Retzow, who had been restored to his command, had ten or twelve thousand men lying in or behind Weissenberg, four miles away.
Frederick's force, with that of Keith, amounted to twenty-eight thousand men, and Retzow's command was too far away to be considered as available.

Daun's force, lying within a mile of Hochkirch, amounted to ninety thousand men.

Well might Keith say that the Austrians deserved to be hanged, if they did not attack.
Frederick himself was somewhat uneasy, and would have moved away on the Friday night, had he not been waiting for the arrival of a convoy of provisions from Bautzen.

Still, he relied upon Daun's inactivity.
This time, however, his reliance was falsified.

All Daun's generals were of opinion that it would be disgraceful, were they to stand on the defensive against an army practically less than a third of their force; and their expostulations at length roused Daun into activity.