Xinshun 1730

Chapter 650 You Are Just a Pawn ([-])

These outstanding staff officers are the earliest group of old people, and they have strategic thinking.China's traditional military education was originally placed in the world at this time, teaching strategy first and learning tactics later.

Based on this, they saw the problems of both sides tactically.

Strategically, the future trend can also be predicted.

Since Frederick II didn't lose his army and commander, he didn't throw away the 9000-strong Prince of Dessau Army, and ran away with the main force, but chose to fight in adversity. This requires courage, but it also requires tactics.

According to Li Weigong's Art of War and Sun Tzu's thoughts on the transition of offense and defense, he can only choose to send his own cavalry to attack and switch to defense, so as to strive for the arrival of the main infantry.

Battlefield maneuvers rather than strategic maneuvers. Cavalry is always faster than infantry. The infantry needs to march for two hours for a distance of twenty miles, while the cavalry only needs four to ten minutes. This is the gap.It was also the only reinforcement available to Prussia at Chatusitz before seven o'clock.

As for the infantry, they should arrive at least from 09:30 to around ten o'clock.

If the cavalry is not sent first, the Austrian army with [-] cavalry and the overwhelmingly superior cavalry will eat up the Prussian army guarding Chatuchitz. The battle will start at seven o'clock, and it is likely that the battle will end before nine o'clock.

But at nine o'clock, it is absolutely impossible for the main infantry of the Prussian army to arrive for support.This is the Prussian army, not the iron army of later generations who can march a hundred and eighty miles a day and continue to fight.

Letting the cavalry send it can delay at least an hour or so, that is, the time when Chatusic was captured by the Austrian army, from nine o'clock to ten o'clock, and after ten o'clock.

Regardless of the difference of only one hour, let alone one hour on the battlefield, maybe even five minutes can definitely win or lose.

This is what Dashun's staff thinks, "There is still a possibility of winning tactically, as long as the Austrians keep making mistakes."

But in terms of strategy, this step is actually quenching thirst with poison.

The cavalry was sent away, and they had been suffering from the lack of cavalry before. Even if this battle was won, Prussia would stop here, and it would definitely not have the ability to organize another battle.

Give away almost all the cavalry property, the battlefield is still in the Central European plains, there are no cavalry, so the next battle will not be to give food to people?
And these staff officers are convinced that this is the "information" that Liu Yu in Amsterdam wants.

It's just that it's hard to say whether Prussia can win tactically.At least in the eyes of these few staff members, the chances of winning are slim.

At this time, the Prussian army, which was seriously disadvantaged, took the lead in launching an attack with cavalry.

The remaining infantry, relying on the small town of Chatusic, used the houses in the small town as shelters to build fortifications, completely giving up their tactical actions and defending with all their strength.

In the opinion of Dashun's staff, this state may not be wrong, but it also means that they can only rely on reinforcements to turn defense into offense.

Without the cooperation of artillery and the rapid follow-up of infantry, even if the cavalry broke through the gap, wouldn't the gap be blocked by the Austrians soon?At that time, the cavalry who charged, I am afraid that none of them will be able to come back. The cavalry who lost their impact will still want to shoot at the infantry who blocked the gap in the formation?
"If the Qingzhou Army, which was at its peak, with the best training and the highest proportion of officers, was the Austrian Army, how would this battle be fought?"

Thinking about this idea, in their view, it would be easy for Dashun's army to fight.

Excluding the difference in infantry tactics, the artillery thinking of the Dashun Army after the reform is definitely world-class. At least at this time, it should be the only country in the world that has established a system of artillery.

Of course, this kind of military reform is not the result of building a car behind closed doors, but continues and absorbs the battlefield experience of Europe over the years.

Before the Thirty Years War, the whole world was trying two ways for the age of firearms.

One is the route of field artillery and matchlock guns, relying on formation attacks and hand-to-hand cavalry to win the battle.

The other is the continuation of Ming and Shun, a line of naval heavy guns paired with matchlock guns and light large jet guns to strengthen the front-line firepower as much as possible.

Multi-barreled firecrackers, portable tiger squatting guns, big guns, small guns carried by two people, Swedish leather guns, and other wonderful designs are all products of the second route.

However, practice brings true knowledge, and the perennial wars in Europe prove that the second route is wrong.

But it was not until the War of Spanish Succession 30 or [-] years ago, when flintlock guns and bayonets were put into use, that these two tactical ideas were able to separate the winners and losers.Before, it could only be said that there was no winner. The Turks were also the second way of thinking, and the Persians were also the second way of thinking. Before the popularization of flintlock guns and bayonets, they were no worse than the first route.

It's just that bayonets and flintlocks have become popular.

Therefore, in terms of the first fork in the road, Dashun before the military reform definitely lagged behind.

However, with the military reform brought about by the Qingzhou Army's Western Expedition, Dashun detours overtaking, not only completely abandoned the old system, but also absorbed the experience of various countries, leading the world trend in the army tactical system.

From Gustav II of Sweden making the cannon portable and organizing the regiment cannon; then to the luxurious beast-head cannons of the Bourbon royal family purchased by Dashun from France; It was too slow to keep up with the infantry after the military reform, and the artillery system that abolished the four- and eight-pound guns and used six-pound guns was improved.None of this came out of thin air.

Ideas are continuous.

The luxurious Bourbon-style cannons with animal heads and tails that Liu Yu bought from France back then can only be regarded as advanced in terms of casting technology, but they are definitely not as coquettish as the French 74-gun battleship.

