Chapter 5 – Waiting for Brandenburg

With heavy heart and against the protests of Heinrich von Schlesien Ottokar decided to stay at Prague and to wait for Brandenburg. He felt that something was going wrong, as obviously Rudolf grabbed initiative and he, Ottokar, had to expect an invasion. But there was no time to wonder what went wrong. The situation was getting more and more difficult and Ottokar had to get things straight.
“Fine! We will wait for Otto’s troops. But we will no longer remain dronish. You Heinrich, take 80 knights with light armors, chose those from the Brünn area and find those cursed Hungarians. I must know about their location and plans. I would not mind if you can ambush some of those Kumans in an ambush, but I entreat you to avoid a fight.
You, Walter, get me information from Vienna and Rudolf. I must know everything about his position and movements!”
“Yes Sire! I will put up a chain of gallopers to get a permanent connection to Vienna. However, please keep in mind, Vienna is far away and any news will take time to reach us!”
Two weeks passed by and it was already mid of June and at the castle of Prague one was still waiting for the allies from Brandenburg.
News came from Vienna. A galloper reported that Rudolf was still at Vienna 10 days ago. The galloper also reported that he had to bypass several patrols of the enemies to pass by. Since then no other galloper arrived from Vienna.
Heinrich von Schlesien returned on June 12th. He reported that he met small Kuman patrols north of Brünn. He had some minor quarrel with them and made two prisoners. They told him that Ladislaus’ camp was near Preßburg. He decided to ride further south to find out whether that was true. He found Kuman patrols almost everywhere. He could find Ladilaus’ camp at Preßburg, but he could not come close enough to confirm the number of is troops. To avoid combat, he had to retreat. He left 50 men at Brünn to watch the enemy and hurried back to Prague.
“We are too far away from the enemy. We must get closer to the front. Ladilaus’ riders could ride from Preßburg to Prague in six days. I made the distance in five days, so the Hungarians could already come tomorrow!”, Heinrich ended his report.
“Don’t worry! I doubt that Ladislaus will invade Bohemia with his riders. If he odes, he will wait for Rudolf, who seemed to be waiting at Vienna. You made a good job, Heinrich, but still I wish Brandenburg was coming.”
At this moment, a messenger entered the room and shouted loud: “They are coming! Brandenburg! He will arrive this evening!”
And really, before the sun disappeared in the west, Ottokar could welcome the commander of Brandenburg`s army:
“Welcome at Prague! I cannot say ho much we waited for your arrival!”
“Please excuse me, Sire! I know we are a bit late. My master Otto felt sick and was unable to lead the force and therefore he sent me. That led to some delay, unfortunately, but we used the time to recruit more men. Therefore I am glad to bring you 2,000 knights, which are burning to defeat Habsburg!”
“Your help is more than welcome. You and your men will get something to drink and eat immediately. Then rest, we will decamp as soon as possible.”
“Thank you, Sire. My men will follow your call. However, the march war long and exhausting. Our horses must be shoed and my men need some rest, too.”

He left the room and Ottokar turned to his advisors:
“Our force has now 6,500 knights, half of them with heavy armor. Additionally he have 5,000 peasants. The army will be ready to decamp end of June, finally. Now, what are your proposals?”
The three addressed person remained silent. Finally Walter began to speak: “Let me start with a proposal. Vienna is the price of this fight and still believe that we should go straight for it. We are much stronger than Rudolf. We should separate him from the Hungarians and then push him back behind the walls of Vienna.”
Heinrich disagreed: “That does not work. You forget that Ladislaus is much faster than we or Rudolf, because he has no infantry. Furthermore, the Kumans have patrols all over the country, so Ladislaus can react much faster. If we go for Vienna, we could either rush to Rudolf or he could attack our rear. No, that is too dangerous. As Ladislaus is far more flexible, we should attack him first. Therefore, we should attack him at Preßburg. With our knights, we are much stronger and we can defeat him before Rudolf arrives. If we drive him back to Budapest, we can turn around and attack Rudolf.”
The three men were reflecting the two proposals. Finally Wladislaw said: “Both plans are risky. And that only shows, that our position has becoming worse than we expected. I agree that it would be childish to attack Rudolf, who can retreat behind the city walls, while the Hungarians are in our back. Yet I think that it is impossible to force Ladislaus to fight. What if he retreats and marches eastwards. This would give Rudolf many options.”
Heinrich defended his plan: “We could lure the Hungarians with a small force of light armored soldiers. If they attack, they would run into an ambush of our heavy armed knights.”
Wladislaw: “Didn’t you say that the Kumans are everywhere? How do you think we could ambush Ladislaus. He will certainly not try to win a battle without Rudolf. No, as far as I see, there is only one option left. We have to improve our position slowly and try to find a way so we can decide when and where we fight. My proposal is to make the army march to Brünn as fast as possible. South of Brünn, there is a river. We should occupy all bridges and then clear the area north of the river from Kumans. Then we will wait for Rudolf.”

So again it is
A) Attack Rudolf at Vienna
B) Attack Ladislaus at Preßburg
C) Move to Brünn and clear the area from Kumans.
D) Any other proposals?
Homework: If you vote for C), try to find a location where the battle should be.