Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 421 063 Soloviev shows off his skills in Pultusk (I)

The only problem with Langgeron being the acting commander-in-chief is that he may not be able to command Bukhoden.

However, there are ways, such as asking Solovyov to report to Grand Duke Constantine, which is actually a state of pretending to report.

Of course, this is just to scare people. The relationship between Bukhoden and Langgeron is not that bad, and Bukhoden's army already has Dokhturov's 5th Division entering the war zone, just over Golim.

Solovyov is a young man after all. He got up very early and went to Barclay's station to inspect at six o'clock in the morning.

Although he is only a colonel, Langgeron has to take over the vacancy of the chief of staff if he wants to be the temporary commander-in-chief.

Of course, everyone is comfortable in this way. Marshal Kamensky can find an excuse for himself to go to the rear because of his old age and illness, and the Tsar himself can't do anything to him; Langgeron can get out of the staff work that gave him a headache and become the commander, and he can skillfully mobilize the troops while complaining; Wittgenstein, an honest man, doesn't have to worry about a bunch of ambiguous orders, and can lead the cavalry to squat instead of being a corps commander here; the division commanders can also receive effective instructions from the headquarters; Solovyov doesn't have to worry about not being able to lead these predecessors because of his low rank and young age. He can organize the staff and even fill in the vacancies to command in the front.

If outsiders look at Solovyov's combat style, they will feel strange. Where did this squatting expert come from? It doesn't look like the Russian army at all, but more like a colleague of the British and Austrian armies.

Speaking of which, there is no way. Solovyov is most familiar with the Total War series of games, but he doesn't use the mouse to click, but sets up a posture to command the action from left to right one by one.

This Total War player's play style is a bit like the man who was not a lord during the Peninsular War.

Of course, Wellesley is now a lord and a Knight of the Bath, but not a GCMG.

Barclay saw Solovyov from a distance, or through the telescope, after all, this guy's smooth golden hair is too conspicuous.

"Misha, why did you come to me?"

"Don't be polite, Mikhail Bogdanovich, you are here at the most critical point of the entire front. You have to target the enemies on both sides, and it is also the hub of the entire position. If Sacken wants to move out, or if Osterman-Tolstoy wants to protect his flank when he goes out, your brigade is needed to stop the enemy."

"Apart from anything else, this battle plan is very aggressive, and it doesn't seem to be the work of a Frenchman like Langgeron."

"We have been adjusting the plan for several days. Since the divisions can gather here, we naturally have to find a way to fight Napoleon. Of course, it may not be him who wants to come."

As they were talking, they heard the sound of artillery from the west.

"Where is that?"

"In the direction of Golymin, I'm afraid they're fighting with the French."

"Maybe we can wait a while and receive a signal."

Barclay and Solovyov were looking at the direction of Golymin in front of the position. They knew that part of Dokhturov's troops had already arrived there, but they didn't know whether Golitsyn's troops had already arrived there. They heard that the French probably took the lead in attacking after hearing the artillery fire.

The communications officer in charge of receiving the signal quickly translated the received code for Barclay.

"The French army attacked Golymin, and part of the 4th and 5th divisions had already contacted the French."

When Barclay read this, he also thought that the optical signal machine made by Solovyov was quite convenient. As long as it was daybreak, the signal could be sent out in places with conditions. Their place was also a high ground, so it was natural for them to receive this string of codes.

"This is not good. If the main force of the French army arrives there, there should be enemy activity on our flank."

"Wouldn't our deployment be useful in this way? According to the current command order, Bagovut will command the outpost troops, and you will be in charge of the right wing. This is also an injustice to Baron Sacken, after all, his troops are arranged in the reserve."

The rest are Ostermann-Tolstoy's troops in the front. If the enemy comes up on both sides, the Russian army in Pultusk can support their own people in the direction of Golimin and can also fight on both sides.

