Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 352 054 Austerlitz (III)

While the fierce battle was going on at the Pratzen Heights, there were also fierce battles on the north and south wings.

Verosser's plan was naturally to defeat the right wing of the French army, so when deploying troops in this direction, three columns turned around to defeat the few French troops here, and then turned north.

However, the terrain in this area was really not that good.

To be honest, as the commander of an army or the chief of staff, one must pay attention to astronomy and geography. Even if the weather cannot be predicted, the weather on the battlefield must be used.

As for the terrain, it is indeed necessary to conduct sufficient reconnaissance before the war, and to consider the entire battlefield environment.

In the direction of the attack of the three columns of the coalition forces, there are rivers, mountains, swamps, lakes, and terrain that can hinder the march on the battlefield.

In addition, there is a castle in Skolnitz, north of the village of Ternitz, and there are positions built by the French around it.

The Russian army was fiercer and broke through the first-line positions of the French army, while the subsequent French army was still defending in the second-line positions.

But seeing the situation on the battlefield, the coalition forces attacked this area with tens of thousands of people, and they had advantages in manpower and firepower, and they could also mobilize 12-pound guns to attack the French positions at a longer range.

However, this progress was really not good, and it delayed the arrival of a capable guy.

After receiving the order, Davout's troops who were already on the road marched to the battlefield in a hurry, and they didn't even care about so much. In addition to the guys who fought, they couldn't throw them away, and even threw their backpacks and the spoils of the previous battle on the roadside.

After all, if you win the next battle, you can also get the spoils. The previous battles were all small-scale, and the villages along the way were almost looted by the two armies like locusts passing through.

In this way, the French Friant Division advanced quickly, with five infantry regiments and one dragoon regiment. Many infantry fell behind, but they still arrived at the place.

Friant's division was not bad in terms of combat effectiveness. After arriving at the battlefield, they lined up to meet the Austrian army in the front.

This Austrian army was a unit that had fled all the way from Ulm. Like the Russian army on the Pratzen Heights, it suffered a lot of losses and had very low morale. Unlike the Russian soldiers, they would fight frequently as long as they had a breath left.

When the fight started, the Austrian army quickly began to retreat. Unlike on the heights, Buchholden sent out a brigade of Dokhturov to engage the French army.

Now it was a stalemate. For the three columns of the Russian army, the situation was not good. After all, they were now piled up in front of these villages.

When Napoleon received the report on the top of the mountain, a sly smile flashed across his lips.

Caulaincourt was beside him, puzzled.

"Your Majesty, what are you laughing at?"

"The three columns of the Russians are all concentrated on our right wing. As long as we get rid of the Russians on the Pratzen Heights, we can put the Grenadier Division here and cut off the Russians' retreat."

When it comes to this kind of cutting off, Napoleon's appetite is actually very big, just like Hannibal in Cannae. He must at least kill the Russian army on this side, which is about 30,000.

A brigade led by the Great Kamensky is entangled with the French army here. If they only encounter the French army in front of them, they can continue to entangle, but they can't resist the attack launched by the Grenadier Division next.

Although the two sons of Marshal Kamensky are both fierce men, the Great Kamensky is relatively brutal, while the little Kamensky is determined to fight, which is still different.

If the younger brother is here, he may suppress the troops and fight to the death in the same place very stubbornly. After all, he has a bad temper and whips the soldiers, but he shares the joys and sorrows with his brothers, so everyone will follow him to fight for their lives.

As for Kamensky the Great, his fighting skills were not as good as his brother. He might be a bit more aggressive, but the soldiers were afraid of him, just like they were afraid of his father.

In this case, if he was commanding the British army, he might be able to hold on.

But if the Russian army wanted to fight, it would be better to have a hot-tempered commander to fight with them if they used whips.

Therefore, the Russian army was still very aggressive, but they could not hold on when so many French troops came over.

The entire front of the coalition forces was now torn open.

