Over the second half of October, reports begin filtering in that Austria is redeploying dozens of battalions from Hungary and Transylvania to reinforce their armies, which is terribly unsporting. If that was not bad enough, with the start of November snowfalls begin across the theater in Saxony and Bohemia. The continuous operations of the last couple of months, combined with the battles of Brux and Prague and the dubious state of the Prussian supply lines, have resulted in Elbe Armee running very low on supplies. At such a state, winter attrition will result in disastrous casualties.
The most prudent course of action in this situation is to fall back to Königgrätz and take up winter quarters until the next year. However, there is another possibility. It is likely snow will be intermittent until December or January; if the time until then can be used to successfully besiege and capture Prague, the Austrians will be forced to either fall back to their depots and abandon any chance of counterattack or face massive attrition, while captured supplies could be used to replenish the Prussian armies and the fortress could be used to greatly strengthen Prussia's position for the following year's campaign. It is this course of action that King Frederick chooses to pursue; a decision that will quite likely become the
fifth mistake of the Kingdom of Prussia.
To resolve coordination difficulties that have arisen from operating under two separate army commands, Kurt von Schwerin's Schlesien Armee is disbanded, and his 16,500 men force, as well as Friedrich Leopold Gessler's 10,000-strong cavalry corps, is placed under the command of Frederick's Elbe Armee, bringing its total strength around Prague to 66,000 men.
Wedell's column, still across the river in Jungbunzlau, is ordered to begin construction on a depot that could serve as shelter for the winter and will also allow the distribution of supplies coming from Königgrätz across the northern bank of the Elbe. The army columns that lack an undepleted supply trains, namely those of Moritz von Anhalt-Dessau and Gessler, are moved across the river to the new depot, while the rest of the army stays in Prague to begin siege operations. Additionally, two Dragoon battalions are detached from Gessler's force and sent to secure the supply route from Königgrätz to the new depot in Jungbunzlau.
Siege operations begin immediately, and Elbe Armee follows its simple orders to bomb, bomb, BOMB the fort to the ground. Under the combined firepower of no less than 72 siege guns and well over a hundred field pieces breaches in the walls begin appearing immediately. But Prague is a mighty fortress, and despite suffering terrible damage, it manages to survive the entire month just intact enough to prevent an assault. Meanwhile, the Austrian army in the Bohemisch Brod, just east of Prague, stays in place and watches, likely waiting for the Prussian army to vacate Prague or for reinforcements by the Saxon force to attempt to drive it out and break the siege.
The Austro-Saxon army itself makes no move to break out of Pirna for the first half of the month, likely fearing winter attrition. However, the snowfall stops at the beginning of the second half of the month. Using this opportunity, the Austro-Saxon army takes the opportunity to head south. The blocking force under von Zieten fights several small skirmishes with the enemy army, managing to inflict some casualties, but it is too small to stop it and the enemy manages to arrive at Lobositz by the end of the month.
Meanwhile in Great Britain, Thomas Pelham-Holles, the Duke of Newcastle, resigns as Prime Minister because of repeated defeats against France in North America and Minorca. William Pitt and the Duke of Devonshire form a new government. In other news, Austria redeploys even more troops from the Netherlands and Croatia.
