Chapter 451 The Duke of Brunswick’s Opportunity
Two days later.
The main battlefield in Silesia, the Lignitz front.
Lieutenant Colonel Heine, commander of the Austrian infantry battalion, was lying leisurely on a soft chair, accompanied by the roar of cannons, looking sideways at his hound "Mast" biting tree roots aside.
In the past few months, Prussia and Austria have been huddled behind the defense line, firing at the opposite side with their eyes closed. They have long been accustomed to this sound.
Suddenly, the northwest side became quiet, and soon there was no movement from Lieutenant Colonel Heine's cannon.
Heine immediately frowned and stood up, and the hound next to him was also busy barking at the artillery position.
Before he could ask his attendants to inquire about the situation, a major officer hurried over and saluted him: "Batalion Commander, the gunpowder has not been delivered. Nearly half of the cannons in our battalion are short of gunpowder."
Heine has not paid much attention to matters in the camp recently, because there is nothing to take care of. He fires on time every morning and finishes work on time in the afternoon. He doesn’t care about what he can hit. He hurriedly asked in confusion: "Wasn’t it supposed to be shipped yesterday morning? ?"
"That's how it should be, but yesterday the baggage officer said we would definitely be able to arrive today, but look at this..."
Heine hurriedly mounted his horse and rushed to the tent of Lieutenant Colonel Marcus, who was in charge of his regiment's logistics.
When he arrived, the tent was already crowded with people. Lieutenant Colonel Marcus was sweating profusely and explained to the officer who questioned him: "The supplies shipped from Vienna were destroyed by the French Chief of General Staff Berthier last week." The general was on his way. He told the French army that a batch of ammunition would arrive yesterday afternoon. He was anxious to go to Ratibor to reinforce General Leo and wanted to exchange it with me.
"Unexpectedly, there has been no movement from the French until now..."
Of course, he would not say that he received 10,000 florins from Berthier, otherwise who would be willing to go through such trouble.
"But the shelling on the front line will stop!" Heine shouted anxiously.
This daily bombardment is indeed useless, but it is a symbol of the empire's brave fighting in Silesia, so it cannot be stopped casually.
"Everyone, wait a moment. I have sent people to the French camp to urge them." Lieutenant Colonel Marcus said with a bitter face, "Tomorrow, the ammunition will definitely arrive tomorrow. You can borrow some from other battalions for use first. "
Austria has a total of more than 200 cannons on the entire Lignitz front, and only the more than 30 cannons of 8 regiments are affected. Most of the surrounding cannons are still somewhat in reserve.
After sending away the officer who came to ask for ammunition, Marcus cursed with a black face: "Damn the French!" After thinking about it, he picked up his cane and rushed to the French camp in person.
…
In the Prussian headquarters.
A staff officer stood up straight and reported to the Duke of Brunswick: "Marshal, it has been confirmed that more than 30,000 people including the Austrian Davydov Corps have left Lignitz, probably heading towards Ratibor. "
The officer next to him immediately said: "In this case, we can safely deploy our troops to encircle Leo."
The Duke of Brunswick was about to nod, but suddenly thought of something, looked at another staff officer and said: "Did the Driesen Corps withdraw safely?"
"Yes, Lord Marshal. General August's troops have entered the station this morning, and the others are no more than two days away from here."
When the Duke of Brunswick heard this, he couldn't help but narrowed his eyes. The old guy Lacy did not hesitate to dispatch so many troops to Ratibor for Leo.
He made a quick calculation in his mind. Leo's army had more than 10,000 people, and Wilmser brought more than 10,000 people later. The French army sent 45,000 people twice, and this time Davydov took another 30,000 people...
There is also the Bavarian Army. In total, the Austrian Allied Forces have invested nearly 100,000 troops in Ratibor. Austria has less than 150,000 troops in the direction of Silesia. Together with the French and Bavarian armies, the total number is less than 190,000 and less than 200,000. In other words, only half of the Austrian troops on the Liegnitz line are currently defending.
On his side, the total number of troops sent to Ratibor was only 20,000, and there were also Saxon troops acting without permission. Driessen's 30,000 men unexpectedly encountered the French army and had already turned back.
Therefore, at present, I have about 100,000 domestic troops, 27,000 Hanoverian troops, and more than 20,000 Saxon troops, with a total strength of 150,000.
In other words, on the Lignitz front, he had more than 50% of the Austrian troops in a short period of time!
"It seems that Lacy made a serious mistake." A smile appeared on the Duke of Brunswick's lips, "He only focused on Ratibor and actually ignored that this is the main battlefield.
"Even if we fail in Ratibor, at most we will just lose Leo."
He suddenly clasped his hands in front of his chest and thought to himself: This must be the Lord's arrangement. Although Driessen suffered a defeat, he actually strengthened Lignitz's troops.
Thinking of this, he immediately made a decision and asked his attendants to summon all senior officers to come to his place for a meeting to discuss the operational deployment of launching a surprise attack on the frontal battlefield.
That afternoon, when the Duke of Brunswick had arranged the combat missions of each legion with great satisfaction, he suddenly noticed something strange around him.
He listened carefully, and then looked at the staff officer beside him with confusion: "It seems that the enemy's artillery sound is much quieter?"
Soon, an officer came to report that a long section of artillery on the west side of the Austrian defense line had stopped firing.
The Duke of Brunswick hurriedly looked at the map, which seemed to be the area that Davydov's army was responsible for defending.
And his troops were transferred to Ratibor by Lacy a few days ago.
There must be a problem in his defense zone because the commander left!
The Duke of Brunswick was immediately overjoyed. He clasped his hands again, raised his head and shouted loudly: "Thank you for the gift of the Lord! Now the damn Austrians are going to get out of Silesia!"
He turned his head and looked around at the officers, knocked Davydov's defense area with his cane, and said solemnly: "Everyone must complete combat preparations before tomorrow afternoon.
"We have to change our plan and launch a general attack from here!"
…
The next day.
Lieutenant Colonel Heine teased his pet dog casually and yawned leisurely, thinking that it was almost time for lunch.
The ammunition still hadn't arrived. Yesterday, he borrowed some ammunition from the regiment next to him so that the cannon could barely hold on for another day or two. At this time, although the sound of artillery on the position was much sparser than usual, he didn't pay much attention to it.
This monotonous life has gone by for a long time, and his alertness and sense of responsibility have been greatly weakened.
Quite suddenly, his hound stopped playing, stared blankly to the north, then wrinkled its nose and began to bare its teeth.
"Relax, old man." Heine patted its head and followed its line of sight. "Did you see a squirrel? Or a fox?"
But the next moment, he was also stunned, because he vaguely heard the sound of drums, a very dense snare drum.
(End of chapter)