Chapter 723 The bloody battle in Crimea
Almost all the Russian soldiers thought that they had come all the way to Crimea this time to "torture food", so when the Poles suddenly struck their faces, they couldn't help but be a little confused.
"Aim——"
The Polish formation looked a bit messy due to the high-speed movement, but the soldiers raised their guns in a uniform manner, filled with an indomitable and murderous momentum.
The Russian army was obviously a little slower. I don't know whether it was affected by the momentum or the reason for the loss of physical strength caused by traveling for a long time.
"Shooting——"
The Polish officer stared with bloodshot eyes and shouted orders.
"For the motherland!" Nearly 5,000 Polish infantrymen burst into thunderous roars in unison, pulling the triggers at the same time, venting the hatred and anger in their chests towards the Russians on the opposite side with their flintlock guns.
The dense bullets swept through the Russian positions like a heavy rain, bringing up large pieces of flesh and blood, and screams suddenly broke out.
"Load -" the Polish officers' orders sounded again.
It took the Russian army a full ten seconds to react from the panic and began to counterattack with guns.
Due to the huge numerical advantage - Kachowski's center army had more than 8,000 people - the salvos, although sparse, still caused hundreds of Polish soldiers to fall in a pool of blood.
But the Poles seemed unable to see the casualties of their comrades at all. Even when blood splashed on their faces, they did not wipe it and just completed the loading actions silently.
They felt no sadness because they were ready to accompany their fallen comrades.
"7 steps forward!"
"Aim——"
When the Poles raised their flintlock rifles in unison again, the Russian soldiers could not help but feel waves of fear in their hearts.
Under the sunshine, they could already see the expressions of those Poles, cold and resolute, completely ready to fight for their lives.
"Launch——"
"For the motherland!" Accompanied by the shouts that resounded across the battlefield, firelight burst out, gunpowder smoke filled the air, and thousands of lead bullets instantly penetrated into the Russian army's formation.
Dozens of Russian soldiers wailed and fell over. It seemed that they couldn't stand the huge pressure of the Poles, and some actually began to retreat backwards.
Yes, just two rounds of salvos caused the Russian center army to waver!
At this moment, more than 400 Polish hussars wearing red military uniforms with majestic wings on their backs appeared on the east side of the battlefield. Behind them, there are 300 ordinary rangers, but at this time they are also holding their sabers high, and their momentum is not weaker than that of the winged cavalry.
Dombrowski personally rushed to the front, pointed the saber in his hand at the left wing of the Russian army, and shouted:
"Keep formation! Charge!"
The cavalry immediately shouted excitedly:
"Go!"
"Let the Russians know how powerful they are!"
"Aha, here we come!"
Dombrowski took advantage of the fact that the Russian flank had not yet completed the encirclement, and directly inserted himself through the gap inside the enemy's army.
Although this behavior is extremely risky - the encircling Russian infantry is likely to block their retreat - but if they can complete the penetration of the Russian army's center, it is possible to directly defeat the Kakhovsky Army.
As a famous veteran of the Russian army, Kachovsky was also shocked and broke into a cold sweat when he saw this desperate Polish cavalry through the telescope.
He immediately ordered the two Cossack cavalry battalions on standby behind the infantry to stop the Polish cavalry. After thinking about it, he still felt uneasy, so he drew an infantry regiment from the reserve army to fill the possible gap in the middle infantry line.
More than ten minutes later, nearly two thousand Cossack cavalry moved around to the left wing of the center army, hastily arranged their formation, and then rushed towards the Polish cavalry on the opposite side. Dombrowski immediately heard the rumble of horse hooves a mile away.
Without any fear, he signaled the soldiers to slow down and adjust to an arrow formation. Then he pointed his saber at the dust in front of him and roared:
"The motherland is watching us! Follow me to defeat the enemy!"
Hundreds of cavalrymen instantly burst into thunderous shouts:
"For the motherland!"
"Tear them apart!"
"Go!"
The red arrows formed by the hussars began to accelerate gradually, and the knights leaned down one after another, holding their lances under their armpits and pointing straight forward.
At first, the Cossack cavalry relied on their superiority in strength and tried to directly overwhelm the Poles, but at this time they discovered that the opposite side was like a red thunder, striking towards them.
The hundred or so cavalrymen at the front involuntarily slowed down. The officer did not rebuke them, but after a brief hesitation, he pulled the reins and shouted:
"These madmen! Quick, turn to the left and front! Cross the right side of the Poles!"
Yes, the common situation in movies where two teams of cavalry collide face to face will basically never happen.
Once the cavalry collides, the two sides will immediately become an "accident scene" where the rear team tramples on the front team, because the galloping cavalry behind cannot stop at all.
The result is bound to be that both teams of idiots are trampled to pieces by their own people.
Therefore, when cavalry faced each other head-on, both sides would choose to pass each other and take the opportunity to kill each other.
Of course, the party with less strong willpower will usually turn first, which will expose their waist and abdomen to the other party.
But this time, the Polish cavalry seemed to have no intention of turning at all. They directly increased their speed to the highest speed and smashed straight towards the Cossacks.
It wasn't until the two sides were no more than sixty or seventy steps apart that Dombrowski turned his horse's head slightly and galloped past the right side of the Cossack cavalry.
As the best elites in Poland, the hussars almost always failed when thrusting with lances - you know, lances are much more difficult to master than sabers, but in cavalry confrontations, they can also use their length to gain a huge advantage.
In the brief moment when the two sides passed each other, hundreds of Cossack cavalry screamed and were stabbed off their horses.
The main reason is that the hussars on the left cannot reach the enemy, otherwise the number would have to be doubled at least.
Even the Polish rangers following behind took advantage of the enemy's early turn and harvested more than a dozen kills.
After the two sides passed each other, Dombrowski ordered the team to reorganize, turned to look at the Cossacks in the southeast, showed a disdainful sneer, pointed at the middle of the Russian infantry, and shouted:
"Follow me and defeat them!"
The Cossack commander originally thought that the Polish cavalry would turn around and pursue him. After running nearly two kilometers, he realized that the Polish cavalry was heading straight for his own infantry. He was suddenly shocked. He had no time to regroup, so he hurriedly ordered to turn around to rescue the infantry in the middle.
However, when they completed the U-turn in a mess and before they could run faster, they were shocked to see the red cavalry formation in the distance drawing a graceful arc and galloping towards them from the front left.
The Cossack commander suddenly screamed in panic:
"Line up! Don't be chaotic, line up in narrow columns..."
However, although the Cossacks were brave, their military qualities were really not that good.
Coinciding with the sudden change, some people were rushing towards the infantry, some started to line up, and some were stunned in place.
Just a few minutes later, the red thunder struck down again.
(End of chapter)