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Had the allied army, after the battle of Hastenbeck, marched directly to the Leine, as it might easily have done, and then taken post on the other side of Wolfenbuttel, Halberstadt, and Magdeburgh, it might have waited securely under the cannon of the latter place for the junction of the Prussian forces; instead of which, they injudiciously turned off to the Lower Weser, retiring successively from Hamelen to Nienburgh, Verden, Rothenburgh, Buxtehude, and lastly to Stade, where, for want of subsistence and elbow-room, the troops were all made prisoners of war at large.
But the French being in possession of an eminence which commanded and flanked both the lines of the infantry and the battery of the allies, and where they were able to support their attack under the cover of a hill, his royal highness, considering the superior numbers of the enemy, near double to his, and the impossibility of dislodging them from their post, without exposing his own troops too much, ordered a retreat; in consequence of which his army retired, first to Hamelen, where he left a garrison, then to Nienburgh, and afterwards to Hoya; in the neighbourhood of which town, after sending away all the magazines, sick, and wounded, he encamped, in order to cover Bremen and Verden, and to preserve a communication with Stade, to which place the archives, and most valuable effects of Hanover had been removed.
Of these, six battalions and six squadrons were posted at Bielefeldt, under the command of lieutenant-general baron de Sporcken; six battalions, under lieutenant-general de Block, at Hervorden; six battalions and four squadrons, under major-general Ledebour, between Hervorden and Minden; seven battalions and ten squadrons, under lieutenant-general d'Oberg, in the neighbourhood of Hamelen; and five battalions and four squadrons, under major-general de Hauss, near Nienburgh.
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