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Now the drums beat for the march and there were floods of tears from the citizens, from the soldiers' wives, the whores and suchlike. The men of war too, that is the natives of the country who were leaving their wives and children behind, were all cast down and full of grief and sorrow, but the foreigners secretly rejoiced and in their hearts cried out for joy: God be praised, at last our deliverance is at hand! Each man was loaded down like an ass, first girt about with a sword-belt, then his cartridge-pouch slung over his shoulder with a strap five inches wide, over the other shoulder the knapsack, packed with all his spare linen and so forth, and then the haversack stuffed with bread and other provisions. With all this each man had to carry a piece of camp equipment, a flask, a kettle, an axe or something of the kind, this on a sling too, then of course his flintlock, attached in the same way. So we all had five straps crossed over our breasts and at first every man thought he would suffocate under the burden. Then came the tight-fitting uniform and such a dog-days' heat that I sometimes thought I was walking on hot coals, and when I opened my collar a little to get some air, steam came out as from a boiling kettle. Often I had not a dry stitch left on my body and was ready to die of thirst.

51. The march to Pirna:

So on the first day (22nd August 1756) we marched out of the Köppenick Gate and continued for four hours' journey to the little town of Köppenick, where we were billeted in squads of thirty to fifty men with the citizens, who had to victual us for a groschen per man. My word, what went on then! Ah, what a good feed we had, you can just imagine all of us great hungry fellows! All the while it was: Fetch it out, you bastards, what you've got hidden away in the back corners! At night the room was spread with straw, we lay there in rows along the walls, a strange household indeed! In each house there was an officer who was charged with keeping good order, but often they were the most insolent of all.

On the second day we went ten hours' journey to Fürstenwald, and there were already some weaklings who had to be carried on the baggage-wagons, but this was no wonder, for during the whole day we had been allowed to halt only once, to snatch a quick meal to recruit our strength. At this place we did as at the first, save that here most preferred to drink rather than eat, many indeed laid themselves down half dead. On the third day we marched for six hours to Jakobsdorf, where we now had three days for rest, but our discipline was all the worse for that, and the poor country people were stripped to the bone. On the seventh day we marched to Mühlrosen, four hours; on the eighth to Guben, fourteen hours; on the ninth we had a rest day there. On the tenth day to Forste, six hours; on the eleventh to Spremberg, six hours; on the twelfth to Hayerswerda, six hours and again a rest day. On the fourteenth to Camenz, the last place where we lodged in billets. From then on we camped out in the open, and made so many marches and countermarches that I could not say where we went, for often it all took place by night. I remember only this much: that on the fifteenth day we marched for four hours and pitched camp

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Donner und Blitz: "Thunder and lightning", a common German oath.

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Winterfeldt, Meyring and Kalckstein were the 1st, 15th and 25th infantry regiments. (Duffy) ["Vokaat" is not mentioned by Duffy but might be Bräker's phonetic spelling for Forcade, the 23rd infantry regiment. The Prince of Prussia and Prince Ferdinand were younger brothers of the King.]

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