Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 353 055 Austerlitz (4)

The battle progressed very quickly. After noon, there were no allied soldiers on the Platzen Heights who could fight. Napoleon's own headquarters and Guards were also moving towards the highlands at this time.

It was still winter, so obviously there was no obvious smell of corpses on the battlefield, but after the fierce battle, corpses were still everywhere on this core battlefield.

After listening to the report of an adjutant coming from the north, Napoleon issued an order for Soult to lead the Fourth Army to turn to deal with the coalition's left flank, where three columns dominated by Russian troops were crowded.

The front was handed over to Bernadotte's 1st Army, with five regiments of Frère's 1st Division and Drouet's 2nd Division, heading towards Austerlitz Castle and the village of Kozenowitz in front of them. Advance.

The First Army has not experienced fierce battles before, and is currently in good condition. In addition, Bernadotte always moves slowly, and the soldiers have relatively sufficient physical strength.

What Napoleon himself was more concerned about was not the Russian Guards formed along the river at the foot of the mountain.

"Although the Russians failed on the battlefield, they arranged themselves neatly and formed two lines of defense. I could even see that they actually imitated the Romans and set up a large camp."

"Your Majesty, do you want to commit the Guards to join the battle?"

Bessier was eager to give it a try. After all, the Guards had become a tourist group again today. Except for the cavalry fighting against the Russian Guards cavalry and repelling the physically exhausted opponent with minor losses in the battle, the infantry had no experience. What kind of battle, except for a few blind guards veteran companies who acted without permission and were brought back again.

"That's not necessary. Who is the commander of the Russian Guards?"

"As far as we know, it was Grand Duke Constantine who commanded it himself."

"No wonder, the infantry is very organized, but the position of these artillery is really damaging."

After hearing this, Bessier also knew that Napoleon would not be willing to join the Guards after winning the battle was certain.

"His Majesty."

Seeing this, Napoleon took back the telescope clamped on Caulaincourt's shoulder, turned to Bessier and said.

"The Old Guard has a more important use, but the First Army should be allowed to advance in this direction."

If the three columns of the Russian army resist stubbornly, the Guards may have to go in that direction. As for the Russian Guards' current formation, it is obvious that they are going to be tough.

Even Napoleon only needed the First Army to confront the Russian army there, and did not want to consume too many troops here.

After all, the Russian army had already suffered some losses before, and the two main regiments suffered heavy losses when they counterattacked the old vineyard.

And if the fight continues like this, if the retreating troops behind the Russian army and those who still have fighting strength want to reorganize their formations, the battle may be delayed until night.

Therefore, when he gave the order to Bernadotte, he did not ask him to launch an attack.

As for the Russian army, Grand Duke Konstantin did not want Solovyov to fight head-on. He just hoped that the Guards would retreat from this temporary defense line to the camp after covering the retreat of the army, and then fight with Miloradovich. The Russian troops of the fourth column he led alternately covered the withdrawal from the battlefield.

As for Bagration, his rearguard battle has always been good. Although he suffered serious losses on the northern battlefield, it is not a problem if the cavalry of the fifth column alternately covers him.

But the entire main battlefield has become like this.

From near Austerlitz Castle, Constantine could see the French army turning in the distance, which was obviously to deal with the three columns on the left. At this time, he sent his adjutant to ask Solovio husband.

"Colonel, His Highness asked you if there is anything you can do now?"

Looking at this hussar, Solovyov was also in trouble. The French army pushing over now was obviously not trying to attack, but was confronting him from a distance, and was preparing to set up artillery.

He calculated the artillery he had collected and found that there were 17 cannons on the first line of defense, which could still be fired.

Forming a formation here does not mean that you have to be passively beaten, but you also have to take the initiative to contain the enemy, which may be able to reduce the pressure on the troops on the left.

Since Kutuzov's headquarters is also retreating, and Alexander cannot issue any effective orders, all the troops are retreating in an orderly or disorderly manner. Only the Guards are still lying here, and there are others on the flanks. Miloradovich took in the troops of the fourth column.

