Macdonald also hoped to catch the allies while they were sundered by the deep valley of the Neisse.  The Prussians with the Russian corps led by Sacken were to the east of the Neisse near the village of Eichholz, the central point of the plateau north of Jauer, which was the objective of the French right wing; while Langeron’s Russian corps was at Hennersdorf, some three miles away and on the west of that torrent.  On his side, Bluecher was planning an attack on Macdonald, when he heard that the French had crossed the Neisse near its confluence with the Katzbach, and were struggling up the streaming gullies that led to Eichholz.

Driving rain-storms hid the movements on both sides, and as Souham, who led the French right, had neglected to throw out flanking scouts, the Prussian staff-officer, Muffling, was able to ride within a short distance of the enemy’s columns and report to his chief that they could be assailed before their masses were fully deployed on the plateau.  While Souham’s force was still toiling up, Sacken’s artillery began to ply it with shot, and had Yorck charged quickly with his corps of Prussians, the day might have been won forthwith.  But that opinionated general insisted on leisurely deploying his men.  Souham was therefore able to gain a foothold on the plateau:  Sebastiani’s men dragged up twenty-four light cannon:  and at times the devoted bravery of the French endangered the defence.  But the defects in their position slowly but surely told against them, and the vigour of their attack spent itself.  Their cavalry was exhausted by the mud:  their muskets were rendered wellnigh useless by the ceaseless rain; and when Bluecher late in the afternoon headed a dashing charge of Prussian and Russian horsemen, the wearied conscripts gave way, fled pell-mell down the slopes, and made for the fords of the Neisse and the Katzbach, where many were engulfed by the swollen waters.  Meanwhile the Russians on the allied left barely kept off Lauriston’s onsets, and on that side the day ended in a drawn fight.  Macdonald, however, seeing Lauriston’s rear threatened by the advance of the Prussians over the Katzbach, retreated during the night with all his forces.  On the next few days, the allies, pressing on his wearied and demoralized troops, completed their discomfiture, so that Bluecher, on the 1st of September, was able thus to sum up the results of the battle and the pursuit—­two eagles, 103 cannon, 18,000 men, and a vast quantity of ammunition and stores captured, and Silesia entirely freed from the foe.[355]

We now return to the events that centred at Dresden.  When, on August 21st and 22nd, the allies wound their way through the passes of the Erz, they were wholly ignorant of Napoleon’s whereabouts.  The generals, Jomini and Toll, who were acquainted with the plan of operations agree in stating that the aim of the allies was to seize Leipzig.  The latter asserts that they believed Napoleon to be there, while the Swiss strategist saw in this movement merely a means of effecting a junction with Bernadotte’s army, so as to cut off Napoleon from the Rhine.[356] Unaware that the rich prize of Dresden was left almost within their grasp by Napoleon’s eastward move, the allies plodded on towards Freiberg and Chemnitz, when, on the 23rd, the capture of one of St. Cyr’s despatches flashed the truth upon them.