Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

It was indeed quite unexpected to catch Scherer.

When Rosenberg launched the attack, he did not expect that there would be such a big fish here. He just wanted to eliminate the rear guard and some scattered French troops, but he did not expect Scherer to go to Bergamo.

Now the prisoners were escorted to Suvorov's headquarters. These Frenchmen were all very valuable prisoners, so Rosenberg asked the liaison officer Captain Gryazev to go with Solovyov.

Captain Gryazev was still writing quickly on horseback.

"What are you writing?"

"Our marching diary, about our entire regiment, and the outstanding troops among our friendly forces."

"How long have you been writing this?"

"Since I joined the army. I wanted to apply for retirement last year, but I was rejected."

"What are you going to do after retirement?"

"I just think that this is enough. The discipline requirements in the current army are too strict. Especially for young people like you, I am almost 10 years older than you, which is a generation gap."

"Yes, but I think such service requirements are still a small matter. Our emperor is just a little stricter on officers and cannot let officers take leave casually."

"Well, when we were stationed in Poland, it was much easier than before we set off."

It seems that the Russian officers are indeed dissatisfied with Tsar Paul's practice of daily training and approval for leave, which has touched some people's privileges.

This Gryazev is quite open-minded. For him, what he has to do every day is to make a detailed record of the marching route and battle situation, as well as the local customs and customs of the places he visited that day.

"By the way, would you like to eat some of the white biscuits and Italian sausages seized in the city? You chasseurs are outside the city, busy capturing prisoners, right?"

"Thank you, I haven't eaten anything for a whole day!"

The captain also recorded the battle on April 13 in his marching diary, and wrote that he went to the headquarters with the chasseur company to hand over the prisoners.

General Scherer was groaning because of the gunshot wound, which meant that it was very painful, but there was no injury to his internal organs, so he probably won't die today.

He didn't know what was going on with this captain who asked his stepmother's cousin right away.

After all, in Paris, although everyone knew that Madame de Beauharnais came from the West Indies, they knew nothing about her family. Although the old man Scherer served in the Directory, he didn't have much contact with Josephine.

Even if the question was asked, he would know the answer, but he might lack association. Perhaps General Moreau, who had worked in the Rhine Army, would know.

It's useless to say all this. As a former Minister of War, it's embarrassing for this general to be a prisoner now.

However, it was precisely because he was captured by the Russian army that he didn't have to go back to the Directory to be questioned. An investigation committee launched an investigation into him after the disastrous defeat near Verona.

Now the real master has been captured by the Russian army. Even Moreau in Arcole didn't know what happened. He only knew that the army in Bergamo was defeated and some defeated soldiers came to him.

When escorting prisoners at night, they were more worried that someone would run away. However, many of these officers had gunshot wounds and they couldn't run far, so they were relatively honest and were escorted to Suvorov's headquarters.

"Misha, why did Rosenberg send you back?"

"Marshal, we encountered the French army in Bergamo, wiped out more than 2,000 of them, and captured General Scherer."

"Well done, the kids. We have had a hard time catching Scherer these days. Although we haven't been able to catch his main force, it's still a credit to catch him."

Afterwards, Solovyov and Gryazev reported the battle situation to Suvorov.

"Very good, the action is fast, and the deployment of the infantry is very good. This is a good demonstration of our military principles. The Prussian ones are still not applicable. Isn't that right, General Melas?"

"Yes, the Prussian way of fighting has become more and more rigid in recent years."

"Gentlemen, I agree with you! Your Russian infantry is very flexible, but I didn't expect the chasseurs to be so accurate, otherwise I wouldn't have captured prisoners for you. Of course, the Prussian army still has some skills, and their chasseurs are also good hunters."

Suvorov invited Scherer to dinner here. Although they only ate some bread and had a glass of sweet wine, they still had a very good chat.

"But you, Marshal, are currently advancing very fast, which is something we have never seen in the past among our French army's opponents."

Although Scherer's command level is average, he has been the Minister of the Army after all, and his use of troops belongs to the traditional and more cautious type.

Such a dull guy should be sent to the military academy to be an instructor. He was unlucky because he was not good at running. After falling off his horse, he was quickly caught by the hunters.

"But I think it is too early for you to win completely. After all, we still have follow-up reinforcements coming, and you should have known it long ago."

"Yes, General Scherer, the victory we seek is to drive the French out of Italy. This combat goal always has a chance to be achieved. Especially since our army has more people, and you, in the two battles near Verona..."

"Stop talking. I've realized the problem at that time. We lost the battle because we were counterattacked by the Austrian reserve."

But Moreau's control of the army may make the French army stronger. After all, he is a relatively young and energetic commander. If he serves as the commander-in-chief, the French army's mobilization may be strengthened.

He is now on the other side of Arcole. In 1796, the French army defeated the Austrian army here. General Bonaparte held the military flag and led the team to charge. However, in the chaos, he was squeezed into the river and his adjutant died in the battle to cover him.

This is not what is shown in the painting. General Bonaparte's military talent is indeed difficult to match, but he is also a good propagandist. Everyone remembers that he rushed over with the military flag, but no one knows that the battle was actually very difficult.

Werosser knew that he was now on the other side again. As the chief of staff, he should have the most experience among the Austrians who were defeated by the Corsican general.

If the coalition forces could defeat the French at this time, they could also avenge the previous defeat. However, everyone wanted to defeat General Bonaparte on the battlefield, but no one had been able to achieve this record in the current battle.

