Chapter 709 Commitment
What Bagration sent were elite royal cavalry, and their quality was far beyond that of the Cossacks.
However, Madalinsky and his soldiers firmly resisted the repeated attacks of the thousand cavalry with their bayonets. Even though there were constant casualties, they did not flinch at all.
It was not until most of the day that the Russian cavalry found that they could not attack the Polish infantry, so they planned to use the gap next to the river valley to bypass them.
However, two majestic wing cavalry squadrons immediately stopped them.
Subsequently, the Polish infantry cooperated with the flank attack and killed forty or fifty Russians on the spot.
The next day, the Russian cavalry, which had suffered a loss, suspended its attack.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, nearly a thousand Russian cavalry arrived from north of Bryansk.
It turns out that the Russian cavalry commander had sent someone to ask for reinforcements from Bagration the night before.
In fact, there are thousands of Russian infantry behind, on the road 8 versts away, that is, 8.5 kilometers away.
Before dusk fell, 2,000 Russian cavalry rushed towards the defense line commanded by Madalinsky again.
Since it was not equipped with artillery - Madalinsky knew that artillery was the hope of the main force to capture the Kursk Fortress, so he did not ask for artillery support - so the damage to the enemy cavalry was very limited, Poland People can only keep shrinking the defense line to make up for the gap caused by attrition.
Fortunately, it was cloudy today and the sun set at half past five, so the Russians had to retreat first.
In the Polish camp, a lieutenant reported to Madalinsky: "Colonel, we have killed 107 people and seriously injured 205 people."
Madalinsky nodded silently, He said to the adjutant: "Let everyone have a good rest. Tomorrow is another day."
There were only 1,000 soldiers left, and the Russians were gathering more and more. He didn't know if he could fulfill his promise to hold on for three days.
He grinned, maybe he could only wait until he went to hell before confessing to General Kosciuszko. Anyway, he had many people to confess to, and one more person would be nothing.
In the early morning of the next day, the Russian army did not waste any time and immediately launched a fierce attack on the Polish defense line.
Madalinsky personally held a flintlock gun and stood in the middle of the defense line.
At this time, there was nothing to command at all. He felt that instead of shouting "Hold on" to the soldiers all the time, it would be more useful to add a little more firepower.
The ground began to shake.
Madalinsky's ears were filled with shouts of "Ula", gunshots, snare drums, and his hands were mechanically loading and shooting...
Until the sun turned After passing directly above his head, he found that his arms were exhausted and couldn't help but curse a few words: "It's really damn, it's not as good as it was more than ten years ago."
He turned around to look at his own side. The defense line is now less than 200 meters wide.
Even many seriously injured soldiers were sitting on the ground, but they were still struggling to raise their guns and shoot at the enemy.
After an unknown amount of time, Madalinsky could no longer hold the gun and stood there breathing heavily. As a commander, he had indeed not conducted shooting training for a long time.
The hussars were also compressed into a very narrow area on both sides of the defense line. Many cavalry simply dismounted, picked up a flintlock rifle and joined the defense line.
The Russians had actually been able to bypass them and continue heading east, but they seemed to want to retaliate against their stubborn enemies and still gathered around them to launch fierce attacks.
Madalinsky glanced at the already setting sun, and shouted with all his strength: "Everyone, hold on!"
Suddenly, a Russian cavalry passed in front of him , without the threat of a bayonet, the cavalry's saber easily cut his neck open.
Madalinsky felt that the power was quickly leaving him. He glanced at the sun one last time and wanted to say to the soldiers, "There is still one hour at most," but he could not say anything.
The sky finally darkened.
The Russian soldiers looked at the mountains of Polish corpses under the light of torches, but they did not feel the joy of victory at all. Instead, a huge sense of fear surged in their hearts.
None of these Poles surrendered!
After the last hundred or so people were tightly surrounded, they actually launched a hand-to-hand charge towards the thousands of cavalry.
Russian soldiers are trying to avoid the thought that keeps coming up - if all Poles are like this, then do they have any hope of winning this war?
South of Bryansk.
On the edge of the Black Forest in Sivilia, Kosciuszko looked north and felt something blocked in his chest.
The Russians never caught up.
He knew that Madalinsky and his soldiers had fulfilled their promise.
Next, it’s time for you to fulfill your promise to your motherland.
……
Eastern suburbs of Minsk.
In a carriage escorted by nearly a hundred cavalry, Marshal Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov looked helplessly as he turned over information about the Polish garrison in Minsk.
He was originally "on vacation" in Smolensk, but unexpectedly he was suddenly sent to the front line by the Tsar.
These young people today are really hard to find a big use for. He was complaining in his heart, but his hand stopped, he turned forward a few pages, then turned back, and then handed the pile of documents to the officer sitting opposite: "General Tolmazov, this question is I’ll leave it up to you.”
The latter took the document, read it for a long time, and said in surprise: "Marshal, I don't quite understand what you mean."
Suvorov said lazily: "The composition of the Polish army."
"?"
"Well, the Velino Army, the Trakai Army, etc., and even the far away Drosichen Army have been incorporated, but there are no Courland troops."
Tolmasov He immediately frowned.
Courland is a principality in northeastern Poland, but it has little independence and is a vassal state of Lithuania. Poland was engaged in a national war, but they did not send troops. This was indeed unusual.
“You mean, the Kurland Army will make other moves?”
“Riga Port.” Suvorov said, “If I guess correctly, they will soon Attack there."
Riga is Russia's most important seaport in the Baltic Sea. If it is attacked, Russia will inevitably send troops to rescue it.
Tolmasov said: "The Polish defense line has been retreating, they should not divide their troops..."
Suvorov shook his head: "No, they are in Bryansk It has already been done once, and is approaching Moscow. I have reason to suspect that Riga will do the same."
< br>Tolmazov nodded hurriedly and said: "Yes, Marshal, I will send people to strengthen the defense of Riga."
At this moment, Kosinski is leading 4,000 soldiers in Kurdish Lan was anxiously waiting for logistical supplies—the place was so poor that more than half a month had passed, but he still could not gather the supplies needed by the army.
And Suvorov, the Russian god of war, had a flash of inspiration that directly disrupted the Polish army's northern strategy.
Not long after, the carriage stopped outside the Russian temporary command post.
Suvorov got out of the car and saw a group of generals about to gather around to salute. He immediately glared and shouted: "Who allowed you to waste time here? Immediately, launch an attack on the Polish defense line. ! ”
(End of this chapter)