"Please tell His Highness that we will use our range advantage to attack the enemy and lure the French to take the bait."

As for how to get the French to take the bait, that is to use the accuracy of the rifled guns and the artillery on hand.

The artillery of the Guards was mainly 12-pounder guns, and they were all deployed on the front, which was the area where the French First Army was advancing.

His idea was rather simple, which was to concentrate these artillery pieces and use solid bullets to hit the French array, which was approaching but still trying to keep its distance, so that the opponent would have to launch an attack.

After all, the opponent's artillery is still deployed at this time, and in this era, there are no useful counter-artillery methods.

There was no other way, this was all he could do now, so he ordered the artillery fire.

Constantine is behind him. If the six battalions in the front row fall into a hard fight, he will lead the six battalions who are resting and the scattered troops he intercepted here into the battle.

The shells fell in the French formation, causing a lot of losses. Under the leadership of Brigadier General Drouet, the Second Division of the First Army knew that they could not continue to be bombarded here, so they launched an attack.

On the French side, some of the artillery they deployed also joined the battle and fired at the Russian Guards soldiers they could see.

However, due to the soft soil in this area and various problems, the losses caused to the Russian army were not great.

But the power of the shells is no joke. Even if most of the kinetic energy is lost in the soft soil, it can still smash any flesh that can be touched before losing kinetic energy. The power is there.

But this is enough. Seeing this situation, Bernadotte also ordered the First Army to launch an attack. In addition to the infantry, they also have several hussar regiments under the Little Kellerman Cavalry Division that had participated in the battle before, as well as the Guards Cavalry that came from the side and rear, and Murat's Heavy Cavalry Division.

There is also a group of special cavalry mixed in here, that is, the Guards Mamluks that Napoleon brought back from Egypt.

Some of them had boasted that they would chop off Grand Duke Constantine's head and present it to His Majesty the Emperor.

So when they saw that it was the Russian Guards, they attacked.

Soloviev was secretly delighted when he saw these cavalrymen rushing over. These Mamluk squadrons, who were skilled in martial arts and could cut through the gauze with their swords, were still quite pure at this moment, but they were somewhat brainless in fighting. It was not good to fight like this all the time with their personal martial arts.

So he ordered a company of the Guards Chasseurs who had been lying in ambush there, as well as the selected shooters in the Izmailov Regiment, to shoot these cavalrymen one by one.

Of course, they had to shoot at close range, so that the effect would be better.

Although the French army had encountered Russian rifled chasseurs in Italy in the past, the number was too small, and the chasseurs always emphasized accuracy rather than firing speed.

Even if they used breech-loading rifles, it was still the same. The loading speed was greatly increased, and they would not shoot quickly unless necessary.

Therefore, when these hunters shot at the Mamluks behind the stakes and fences, the first reaction of these experienced cavalrymen was to snipe them, and the firing rate would not be fast. After all, the hunters of the Ottoman Empire and the British riflemen did not shoot fast, and they were all known for their accurate sniping.

At this time, it was experience that hurt people.

If someone said that Solovyov did not follow the moral principles of the army and liked to use dirty tricks, this was a great injustice. After all, his soldiers could reload and shoot repeatedly, and there was no residue left in the barrel of the paper shell bullet. The hunters only had to reload quickly.

So the Mamluk team rushed in front, originally trying to use the hunters' poor firing rate to attack the opponent, but ended up becoming prey.

Of course, for the Russian army, fighting them was somewhat a funny scene of racial conflict.

After all, one of the main businesses of the Russian army is to fight the Ottoman Empire. The nest of these Mamluks is in Egypt, but their hometowns come from many places in the Ottoman Empire, as long as there is a cross hanging and believing in Jesus.

Well, that's the case. Many Mamluks were knocked down with their horses. After all, shooting people first shoots horses, and these war horses are still big targets.

Although Solovyov wanted to say that the horses of these Mamluks were very sophisticated, this was on the battlefield, not when cleaning the battlefield to get spoils.

Therefore, he stopped drooling over these good horses, but ordered the hunters to shoot freely.

