Chapter 757 This is a surprise
Nine kilometers south of the town of Uccles, French soldiers in white military uniforms are forming their team in an orderly manner.
Somewhat strangely, the clothes of the more than 4,000 soldiers on the northernmost side are light gray. The style is obviously the uniform of the Walloon police.
Yes, the "French army" that was threatening Count Radeski outside the town of Mavergne at this time was actually Walloon police officers who had changed into the uniforms of French soldiers.
They were unable to continue fighting after yesterday's defeat, but they could still do it by standing there in formation.
This is why Count Radeski will constantly report to the Prince of Coburg that the main force of the French army is ready to attack the town of Mafunni at any time.
Joseph used this method to hide more than 4,000 French soldiers.
Subsequently, he ordered the Royal Fourth Infantry Division to march overnight.
The Fourth Division finally arrived at Wavre at three o'clock in the morning - even with such a top unit in Europe, after a half-night march, thousands of people fell behind.
Early this morning, Joseph asked Lefebvre to lead the 13,000 soldiers who still had physical strength to quickly move north and launch an active attack on the troops of the Prince of Coburg.
In the view of the Prince of Coburg, the 6,000 French troops in the Wavre area were besieging Count Radeski. He should maintain a fierce offensive and occupy Wavre in one fell swoop.
And he never thought at all that he would suddenly be attacked by tens of thousands of French troops.
Lefebvre glanced over the faces of the tired-looking soldiers with dark circles under their eyes, and sighed in his heart.
These young men traveled 25 kilometers during the day yesterday and walked 8 kilometers overnight. They only slept for about 4 hours at night. This morning, they continued to walk 9 kilometers to get here. You can imagine the physical exertion.
He waved his riding crop, galloped past the soldiers, and shouted:
"Yes, I know everyone is very tired. Maybe it's a little difficult to even stand like this."
He turned sideways and pointed to the east with his riding crop: "But the enemy is also exhausted. In order to reinforce the Radesky Army, they have been marching in a hurry since this morning. At this time, the formation has become extremely messy.
"I want you to persevere and let those Austrians know what a real man is! Let them watch in horror how you use your iron will to crush them completely!"
He suddenly drew out his sword, raised it high above his head, and said proudly: "You are the Guards of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! You are the best soldiers in Europe! You will defeat everything!"
Yes, although it has been reorganized into the Fourth Royal Legion, the soldiers are proud of the "Regiment of Guards" and still call themselves this name in private.
At this time, when he heard "Regiment of Guards", the soldier immediately raised his head, excitement and enthusiasm replacing the original fatigue in his eyes.
Lefebvre turned his horse's head and rushed towards the Austrian army in the east: "In the name of the Crown Prince! Defeat them!"
Tens of thousands of soldiers immediately followed with a thunderous roar: "In the name of the Crown Prince!"
Their bodies seemed to have forgotten their fatigue, and they strode towards the Prince of Coburg to the beat of the drums.
Of course, this is also the result of their daily ultra-high-intensity physical training. Otherwise, no matter how much they are stimulated, it will still be useless if their bodies cannot hold up.
But the French New Army has to practice 5-kilometer weight-bearing running at every turn, so it can still "squeeze" some physical strength at this time.
In comparison, the Austrian soldiers only conducted a forced march of less than 10 kilometers this morning, and their physical strength was already exhausted.
The response of the Prince of Coburg was not untimely. As the French army rushed through the last 3 kilometers, he had gathered 5 infantry regiments and completed the formation on the west side.
Lefebvre had no choice. Brussels was surrounded by flat terrain, and 3 kilometers was the shortest distance without being discovered by the Austrian reconnaissance cavalry. In fact, if the Prince of Coburg hadn't been in a hurry, he would have at least kept a distance of more than 6 kilometers to avoid being discovered.
But considering the level of chaos caused by the Austrian army's rapid march, 3 kilometers is enough to hide!
The first to attack the Austrian army was not Lefebvre's cavalry or infantry, but the artillery.
Although Joseph did not bring any cavalry and artillery this time in order not to distract the offensive forces on the Rhine River, the marching speed of the Royal Infantry Battalion was not slow at all.
Ten 6-pounder guns began firing 500 steps away from the Austrian army. This is almost the maximum effective range of these guns.
However, at this time, there were Austrian soldiers running around everywhere in front. With the shooting level of the Royal Artillery Battalion, there was no need to worry about hits.
As the artillery shells passed by one after another, screams could be heard endlessly in the Austrian army. In addition to the more than 7,000 soldiers who had already completed the formation, the other soldiers who were still gathering towards the military flag were under the destruction of the artillery shells due to the lack of officer restraint. More confusion.
On the Prince of Coburg's side, most of the artillery was still at the rear of the team, and only three cannons could fight back at this time.
More than ten minutes later, 12 French infantry columns, under the cover of skirmishers, appeared in front of the Austrian infantry line and began to accelerate their charge.
"Stay where you are, don't move!"
The Austrian officers shouted desperately, but just the shooting of more than 600 French skirmishers caused their line formation to waver.
Immediately afterwards, the French columns came to a position about 100 paces away from the line, stopped, and began to form a horizontal formation.
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In just half a minute, several lines more than a hundred meters long appeared in front of the Austrian infantry line. At the same time, skirmishers tacitly filled in between the horizontal lines to fill the firepower gap.
"Advance!" Following the officer's order, a horizontal column of 6,000 French infantry followed the sound of military drums and pressed towards the opposite line array.
When the two sides were 60 steps apart, the Austrian army finally could no longer hold back and took the lead in launching a volley.
Thirty or forty French soldiers were hit by bullets, but under the protection of bulletproof inserts, less than 10 were actually injured.
The rhythm of the French army's snare drum also accelerated, and the line suddenly rushed forward for 12 steps. Only then, under the officer's order, did they raise their percussion guns at the same time.
"Aim——"
"Shooting——"
Dense firelight enveloped the entire line. Due to the closer distance and the higher level of French shooting, blood and flesh spattered on the Austrian line, and hundreds of people fell to the ground.
"Loading——"
In fact, there was no need for an officer's order at all. The French soldiers were almost driven by muscle memory to quickly perform actions such as setting up guns, charging, and hammering.
Due to their more proficient loading skills and the fact that there were fewer steps to load the flash cap gun, when the Austrian army finished loading and just raised the gun, the French army followed closely and aimed at them.
You know, they just took 12 extra steps!
The two sides fired shots one after another two or three seconds apart, and tens of thousands of lead bullets passed by each other.
Bulletproof inserts once again show great value.
More than 150 people in the Austrian army were shot and killed, while the French army only had about 40 casualties.
(End of chapter)