April I: maneuvering like two cautious boxers

As the Kolin campaign gets underway, the two opponents are clearly trying to get each other's measure, moving carefully to avoid giving away anything while seeking to gain the best position from which to strike.

On the Prussian side this is manifested by cautious redeployment. The army of Prince Maurice, recently mauled by Austrian irregulars, shifts west to Dresden, a move popular with both rank and file and their officers, who welcome a visit to the cultured and refined capital of Saxony. On the road, they pass blue-coated columns marching the other way, as King Frederick takes his own command westward to take station in Freiberg.

The Austrian army of FML Charles, Duke of Arenberg, satisfied with its spoiling attack on the army of Prince Maurice, marched back from the frontier through Saaz to the depot at Pilsen. The roads over Rip Mountainare still cold and wet with the remains of winter's snows, and the army suffered some straggling as they passed through the inhospitable Elbsandsteingebirge.

All other forces remained in their previous positions. No cities are under siege, and no battles took place, so we move on to April II.

April I: raids and recon

April, it is said, is the cruelest month. This is certainly true for the Prussian troops stationed at Freiberg, who are woken from their sleep one night by the sound of musket fire. In some cases, the dazed troops stumble out of tents and barns, trying to assemble into their units, only to be cut down by the curved sabres of Austrian pandours or gutted by bayonets wielded by fiercely mustachioed grenzers. A brutal surprise attack on the army of Prince Maurice of Anhalt-Dessau by light troops of the Imperial Army is beaten off, but only with heavy losses.

Perhaps the newly-raised regiments of Prussian light troops might have been able to detect this attack and foil it before it happened, but they seem to have been far away, trying to reconnoiter the lines of the Kaiserlich und Königlich forces under Königsegg at Reichenberg. Still raw and uncertain at this new form of warfare, however, the Prussian scouts are beaten off by the Austrian screening forces.