11. When Your Army Routs Itself
As the hussars and infantry fought, an infantryman shouted “Turci! Turci!” (“Turks! Turks!”). That caused the drunken hussars to flee in panic. They were accompanied by many infantrymen, unaware that the alarm had been a trick by one of their comrades. In the meantime, across the river, the Austrian camp stirred uneasily at the sounds of distant gunfire and screams. The panicked hussars and infantry, now intermingled in a terrified mob, neared the camp as they shouted “Turci! Turci!” They were challenged by sentries who shouted at them in German to “Halt! Halt!” That was misheard by some non-German speaking soldiers as “Allah! Allah!“
In the confusion, an artillery officer concluded that the camp was under attack, and ordered his cannons to open fire. Many soldiers woke up to the sounds of screams, cannonade, and combat, startled and confused. Some began to fire wildly, and within minutes, the panic and uncontrolled discharge of firearms spread throughout and engulfed the Austrian camp. Soon, in what turned into a lopsided self-inflicted defeated, entire regiments were firing volleys at each other, before the entire army dissolved and scattered in panicked flight. The Turks arrived two days later and captured the Austrian camp, where they found 10,000 dead and wounded.
