I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 453 The Yellow Bird is Behind

Marshal Lacy was a little confused. Didn't the French army go to Latibor to reinforce Leo? Their crown prince was still surrounded by the enemy in Oberon, so where did these people come from?

Even more confused than him were the Prussian cavalry responsible for the pursuit.

They were chasing the Austrian fleeing soldiers and killing them vigorously, and they did not conduct any reconnaissance nearby - this army of 15,000 was defeated, with countless casualties. Who would have thought that the Austrian coalition would ambush troops behind their own rear?

Yes, Joseph ambushed the Guards Corps behind the Austrian defense line.

After he defeated Driesen, he immediately led his troops back to the Austrian-controlled area of ​​Liegnitz. In order not to be discovered by Lacy, the troops squatted in the barren mountains for several days until Lacy sent out more than 30,000 people from Davydov. He returned quietly and waited less than 15 kilometers southwest of the Austrian defense line.

After the Prussians launched a general offensive today, the Guards Corps also moved at the same time.

The main force was divided into two parts. One part quickly penetrated to the north of the Prussian attack point and deployed a defensive formation based on the terrain. The number of people was about 4,000.

The other part, a total of 10,000 soldiers, moved to the south of the Prussian attack point. When the Austrian defense line collapsed, they first waited for the Austrian soldiers to "lure" the Prussians to their own hinterland, and then suddenly cut off the Prussian army's retreat from the side.

This was equivalent to using the 15,000 Austrian troops on the defense line as bait. And this bait was absolutely very realistic, because they were really defeated.

Of course, the basis for this tactic to be established was that Joseph believed that the Guards Corps could cut off enemies that were several times larger than itself with 14,000 troops and hold out for at least three days.

The Prussian Hussars, who were excitedly chasing the Austrian fleeing soldiers, suddenly found that their flanks were attacked and immediately fell into chaos.

The cavalry in film and television dramas usually rushed up in large numbers, and they could kill the enemy and flee in panic. But in fact, cavalry is a type of soldier that pays more attention to formation than infantry.

When a large cavalry attack, there are very strict requirements for the horizontal and vertical spacing between horses. If they are far away, they cannot form a joint force. If they are close, they interfere with each other, and even if one person falls, it will bring down a large group.

Therefore, qualified cavalry is very difficult to train. Just the ability to control the distance requires several years on horseback. In war, maintaining the formation depends on subconscious control, because the main focus must be on one's saber or lance.

This also results in that the cavalry formation can only go to where the target is at the beginning. If you want to change the target, you have to move to a distance to reorganize and charge again. Otherwise, if the target is changed suddenly, the front and rear spacing of the entire team and the length and width ratio of the formation will have problems. Of course, some elite cavalry units with extremely high training can switch targets freely, but they are very few after all.

At present, the goal of the Prussian Hussars is to intercept and kill the Austrian fleeing soldiers, so they have no power to fight back against the sudden attack on the flank.

Their commander reacted quickly and immediately ordered to break away from the pursuit of the Austrians and retreat to a distance in order to regroup and counterattack.

However, the French cavalry ignored the Austrian soldiers at all - the entire battle line was very long, this was just a section of it, and a large number of Austrian troops were being chased by enemy cavalry in the east and west directions - they just kept staring at the Prussian cavalry, chasing them and killing them all, and then rushed to the next target.

Marshal Lacy saw a gap in the Prussian cavalry's blockade, and hurriedly ordered the officers beside him to go and gather the deserters.

At around 3 pm, thousands of Austrian soldiers had regrouped around Marshal Lacy, and a team of brave French cavalry happened to pass by nearby, led by a slightly fat curly-haired cavalry captain, and raised their swords to greet them.

After a while, Lacy's attendant returned after a brief exchange with the cavalry and reported to him: "Marshal, they said they were from the 2nd Company of the 3rd Hussar Battalion, the 1st Regiment of the French Royal Guard, and they came to cover our retreat."

"Royal Guard Regiment?" Lacy was surprised, "The troops following the French Crown Prince? Aren't they surrounded in Oberon?"

"The captain said he didn't know about the siege. They fought a battle with the Driesen Corps and then came here."

Lacy: "???"

...

On the west side of the Austrian defense line, that is, the side controlled by Austria, a large number of Prussian soldiers were pouring in from the gap in the defense line, and at the same time, two troops were attacking in the north-south direction to expand the gap.

Not far from the Austrian defense line, the Rangers of the Guards Corps came running and shouted to the officers at the command post:

"Report, the Prussian infantry has arrived in the town of Wolfenstedt, with about 11,000 vanguards. The number of the enemy's main forces is still being counted, but it should be more than 30,000."

Berthier nodded and said to the staff beside him:

"The enemy has penetrated deep enough, order the attack to be launched as planned."

The town of Wolfenstedt is in the heart of the Austrian-controlled area, more than 6 kilometers away from the defense line where Prussia and Austria confront each other.

"Yes, General!"

Because this battle is a fight between the few and the many, the risk is very high, so the officers of the General Staff unanimously requested His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to stay far away from the battlefield, so this battle was commanded by Berthier. However, Joseph had already made detailed arrangements with the staff before, and basically whoever commanded it was almost the same.

Soon, the melodious trumpet sounded, representing the corps' attack, and Berthier looked at his assistant next to him again: "Where is General Kellerman?"

"The news from last night is that they have crossed the lower reaches of the Bull River."

According to Joseph's plan, Kellerman's 30,000 French troops were not going to reinforce Leo from the beginning. When they arrived at Ratibor, they just fired a few shots symbolically, and when they received the order from the crown prince, they immediately rushed back to the Liegnitz front. However, with the marching speed of this old-fashioned army, it may take another three days to arrive.

Berthier ordered again: "Go and contact Marshal Lacy, and let him cooperate with us as much as possible to counterattack the enemy troops entering the west side of the defense line."

"Yes, General!"

At the gap in the Austrian defense line, General Maurice, the commander of the Saxon Army, was holding a telescope with a depressed look on his face.

The Prussians were chasing after the Austrian fleeing soldiers to gain military merits, but they had to bite the Austrian defense line here.

Although the morale of the Austrian army was low, there were still many heavy artillery on the defense line, which was definitely not an easy task.

When he saw his own skirmisher battalion rushing up a high ground and taking down the Austrian artillery position there, before he had time to be happy, he saw a neat line of infantry suddenly appear behind the low hill.