Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 557 069  The familiar tune of the British

After the outpost battle, Sir Moore also felt that something was wrong, so he adopted a more conservative strategy.

As for the Swedes' desire to take an aggressive stance, he could almost choke them back with just one sentence.

Solovyov's iron fist did scare the Swedes. After three battles that were not large enough, a group of Swedish defeated soldiers who were repeatedly captured and released were enough to spread panic.

In this war between Russia and Sweden, there were only a few large-scale battles. What gave them confidence at first was nothing more than some victories won by Sanders and the Finnish militia on the flank during the Finnish Campaign.

It even seemed that the winning rate was quite high, but the battle line had been pressed to the Swedish mainland.

The battle line and the results of the battle will not lie. The amazing exchange ratio loss between the Russian and Swedish armies also appeared in this way. Although it seems that Sweden won a lot in fragmented battles, the absolute value of the loss is too large.

The battles commanded by Solovyov alone in Sweden exceeded half of the total losses of the Swedish army, not to mention the great victory in the naval battle that he insisted on changing the commander and letting Kron serve as the fleet commander. This score has been blown up.

What's more terrible is the gap in the combat effectiveness of the two sides' troops, which is difficult to make up no matter how many troops are mobilized.

At this time, it seems easier for the British and Swedish coalition to take a defensive position.

Sir Moore also arranged it in this way. As for Solovyov, he found a hillside to squat. The two sides can be said to have the same idea.

"The British, they are really conspicuous. They are wearing red clothes in this weather. They are simply targets."

What can be seen from the telescope is also the neatly arranged three rows of British troops, as well as their light infantry and cavalry on the flanks, and the artillery is also arranged in an orderly manner.

Solovyov also knew that if the British commander was replaced, even if he was a mediocre general, he would probably not take the initiative to attack at this strategic disadvantage stage because of the limitation of his own troops.

Stability is very stable. For both sides, it is difficult to win a decisive victory unless reinforcements from one side can arrive here.

Obviously, according to the battlefield intelligence of both sides, no reinforcements have come.

It is probably a battle that tests each other's patience. Solovyov thinks that he is still relatively impatient in the current battle. After all, the longer the confrontation with the British lasts, the more unsuitable the weather conditions and muddy roads are for going south.

The most troublesome thing to consider is that in March when the ice and snow melt, the road becomes muddy. For both sides, maneuvering on the road has become a big problem.

In other words, it can reach the place, but this time cannot be guaranteed.

Even if the Russian army has experience in Poland, many methods can be used on the muddy roads and the edge of the swamp, but this can only improve the situation in some areas. As a whole, the road that the Russian army has to go is too long, and it is impossible to pave the road while going to the place.

Therefore, the original plan may be disrupted, and the only way is to drive the British out of Kalmar one by one.

With this idea, Solovyov also knew that if he changed his formation first, he would still get himself into trouble.

So he just ordered the artillery to fire first, and then the infantry to advance from the front, fighting a very traditional battle.

Seeing this situation, Moore naturally began to deploy troops.

When the British army advanced, the music they played on the flute could be heard very clearly if you got close. This was the "Great Qing Dynasty Unhappy Song", while the situation on the Russian side was more strange. Each regiment played its own music forward.

If you say it, it is also used for identification and unified orders between infantry regiments. As for the Pavlovsk Grenadiers, the music they played was a bit special.

It was not the march of the regiment, but the music score before Solovyov.

This sense of déjà vu would feel a bit outrageous if you got close.

Those who don't know might think it was a French song.

And the grenadiers, although they didn't have iron bars on their waists that needed to be pulled out, they all carried grenades.

Even in the Russian army, it was not only the grenadiers who used wooden-handled grenades. Line infantry, light infantry, and some cavalry units also began to use them on a large scale.

As for the enemy's resistance in the battle, throwing some grenades to entertain them was also a routine operation.

It was just a pity that the power of black gunpowder was not strong enough. Even if there were dozens of fragments after the explosion, the casualties caused were not as expected.

Now the two armies are slowly approaching. In this environment, the Russian coats can still keep out the cold, and the mud will splash on the trouser legs and coats, which looks better.

On the British side, their white pants will definitely be troubled by the mud.

As for this strategy of queuing up and approaching, the British generally have the courage to let the opponent shoot first and then shoot.

However, facing the approach of the Russian army, they also knew before the war that the Russian army had a few elite infantry regiments that could shoot at a long distance, so some infantry regiments chose to shoot in advance when approaching.

The Russians, on the other hand, were able to hold their temper and approached before firing as usual.

This seemed to be a reversal of the situation between the British and French armies in the past battles in Western Europe.

Soloviev also wanted to recall Barry Lyndon. When the British army encountered the French army, they did not fire first, but had to get very close before taking action.

If it were a Mel Gibson movie, although it became a large-scale group exercise and anti-British drama, the British army was also accustomed to firing later, and except for the final decisive battle, the losses caused to the US army were not small.

Now the British army actually chose to fire first because of the situation of its own weapons, but this was nothing for both sides.

The British army's shooting skills were okay, and sometimes they could cause casualties at a long distance and knock down individual Russian soldiers.

However, in the speech that Soloviev gave to officers before the war, it was also very clear that even if there were seriously injured, only one or two soldiers were allowed to accompany the retreat. If the lightly injured could not persist in fighting, they could only retreat on their own. Those who violated the order would be severely punished by military law.

Although Soloviev had a good personality, severe military law measures were possible, ranging from shooting, hanging to being beaten with sticks.

Even Solovyov himself once half-jokingly said: "Deserters on the battlefield are cowards, and they need to be instilled with the spirit of bravery with a stick."