But the idea of ​​​​the French artillery system is absolutely leading.Including those heavy, expensive and luxurious animal head guns, it also continues the idea of ​​​​the French 74-gun battleship-to achieve a balance as much as possible in terms of firepower and maneuverability.

The idea of ​​this artillery system is absolutely correct, but due to reasons such as technology, finishing, casting technology, and infantry tactics, the artillery system of the Bourbon dynasty is somewhat outdated.

Inflexible line infantry, not moving fast.

Therefore, the heavy eight-pound gun, regardless of rapid deployment, is also sufficient to provide support for infantry.

However, the revised infantry tactics of the Dashun Army, especially the idea of ​​fighting north of the Altai Mountains in Junggar, emphasized the mobility of infantry, relying on rapid formation changes, column marching and steering, etc., to open up gaps.

This requires lighter artillery that can keep up with the Dashun infantry whose battlefield mobility is the first element.

The four-pound gun is light enough, but its power is too small to tear the gap at all.

The eight-pound gun was powerful enough, but it was too heavy and unable to keep up with the speed of the Dashun infantry.

At the same time, along with Liu Yu's investment in the early technology tree of steam engines regardless of cost, casting, iron smelting, boring machine processing and other processes have continued to improve, but the degree of progress cannot make the eight-pound cannon less powerful and light. The ground can quickly spread out and follow the infantry.

Therefore, Dashun's artillery system logically adopts mobility and firepower to achieve a perfect balance under the existing technical conditions; the six-pounder field gun and the twelve-pounder field gun are perfectly suitable for the existing infantry tactics.

This idea is still a continuation of Liu Yu's idea of ​​buying those French animal head guns, but because of the infantry tactical system and technological progress, the old idea is implemented under new conditions.

It seems to be just a change in the artillery system, but it is actually a manifestation of one direction of the change in the entire army tactical system behind it.

Since Dashun's artillery system has been determined, the staff must understand the advantages of the new artillery system, otherwise why waste time, effort and money to reform the old system?
It was precisely because of countless discussions that Dashun's staff was quite disdainful of the Prussian and Austrian troops on the battlefield... at least in terms of artillery.

On Dashun's side, after the military reform, all the battles they fought had an artillery advantage.On the one hand, before the military reform of the flintlock bayonet, Dashun’s front-line projectile firepower was insufficient, and it could only rely on various cannons to make up for the inertia formed; The losses of the traitor artillery team are deeply impressive after suffering losses, and they attach great importance to artillery.

From the perspective of Dashun's staff, the artillery of the Prussian and Austrian armies was obviously not quite right, and the ratio of artillery was really a little bit low.

Moreover, the use of artillery is also a negative teaching material for the daily lectures and nightly questions after the new artillery system of Dashun was put on the agenda.

Frederick II was commanding the battle, and Dashun's staff officers were observing the situation on the battlefield from a high place, fulfilling their obligations as members of the military observation group, so that "the stones from other mountains can be used to attack jade."

But seeing now, I still haven't seen any place where I can attack jade.

At around eight o'clock, the battle had been going on for more than an hour. Just as the staff officers on Dashun's side had imagined, the Prussian cavalry who took the initiative to attack collapsed.

The Austrian cavalry is superior to the Prussian cavalry in terms of technology and numbers, and the artillery on the Prussian side is not as light as Dashun's field artillery that maneuvers with the cavalry, so it cannot provide effective fire support.

Although it collapsed, the tactical purpose has been achieved.

During the period when the cavalry was sent out, the Austrian commander did not seize the opportunity to attack the central army, but waited until the cavalry battle on the two wings was over before he began to prepare for a large-scale attack.

For about an hour and a half, the infantrymen of the Austrian army were basically dead and motionless.

Dashun's staff officers probably understood that the Austrian army still had rigid line formation tactics and could not do the rapid formation changes and column marching turns like the Qingzhou army, so there was a huge problem with the coordination of infantry and cavalry.

Especially the Prussian cavalry on the right wing of Austria, according to the experience of the Dashun staff in the battle at the northern foot of the Altai Mountains, it is absolutely possible to use infantry and cavalry to eat up all the Prussian left wing cavalry groups.

But the movement speed of the Austrian infantry in the binoculars was simply touching, and just like that, the Prussian cavalry, which seemed to be wiped out by the Dashun staff, ran out...

And the next scene left these Dashun's staff members dumbfounded.

At this time, the Austrian army had already defeated the cavalry on the left and right wings of Prussia, and the flanks were completely controlled by Austria.

However, Austria did not strengthen its attack on the flanks. Instead, it transferred a large number of infantry to the center line to attack Chatusitz.

Leaving aside the line of troops, it turned out to be an even arrangement visible to the naked eye, completely a line of almost the same thickness.

The field artillery was distributed to various squadrons as infantry support artillery, each firing, bombarding the Prussian front in the small town of Chatusitz.

The flamboyantly dressed grenadiers were all dismantled into small squads, and followed the various infantry squadrons to attack, blooming everywhere on the long front.

On the northwest side of the town, that is, the left wing of the Austrian army and the right wing of the Prussian army, there is a not-so-high highland. A hill that threatened the side of the Prussian army's central army and could completely control the situation on the battlefield.

On the contrary, the originally spread front continued to squeeze towards the center and the front of Chatusic Township.

The staff officer leading the team put down the binoculars and couldn't help cursing.

"My mother! The commander of the Austrian side should be shot. Grenadiers and field artillery are used in this way? Scattered to various infantry squadrons? Instead of gathering together to make the sharpest dagger, Directly attacking the hills in the northwest? This tactical system and exhibition ideas are completely different from Jinghou's method of concentrating on one side and making a breakthrough."

(End of this chapter)