I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 331: Successive breakthroughs on the frontal battlefield

The Prussian cavalry also saw the French artillery trying to resist from a distance. They all showed ridicule and began to accelerate slowly from seventy or eighty steps away.

"Calm down! Don't shoot..."

Before Napoleon finished speaking, a soldier nervously pulled the trigger - they were all artillerymen. Although they were skilled in artillery shooting, they had no experience in fighting the enemy within 200 steps.

Others were affected and fired precious bullets. The sporadic shooting, combined with the long distance, failed to cause any damage to the Prussians.

Napoleon felt bitter in his heart, but he still encouraged his men loudly:

"Don't be afraid, hold on to the gun and point the bayonet at the person, not the horse!"

The Prussian cavalry rushed to about forty paces away. Seeing the bright bayonet array, they immediately moved skillfully to both sides and flew past the artillery defense line.

They don't need to fight these "infantry" desperately. They only need to rely on speed to pull back and forth a few times, and the French formation will be messed up. Then they can chase and kill them like rabbits.

Napoleon frowned and ordered to turn, but there were cavalry on both sides at this time, and he couldn't defend them all no matter how he turned.

"It's reinforcements!" the gunners of the Guards Corps shouted excitedly:

"Fortunately, I caught up. Are you okay?"

Napoleon's soldiers became even more excited, and loudly urged their cavalry to catch up and expand the victory.

The unprepared Prussian cavalry was scattered by the sudden appearance of the cavalry team before they were ready, and had to flee in all directions.

"We are saved!"

"Haha, you don't have to die now! Come on, teach those Prussian bastards a lesson!"

How could he come to save himself?
Kesoud reined in his horse not far from the artillery captain, turned over and got off the saddle, and waved:

Immediately, not far away, more than a hundred cavalrymen in gorgeous clothes and riding tall horses dropped their short-barreled guns, drew their sabers and attacked them.

The Prussians were obviously taken aback. They quickly abandoned the non-threatening artillery, circled to the left, and assembled the entire team in the open field.

Napoleon was a little surprised when he looked at the cavalry. He had heard the battalion commander mention before that the cavalry of the Guards Corps were on the east side to guard against the Prussian cavalry. How could they come to the rescue so quickly?

However, the cavalry team quickly turned back. When Napoleon saw the appearance of the leading officer, he couldn't help but be surprised - that was the captain of the Royal Guards of His Royal Highness the Dauphin, whom he had met during his last audience.

Napoleon reflexively raised his sword to slash the cavalryman in front, but heard a burst of gunfire from behind the Prussian cavalry, followed by the sound of intensive horse hooves.

His mind suddenly went blank. As an artillery officer, he was really not good at this.

"Thank God, you really heard my prayer!"

You can surrender!
Just as he was struggling in his heart, the Prussian cavalry had already lined up and rushed forward.

"Fight freely!" He waved his sword, preparing to fight with a Prussian cavalry, but suddenly he remembered that as a Corsican, there was no need to fight for the battle between France and Prussia!

Napoleon was startled, and then he realized that the other party was asking him, and he quickly raised his hat in salute:
"Ah, I'm fine! Thank you so much. By the way, shouldn't you be guarding His Highness the Crown Prince?"

Kesode said angrily:
"It's not because of your artillery battery. His Highness was worried that it would be dangerous for you to be so far away from the main force, so he asked me to come for reinforcements."

In fact, he was unwilling to rescue Napoleon before. After all, his duty was to protect the crown prince. However, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that if he did not go, he would ride on horseback to rescue Captain Buwanaba. In desperation, he had to lead the Guards to reinforce this small group of artillery.

Napoleon listened to the shouts of "Long live His Royal Highness the Crown Prince" from the gunners around him, and once again saluted Kesode seriously:
"Thank you, His Highness the Crown Prince, for saving our lives."

"You can tell him yourself." Kesoud gestured towards the rear of the French army, "Now I have to send you back first."

……

When Blücher noticed the eye-catching gap in his infantry line, he immediately broke into a cold sweat. The main forces of the two armies are already close at hand. If the French attack there at this time, their right wing will be gone.

He hurriedly mobilized four squadrons of dragoons to block the gap. Although the dragoons had a fancy name, they were actually a group of infantry, mounted infantry. They were able to use their horses to quickly reach their destination, then dismount and form array. It can also be used to repair gaps in the line array when you are in a hurry.

However, as soon as they arrived near their own infantry line, Blücher's worst fear happened.

The French attack column burst into the face of the line array, and the target was obviously that gap!
The formation of an infantry line is a very cumbersome matter. Although even children can form a line, standing in a straight line several kilometers long requires the constant coordination of a large number of officers and takes a lot of time to complete.

The training level of the Prussian infantry was obviously unable to quickly repair the gaps in the line array.

The five companies of the Guards received almost no attack - the Prussian soldiers who were supposed to be in front of them all leaned towards the small bushes on the edge of the battlefield, and there was no time to return.

So the five columns inserted themselves into the Prussian infantry line without changing their formation.

The latter immediately fell into chaos.

Most of the soldiers continued to move forward according to the previous decisive battle pace, while those near the gap hurriedly raised their guns to shoot at the French troops beside them, and the entire line formation gradually turned into a diagonal line.

A few minutes later, the drum beat of the Guards Corps appeared 50 steps away from them.

With a volley of thousands of percussion muskets, the Prussian infantry line immediately fell to seventy or eighty people. When the disorganized Prussians began to fight back, less than a third of the soldiers participated in the volley - the others were either fighting the attacking French army, or were too far away to enter the effective shooting range.

The infantrymen of the Guards Corps quickly reloaded their ammunition, and after advancing another 10 steps, fired a second salvo.

Berthier saw from a distance that the enemy's right wing had collapsed, and the protruding left wing was being pushed back by the Guards Corps. He immediately and decisively ordered the entire army to attack in hand-to-hand combat.

After the short horn sounded three times, the drummer immediately changed the drum beat and started beating the snare drum at the fastest beat.

Under the command of the officer, the soldiers of the Guards Corps held the rifle to the height of the waist and abdomen, with the bayonet pointing straight forward.

A few minutes later, the narrow infantry line rushed towards the Prussians with shouts. The latter had already been beaten into chaos by the previous volleys. At this time, they had no intention of engaging in battle. The officer took the lead and ran to the rear.

With soaring momentum, the Guards Corps directly crossed the Prussian infantry line, leaving only corpses on the ground and trembling surrender soldiers kneeling on the ground.

Before Blücher's order for the second infantry line to prepare to meet the enemy was given, the French column that was the first to break into the gap rushed to the Prussian second line of defense without any pause, and launched an extremely fast attack. The speed unfolds into a horizontal formation.

Then they fired a volley at the still confused Prussian soldiers.

Although there were only 500 of them, the Prussian soldiers heard the loud shouts from the front, and vaguely heard the officers say that the line array in front had been broken through. At this time, they just thought that this was the main force of the French army that had burst in front of them.

The sense of fear magnified the casualties infinitely. When 500 Guardsmen launched the second salvo, the right wing of the Prussian infantry line, which had not suffered many casualties, collapsed.

(End of this chapter)