Battle of Kolín The Battle of Kolín on 18 June 1757 saw 44 , 000 Austrians under Count von Daun defeat 32 , 000 Prussia ns under Frederick the Great during the Seven Years ' War . The Prussians lost the battle and nearly 14 , 000 men , the Austrians lost 8 , 000 men . Background . Frederick II of Prussia won a battle against Austria and was now besieging Prague . Austrian Marshal Daun arrived too late to participate in the battle of Prague , but picked up 16 , 000 men who escaped from the battle . With this army he slowly moved to relieve Prague , forcing the Prussian forces to split . Frederick took 32 , 000 of his men to intercept Daun . Daun knew that the Prussian forces were too weak to both besiege Prague and keep him away from Prague for a longer time ( or to fight the Austrian army reinforced by the Prague garrison ) , so his Austrian forces took defensive positions on hills near Kolín . Frederick was forced to attack the Austrians . Reports of the Austrian strengths are mixed : some report 44 , 000 men , some reports mention 65 , 000 men . The battlefield of Kolín consisted of gently rolling hill slopes . Frederick ' s plan was to envelop the Austrian right wing with most of his army . Along the Austrian lines ( Prussian right wing and center ) he kept only enough troops to hide the concentration on the Prussian left wing . The Prussian main force would turn right toward the Austrians to attack their right flank . The Prussian left wing would locally outnumber the Austrians . After the Austrian right wing was defeated the battle would be decided . Battle . Frederick ' s main force turned toward the Austrians too early and attacked their defensive positions frontally instead of outflanking them . Austria ' s Croatian light infantry ( Grenzer ) played an important role in this ; harassing the regular Prussian infantry under Generals von Manstein and Tresckow , they provoked them into a premature attack . The disunited Prussian columns blundered into a series of uncoordinated attacks , each against superior numbers . By the afternoon , after about five hours of fighting , the Prussians were disoriented and Daun ' s troops were driving them back . Prussian cuirassiers under Oberst von Seydlitz ( promoted to major - general on that day ) finally showed up . There were many charges and counter - charges on the Krzeczor Hill . The first Guard battalion under General von Tauentzien saved the Prussian army from a worse fate , covering the Prussian retreat . Results . The battle was Frederick ' s first defeat in this war , and forced him to abandon his intended march on Vienna , raise his siege of Prague , and fall back on Litoměřice . The Austrians , reinforced by the 48 , 000 troops in Prague , followed them , 100 , 000 strong , and , falling on Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia , who was retreating eccentrically ( for commissariat reasons ) at Zittau , inflicted a severe check upon him . The king was compelled to abandon Bohemia . Frederick blamed his defeat on his generals , such as Prince Moritz von Anhalt - Dessau , but the greatest blame must be laid in Frederick himself . He opted for an assault against a numerically superior opponent and chose a risky strategy . In other battles Fredrick won with the same flanking strategy , but the Austrian army under Daun not only withstood the Prussian assaults but also selected the correct moment for a careful counter - attack .