Chapter 453: The oriole is behind
Marshal Lacy was suddenly confused. Didn’t all the French army go to La Tibor to reinforce Leo? Their Dauphin was still surrounded by enemies in Oberon, so where did these people come from?
Even more confused than him was the Prussian cavalry responsible for the pursuit.
They had been chasing the Austrian defeated army vigorously and did not conduct any reconnaissance in the vicinity - 15,000 troops were defeated with countless casualties. Who would have thought that the Austrian allied forces would ambush the army behind their own rear?
Yes, Joseph ambushed the Guards Corps behind the Austrian defense line.
After previously defeating Driesen, he immediately led his army back to the Austrian-controlled area of Lignitz. And in order not to be discovered by Lacy, the troops squatted in the barren mountains for several days. It was not until Lacy sent Davydov's more than 30,000 people out that he quietly returned and waited less than 15 meters southwest of the Austrian defense line. kilometers.
After the Prussians launched a general attack today, the Guards Corps also started moving at the same time.
The main force was divided into two parts. One part quickly penetrated to the north of the Prussian attack point and deployed a defensive formation based on the terrain. The number was about 4,000.
The other part, a total of 10,000 soldiers, maneuvered to the south of the Prussian offensive point. When the Austrian defense line collapsed, they first waited for the Austrian soldiers to "lure" the Prussians into their own hinterland, and then suddenly cut off the Prussian army's retreat from the side.
This is equivalent to using the 15,000 Austrian troops on the defense line as bait. And the decoy was definitely acted very realistically, because they were really defeated.
Of course, the basis for this tactic to be established is that Joseph believed that the Guards Corps could intercept an enemy several times his own with 14,000 troops and hold on for at least three days.
The Prussian hussars, who were excitedly chasing the Austrian rout, suddenly found that their flanks were attacked, and they immediately fell into chaos.
The cavalry in movies and TV dramas usually swarm up and kill the enemy, making them run away with their heads covered. But in fact, cavalry is an arm that pays more attention to formation than infantry.
When a large group of cavalry attacks, there are very strict requirements on the horizontal and vertical distance between the horses. If they are far apart, they will not be able to form a combined force. If they are close, they will interfere with each other. Even if one person falls, a large area will be knocked over.
Therefore, it is very difficult to train qualified cavalry. Just the ability to control distance requires several years of riding on horseback. Maintaining formation during a battle requires subconscious control, because the main focus must be on one's saber or lance.
This also resulted in the fact that wherever the cavalry formation's initial target was, it had no choice but to go there. If you want to change the target, you must first maneuver to a distant place to regroup and charge again. Otherwise, if the target is suddenly changed, problems will arise in the front-to-back spacing of the entire team and the aspect ratio of the formation. Of course, some elite cavalry units with extremely high training levels can switch targets freely, but after all, they are very few.
At the moment, the Prussian hussars' goal was to intercept and kill the Austrian troops, so they had no way to fight back against the sudden attack on the flanks.
Their commander reacted quickly and immediately ordered to break away from the pursuit of the Austrians and retreat far away in order to regroup and counterattack.
But the French cavalry ignored the Austrian soldiers at all - the entire front was very long, and this was just a section of it. There were still a large number of Austrian troops being chased by enemy cavalry in the east and west directions - they just stared at the Prussian cavalry and kept chasing. Step forward and kill them all before rushing to the next target.
Seeing a gap in the Prussian cavalry blockade, Marshal Lacy quickly ordered the officers beside him to collect the deserters.
Around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, thousands of Austrian soldiers had gathered around Marshal Lacy again, and a group of heroic French cavalry also happened to pass nearby. Led by a fat, curly-haired cavalry company commander, they headed towards They raised their knives in greeting.
After a while, Lacy's attendants had a brief exchange with the cavalry team and then returned and reported to him: "Marshal, they said they were from the 1st Regiment of the French Royal Guards and the 2nd Company of the 3rd Hussars Battalion, who came specifically to cover Our army retreated."
"Royal Guards Corps?" Lacy said in surprise, "The troops following the French Dauphin? Aren't they surrounded in Oberon?"
"The company commander said he didn't know about the siege. They fought with the Drison Army and then came here." Lacy: "???"
…
On the west side of the Austrian defense line, that is, the side controlled by Austria, a large number of Prussian soldiers were pouring in from the gap in the defense line. At the same time, two troops were attacking from the north and south to widen the gap.
Not far from the Austrian defense line, the rangers of the Guards Corps rushed over and shouted to the officers in the command post:
"Report, the Prussian infantry has arrived in the town of Wolfenst, and the forward number is about 11,000. The number of the enemy's main force is still being counted, but it should exceed 30,000."
Berthier nodded when he heard this and said to the staff officer beside him:
"The enemy is deep enough and the attack is ordered as originally planned."
The town of Wolfenst is located in the hinterland of the Austrian-controlled area, more than 6 kilometers away from the defense line of the confrontation between Prussia and Austria.
"Yes, General!"
Because this battle involves fighting more with less, the risk is very high, so the officers of the General Staff unanimously requested His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to stay far away from the battlefield, so this battle was commanded by Berthier. However, Joseph had already made detailed arrangements with his staff before, and basically no matter who commanded them.
Soon, the melodious trumpet sound representing the army's attack sounded, and Berthier looked at the assistant next to him: "Where is General Kellerman?"
"The news last night has passed the lower reaches of the Bull River."
According to Joseph's plan, Kellerman's 30,000 French troops were not intended to reinforce Leo from the beginning. When they arrived at Ratibor, they only fired a few symbolic shots. After receiving the order from the Crown Prince, they immediately rushed back to the front line of Lignitz. However, with the marching speed of this old-style army, it may take another three days to arrive.
Berthier then ordered: "Get in touch with Marshal Lacy and ask him to cooperate with us as much as possible to counterattack the enemy troops entering the west side of the defense line."
"Yes, General!"
At the gap in the Austrian defense line, General Maurice, the commander of the Saxon Army, was holding a telescope with a depressed look on his face.
The Prussians are chasing after Austria's defeated troops to gain military exploits, but they are here to eat the Austrian defense line.
Although the morale of the Austrian army has been depleted, there are still many heavy artillery on the defense line, which is definitely not a good thing.
When he saw his skirmisher battalion rushing up to a high ground and taking over the Austrian artillery position there, before he had time to be happy, he saw a neat infantry line suddenly appear behind the low hill.
(End of chapter)