Hans Joachim von Zieten's Zieten-Hussars shadowed the Austrian army, keeping Frederick informed of their movements and position as he awaited the right moment to strike.

The Austrian army marched some 500 km (310 mi) northeast from the Giant Mountains to Striegau (now Strzegom).

They encamped near Striegau, with the Saxons just northwest of the town at Pilgrimshain and the Austrians spreading out west and south to the village of Hohenfriedberg.

Frederick decided to march north with his whole force, right in front of the Austrians, cross the Striegau by a bridge just west of town, and attack the Saxons first.

To achieve surprise, Frederick ordered his troops to leave their campfires burning and tents pitched, and forbade them to talk or smoke during the march.

The Prussian vanguard encountered this force; the resulting clash alerted the Saxons and prevented the complete surprise Frederick hoped for.

The entire left (Saxon) half of the Austro-Saxon army was destroyed in the hours of the dawn's light.

The Austrians, already outnumbered, abandoned by their Saxon allies, without cavalry protection, and now broken by this attack, began to surrender en masse.

The Dragoons overran twenty battalions, took 2,500 prisoners, capturing 67 flags and standards as well as four cannons in what is considered and celebrated as one of the great cavalry battlefield triumphs.

Charles of Lorraine was defeated again just as at the Battle of Chotusitz, which showed that the Prussians could crush a numerically-equal enemy.

The Second Silesian War, which was the last part of the War of the Austrian Succession in which Prussia took part, was almost at an end despite a close call at the Battle of Soor against the Austrians, who were again led by Charles of Lorraine, the peace at Dresden was signed on 25 December 1745, soon after yet another Prussian victory at the Battle of Kesselsdorf against the Saxons.