In fact, considering the entire battlefield environment, Murat and Davout encountered the retreating wing of the Russian army and the vanguard of Buchholden in Golimin, while Langeron and Wittgenstein encountered the French army?

Gazan's right eyelid has been twitching since he got up in the morning. Lannes issued an order for the Fifth Army to advance to Pultusk. He and Suchet will each lead a division to cross the river from Pultusk.

The French army knew through reconnaissance that there were Russian troops in the area, but the scale was unknown, ranging from a brigade to a division. With the strength of the Fifth Army that had advanced to the area, if these two types of reconnaissance intelligence were true, the French army would still have an advantage in any fight and could fight.

Moreover, Lannes had previously believed that His Majesty the Emperor sometimes lacked the proper honor for his military achievements, and always held his breath, wanting to prove himself on the battlefield.

Driven by this idea, and the fact that he had not suffered any loss in the previous battle with the Russian army, Lannes issued an order to attack.

Judging from the situation at the front, this is indeed correct. What can be seen south of Puutusk are mainly some scattered cavalry.

Due to terrain factors and the interference of these cavalry at the scene, the French army did not realize that the main force of the Russian army was hidden behind them, and thought it was just some scattered cavalry on the periphery.

What is more troublesome for the French at this time is that most of their artillery is lagging behind. The road conditions in Poland can be said to be the worst stretch of road the French army has ever traveled so far.

Davout even complained that the French army often could not move very far in the morning. Even the wheels of the 6-pounder were often stuck in the mud, and marching was a struggle.

It's obviously the end of the year, and it should be winter now, but it looks like autumn.

At the end of 1806, the weather seemed not to be very helpful to the French.

At the same time, the Russian army actually had too many artillery. If the main road from the east had not been repaired, and only the reserve brigade that Solovyov was coming to pass through, the road maintenance was still acceptable, and it would probably have to be removed. layer of skin.

Here, the Russian army actually dispatched hundreds of artillery pieces to the front line in Puutusk. This firepower can be said to be quite arrogant.

On the French side, when Gazan and Suchet decided to launch an attack on Bagowut, the artillery was still far behind.

Therefore, Solovyov, who always judged the movements of the French army by firing artillery, did not notice the French army's movement when he hurried back to the headquarters from Barclay, and still launched his attack through Bagovut. When the signal came out, I realized that the light cavalry in front had already started fighting.

"It came so fast!"

His first reaction was this, while Langeron was still looking at the battle ahead with his telescope.

"They actually launched an attack before the artillery was in place. This is too much contempt for Bagowut's defense area."

Langeron is also observing the battle situation, and it is still very troublesome for the commander to decide when to release the troops.

At this time, Langeron's headquarters received information from two directions. On the one hand, on Golimin's side, Golitsyn and Dohturov were exchanging fire with the French army. On the other hand, on the front, the French army had begun fighting. Come over.

However, the Russian army on Golimin's side quickly figured out the number of the French army. After all, Murat, a guy who loves to show off, appeared on the battlefield with so many cavalry, and he was dressed in strange clothes. It was difficult not to be seen like this. .

As for the front of Puutusk, the exchange of fire between the two sides has now spread across the entire front.

Lannes and Suchet launched an attack from the left wing, targeting Barclay's position, which was relatively the most conspicuous target on the entire Russian front, and was stuck at an important intersection.

So Barclay soon fell into a bitter battle, and the two regiments he placed on the front line were even driven out of position by the French infantry.

The French were now in high morale, and had actually made considerable progress without artillery support.

"This is really troublesome!"

Langeron asked Bagowut on the left to fight and retreat, but he still wanted to protect the bridge retreating to the east, and even prepared to send reserves.

However, Barclays was under attack and he had to make adjustments.

"Michel, ask Saken to send two regiments to support Barclay and drive the French army out of our right flank!"

The Russian troops hiding on the river bank really need to be dispatched now.