From the perspective of the entire battlefield, Kutuzov's decision to delay the descent of the Russian army in the Fourth Column did work. If this unit had already attacked and was flanked by Soult in the fog, there would be a risk of the entire army collapsing.

In that case, the Pratzen Heights would be easily occupied by the French, and Grand Duke Constantine would not have to take two guards regiments to the Old Vineyard to hold on. The coalition forces would be torn in half by the French army, and they would not have to be so anxious in the battle now.

But these troops were about to collapse, and even Kutuzov himself was shot and wounded.

As for his injury, it was because the troops could not resist and were retreating from the high ground.

In this situation, he had no choice but to issue an order for the adjutants of the headquarters to go to each regiment to stop the retreat of each regiment and then launch a counterattack.

If we look from the southeast of the high ground, not only Kutuzov's own adjutants, but also some officers from the Tsar's entourage went to each regiment to stop the troops from retreating.

After all, the Tsar was here, and if he was captured by the enemy, it would be a big deal.

He is not the King of France, and he has a history of being caught. So far, the Russian emperor has never been like this.

However, the adjutants sent out were able to organize the soldiers to return, and many of them held military flags and led the soldiers to launch a counterattack.

However, the formation was too scattered. The Russian soldiers were able to charge back with blood and courage, and re-attacked the Pratzen Heights, temporarily forcing the French army to retreat.

Some Russian soldiers on the side, without forming a formation, could directly kill some French cavalrymen who attacked with bayonets in twos and threes.

But the French were also very motivated. When the retreating front-line troops were reorganized, the follow-up troops attacked the heights after the formation.

The Russian army finally couldn't hold on and retreated. The generals and adjutants led by the on-duty general Peter Volkonsky were injured one after another.

The injured Kutuzov did not see Andrei and his son-in-law Tickenhausen come back. He just saw them being knocked down on the heights, and he didn't know the specific situation.

Now, the French army pushed the Russian army down the Pratzen Heights. The Russian army was still struggling, but failure was inevitable.

Alexander, who was already a little nervous because of the worsening of the war situation, now issued an order for the Guards to continue the counterattack.

Constantine saw the current situation and the Guards could be mobilized only to cover the retreat of the troops.

The two Guards regiments launched a counterattack now, but the losses were not small. They soon turned to a defensive state and retreated slowly while fighting.

This made Alexander panic and he had to retreat under the escort of the Guards.

Since the Tsar himself had retreated, the French army would proceed to the next stage and attack the three columns of the western coalition.

Solovyov was still in the position he had just built. He was more concerned about the troops retreating from the high ground.

He didn't care if the infantry and cavalry ran away, anyway, it couldn't affect his frontal shooting range.

But when the artillery ran down, he blocked the artillery carts, ammunition carts, and packhorses here.

Some artillery officers were dissatisfied when they saw him like this.

"What are you doing?"

"You shouldn't just retreat like this and leave the cannons here. We have to cover the main force!"

Soloviev took out his pistol and waved it to intimidate these officers.

Looking at the two regiments of the Guards, some artillery were left here, and Soloviev was also waiting for Grand Duke Constantine and the troops in front of the Guards to retreat.

As for the fact that the Russian army would be severely punished for losing cannons, no one cared.

After all, Soloviev, this guy, pulled out a pistol and pointed it at you, and anyone would be numb.

In addition, there are already dozens of cannons thrown to the French. According to this situation, it is not a problem to lose hundreds of cannons.

So, this matter is not a big deal.

Solovyov even thought that it didn't matter if he lost all the cannons to the French. Although the Russians could not unify the muskets, they could still produce cannons, especially in the various artillery factories in the country. Excluding those factories in the Ural Mountains with poor quality, the production capacity was still sufficient.

Therefore, losing the cannons was not a big deal.

