Chapter 361 The cavalry artillery shows its power again
However, the Guards Corps was still in strict formation, firing rapidly in three rows, while the formation continued to move forward.
Under this powerful, machine-like, efficient and precise attack, the Hanoverian army's reluctant infantry line was finally cut into three parts.
On the one-kilometer-wide battlefield, every few minutes there would be a "piece" of Hanoverian soldiers, regardless of the officers' obstruction, throwing down their weapons and turning around and running away.
Soon, even the officers began to flee.
Before the infantry line behind the Guards Corps could press forward, they heard the sound of military drums changing. They immediately changed their formation and outflanked them from both sides.
Murat heard from a distance that the drumming on the enemy's side was messy and became intermittent, and he suddenly became excited - that meant there was a problem with the enemy's defense line.
Sure enough, the battalion commander's order came - the cavalry battalion lined up to pursue and defeat the enemy.
Murat pinched the horse's belly hard, waved excitedly and shouted: "Gentlemen, it's our turn!"
It is completely different from the scene that often appeared in later TV dramas in which the cavalry braved the fierce firepower of the enemy and plunged into the enemy formation to kill everyone. In the long history of human wars, the main tasks of cavalry are to harass, contain, cover and pursue. Use expensive cavalry to attack head-on, unless it is confirmed that the enemy is weak, or your own side is on the verge of defeat and has to fight desperately.
So Murat circled around the Hanoverians several times before, without even drawing his saber.
At this point, I finally have a chance to win the battle!
In the last battle, he was promoted to sergeant because he bravely broke through the enemy formation. If he can kill a few more enemy soldiers this time, he will be a lieutenant when he returns!
Soon, the red uniforms of Hanoverian soldiers could be seen in the distance. Murat's Arabian horse carried him like a buffalo into the red crowd...
On the north side of the village of Ogchenna, a cavalryman was reporting to Lacoste, the commander of the cavalry artillery battalion: "Two regiments of Hanoverian infantry have arrived 2 kilometers away on the northwest side."
Lacoste looked at his staff and smiled: "If they don't come again, I'm going to take a nap first."
The staff officer also smiled: "We have been waiting for more than 40 minutes. The Hanoverians are indeed slow enough."
Lacoste looked into the distance: "Order everyone to adjust their artillery positions and give the enemy a head-on attack! As long as they block the enemy's reinforcements for three hours, our cavalry will be able to destroy their artillery and baggage."
Yes, according to the deployment of the staff, half of the main cavalry force of the Guards Corps was rushing towards the Hanoverian rear column on the east side.
Soon, the cannons on the hills roared, and more than a dozen shells roared past the Hanoverian army's ranks. However, the distance was relatively long, and only two hit the target.
Even so, the Hanoverians were shocked. They quickly retreated several hundred meters and sent scouts to carefully confirm the position of the French artillery. Then they hurriedly organized a formation of skirmishers to prepare to attack the artillery position.
However, they immediately encountered an infantry line of French dragoons below the hills.
The footsteps of the skirmishers were blocked by the infantry line, and artillery shells continued to "swish" down overhead. The Hanoverians' first assault attempt immediately failed.
Lacoste held up his binoculars and watched with satisfaction as the enemy troops receded like a tide.
He has been holding on for more than an hour. According to the current rhythm, just procrastinate and 3 hours will pass.
At this moment, a communications soldier trotted up to him, raised his hat and saluted: "Battal Commander, Major Buwanaba has some tactical suggestions that I would like to report to you."
"Oh?" The artillery battalion commander knew that this young Corsican officer had a very flexible mind, so he nodded curiously, "Please tell me."
Half an hour later, the Hanoverians reorganized their queues. This time they formed an infantry line honestly, preparing to fight the French army head-on. However, the Hanoverian hussars in the distance suddenly issued a rapid warning sound.
Immediately, the Hanoverian commander saw in his telescope that a group of French cavalry... no, they were dragging cannons. They should be cavalry artillery. They rushed straight to their left wing and began to unload the cannons.
“Are these French guys crazy?!”
The corner of his eye twitched, and he immediately ordered to organize skirmishers to destroy the cannons - he only brought two regiments of infantry to reinforce the rear team, and did not have enough cavalry to deal with the cannons.
But before the Hanoverian skirmishers were ready, the French cannons had already fired more than a dozen volleys, harnessed their horses and rode off.
The Hanoverian commander almost broke his teeth as he roared and ordered the infantry line to launch a frontal attack. The warning whistle of the hussars came again from the right wing...
Southwest of the village of Ogochenna.
Joseph looked at the red soldiers on the roof of the farmhouse in the distance with his binoculars and couldn't help but frown.
The Hanoverians were very smart. They probably expected that they would not be able to compete head-on with the Guards, so they only lined up two sparse infantry lines on both sides of the village, and scattered nearly half of the soldiers in the village, trying to use street fighting. Delay the French army.
The Guards Corps had just annihilated the three Hanoverian regiments that were alone, and rushed towards Karl II's main force non-stop. At this time, their physical strength was extremely exhausted.
Under the circumstances, if we forcefully charge into this small village, we will probably pay a lot of casualties.
Berthier, who was on the side, apparently also discovered this problem, and came over and suggested: "Your Highness, maybe we should go around the west side of the village."
Joseph hesitated. He clearly remembered that he had seen on the map that there was a small river to the west of the village.
So the detour not only requires walking a few more kilometers, but also wastes a lot of time crossing the river.
In this way, Karl II is likely to gather his troops, turning the interspersed and divided battle into a head-on confrontation. Although a large part of the Hanoverian army had been eaten up by this time, and the artillery was lagging behind, there were still tens of thousands of troops left.
As for going around the east side of the village... Hanover's main force is on the northwest side. That would increase the distance by more than ten kilometers. It would be better to cross the river.
Just as Joseph and Berthier were weighing the pros and cons, they suddenly heard the faint sound of artillery coming from the north of the village of Ogchenna.
The two looked at each other with doubts on their faces.
Although it is possible that Hanover's main army carried some artillery - at this time, the artillery of most armies in Europe was still attached to the infantry, so there were some light artillery following the infantry and not in the rear of the unified transport - they fired in the north Who are you trying to blast? The Guards Corps is currently on the southwest side of the village.
"Your Highness, something is wrong." Berthier listened to the sound of cannons and said, "There are at least a dozen cannons. The enemy should not have so many cannons."
20 minutes later, several hussars came to answer his doubts:
"Report! The cavalry artillery battalion launched an attack on the enemy north of the village of Ogchenna!"
(End of chapter)