As planned, the Rebel mercenary general, Ritter Esthvany de Kispilis-Chopak had made a crossing on the Große Grühne near Mathiasbad, and set up a pontoon bridge to carry the rest of his troops across.
As a reminder, he had two battalions of regular foot, a battalion of militia, two companies of Feldjäger and two squadrons of hussars.
To employ this force in the planned activities of "small war", he had counted on Marshall von Leuchtenberg's main force to the north to make a demonstration in force against the Böhnstadter-held Grübsheim stone bridge. However, von Leuchtenberg, as usual, was tardy with the deployment of his troops.
The time gained allowed the Böhnstadt general, Dietrich von Spülge, to gather his reserve and move on the Flossian bridgehead near Mathiasbad, and launch a suprise attack with a well-organized force.
He had with him a battalion of Grenzer, one of fusiliers, one musketeers, two field guns and two squadrons of hussars. The forces were thus evenly matched, but von Spülge had the better deployment, catching the Flossians effectively cut in half by the Grühne, with only the hussars and jäger across the (Böhnstadt-held) right bank.
