The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1277 Real Madrid vs Barcelona (Part )
In fact, Benedek's worries were correct. The two-pronged attack strategy was indeed very risky. Not to mention the risks of the circumvention itself, even if the circumvention was successful at this time.

After discovering that their retreat was cut off, Gordon's troops were no longer panicked. The desperate situation of fighting with their backs to the river gave them the courage to continue fighting.

Gordon has 20,000 men under his command. If a fight to the death really breaks out, the Austrian Empire may not gain any advantage. At least the price it pays will be much greater than expected.

According to Gabrentz's experience, as long as he goes around the opponent's side and launches a surprise attack, the opponent will fall into chaos.

But things were a little different at this time. Due to the special terrain of Spain, the Austrian Empire sent almost no cavalry to Spain.

The cavalry recruited from Spain were mostly poorly trained, and the horses they rode were not suitable for raids.

The effect of an infantry assault is much worse, or even impossible to carry out at this time.

When faced with a difficult opponent or an army that remained calm in the face of danger, the Austrian Empire's army would usually consider using rockets to open up the situation.

However, the Spanish recruits on the opposite side were not from primitive tribes or a well-disciplined army. These people had rich experience in guerrilla warfare and began looking for cover as soon as they found themselves being attacked from both sides.

When a barrage of rockets was launched, dirt and rubble flew everywhere, the earth shook, people shouted and horses neighed, and the battlefield was filled with smoke, which looked very spectacular.

However, when the Barcelona Legion led by Gabrenz advanced forward, it was defeated by cold guns fired from all directions.

Gordon's prediction was correct, the situation of the Barcelona team was not much better than his.

Since they are new soldiers recruited temporarily, in order to enhance the soldiers' organization, discipline, obedience, and collective consciousness in a short period of time, as well as to improve the mental outlook of the soldiers and even the army.

Franz adopted a drill training similar to that of the Prussians. After all, shooting skills and fighting skills cannot be trained in a few days or weeks.

Of course, with the exception of a few geniuses, it only takes a few weeks for soldiers to master basic shooting skills, but it usually takes months or even years to develop good shooting skills.

The so-called basic shooting skill in this era is just to shoot the bullets. Anyway, there are people on the opposite side, so you can always hit one or two.

Coupled with the rapid march along the way, some of the grassroots organizations have been in disarray. Fortunately, the morale of the soldiers of the Barcelona Legion was high, but unfortunately, the line infantry tactics were outdated.

It's okay to deal with the landlords and nobles' armed forces at ordinary times, but once you encounter an enemy with a strong will to fight, you will become a complete target.

The soldiers were in high spirits, but that didn't mean they were not afraid of death. The Spanish were somewhat disgusted with the line infantry tactics, after all, that was what the French used when they invaded the Iberian Peninsula.

And it was they who drove the French, who were marching in formation, out of Spain, and the Austrian army did not use line infantry tactics.

This made them even more suspicious of the correctness of this tactic, and the unfavorable situation quickly turned suspicion into fear. As a result, a defeat was inevitable.

The fight and retreat turned into a mad dash for safety.

Gabrentz's choice was problematic. Elite troops should have been used to attack the rear, but the high-spirited recruits were more suitable for defending the city.

But he failed to completely convince Benedek, so he had to take a step back and use the newly formed Barcelona team.

New recruits are new recruits. When the signs of defeat just appeared, Gabrentz started to remedy the situation. However, he was still a step too late. The situation had already been decided and he had no choice but to withdraw his troops.

At this time, Gelton instinctively sensed an opportunity to turn defeat into victory. As long as he could chase these fleeing soldiers all the way, he might be able to fight his way out. "Charge! Everyone, charge! The Austrians are finished!"

Gordon yelled at the top of his lungs.

However, the battlefield was too large and too chaotic, and his orders could not be accurately delivered to every corner of the battlefield.

A small number of people launched the charge, while most people remained hiding behind the bunkers and congratulated themselves for repelling the Austrians' first round of attacks.

As a result, these soldiers who followed the order to charge became isolated and deep in the enemy's territory. As the saying goes, the first tree to stick its head out gets shot, and they soon suffered heavy casualties under the special care of the Barcelona Legion and had to retreat.

In addition, some Spanish government soldiers launched a charge in the wrong direction, rushing towards the city of Barcelona, ​​which was guarded by the elite troops of the Austrian Empire.

The result was predictable. The gap between the two sides was too big, and the battlefield was completely one-sided. However, this charge disrupted Benedek's deployment, making him think that the enemy might be luring him to pursue.

Benedek, who was cautious by nature, gave up the strategy of continuing to attack from both sides with Gabrenz, and instead chose to hold on and wait for the enemy to collapse.

After all, a trapped beast's fight is the most dangerous. He would definitely not be willing to let the Austrian Empire's elite troops be exchanged with the Spanish militia. Therefore, in Benedek's eyes, a strong attack is not a wise move now.

According to his thinking, the Spanish government forces' retreat had been cut off anyway, and their will to resist would naturally collapse if they could just spend a few more days.

So Benedek asked the messenger to fire a signal flare to notify Gabrenz to stay in place and cooperate with the operation.

Gabrentz was very annoyed at this time. If it weren't for the opponent's ineffective command system and weak fighting will, the small-scale rout just now would have very likely turned into an unstoppable defeat.

Not only did Benedek fail to cooperate with him in implementing the two-pronged strategy, but now he wanted him to stay where he was and wait for the enemy to collapse. Gabrentz really wanted to give this coward a good beating.

However, he also knew that he had underestimated the Spaniards before, and he was not sure that he could wipe out the Spanish army in front of him in one fell swoop.

As for the Spanish government forces, they found that the Austrian troops on both sides had stopped attacking and turned to harassment with long-range firepower. Gordon breathed a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that the Austrians would rush over regardless.

Then he wouldn't even have the chance to gather his troops. However, the situation of the Spanish government army was not optimistic at this time. A large number of low-level officers were killed in the previous battle, and now the army's organization was very chaotic. Gordon was sure that as soon as night fell, this army would collapse.

But Gordon didn't care, because he also planned to escape under the cover of night.

Honestly speaking, Gordon had never thought about leading these 20,000 men to turn defeat into victory or to hold out and wait for reinforcements to attack the center.

The campaign was designed for surprise, so the moment the Austrians spotted them, the campaign was lost.

The Austrian Empire's military strength and firepower far exceeded the size of the Spanish government's military intelligence, and in addition, the Austrians seemed to be well prepared.

Gordon even suspected that there were spies within the Spanish government army. Otherwise, how could he be surrounded as soon as he came out after marching secretly in the mountains?

Moreover, intelligence said that rebels were everywhere in the occupied areas of the Austrian Empire. Even if the Austrians knew in advance that they were going to launch a surprise attack, they would not be able to mobilize so many troops.

Unless they want to give up all their efforts.