“Never you mind that,” they replied. “The Austrians are not Prussians. You know what we can do.”
“Indeed I do,” the king responded. “Otherwise I durst not risk a battle. And now, my children, a good night’s sleep to you. We shall soon attack the enemy; and we shall beat him, or we shall all die.”
“Yes, death or victory,” they shouted. Then from loving lips the cheer ran along the line, “Good-night, Fritz.”
And thus the king passed from regiment to regiment. Perhaps no commander, excepting Napoleon, has ever secured to an equal degree the love of his soldiers. It is said that a deserter was brought before him.
“What induced you to desert me?” inquired the king.
“Alas! your majesty,” the man replied, “we are so few, and the Austrians are so many, that defeat is certain.”
“Well,” the king replied, kindly, “try it one day more. If we do not mend matters, you and I will both desert together.”
The Austrian army, which outnumbered the Prussian over three to one, was in a camp, very strongly fortified, near Breslau. A council of war was held. Some of the Austrian officers, dreading the prowess of their redoubtable opponent, advised that they should remain behind their intrenchments, and await an attack. It would, of course, be impossible for less than thirty thousand men to storm ramparts bristling with artillery, and defended by nearly ninety thousand highly disciplined and veteran troops.
Others, however, urged that this was ignoble and cowardly; that it would expose them to the derision of the world if they, with their overwhelming numbers, were to take shelter behind their ramparts, fearing to attack so feeble a band. Prince Charles, anxious to regain lost reputation, and elated by the reconquest of Silesia, adopted the more heroic resolve, and marched out to meet the foe.
With great joy Frederick learned that the Austrians had left their camp, and were on the advance to attack him. He immediately put his little army in motion for the perilous and decisive conflict. It was four o’clock Sunday morning, December 4, 1757, when Frederick left Parchwitz on his march toward Breslau. He was familiar with every square mile of the region. The Austrians were so vastly superior in numbers that many of them quite despised the weakness of the Prussian army. Many jokes were tossed about in the Austrian camp respecting the feeble band of Frederick, which they contemptuously called the “Potsdam Guard.”