Although free shooting has always been inefficient, the breech-loading rifle is still very advantageous.

Even Napoleon, who was watching the battle on the top of the Pratzen Heights, has begun to pay attention to the battlefield here.

"Your Majesty, the First Army's attack was frustrated, and the cavalry that attacked from the flank suffered a lot of losses."

"Yes, I have seen it. It seems that they want to contain us, or serve as a rear guard for the retreating troops."

"Should we call Soult's troops back?"

"No, Berthier, that would fall into the trap of the Russians. In this way, Bernadotte will continue to attack. He has more troops than the Russian army, and the heavy cavalry division of the cavalry army will go around the flank of the Russian army!"

Napoleon saw the camp of the Russian Guards, but he didn't want to have too many losses here. He just wanted to force the Russian army in front to retreat.

So, Murat joined the battle.

After repelling the Mamluks, Solovyov had to turn his attention back to Bernadotte's infantry due to the attack of the French army in front.

If it is true, the French army has been mainly marching in the past few months, and the soldiers who fell behind can quickly return to the troops. Most of the troops are still intact. In fact, because of Bernadotte's previous slow advance, the losses of his army are almost negligible.

On the Russian side, the troops that engaged in the battle were fortunately the Guards, so they were able to fight hard for a while.

As for the high-speed hunting soldiers, Solovyov also considered that it was better to fight close.

It was also because of this that Bernadotte's troops suffered a lot of casualties.

In public, it was a fierce battle between France and Russia. In private, Solovyov had no time to think about it at this time. Even if Bernadotte became the King of Sweden in the future, he was only concerned with the frontal exchange of fire.

The French army has now discovered that these Russian troops are tough and have caused huge casualties to their infantry.

Even more embarrassing is that during the exchange of fire, the 54th Line Infantry Regiment of the French Army was defeated by the powerful firepower of the Russian Army.

The defeated soldiers even abandoned their commander, Colonel Armand Philippon, and the flags of two infantry battalions, and fled in disorder.

This was more thorough than the defeat of the friendly forces in the previous Battle of Dürenstein. This regiment has now lost its organizational order, which made Bernadotte shake his head.

There is no way, Solovyov just likes it. Let the chasseurs squat in the grass and behind the stone wall in two rows at close range to concentrate fire, which can cause huge casualties to the French army.

However, the 27th Light Infantry Regiment in front of the Second Division did not suffer as much loss as the Line Infantry because of its loose formation.

After seeing this situation, the rest of the French regiments began to disperse their formations to avoid being called out one by one by the Russian shooters in three rows.

This caused the battle to fall into a stalemate. The Russian army had a slight advantage at the beginning, and then the French artillery bombarded back.

In this case, Grand Duke Constantine ordered the Semenovsky Regiment to re-enter the battlefield to replenish the right wing of the Guards position, which was hit hard.

French cavalry had been coming over there in turn. In addition to the Mamluks who suffered a big loss at the beginning, the subsequent heavy cavalry and cavalry artillery cooperated and caused considerable losses to the Russian army.

In this case, Constantine sent the Semenovsky Regiment back to stabilize the front line.

At the same time, he was also considering letting the Guards retreat to the second line of defense, where the Guards camp was located and some ammunition was available, and then fighting and retreating.

The problem now is that the three Russian columns on the left wing of the coalition are now in an unclear situation, so Constantine did not retreat rashly.

If he and Miloradovich retreated here, they would abandon 19 Russian infantry regiments and dozens of cavalry squadrons. If these troops were completely destroyed, there would be no need to fight the subsequent battles.

Therefore, he also gritted his teeth and endured the losses here. Moreover, so far, the French army had never seen the Guards Chasseurs' fighting style, and was given a welcome gift. The French army even suffered greater losses, which led to a certain degree of reversal of the situation on the battlefield.

But this has no effect on the overall situation.

Napoleon had already noticed the Russian intentions on the top of the Pratzen Heights. In this case, he had to first wipe out the three columns of the Russian army and then come back to deal with the Guards.

But in this way, the First Army would be in trouble and would need to continue to suffer casualties.