The three Prussian armies had marched into Bohemia from different sides and separated by the Krkonoše. While the Prussian chief of staff Moltke wanted to achieve the unification of his armies, the Austrian commander-in-chief, Feldzeugmeister Benedek , tried to use his supposed advantage of the inner line to unite with the Saxon army and to defeat the first army under Friedrich Karl separately from the other armies. After the Battle of Skalitz, however, the second army had reached the rear of the Austrian army which required a fundamental regrouping by Benedek.