If the French army advances too quickly, even if they can hold their position in today's battle, Golitsyn and Dohturov will have no room to retreat eastward. They can only bite the bullet and retreat to the northeast or north, which may be The French army continued to pursue, putting these more than 10,000 people in great danger.

Therefore, for the Russian army, they either drove the French army back during the day, or they wanted to win the battle. There was no reason to shrink down and squat on defense.

As long as you get to the battlefield, you must seize the initiative. This is an obvious truth.

Therefore, Langeron also asked Saken's 3rd Division to act quickly to help Barclay regain his position.

As for Barclay, he knew the seriousness of the problem and personally led the attack. After two hours of repeated fighting, he finally drove Rana out of the position at noon and recaptured the cannon on the position. .

As soon as the artillerymen saw that something was wrong, they ran away. Now when they returned to the artillery position, they found that the French army had not had time to destroy these cannons, nor had they driven nails in, nor had they dismantled the cannons.

In this way, they used the 12 guns deployed on the position to continue firing to suppress the French army.

After the messenger came to report, Solovyov felt a little embarrassed. How come the French army behaves like a French superman when they fight?

This was the encounter with the Russian army. If it had been Prussia or Austria, they would have been beaten to the point where they could not find the north.

What surprised Rana was that the Russian army did not have any Guardsmen to fight this time, but its resilience was still amazing and it was actually able to launch a counterattack.

This is not only due to the strong combat effectiveness of the Russian army, but also a reserve team behind it, as well as an important issue.

Even Rana still doesn't know how many Russian troops there are here.

Moreover, his communication methods are still a bit poor. The Russian army can transmit signals through optical transmitters on the positions of infantry regiments in various divisions, brigades, and even some areas, so they can communicate quickly.

The situation is still 50-50, and the French army's current attack is indeed very powerful. Once again, it stormed the Russian army's position despite the disadvantage of artillery, and even almost succeeded.

"It's really dangerous, but I'm more concerned about the situation on the Bagovut side."

Langeron could also see that on the left wing of Bagovut, the troops he sent were engaged in a fierce exchange of fire with the French army.

The battle situation on the scene was that after the Gazan Division launched an attack, it first repelled the Russian cavalry at the outpost, and then the French army's marching column turned into an attacking column, and then launched an attack on the Bagovut position on the Pultusk side.

In order to block the French attack, Bagovut sent two chasseur regiments to launch a counterattack, but this did not force the French army back too far.

Even after the Russian army launched an attack, the French army retreated slightly and reorganized, and launched a counterattack, which drove the Russian army out again.

"This is really bad."

As the actual chief of staff, Solovyov is now dispatching in several directions and processing information.

He still had this ability, but now there was no phone, so he could only issue orders one by one, and conduct remote dispatch through Morse code of optical signal machine.

The French army launched an attack from both wings, obviously wanting to drive out all the Russian troops they saw from the positions, and use these positions to expand the results of the battle and ensure the capture of the bridge over the Narew River here in Pultusk.

This attack style was indeed too bold and brave. Judging from the battlefield style, Solovyov believed that he encountered Lana, but there was no evidence at hand until Barclay sent his adjutant to report the situation.

"The right wing position was almost lost to the French. What happened?"

"The French attack was very fierce. Now we only know from the uniforms of the French soldiers who were killed that they belonged to the 3rd Light Infantry Regiment."

"The 3rd Light Infantry Regiment?"

In Solovyov's mind, what was connected now was probably the 1st Division of the 5th Army. This division had this light infantry regiment under it, and it was roughly learned from the pre-war intelligence.

Apart from this, this regiment may be relatively "familiar" to Solovyov.

It seems that this regiment was changed from the Corsican skirmishers. After the French Army became the Imperial Army, it was nicknamed "the Emperor's cousin".

Considering this combat style, so bold and fierce, it should be the fierce Lannes who encountered.

"Damn it, we have encountered a tough opponent and we have to fight a big battle."