Wild North America 1846

Chapter 472 Imitation of others

two days later

early morning

Richard bid farewell to the tearful girl Emma and left alone on a horse he bought in the town, taking away the girl's infinite thoughts.

parting

He gave the vineyard owner and his wife a Vienna address and a jade pendant token, telling them;

If Emma has a son and a half, then follow the map and find Vienna, and someone will naturally make arrangements by then.

If not, then Emma will find a good man to marry in the future!

It may not be the best choice for an Austrian girl to enter the imperial harem, compete with so many concubines, and not have a son or a half by her side.

from beginning to end

The vineyard owner and his wife and Emma have always believed that Mr. Orban is an Austrian noble. It is common for nobles to have a romantic night outside. They have heard it a lot. Who among the nobles does not have a few illegitimate children?

A man rode alone and left the town. He looked back at the horse and saw that the quaint town shrouded in the morning light had not yet awakened, and it seemed like a dream.

No matter how beautiful this place is, it is just a stop on the journey of life. Richard galloped away, and his figure soon turned into a small black dot and disappeared in the morning light.

more than 5 hours later

The bright sunshine at the end of June shone on the vast fields, and the Prussian and Austrian armies faced each other in formation.

The sunlight shining on the shining swords and spines like a forest reflects a dazzling murderous aura, and the flags flutter in the wind. A battle of unprecedented scale is about to take place.

Richard was hiding in a tall tree tens of meters high on the hill. From here, he could clearly overlook the layout of the entire battlefield.

The bald eagle flying high in the sky clearly displayed everything within a radius of dozens of kilometers. By reading the memory of the bald eagle, he could see the situation on the battlefield like the palm of his hand, and he couldn't be more clear about it.

The battlefield in front of us was laid out in a "pin" shape. The Prussian Elbe Army and the First Army carried out a pincer-like encirclement of the Austrian left-wing corps from the southwest and north, with an aggressive momentum.

Among them, the Austrian left-wing corps, with about 120,000 men, formed more than 30 large hollow square arrays. Each hollow square array in the first row was equipped with an artillery battery.

Each artillery battery has 6 front-loading field artillery pieces, which are used to enhance the lethality against enemies in front of them.

This is a typical Napoleonic hollow formation. Each hollow formation is about 800 to 1,000 yards away from the adjacent hollow formation. Artillery and volleys can effectively support each other and implement double fire coverage on enemy troops entering it.

The Austrian Legion connected more than 30 hollow formations together and divided them into 4 rows from front to back.

The hollow formations of 1st platoon, 2nd platoon, 3rd platoon and 4th platoon are both independent combat units and can effectively coordinate with each other, thus forming an extremely resilient whole.

When attacking, one wave after another was built, and when retreating, the army was fortified step by step and blocked layer by layer. It was the proud work of Emperor Napoleon who led his army to conquer and defeat the Egyptian army, which was several times larger in number.

Egypt's 12,000 brave and capable Mamluk cavalry fell under Napoleon's hollow formation, suffering all casualties and withdrawing from the historical stage of war in the Middle East.

The Mamluk cavalry, which once defeated the 100,000 Mongolian army with 20,000 troops, suffered heavy losses with 5,000 casualties in one hour when facing Napoleon's expeditionary force.

Under the dense fire net composed of French muskets and artillery, the Mamluk cavalry who charged bravely fell in pieces. They were unable to approach the French position before being blown away by artillery fire or knocked down by bullets.

The few cavalrymen who rushed into the French positions were quickly killed by bayonets, leaving behind piles of corpses that dyed the desert red, performing the tragic song of the times for the weak.

Seeing the formation of the Austrian Imperial Army, Richard suddenly realized, but then a trace of doubt arose in his heart?

The hollow formation... is indeed good. As soon as it is arrayed out, the cavalry of the Kingdom of Prussia's army will be destroyed.

This kind of hollow formation is very powerful against cavalry. Regardless of whether it is the Mamluk cavalry of Egypt or the heavy cuirassiers of the Kingdom of Prussia, under the intensive firepower of platoon guns and artillery, there is almost no room for survival.

But here’s the thing;

This requires extremely high combat literacy of soldiers. They are invincible throughout the European continent. Most of the French professional soldiers who fight all year round have several or even more than ten years of military service. In the early 19th century, the Napoleonic era reached the peak of its military power and could skillfully use it.

Can the officers and soldiers of the Austrian Empire do this to inflict massive casualties on the enemy with a hollow formation?

Since the time of Napoleon in France, it has never been heard of any European country using a hollow formation to face the enemy in a large-scale battle.

It's not that it can't be done, but that the officers and soldiers' execution capabilities are far from enough.

Don't try to imitate others and make others laugh.

“Now it’s interesting!”

Richard said with a smile on his lips, then took out the kettle and corned beef jerky, found a comfortable position and lay down, enjoying the meal while sitting leisurely on the branches waiting to watch the big scene.

This is a battle of unprecedented scale with nearly 300,000 people. It will take a day or two to decide the winner.

on the outside

Richard can roughly guess the battle plan of the Kingdom of Prussia army, which is to use the simplest infantry to attack, to attack the enemy frontally round after round, and to continuously apply strong offensive pressure.

Until the first row of the hollow formations of the Austrian Army collapsed and escaped under the weight of the attack, the Prussian army continued to strengthen the frontal attack in an attempt to crush the hollow formations of the 2nd and 3rd rows until the final victory.

This seemingly rough and straightforward battle plan just matched the upright character of the Prussians; there were not so many tricks, just do it directly.

Germans are mostly rigid and straightforward in character, they don't know how to beat around the bush, and they just say what they have to say directly.

If there is a hidden meaning and half of the words are left out, the Germans will be confused and they will not be able to understand it at all.

The Germans have such a character, and this distinctive feature is also reflected in their command of operations in the military field;

No matter what formation you arrange, I am going to attack with great force, one wave after another, until I destroy everything and win.

"Woo..."

While he was teasing the bald eagle beside him, the shrill sound of the horn caught Richard's attention. He turned his head and looked in surprise. He found that the Prussian regiment's flag was fluttering in the distance, and the neat infantry queue had begun to launch an all-out attack.

Feeling refreshed.

This is an epic large-scale battle in Europe. How can we not be excited when it happens?

The Prussian Elbe Corps approached from the southwest, and the Prussian First Corps approached from the north. It was like two giant iron fists attacking the Austrian Army Corps in the center.

The Prussian cavalry divisions protected the two flanks and did not seem to take action without authorization when the time was not ripe.

General Moltke, Chief of Staff of the Prussian Army, was indeed a generational military genius. He could see at a glance the dangers of the hollow formation put up by the Austrian regiments. If you were not careful, you would be in trouble.

As expected

The infantry offensive formation formed by the Elbe River Corps and the First Corps is a long snake formation that has been almost worn out since the last century. Each infantry offensive formation has three rows, about 1,800 to 2,000 people, and a single row has about 600 people.

, almost the size of an infantry regiment.

The first wave attacked about 10 infantry regiments, and behind them there were the second and third waves of attacks, which repeatedly attacked the positions held by the Austrian Army.

This kind of bloody battle, which was almost close to hand-to-hand combat, was a feast of death and killing. Richard could not help but breathe heavily, and his eyes radiated with eager light.

(End of chapter)