Battle of Hoyerswerda The Battle of Hoyerswerda was a minor encounter of September 9 , 1759 during the Seven Years ' War between Prussian and Austrian forces . Following on from the calamitous Prussian defeat at Kunersdorf in August however , this small victory for Frederick the Great , taken together with the one fashioned at Korblitz four days earlier by Friedrich August von Finck , no doubt proved a timely tonic to his fragile confidence . Preliminaries . In September 1759 various armies under Prussia ' s Frederick the Great and Prince Henry , Austria ' s Count Leopold Joseph von Daun , and Russia ' s Pyotr Saltykov were shadowing each other across Silesia . Through successive , rapid crossings of the Oder Frederick succeeded in denying the cities of Glogau ( now Głogów ) and Breslau ( now Wrocław ) to the Russian forces but he failed to gain the decisive terrain advantage he sought before offering battle . Meanwhile von Daun was looking to press home the great victory won at Kunersdorf when news reached him of the embarrassing defeat of the Austrian forces in Saxony , by a Prussian army but one third their size . Now more determined than ever to strike a decisive blow he marched his forces to Görlitz and climbed to high ground in order to observe the camp of Prince Henry of Prussia , his nearest , convenient opponent . Von Daun proclaimed his intention to storm this camp early the following morning , September 23 . The march of fifty hours . Unfortunately for von Daun , at that moment Prince Henry was already making plans to leave the area . Throughout the evening of Saturday September 22 the Prussian forces quit their tents and marched away silently , leaving only watch fires and a token force to make plenty of noise . They made first for Rothenburg ( Upper Lusatia ) and rested there for three hours as twenty miles to the south , the Austrians sprang forward and overran their empty positions . Von Daun ’ s scouting horse reported that the Prussian baggage was now heading northeast towards Glogau . He suspected a trap and retired to Bautzen but in fact , when Prince Henry left Rothenburg it was to head due west , eighteen miles , to the Saxon village of Klitten . A further three hours rest was then followed by a forced march of twenty miles to the area of Hoyerswerda where lay an unsuspecting Imperial force of 3000 men under General Wehla . General Wehla had distinguished himself at the Siege of Dresden . His subsequent deployment at Hoyerswerda was as part of a line designed to prevent the Prussian forces in Saxony and Silesia combining together . Recent events suggested that such an occurrence was unlikely however , since Frederick the Great was tied up in a minuet with the Russians whilst Prince Henry of Prussia now appeared on his way to join his brother in the east . Indeed , von Daun had written to Wehla just a few days previously , informing him that there was no danger on his eastern flank . Out of the woods . It must therefore , have been something of a shock when the Prussian vanguard under the Swiss General Lentulus , came streaming out of the woods . Wehla rallied his Croat regiment and formed his artillery but a well aimed Prussian cannonade swept through his Corps . Within a matter of minutes the Austrians were in full flight with their General captured and six hundred dead on the field . His hopes destroyed , von Daun was now forced to head west into Saxony himself , in order to shore up his forces there , leaving his Russian allies to face Frederick alone . Thomas Carlyle in History Of Friedrich II Of Prussia ( 1858 ) called the Prussian night march " probably Prince Henri ’ s cleverest feat … By this last consummate little operation he has astonished Daun as much as anybody ever did ; shorn his elaborate tissue of cunctations into ruin and collapse at one stroke ; and in effect , as turns out , wrecked his campaign for this Year . "