Fox of France

While news of defeat continued to come from the north, in the south, on the Italian battlefield, Napoleon began to meet the challenges of the Austrians and Russians.

Unlike Napoleon's attack on Italy, and his attack on Austria from Italy, he had to cross the Alps. Because of the existence of the joint fleet of Britain and Austria, the coalition forces of Austria and Russia could directly land in Italy from the sea.

In March 1798, the Russian-Austrian coalition landed in the Ravenna area. After Napoleon got the news of the landing of the Russian-Austrian coalition forces, he ordered to abandon Ravenna, which was not convenient for defense, and shrink his troops northward. After completing the landing, the Russian-Austrian coalition forces took a short rest in Ravenna, and then marched northward with their troops directed at Modena.

In the original history, Suvonov beat almost all French generals except Napoleon in Italy, and snatched back all the territories Napoleon had acquired in Italy in one breath. If it weren't for the Austrians and the British holding him back, maybe he would have gone to France.

However, in this time and space, Napoleon did not go to Egypt to die, so Suvonov finally met Napoleon in Modena.

Suvonov did not launch an attack immediately. He had the army camped and prepared for defense, and then personally led a troop of cavalry to reconnaissance in front of the French position.

Suvonov had never fought against the post-revolutionary French army before, but the old marshal was very concerned about those previous battles. As early as during the First Anti-French Coalition, while he was destroying the Polish army, he kept his eyes open, paying attention to the war in France and understanding the performance of the French army and other armies in the war.

Later, when Napoleon crossed the Alps and swept across Italy, he immediately sent people to Italy and Austria to learn more about the situation of the entire war from those who participated in related battles. The old Marshal had this to say about the French army:

"There is one most important characteristic of the French army that has not been noticed by everyone. So what is this characteristic? It is not high morale, advanced weapons-these characteristics are noticed by others. This characteristic is that the French army There are a lot of changes in the tactics of the French army. Every once in a while, there will be new changes in the combat methods of the French army. In particular, General Napoleon Bonaparte, he led the changes in tactics almost every time. If we look at the French The army's forecast is still in the impression of the last war, and it is very dangerous to think that as long as we can deal with the French army last time, it will be very dangerous."

Even in the past few months, the British and Prussians have won many victories against the French army on the northern front, and the French army has not demonstrated any special new tactics in this series of battles. But the old marshal did not change his opinion. He said to others: "It is not Napoleon Bonaparte that the English and the Prussians are facing each other."

The old marshal came to a small mound not far from the French position and looked at the French defensive position.

"Peter, look at the defense on the other side, what do you think?" The old marshal put down the binoculars in his hand, and asked a young general who was also riding a horse and following him.

"Very special," the young general added after thinking for a while, "very vicious."

"Tell me specifically?" the old marshal asked, his tone full of the flavor of the school exam.

The young general obviously understood this too, so he didn't answer right away, but raised his binoculars and looked around before saying:

"Marshal, you see, the enemy army should have dug a trench on the ground, and the excavated soil was piled up in front of the trench, forming a parapet. This is a good cover for shooting, considering that the new rifle salvo almost has With a range of 500 yards, the average infantry wants to charge forward. In the process, they have to receive at least three or five rounds of volleys. Moreover, because the enemy's target is small, even if they approach within a hundred yards, they may not be able to shoot accurately. target. So this kind of defense is really troublesome.

In addition, we basically cannot see the mobilization of the enemy's troops in the trenches, which is also conducive to the mobilization of the enemy's troops and launching a counterattack.

In addition, hiding in such trenches, our artillery can deal them much less damage. From the perspective of artillery defense, it is even better than a bastion. For the French to build such a position, it must be much simpler than building a bastion—even the kind of bastion of Grand Duke Karl. As for effect, I don't think it's any worse than a bastion before rushing up to a bayonet fight.

But it is not easy to rush to the distance of bayonet battle. We know that the French provided those Poles with something called land mines. I don't believe that there is no such thing in front of the French positions. Moreover, a few days ago, I heard the British mention that the French provided the Irish with a kind of landmine that can launch shotguns. It is said that it is more insidious and vicious. I believe that there is no shortage of such things in their positions. If our infantry or cavalry enter the trap of such things, I am afraid the result will be very pessimistic.

