The Wittenberg regulars are on their way ....

continued from the previous post ....

The courier had ridden post-haste to get to General Waldebeck's HQ, changing horses on the way, arriving in the early evening. On reading the dispatch from Count Boritzy that Saxe-Jarlsberg troops had been seen marching towards Hofheim he issued orders for the troops to be assembled at dawn - the orders - 'all available troops to force march to Hofheim'.

Early the next morning General Waldebeck watches as the marching column starts to form up ...

 At the front are the dragoons ...

Next the converged grenadier battalion ...

 The artillery leaves the pallisaded camp ...

The two infantry regiments and some jagers move up ...

Will they arrive in time at Hofheim ? ...

In the Palace gardens .....

Meanwhile at Wittenberg palace, oblivious to what was happening in the Hoflandt, the King is out checking on the progress of works on the formal gardens.

All the ground has been dug over and the paths laid out in gravel, the main part of the current works is the preparation of the ground for the fountain near the palace...

Skirmish at Sondheim ....

continued from previous post ....

The front units of the Saxe-Jarlberg vanguard move up .....

 The Wittenberg jagers open fire ...

 The Saex-Jarlsberg jagers move up and return fire ....

 The Wittenberg jagers fall back as Count Pottensdorf moves a Saxe-Jarlsberg infantry regiment up ...

 Colonel Hofler assesses the situation, as his pandours mark their targets ready to open fire ...

 They open fire but to little effect ...

 The Saxe-Jarlsberg troops move up the and fire from the jagers and a volley from two companies of the men from Noverre take down some pandours and who fall back from the hedge line ...

 Hofler is hit, and he is taken back away from the front line ...

 are you all right sir ?

Thinking their commander is down the pandours start to run, but Hofler is alright a musket ball had hit him but had got stuck in a small bible given to him by his mother .... although slightly winded he was soon back trying to rally his men as the Saxe-Jarlsberg troops moved into Sondheim ....

 The pandours kept falling back despite Hoflers best efforts and the Saxe-Jarlsberg troops took control of the village ...

Hofler finally rallied his pandours....

Meanwhile Count Pottsendorf congratulates the commanders of the attack on Sondheim ...

The Saxe-Jarlsberg troops advance out of the village ....

 But this time the pandours stand their ground and pour a steady fire at the enemy ... who fall back and refuse to advance any further ...

With the light failing and no sign of any further movement by the Saxe-Jarlsberg forces Hofler withdrew his pandours in good order back to Hofheim. The pandours and the jagers had held up the Saxe-Jarlsberg army for long enough to enable Count Boritzy to complete his plans for the defence of Hofheim ....

At Sondheim ....

continued from the previous post .....

Hofler's pandours had been ordered to take position at Sondheim and delay the enemy for as long as possible. The regiment reached Sondheim late in the day and set about organising a barricade across the road; he placed his men along the hedges in front of the village. The pandours stood to the next morning after a restless night .......

A detachment of jagers arrived later in the morning which he split up and placed forward on each flank. Now it was just a matter of waiting - it would not be long - in the distance the head of the Saxe-Jarlsberg vanguard was just visible .....