Chapter 724 Siege of the City (please follow up!)
There is no doubt about the importance of formation to the cavalry. If the formation is neat and disorderly, it is like father beating son.
Dombrowski led the hussars like a hot knife cutting through butter, passing through the messy Cossack cavalry without any hindrance, and "cut" a large piece of the Russian cavalry.
Under the threat of sharp lances, the Cossacks began to flee in panic.
Upon seeing this, Dombrowski immediately ordered 300 rangers to pursue the largest group of Cossacks - once the cavalry collapsed, even if they were followed by two dogs, they could be driven around.
He himself gathered the hussars, pointed his saber at the infantry in the middle of the Russian army again, and shouted in a deep voice: "Penetrate them!"
The Russian army in the middle was exhausted under the pressure of the King's 3rd Division who was not afraid of death. However, relying on their numerical superiority and laying out a very thick infantry line, they were able to grit their teeth and keep firing at the Polish army.
However, the red hussars appeared.
The swaying soft wings behind them were like heavy hammers, hitting the hearts of the Russian infantry back and forth.
The Russian infantry on the left wing hurriedly adjusted their formation and pulled out a three-row horizontal plane facing east to resist the cavalry attack.
However, the training level of the Russian army was not high to begin with, and they were extremely tired after continuous rapid march. Until Dombrowski had rushed in front of them, the formation was still crooked.
The hussars put away their lances and drew their sabers.
The torrent of red rushed past the Russian infantry on the left wing, and the sabers were like paintbrushes, smearing large areas of bright red on the canvas of the battlefield.
Behind the Russian army, Kakhovsky quickly received the news that the Cossacks had been defeated, and his face turned pale.
He was very experienced, and without hesitation ordered the outflanking legions to withdraw immediately. At the same time, he sent the remaining two Royal Plonsk Cavalry squadrons, about 300 cavalry, to delay the Polish cavalry attack.
These two cavalry squadrons were originally used by him as guards, but seeing that the center army was in danger, he didn't care so much anymore.
Finally, when Dombrowski rushed towards the Russian defense line for the third time, he caught a rare gap.
More than a dozen wing cavalry quickly cut through the gap, and the teammates behind them immediately followed, tearing the Russian left wing into two pieces of varying sizes.
The panic caused by the collapse of the flank quickly spread to the entire infantry line.
The soldiers of Wang Ling's 3rd Division suddenly felt that the enemy's firepower continued to weaken, and immediately strengthened their offensive. On a small section on the east side, they even launched a hand-to-hand charge.
Dombrowski led his team to complete the penetration of the Russian left flank. In front of them, there was only one Russian infantry regiment, about 1,300 people, who rushed over in a hurry.
He looked at the tired hussars behind him, then turned to look at the vaguely visible Russian command post on the high ground in the distance. He hesitated for a moment, and finally sighed heavily.
The soldiers had little energy left and the horses were tired. It was unlikely that they could break through the infantry's defenses.
At this moment, the sound of a trombone came faintly from behind him. That was the signal to retreat.
Dombrowski shook his head. If he had 300 more cavalry, and if everyone had enough strength, perhaps the war would end today.
He turned his horse's head regretfully and ordered a retreat.
In the Polish army's temporary command post, Kosciuszko was relieved to see that his own troops had successfully evacuated the battlefield before the enemy could recover.
It was close to 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and with the chaos of the Russian army at this time, it was impossible to launch another attack.
Tomorrow is another day.
Two hours later, the staff reported the casualties to Kosciuszko.
His soldiers were very brave and defeated enemies three times their size, but at the same time they paid a great price.
The infantry suffered more than 1,300 casualties, the cavalry suffered 97 casualties, and 2 artillery were lost - he only brought 3 in total.
In other words, he only has more than 8,600 soldiers available for tomorrow's battle.
The casualties on the Russian side are unclear, but it is estimated that there are at least 26,000 people available. And Kachovsky will definitely not divide his troops to attack tomorrow, leaving himself a chance.
Kosciuszko frowned and looked at the map. After a while, he said to the herald:
"Order the entire army to move towards the Sargir River. The Pasbytsky Battalion is responsible for covering."
The Sargir River is just a mile east of Simferopol, but fortunately the winter in Crimea is relatively warm and it is still not frozen.
While Kosciuszko was fighting with the enemy, Shvehcicz also began to launch a fierce attack on the city of Bakhchisarai.
The city defense of Bakhchisarai was built by the Ottomans before. It looks quite gorgeous, but it is not strong.
In the early morning, the Russian troops defending the city saw thousands of Polish soldiers approaching from the east.
They didn't pay too much attention.
The Poles had attacked before with many times more troops than this, and they had easily held on.
However, the Russian army soon discovered that this time the Polish firepower was not sparse like before, but extremely fierce.
More than a thousand Polish soldiers approached the city in a skirmish formation 80 steps away, and continuously fired at the Russian infantry lines under the city.
The Russians were soon stunned by the intensive firepower, and relied on the cannons at the top of the city to barely stabilize the situation.
At this time, Shvehzic personally led the artillery battalion and dragged 5 cannons as close as 150 steps below the city before stopping.
For a cannon, this is almost a slap in the face.
The Russians were frightened and hurriedly aimed the cannons on the city here.
Shvihchits loudly ordered the soldiers to fix the gun mounts and carry ammunition.
A few minutes later, three Russian artillery shells landed not far away from them, making two deep craters, and then jumped back.
The Polish artillery also began to load ammunition.
The Russian commander Trunikov was so frightened by this life-threatening posture that he broke into a cold sweat and wanted to send infantry to drive away the artillery, but the intensive gunfire in his ears made him give up this idea.
Soon, the Polish cannons also roared.
Five cannonballs slammed against the city wall, causing rubble to fly everywhere.
In particular, there was a 24-pounder gun - that was moved from the Kursk Fortress - which left a large hole in the wall as deep as an adult's arm.
The Russian artillery also tried their best to increase the firepower of the counterattack.
The artillery shells fired from the top of the city were extremely powerful due to their falling momentum. Even if they landed on the ground five or six meters away from the Polish artillery, the rubble thrown out could seriously injure someone.
The two Polish artillerymen immediately groaned in pain and fell into a pool of blood.
Immediately two people ran up from behind and took over their work without saying a word.
The Polish artillery burst out flames again.
This time the 24-pounder gun directly blew away the upper part of the city wall, leaving a huge gap.
Only then did the Russian commander react, waved to the artillery and shouted:
"Idiot, change to grape bullets!"
(End of chapter)