Moreau was now using the terrain of Alcole. Unlike the French who attacked from west to east and could reach the open area after crossing the bridge here, the Russian army had to attack from the bridge from east to west because there was no place to choose a detour.

Previously, the Cossack cavalry tried to find a ford to cross the river upstream and downstream, but failed.

"Marshal, I think we can only launch an attack from the front at this time. There is only one pass in Arcole to the west, with Lake Como and forests on both sides, and the troops have no room for detours."

"That's true. Now there is no road, but the Russian soldiers can still walk over. I believe they can do it."

"If the French are determined to hold on and block the bridge with artillery, it may not be easy to fight."

"General Werosser, as the chief of staff, you have to analyze all the common sense things, and what we have to do on the battlefield may not necessarily be based on Frederick's military principles, but also some bold and unreasonable methods."

This task was handed over to Bagration by Suvorov. His temporary column was the Jager Regiment and the Combined Grenadiers Battalion, and there was Russian artillery protection behind them.

But for the French, they are now lacking artillery. In the previous battles, they lost more than 80 cannons for various reasons. Even if there are a few cannons here to block the bridge and suppress the artillery fire of the Russian army on the opposite bank, it may be more likely to defend the Arcole Bridge.

The current situation is not very good. After the artillery spoke, Bagration's column began to forcefully cross the river from Lake Como. The soldiers who first went there also tied rafts and paddled forward.

The frontal attack also suppressed the firepower of the French. Their scattered soldiers could still maintain shooting in trenches or bunkers, but the suppressive firepower of the artillery prevented the line infantry behind them from lining up, which would be a death sentence.

Bagration led his troops to cross the river quickly. The French army could not resist now, and abandoned the front position and retreated to the woods.

"Marshal, it looks like the French retreated from the same route three years ago."

You can hear that he was very excited in Verosa's tone.

After Bagration crossed the river, the United Grenadiers Battalion quickly controlled the bridge. This time the French army could not resist. In order to ensure that his fresh troops could continue to fight and not be stuck here, Moreau finally chose to retreat.

It was not a wise decision to stay in Arcole. Although he did not want to escape, he did his best to command when organizing the rear guard to fight and retreat.

As the Moscow Grenadiers also joined the battle, the French army withdrew from the battlefield comprehensively. Suvorov had a military advantage at this time, but his several regiments in Arcole could not be deployed, and the Austrian army, which accounted for the majority of the troops, was not here. In fact, he did not rush to pursue. The final decision was to use the Cossack cavalry to harass the retreating French army.

The final results were not many, and only more than 400 people were killed in total. The Russian army fought very bravely, but they also suffered more than 300 casualties. It is normal to have such a result in a forced crossing battle.

Except for a French light artillery on a fort that fired at full force for a while, the French resistance in this battle was not fierce. Moreau still had to ensure the existence of living forces. Before, the Austrian army had been wiped out by the French army for more than 17,000 people.

"If they don't retreat but show off their strength, the French will soon be wiped out here. Their commander is still very wise. With the current strength of the French army, it is not enough to defend such a long front."

Suvorov believes that the French approach is still correct. Except for a few light artillery on a fort where fierce fighting took place, most places did not experience fierce fighting.

After the last shooting, the French artillery abandoned the cannon and fled, which is different from the attitude of the Russian army.

In the case of the Russian army, the artillery has always been there when the people are there, and unless the cannon is broken, the artillery will not easily abandon the cannon.

However, this approach is still worth discussing in the future. After all, experienced artillery is actually more valuable than a single cannon!

The French finally ran away. Fires can be seen on the road to Milan. The Russian army is still crossing the river one after another. At the same time, the Austrian army is also preparing to cross the river downstream. They are all marching towards Milan.

However, there are still French troops. Because the positions of the divisions are different, if they all retreat now, there are still troops to serve as rear guards.

In this regard, Scherer arranged the Sérurier Division to serve as the rear guard, but because of the battle in Bergamo, the command center of the French army was currently cut off. If Moreau had not encountered many cavalrymen who escaped from there, he would not have known that the commander-in-chief of the Italian Corps actually gave up his head like this, and he might have become a prisoner of the Russians.

In this way, he had to take on the command responsibility and asked all divisions to move westward quickly. If they were slow to move, they might be caught and eliminated on the spot.

When the news reached Vienna, Franz II was not quite convinced. The Russian army had achieved such a great victory in a few days of pursuit, and annihilated thousands of French troops in large and small battles, while its own losses were very low.

So when the Holy Roman Emperor entertained Grand Duke Constantine who arrived in Vienna, because the Russian army had won victory after victory, it was difficult to "ask" Grand Duke Joseph why the blind date failed this time. At the same time, he hoped that the Russian army could continue to make progress, especially since the Guards and cavalry were entering the Veneto region through Italy, and the front troops had continued to march towards Milan after a short rest.

After the victory report from Vienna, the Russian military envoy went to St. Petersburg to report to the Tsar on the recent battle between the Russian army and the French army on the front line.

After hearing about the victory of the Russian army at the front, Grand Duke Constantine was eager to try. Although according to Suvorov's order, the regiments and battalions of the Guards did not need to move too fast and only needed to arrive in Milan on schedule, the Grand Duke still issued an order to follow the coalition's rear transportation line, first reach Brescia, which had become the rear, and then continue westward.