Also, Marshal, have you noticed those rope nets in front of the French positions? As an obstacle, it might be easy to destroy, but anyway, it will slow our troops a little, which will give them more opportunities to shoot. Also, where are their cannons, I don't see them at all. But they can't even have cannons. I heard you mention that General Napoleon was famous from the very beginning for his skill with artillery. "

"Peter, it's great that you can observe so many things. I don't have anything to add for the time being." Marshal Suvorov smiled. "Then Peter, do you have any attack plan?"

"Not yet." The young general replied, "I think we'd better be able to force the French army to leave their heavily fortified positions and fight with us, otherwise, attacking such a position directly is really nerve-wracking. If we can It would be nice to threaten the French from the rear, as the British played at Most, to force them to retreat to avoid encirclement, and then to crush them in pursuit."

Suvorov smiled and was about to speak when he suddenly heard Semyon, the captain of the guard beside him, say: "Marshal, the French cavalry is coming." Suvorov looked over there and saw a group of French cavalry Approaching.

"People don't welcome us, so let's go, don't let people hate you here anymore." Suvorov smiled, and turned the horse's head first, and got off the small mound.

Back in the barracks, Suvorov first ordered his staff officers to summarize the information they had obtained, and then called all the generals of the Russian-Austrian coalition forces to a meeting.

There have been some disputes between Russia and Austria over who should be the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces. The Russians of course hope that Marshal Suvorov will be the commander of the coalition forces; while the Austrians naturally hope that Grand Duke Karl will be the commander of the coalition forces.

The final result of the dispute between the two parties was that the commander of the Russian-Austrian coalition forces was Suvorov, and the deputy commander was Archduke John of Austria, the younger brother of Archduke Karl. As for Archduke Karl, recognized as the strongest commander in Austria, His Majesty the Emperor felt that there seemed to be an advantage in the north, so he asked Karl to take the army to the direction of the Rhine to see if he could take the opportunity to take the Rhine back. . As for Italy, the Russians do not share a border with Italy. As far as the Russian sea power is concerned, they won’t be able to keep Italy after it has taken it down. Doesn’t Italy have to belong to Austria in the end?

Archduke John is very prestigious in Austria and is very popular with people from all walks of life, but when it comes to fighting, he is far inferior to his elder brother Karl. In addition, the number of troops he brought was not as large as that of the Russian army, so he, the deputy commander, had almost no say in front of Marshal Suvorov.

When everyone was in place, Suvorov asked the staff officers to unfold the sketches of the French defensive positions they had just drawn.

"Everyone, this is a sketch that we have just drawn based on the various information we have obtained. The real situation may be different from the picture. I think everyone understands this. Now, let's discuss how to... "

During some discussions, the generals put forward many different suggestions. Some people think that it is possible to bypass the French defense line and approach Milan to lure the French army to leave the defensive position. Then defeat the French army in the field.

But this proposal immediately attracted rebuttals - if the French army just doesn't come out, do you really dare to go to Milan? Once Milan cannot be captured for a short time, the French army here will in turn cut off the supply line of the coalition forces. What will the coalition forces do then?

"The problem of supplies, I think, can't we use the port of Genoa?" A Russian officer suddenly said.

"Genoa is a neutral country. Our ships can indeed enter Genoa, but the port of Genoa is not ours, and the supply capacity it can provide us is actually quite limited." Archduke John said, "We can never directly occupy a neutral country by military force. country?"

So the plan was shot down. Of course, the main reason is not that "it cannot directly occupy a neutral country militarily", but that Genoa's military strength is actually good, and it cannot be taken down in a short time.

Since bypassing is not feasible, we can only attack and give it a try.

So everyone circled around the map to carefully study where the defense might be weak. Is not see too many things.

So in the end, the old marshal personally made the decision to make preparations today and launch a tentative attack tomorrow.