If you compare military law, rewards and desertion, Russian soldiers still hope to get rewards, so they are also very brave in battle.

In addition, Russian officers and soldiers have always been very tough on the battlefield. Even if they are constantly shot by the British army and many soldiers are shot, they continue to fight.

In general, the Russian army, from officers to soldiers, even foreigners, often maintain extremely high toughness.

Therefore, even after the Russian army approached 10 steps, the British army found that the toughness of these Russian line infantry would only be stronger.

As for approaching such a close distance, it is time to switch to pre-loaded Russians to fire.

Since the British soldiers started free firing after the first round of volleys, this time the Russian army's guns were concentrated, and the third column was prepared, mainly the volleys of the first two columns.

There were quite a few British soldiers who were knocked down. If it were the Swedish army, the Russian army would probably only need two or three rounds of volleys to force the opponent to retreat.

However, the British were also tenacious. Although the local British army was probably at its weakest stage at this stage, it was not comparable to some armies other than the French and Russian armies.

Both sides now launched free shooting, which gave their respective commanders a headache.

Solovyov was still worried that the battle could not be resolved quickly, and the British army would cause considerable losses to his subordinates.

As for Sir Moore, after the battle, he also found that this Russian army was not the same as he had imagined before.

As for the reserve troops in the back, they had not yet been put into battle. There were at least two infantry regiments and a large number of cavalry there. This time, the opponent should be much more difficult to deal with than the French army that was almost trapped in Egypt, and also more difficult than the French and Dutch armies that defeated the Russian grenadiers in the Netherlands.

Of course, there were also Russian grenadiers there, and Moore always knew the situation.

Therefore, he ordered the British army to take the initiative to tangle with the Russian army, and to make the best use of the cooperation between infantry and artillery to cause casualties to the opponent.

As for Solovyov, he now wants to invest in the reserve.

"Karl, it seems that the British are still very durable, and it may be too early for us to invest in the cavalry reserve."

"But in this situation, I think Moore should want to drag us here. His goal is not to fail, which is a kind of victory. If he is given more troops, we may be in more trouble."

"More trouble?"

"Yes, fortunately, the British regular army has always had limited troops, and their troops are insufficient."

"Then can we fight those Swedes to defeat their flanks?"

As Solovyov chatted, he discovered the problem of the British army.

If it is just fighting these lobster soldiers, it may be more troublesome. After all, in terms of toughness, they are similar to the French army, and slightly worse than the Russian army.

But the Swedes, after several battles, even from what they saw in Barclay's war reports, the Swedish army under Sanders, without the watered-down troops, was indeed not strong enough.

If von Essen had brought a Swedish army that had not been joined by a large number of new recruits, the British army might not have appeared here so early.

As for attacking the Swedish army on the flank, it was indeed a good way to break the deadlock.

Among the infantry regiments deployed on the front line of the Russian army, only five were exchanging fire with the British army, and the rest were detoured and mainly fought against the Swedes.

At this time, it can be seen that Constantine sent the Putin Regiment, the most elite guards of the Russian army, which was a very wise move.

If it was the Semenovsky Regiment, Solovyov might not believe that they could open the situation, although according to the training outline, the shooting project was the best in this regiment.

However, in terms of combat effectiveness, it was naturally the Putin Regiment.

He decided to join the battlefield in person with his old brothers, but when he rode over, he was also noticed by these veterans of the first battalion.

"Young battalion commander, you are finally back. We old guys miss you."

An old soldier who seemed to have served for a long time said. Solovyov thought about it and it seemed that this guy always asked him for wine.

"Sergey, you old drunkard, don't say you miss me or not. The brothers in the first battalion also miss me."

In short, you always have to say a few words to your brothers before the battle.

"Now the brothers in front are fighting with those British who like to drink tea without jam. These British, MD, they are against us. They even murdered our emperor in the past, and now they are causing trouble for our emperor Alexander Pavlovich. But to defeat them, we still have to deal with the Swedes next door, drive them out of that forest, and teach them a lesson with bayonets and fists, Hurrah!"

There is no need to waste words. Solovyov still has prestige in the Putin Regiment. After all, he made the training outline of the Guards. Paul always took the Guards to be reviewed at that time, and he was never punished by Paul.

Even Paul's own son, the crown prince at that time and the emperor now, did not have this treatment-of course, it was also related to Alexander's style of doing things.

For this reason, Solovyov did have some prestige in the Putin Regiment, and these veterans were willing to listen to his command on the battlefield.

Moreover, when he was in the Guards Chasseurs, and later in Poland and East Prussia, he fought against the French, and he performed very well. Now he is also a general, and he has defeated the Swedes in succession.

Under his encouragement, the soldiers of the Putin Regiment shouted "Ura" and then joined the battle.

However, some young officers with quick minds suddenly thought of a very interesting place.

The general who went out of our regiment, the former chief battalion commander, his uncle, the former enemy of the emperor, liked to hold the Guards in his hands like this.

After sightseeing on the battlefield for a while, the Putin Regiment finally joined the battle.

But they fought like this, and the Swedes soon couldn't stand it, and they kept retreating before they even used bayonets.

Seeing this situation, Moore could only look at the sky and slowly withdraw the British army to avoid exposing his flank.

As for how bad the Swedes were, he didn't want to think about this issue. Now it was the most important thing to ensure that there were still combat forces.

Solovyov was unwilling to pursue the enemy. He only needed to drive the British out of the village in the outpost battle and ensure the smooth flow of the road before considering continuing the battle with the enemy.

The first battle between the British and Russian armies on the Swedish battlefield ended in a whimper. (End of this chapter)

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