Chapter 449: It’s easy to win
Standing on a high ground, Driessen saw that his infantry line suddenly collapsed before it had any contact with the enemy, and he immediately threw the telescope to the ground in anger.
"They are a disgrace to the Royal Guards!"
He then remembered that his grenadiers were still holding on, and hurriedly said to the herald: "Order Boer and Carruth's regiments to go up and reinforce the grenadiers!"
These two regiments were his reserves. In his opinion, the accident must have occurred due to improper command of the Fenn Corps. As long as the Grenadier Corps can stabilize the situation, it should be able to be delayed.
Soon, the Prussian reserves, which had just completed their entire team, began to move forward. Their previous position was about 200 steps behind the first infantry line, and it only took about ten minutes to fill the gap.
Another function of their second line formation is to block soldiers trying to escape after the front collapses.
In wars of this era, the lethality of weapons was actually very limited - a salvo of tens of thousands of flintlock muskets could often kill more than a hundred people - most of the time it was whose morale collapsed first and the soldiers fled the queue. , who will be defeated. So as long as the soldiers can continue to stand in their positions, there will still be fighting.
However, this time the soldiers who fled in front seemed extremely frightened. Faced with the bayonets of the reserve team, they still ran backwards regardless.
Many of them were still shouting something randomly:
"They can't be beaten to death..."
"Run quickly, those are devils!"
"Only God can kill them!"
This caused the soldiers in the reserve team to hesitate. It was not until the officer shot down several deserters and personally came to the front of the team to lead the advance that the situation was barely stabilized.
But before Boer's and Carruth's two regiments could make up for the gap in the front infantry line, the two grenadier regiments also began to collapse.
There is really no other way, the combat effectiveness of these police academy students of the Guards Corps is too strong. Regardless of the level of loading, shooting, formation, or morale, they were completely suppressed.
Especially this time with the protection of bulletproof inserts, the police academy students were extremely excited. They rushed to less than 20 steps in front of the Prussian and completely defeated the opponent with a volley.
In fact, at such a close distance, the bulletproof inserts could no longer provide effective protection, but the Prussians could no longer continue to fire salvos, and the damage caused by sporadic shooting was minimal.
Driesen took the staff's telescope and saw that his reserve team had not made much contact with the enemy, and then fled with the Grenadier Regiment.
He glanced at his pocket watch with a livid face. It took the French less than half an hour to defeat their temporary defense line.
He knew very well that his main force must still be in chaos. Under such circumstances, if he fought with the neatly formed French army, he would only be chased and beaten.
Driessen sighed helplessly. After the death of Frederick the Great, the training level of the Prussian army went from bad to worse. Unexpectedly, even the very elite Royal Guards became like this.
Hearing the sound of French gunfire getting closer and closer, he quickly turned his horse and retreated, then turned to the herald and said: "Order the August Army to return to Lignitz immediately. The other armies are in order. Retreat to the north and defend in steps."
The Auguste Legion was the unit originally responsible for cutting off the rear. It was farthest from the French army at this time and should have a chance to escape. The other troops can only delay for a while. If they are lucky, they may be able to escape some.
Yes, Driesen has decided to give up resistance. He suddenly remembered that two months ago he had told Crokov that Karl II was easily defeated by the French in Luxembourg. At that time, they both laughed at the Hanoverians as useless people.
Now it seems that maybe it is not that the Hanoverian army is too bad, but that the French are too strong...
After receiving the order to cover the echelon retreat, Colonel Duden immediately ordered the officers to drop all the baggage, and the soldiers assembled on the slope on the east side.
His troops are in the southernmost position, and they will definitely not be able to retreat if they want to. At the moment, they can only try to buy time for other legions.
However, not long after his order was issued, bursts of artillery fire were heard from the east side.
His heart suddenly tightened. Didn't General Driesen say that the main force of the French was in the southwest? What's going on with these cannons?
Duden's troops, which had not yet formed their formation, were bombarded in the face by artillery. They immediately fell into chaos and began to flee towards the Prussian troops further north in an attempt to find cover.
The cavalry artillerymen of the Guards Corps did not expect it to go so smoothly.
They had previously raided the Prussian forward, originally just to hold back the enemy so that the infantry could launch an attack on the Prussian flank.
Unexpectedly, the nearly 4,000 men of Brecht's Corps of the Prussian Army were bombarded by their 10 six-pounders for several rounds, and after being harassed by the hussars, they collapsed.
Originally, the commander of the cavalry artillery planned to go back and join the main force of the Guards Corps, but the major named Napoleon suggested continuing to approach the middle of the Prussian army and conduct a surprise attack in order to cope with the decisive battle of the infantry.
In the end, Napoleon persuaded his superiors. Under the cover of 400 hussars, the cavalry artillery used their own mobility to bypass the fleeing Brecht Army and reach the east of the main force of Driessen's Army first.
Then they discovered that the Prussians actually began to retreat.
Of course, the cavalry artillerymen were not polite to the enemy and immediately launched a bombardment.
When the main infantry force of the Guards Corps cleared out the Fenn Corps as quickly as possible, and when they rushed a few kilometers to the north without stopping, they did not encounter the main force of the Driesen Corps at all. In front of them were only some enemy corpses and some other weapons. Prussian soldiers who did not have time to escape.
Soon, several rangers who were left in charge of liaison reported to Berthier that the cavalry artillery had defeated the Prussian defense line and was cooperating with the hussars to pursue the enemy northward.
Berthier's eyelids jumped. There were less than 300 cavalry and artillerymen responsible for the harassment, plus 10 six-pound cannons, and 400 hussars responsible for cover. They were chasing nearly 20,000 Prussian troops all the way. Flee in defeat? !
He hurriedly discussed with several staff officers and ordered the main infantry force to go north to meet the enemy as quickly as possible, and at the same time sent a messenger to recall the cavalry artillery.
After all, the Prussian army was too numerous. If they reacted and launched a counterattack, the cavalry artillery would probably be annihilated.
An hour and a half later, Joseph also arrived at Drison's headquarters. The battlefield situation was still relatively chaotic. Berthier was worried about an accident, so he and his staff strongly begged him to stay farther back until it was confirmed that there would be an accident. After clearing out the enemy troops, he was allowed to come here.
"Your Highness, our forwards have been pursued to the village of Jaegerfer," Berthier reported to him, "and the enemy Brecht Army that fled towards Breslau has also been overtaken by the Ranger Battalion. ”
(End of chapter)