occupy the narrow defiles of Glatz in Silesia, and thus protect Bohemia. Neuperg, meanwhile, meditated operations on the Neiss, and his hussars cut off the King of Prussia's convoys and outposts in every direction. The skirmishes around Neiss were incessant, and in one cavalry encounter Frederick was nearly taken prisoner—a stroke which would have ended the war at once. After many manœuvres and encounters, the armies of Neuperg and Frederick drew near each other, on the 10th of April, 1741, at Molowitz, a village in the neighbourhood of Neiss, where a desperate battle was fought.
On this inauspicious day—inauspicious for the Austrian cause—General Count Brown (or Braün, as the King of Prussia names him in his works) commanded the infantry. The scene of the encounter was within a league of the river Neiss, and the ground was mantled with snow to the depth of two feet. The Prussian army consisted of twenty-seven battalions of infantry, twenty-nine squadrons of cavalry, and three of hussars.
The Prussian infantry were, at that time, says Frederick, who had brought their discipline to perfection, "walking batteries! The rapidity of loading tripled their fire, and made a Prussian equal to three adversaries." They came on with such ardour, that Marshal Neuperg had to form his troops in order of battle under a cannonade from Frederick's artillery; but the right wing of his cavalry (thirty squadrons), under Rœmer, fell headlong on the Prussian left, and drove back their blue-coated dragoons. On they continued to press, with swords uplifted, until the steady fire of two grenadier battalions routed them, and slew the brave Rœmer as he led them to the charge for the third time.
At this critical moment, the infantry under Brown rushed on, and, though unsupported by cavalry, made incredible efforts to break through Frederick's serried ranks; and in this struggle the first battalion of his guards lost half its officers, and no less than 800 men. For five hours the firing continued; and, as ammunition failed, the dead were all turned on their faces, and their pouches emptied, to carry on the strife, which was only ended by Marshal Schwerin making a motion with his left, which threatened the Austrian flank. "This," says Frederick, in the History of his Own Times, "was the signal of victory, and the Austrian defeat—their rout was total." This was at six, P.M.
Count Brown was severely wounded, and Maria Theresa had 180 officers, 7000 horse and foot, killed, and three standards, seven cannon, and 1200 prisoners taken, with 3000 wounded. Brown, though faint with loss of blood, never left his saddle; but, by his efforts at the head of the infantry, covered the retreat of the whole army, which Neuperg, who was also wounded, ordered to retire under the cannon of Neiss, leaving Frederick victorious on the field, where he remained for three weeks.
Availing himself of this success, the victor, after a short siege, took Breig, removed his head-quarters to Strehlen, and, on driving 4000 Austrian hussars from the important pass of Fryewalde, began to recruit his army among the conquered Silesians. Re-establishing himself in Breslau, on being joined by the Duke of Holstein, his army, consisting of forty-three battalions and seventy squadrons, would soon have cut off all communication between the troops of Neuperg and his supplies; and moreover, would have formed a junction with the armies of France and Bavaria, which had now taken the field in his favour—the former under the famous marshal, Duke de Belleisle, and the latter under their Elector. The outposts of their allied enemies were now within eight German miles of Vienna, and the cause of the young and beautiful Maria Theresa seemed almost desperate. She retired to Presburg, where her appearance before the assembled Palatines, with an infant son in her arms, kindled such an enthusiasm that, as one man, they drew their sabres, exclaiming "We will die for our sovereign, Maria Theresa!"
She sent for Count Brown in 1743, to be present at her coronation, and, as a reward for his past services, made him a privy councillor of the kingdom of Bohemia.