Köningenhof on the 29th. On the 30th communication was opened between the two armies; the king assumed command on the 1st July, and movements were immediately made to deliver a crushing blow to the Austrian army. By the success of the blow the Austrians would be crushed between the armies of Prince Frederick Charles and the Crown Prince.
Prince Frederick Charles, commanding the First Army, halted on Monday, July 2d, at Kommenitz, to give time for the Crown Prince to advance to Miletin, which is about five miles to the eastward of Kommenitz, and also to learn exactly what movements the Austrians were making. Reconnoitring parties were sent out, and as soon as he had received the reports of their commanding officers. Prince Frederick Charles decided to attack the Austrians. He ordered an immediate advance of his own army beyond Horwitz, and wrote to the Crown Prince an urgent request to advance in the morning from Miletin and attack the Austrian right flank at the same time that the First Army attacked the Austrians in front. By ten o'clock at night the troops were in full movement.
The general staff did not leave Kommenitz until an hour past midnight. The night was cloudy, but not dark, as the clouds were thin and the moon occasionally came out distinctly. The whole country was dotted with the remains of the bivouac fires where the First Army had been encamped. An eye-witness of the scene says these fires looked like large will-of-the-wisps, as their flames flickered in the wind, and they stretched out for many a mile, as the First Army alone contained 150,000 soldiers, and necessarily the camp of so large a force covered a very wide area. The clouds thickened during the night, and about daylight there came on a drizzling rain, which continued all the forenoon and for some hours after mid-day. To add to the discomfort of the troops, the wind steadily