In this case, the Russian cannons were more powerful. After firing all the shells on the battlefield, they were abandoned on the spot. In fact, the loss was not a big deal. As long as the cannons were destroyed and retreated, it would be fine.

And the rigid artillery system of the Russian army should be properly changed after the battle.

He didn't even need opinions now, because the generals of the Guards who were in charge of the command, except Lobanov who was still commanding the Grenadiers Regiment in the camp, and Grand Duke Constantine himself who was covered in French shells and almost had his head chopped off by Napoleon's Mamluks, didn't even have a general who could command the battle here.

Both Malyutin and Drepradovich were injured and escorted by adjutants and soldiers. Their lives were not in danger. After they recovered, they could still come back to fight.

So, when Grand Duke Constantine and Dolgorukov came to him, Soloviev suddenly realized that he had become a high official again.

To control the four major infantry regiments of the Guards, although the two absolute main force regiments and the Semenovsky regiment each suffered some losses, most of the seven battalions of these two regiments had already gathered around the village of Kozenovitz, and some of the supplementary soldiers of the regiment were brought here by Soloviev from the camp.

The most elite infantry troops of the Russian Army are now in his hands.

Grand Duke Constantine gave the order without even asking for his permission.

"Misha, you will command the Guards infantry and cover the troops' retreat."

"Your Highness, do you want to fight back?"

"At this time, it is difficult for us to return to the Pratzen Heights. General Miloradovich will lead three infantry regiments on your flank. We must fight and retreat. If we can repel the French army, we must return to the camp!"

There is a grenadier regiment and some artillery that lack horses on the Guards camp. This position is on the high ground north of Austerlitz and can block the road to Austerlitz.

As for the more than 30,000 troops on the left wing of the Allied Forces, most of which are Russian troops, they can only leave it to fate.

If Buchholden could withdraw the third column now and stop this meaningless attack, perhaps the troops could retreat in an orderly manner.

But the third column is the farthest from his headquarters, and the Russian army is not all like the second column. There is also a brigade led by Kamensky the Great to take the initiative to meet the French army in Platzenburg.

There will definitely be a disaster over there, and the Guards’ mission is simple now. The Guards Cavalry retreats while covering the flank of Bagration’s column in the north, and the infantry will have to fight a tough battle here.

Solovyov now hopes that the French army’s first focus is not to go down the high ground to pursue the fourth column, but to turn to the west to deal with the three columns.

His frontal pressure can be less, although according to his estimate, he can force the French army back to the high ground here, leaving himself some time to retreat to the camp and reorganize on the second line.

Although it sounds a bit like a friend dying rather than a poor person, the French army's turn is also a great opportunity to encircle and annihilate the left wing of the coalition army. They have already captured thousands of Austrian prisoners on the Pratzen Heights.

The capture of Austrian prisoners is also because the Russian army is reorganizing after the setback. These Austrians are in the front and soon can't hold on, and almost disrupt the Russian army's just reorganized formation.

The current situation of the Russian army is indeed very bad.

Solovyov hoped that the French army would touch the three columns on the left wing, but he didn't expect that Vandamme's Second Division, with its morale high after winning on the high ground, came directly to him.

Moreover, the French army's formation is still very neat, and they can see that the Russian army is the Guards, but they are afraid of the "game legion" left by Peter the Great, that is, the Putin Regiment and the Semenovsky Regiment.

As for the Izmailov Regiment and the Guards Chasseurs, these two regiments are nothing to them, and they even have the confidence to attack and directly seize the military flag.

Solovyov now used farmland and some village buildings to hide the First Battalion of the Putin Regiment behind him.

After all, he used to be the battalion commander of this battalion and could still command some veterans. He could also launch a bayonet charge here as an elite grenadier. Of course, they had to hide to recover their physical strength. They had consumed a lot in the previous battle and generally lacked bullets.

The other three battalions and the Semenovsky Regiment were all in the hands of Grand Duke Constantine and were used as reserve troops to fight.