I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 322 French-speaking Austrian Army

As a Junker noble who participated in the battle for the Bavarian throne, Bischof had relatively solid military qualities.

Although he was very disdainful of the stupid offensive move of the Austrians, he still carefully inspected his own infantry lines personally, and then ordered the skirmishers to attack first to disrupt the enemy's formation, and the infantry lines followed suit.

The distance between the infantry lines of both sides soon shortened to more than 300 steps. Bischof saw that the Austrian queue was becoming more and more messy-the movement speed on the south side was obviously much slower than that on the north side, and there was also a slower-moving section in the middle. The whole area looks like a broken line.

"As expected, the elite of Leo's Army have been wiped out." He put down his telescope and ordered the herald on the side, "Order the second column to also press forward, and try to completely defeat the Austrians before Lieutenant Colonel Altmann sends cavalry to outflank them. Defeat."

"Yes, Mr. Captain!"

Soon, the infantry line Bischoff left behind also moved and rushed towards the enemy with the sound of drums.

At the same time, the Prussian skirmisher company at the front of the battlefield also exchanged fire with the Austrian soldiers.

Nearly a hundred skirmishers relied on the cover of rubble piles on the north side of the battle line to get close to the Austrian infantry line. They fired a few shots at will, which actually made the already messy line formation even more chaotic.

Leo had to order to stop advancing and start to form the team on the spot.

At this time, the Prussian infantry line arrived less than 100 steps away from them.

Bischoff happily looked at the battlefield situation as if he were making military exploits. He raised his hand and waved at the enemy with two fingers, and said to the herald: "Attack on all fronts..."

Before he finished speaking, several columns of soldiers suddenly rushed out from among the chaotic Austrian infantry lines in the distance.

He frowned and raised his binoculars again, and saw that the columns were very neatly arranged and advancing extremely fast.

The northernmost column immediately changed formation after receiving a round of fire from his skirmisher company.

Those "Austrians" were highly trained. It took less than half a minute for the column of seventy or eighty people to transform into a simple line formation. Then under the command of the officer, they moved towards the scattered scattered rocks. The soldiers fired a concentrated volley.

Bischoff felt that there was something wrong with the gunfire, and did not react for a while. All he saw was that his company of skirmishers seemed to have been blindsided by a punch. They were stunned in place and forgot to even fight back.

"These rubbish!"

He was far away and could not clearly feel the terrifying team-changing speed and shooting accuracy of the "Austrians", but the Prussian skirmishers on the front line could see clearly from a distance of less than 40 steps.

The feeling of oppression simply made their spines tingle!

The skirmisher company commander was the first to react, shouting orders to spread out to both sides and counterattack.

On the short infantry line on the opposite side, the "Austrians" began to load ammunition quickly. Although a few people were shot by Prussian skirmishers, others seemed not to see it, and their hands were not slow at all.

In just sixteen or seventeen seconds, the sounds of "preparation" and "aiming" came from the infantry line.

This was followed by a thunderous volley of more than 70 guns.

Eight Prussians were overturned by lead bullets, and the bodies of two of them rolled down the gentle slope. You know, this is the era of muskets, and such a high hit rate is simply terrifying!

When the "Austrian" infantry line advanced more than ten steps under the leadership of the flag bearer, the skirmishers scattered among the rocks began to retreat in fear...

The company commander of the skirmisher company tried his best to restrain his men, but he could only stop a dozen people around him, so he had no choice but to order the entire company to move to the outside of the infantry line. This is why skirmishers require a higher degree of training - since there is no queue, soldiers have a very high degree of autonomy. Regardless of whether there is a tailwind or a headwind, it is easy for soldiers to disobey orders and walk alone.

The skirmisher company commander didn't suddenly realize until he retreated beyond the enemy's range. The officer on the opposite side seemed to be commanding in French?

On the battlefield, other soldiers of Bischoff's regiment soon experienced similar fear.

Those "Austrian soldiers" speaking French advanced so fast that the Prussian infantry lines only had time to fire two rounds of volleys. Those columns had already reached 60 steps away from them, and then the two middle columns crossed over. , while the other four columns spread out on their flanks.

After the Prussians fired their fourth volley, a straight line of infantry appeared in front of them.

Then came a high-pitched cry in French: "Aim -"

"shooting--"

There was a dense explosion, accompanied by a large fire, but it was not like the smoke that filled the sky like ordinary flintlock shooting. Only the faint black smoke ejected from the muzzle rose, and then blood spattered in the Prussian infantry line. Dozens of people were killed by this volley.

Blood plasma and residual limbs fell on the bodies and feet of the Prussian soldiers, making everyone tremble in their hearts, but the officer's shouts and curses immediately penetrated their ears, "Everyone move! Reload! Just move if you don't want to be killed." Come on, you idiots!"

The soldiers suddenly became excited. Although their minds went blank, their hands reflexively began to put their flintlock guns on the ground and took out the powder packets.

The Prussian infantry's firing speed is well-known in Europe. In the era of Frederick the Great, it was said that it could lead the infantry of other countries by one bullet per minute. After William II ascended the throne, although the military training was relaxed, the pursuit of firing speed became more abnormal - there was even a case of not loading bullets in order to increase the firing speed.

However, this time, the Prussian soldiers were generally still pouring the propellant when they heard French from the opposite side, "Ready!"

"Aim--"

The Prussians were numb.

This is too fast. Both sides just finished the volley and started loading almost at the same time. I still have two steps to complete here, and the other side is about to open fire? !

"Fire!"

With the loud command of the officer on the opposite side, a rain of lead bullets accompanied by the background sound of thunder rushed towards the Prussian infantry line, and suddenly there was another wailing and screaming on the two-kilometer-long front.

The Prussian soldier who had just finished reloading was interrupted in an instant. It took him another ten seconds to raise his gun under the urging of the officer.

The other side was almost done with the next reload...

After several rounds of shooting, the Prussians' confidence began to collapse - their shooting speed, which they were always proud of, was actually firmly suppressed by the Austrians. How could they not lose their confidence?

Of course, they didn't know that the percussion cap guns used by the "Austrians" on the opposite side had three fewer steps when reloading than their flintlock guns, and the amount of training was several times more than theirs!