Chapter 756 Attack! attack!
Outside the town of Mavernie, thousands of French soldiers formed several lines and stared at the town eagerly.
Seven or eight cannons have been pouring shells at the Austrian troops in the town since early morning.
Count Radeski was disturbed by the sound of the cannon, but he still checked the defense situation himself.
As the forward corps of the Prince of Coburg, he not only failed to capture Wavre, but was also wiped out by the sudden appearance of nearly half of his troops by the French army.
This town is the only place to stay on the north side of Wavre. If this place is lost again, the prince will most likely send him to a military court.
Fortunately, he still had nearly 6,000 soldiers in his hands, and after most of the day's reconnaissance, he had confirmed that the French army that attacked him should only be more than 6,000.
Although the performance of the French troops yesterday was extremely ferocious, he believed that with his full commitment to defense, it should be enough to delay the arrival of the main force of the Prince of Coburg tomorrow.
After Count Radesky encouraged the soldiers, he returned to the headquarters out of breath and ordered the messenger:
"Send someone to report the situation here to His Highness the Prince."
Since yesterday afternoon, this is the third time he has sent people to ask for help from the Prince of Coburg.
South of Brussels.
Town of Uccle.
The main force of the Austrian South Netherlands Front led by the Prince of Coburg is slowly marching south.
It is nearly 20 kilometers away from Wavre. If nothing else happens, they will arrive there at noon tomorrow.
The Prince of Coburg was riding on a horse, frowning and saying to Chief of Staff Carl von Lieberich:
"How could the French show up in Wavre so quickly? Did they fly here?"
Austria has ruled the Southern Netherlands for more than eighty years, and there are many Flemish people in Wallonia. It can be said that the eyes and ears are all over Wallonia.
So he was very sure that just 4 days ago, no French troops had entered the Wallonia area.
It took the French only three days to reach Wavre from the border of Lille.
That’s a journey of nearly 6 days under normal circumstances!
Leiberich said:
"Marshal, maybe that's just a French cavalry."
If it were pure cavalry without supplies, it would be understandable that they could achieve this marching speed.
The Prince of Coburg glanced at him: "General Radesky's report said that the French also brought artillery."
He waved his hand again: "It's because he didn't do his reconnaissance carefully enough and failed to detect the French army in advance. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been beaten so badly."
The chief of staff nodded: "Yes, Marshal. General Radesky has the advantage in strength."
While the two were talking, an officer came towards them and handed an urgent report to the attendant of the Prince of Coburg:
"Marshal, this was just sent by Count Radesky."
Prince Coburg glanced at the report and handed it to Leberich:
"The French are actually continuing to attack the Radeski Army."
The latter took the report and saw that it was basically Count Radeski's request for help. It was obvious that the French army had put great pressure on him.
He looked at the prince and said: "The French should want to capture the town of Maverne to expand the defense range of Wavre.
"Do you think we should send a cavalry battalion to support?"
Prince Coburg thought for a moment, shook his head and said:
"Cavalry alone is not enough." The French were obviously dazzled by yesterday's successful raid, so now we also have a good opportunity. ”
"You mean?"
"The French devoted all their forces to the siege of Mavergne, so the defenses of Wavre must now be very empty.
"We need to try to eliminate them near the town of Mafuni, so that we can easily get Wavre."
Based on the intelligence he had previously obtained, he knew that there were more than 20,000 French troops entering the Walloon area.
Obviously, only their forward troops have arrived in Wavre.
If these men held on to Wavre until their main force arrived, the Austrian army would face a difficult siege.
Even if the Austrian army has an absolute strength advantage, it is very likely that it will be blocked north of Wavre.
But now the French have rashly left Wavre to attack the Radeski Army. He must seize this golden opportunity!
The Prince of Coburg immediately ordered:
"Let General Gruber lead the Pierson Army, the Grenadier Battalion, and all the cavalry to the town of Maverne as quickly as possible. Then depending on the situation, surround the French army there, or directly capture Wavre."
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The Pearson Legion was the only unit in his army brought from Austria, and the Grenadier Battalion was even more elite. These were soldiers who could march at high speeds.
As a prince of Thuringia, his ability to reach the position of marshal in the Austrian army shows that he does have certain abilities in military command.
At this time, he decisively pressed all the elite troops forward.
Soon, more than 6,000 Austrian infantry and 4,000 cavalry began to break away from the large army and rushed south at an extremely fast speed.
The Prince of Coburg watched the assault force disappear from his sight, and then ordered Leberich:
"Order the entire army to speed up the march. We must reach Wavre before dark. If General Gruber is delayed by the French, we can launch an attack on Wavre tomorrow morning."
He held an army of 40,000 men. At this time, his mind was full of thinking about how to capture Wavre as soon as possible and how to march to Namur next, but he did not think about it at all. His opponent had no intention of defending from the beginning.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Gruber's raiding force had arrived 4 kilometers north of the town of Mafuni.
The main force of the Prince of Coburg has opened a distance of nearly 7 kilometers from them.
The Prince of Coburg kept whipping the horse under his crotch lightly with the whip, and the horse almost kept trotting. It can be predicted that after today's journey, it will have to rest for at least a week to regain its strength.
At this moment, a melodious trombone sound suddenly came from the west.
The Prince of Coburg immediately frowned, and before he could ask, a hussar galloped over and shouted nervously at him:
"The French! A large number of French troops were found on the west side, at least more than 10,000 people!"
Prince Coburg was stunned.
There are 6,000 French troops on Count Radeski's side, so where did these 10,000 people come from?
But at the moment, he had no time to think about this at all, and hurriedly shouted to Leiberich:
"Quick! Order the entire army to gather and shift into defensive formation!"
His order was passed down quickly, and the Austrian soldiers began to line up hurriedly, but for a while most of the officers did not know where the enemy troops were coming from.
The most terrible thing is that the Prince of Coburg previously asked the entire army to rush to Wavre as quickly as possible, which resulted in a very large distance between the highly trained legions and the under-trained legions.
At this time, the main force of the Austrian army looked down from the sky and saw a thin line that was 5 kilometers long.
And a French army was stabbing straight towards the waist of this thin line from 3 kilometers away.
(End of chapter)