Battle of Freiberg The Battle of Freiberg was fought on October 29 , 1762 and was the last great battle of the Seven Years ' War . Background . Prince Henry of Prussia , younger brother of King Frederick II of Prussia , although commanding an army made up mostly of ‘ second line ’ troops and free - battalions , decided to take the offensive against the Reichsarmy commanded by Prince Stolberg who had the support of András Hadik ’ s Austrian Corps . The Allies were dug in behind field works situated on top of high ground to the west of the town of Freiberg . This position blocked all approaches to Dresden . To the rear of the allied position was the River Mulde , which was crossed by several bridges to the east of the town . On 28 October Prince Henry and his staff performed a reconnaissance of the allied position . This was hampered by the Austrian light troops who occupied the woods in front of the high ground . Henry gathered enough information however , to form a good picture of the enemy ’ s dispositions . It was clear to Henry that the main Austrian force , the Corps under Campitelli , was securely ensconced on the heights to the south - west of the town , whilst the Reichsarmy held the heights blocking the western access to Freiberg . Although the front of their position had been strengthened by the construction of several redoubts and abbatis , no force appeared to be protecting the right flank of the allied army leaving the Reichsarmy troops somewhat ‘ out on a limb ’ . This was too tempting a target for the Prince , who planned to pin the Austrians to the south - west with a small detachment while his main army outflanked and defeated the lower quality Reichsarmy . Henry was gambling that the Austrian Corps under Meyer , comfortable behind their entrenchments , would not want to leave their lofty position . Battle . At dawn on 29 October , Prince Henry formed his army on the ground to the west of Lang Hennersdorf , detailing Forcade with the reserve to the north , Kleist to the south to pin Meyer , with Seydlitz and Stutterheim to attack the heights held by the Reichsarmy . As they advanced , the leading elements of the Prussian army skirmished briefly with the Croats in the woods but these troops soon withdrew in the face of formed infantry . Young Stutterheim ’ s attack however , met stiff resistance from the corps of Campitelli and for a time the attack stalled . Several Prussian cavalry attacks also failed to shift the Austrians and a regiment had to be borrowed from the left wing in order to stabilise this front . While the main Prussian army attacked this position , Seydlitz , finding the ground difficult for his cavalry , took command of the infantry on his wing and attacked Campitelli ’ s flank . With the pressure mounting , Stolberg began to move his line to the south in order to bolster the defence of a hillock known as the Trois Croix . Henry also recognised the importance of this feature and rushed his grenadiers towards it . The Imperial cavalry charged the Prussians , and although driven off with loss , bought enough time for the Reichsarmy grenadiers to take possession of the hill . Old Stutterheim , never one to stand idly by , noticed the shift of the Reichsarmy southwards and realised that the defenders to his front had become weakened by this move . He ordered his troops to attack without delay and the Austrian infantry began to crumble . The Prussian Belling Hussars and KR4 charged through the enemy infantry who broke and were cut down by the victorious Prussians . With his allies in retreat and his flanks wide open , Stolberg ordered a general retreat . The Reichsarmy withdrew from their positions followed by the remainder of Campitelli ’ s troops . As predicted , Mayer ’ s corps did not leave their positions to help the rest of their army , Meyer later protesting that he had stuck to his orders to hold his position to the last drop of blood . The Prussians lost 1400 men , the Allies lost 7000 men , 9 colours and 28 guns . Outcome . The Allies retreated all the way back to Pirna , the Prussians following up cautiously at first and then more boldly . Kleist was detached during the first week in November in order to raid the Austrian magazines in Saxony , which he did , completely destroying them . He then took his footsore soldiers into Franconia under orders from Henry to upset the Imperialists . Naumberg , Würzburg and Regensburg were taken and ‘ contributions ’ were extracted from the ruling Princes . Stolberg pleaded in vain with Hadik to be allowed to return and protect his homeland but unbeknown to him , Hadik had been in secret talks with King Frederick and they reached an agreement which lead to the disbandment of the Reichsarmy .