the relative strengths of the two armies were beginning to  reverse. The shorter range of the Prussian artillery as  compared to the Austrian was moot, while the vastly higher  rate of fire from the Prussian breech-loading needle gun,  compared to the Austrian muzzle-loading small arms and  cannon were paramount. In addition the needle gun could be  operated while prone in defence, and while moving quickly on  the advance, while the Austrians had to stand up after each  shot to reload their Lorenz rifles.  At 11:00 came the deciding moment of the battle; the Austrian  centre began a manoeuvre to flank the Prussian 7th Division,  which had pushed back and held off nearly a quarter of the  Austrian army. Colonel Carl von Pöckh was sent to drive the  Prussians back, and with a fierce infantry charge managed to  force the 7th Division back to the outskirts of the forest.  Benedek’s corps commanders pleaded with him to launch a  counterattack to destroy the Prussian First and Elbe armies  before the Second army arrived, but Benedek declined to act,  letting the opportune moment slip by. However, the tide of  battle was about to turn, as flanking fire raked Pöckh’s  battalion, annihilating it as a fighting force and killing its  commander. The fire came from the first elements of the  crown prince’s army as they arrived, and the 8th Division  stiffened the Prussian centre to hold off the Austrian thrusts.  While divisions from the Austrian II and IV Corps were  committed to the fighting, there was no decisive infantry  charge, nor did the Prussians present a flank that could be  attacked with cavalry. The Austrians were caught having  moved from their defensive position to attack, and their right  flank was exposed to the arriving Prussian infantry.

Above. Prussian Jager Officer.

Right. Prussians at the Battle of Königgrätz, 1866 Batalha de Sadowa. United States public domain. Wikimedia Commons.