Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 410 052 The Prussian Army that Looks Fierce but Actually Sends Its Head for Death (Part 2)

The troops under the command of Louis Ferdinand advanced slowly forward after crossing the Thuringian Mountains. The reason was simple. The speed of the Prussian baggage train, even if it was accompanied by the baggage of a division-level column, the food, ammunition and materials collected along the way would slow down the march of the troops.

So the prince had to lead a light cavalry unit to go ahead and conduct reconnaissance in the Fulda area.

But the situation seen along the way, from the time they arrived in Fulda, the locals opened the window and shouted "Go back" to them, which made Prince Louis Ferdinand feel highly alert.

"We should send a small team to the south to take a look, especially the area around the Fulda River."

As for the highlands, the prince planned to lead a cavalry squadron to take a look.

His vigilance came a little late. If he had sent out a forward post before reaching Fulda, he might have learned more intelligence.

When the Prussian cavalry squad at the forward post arrived at the bank of the Fulda River, they saw that there were already French hussars active here.

The same was true of what Louis Ferdinand himself saw with a telescope on the high ground.

"Fortunately, they are only hussars here, but we don't have to worry about them coming directly because of the Fulda River."

"But Your Highness, you should also pay attention to the fact that the French arrived here before us. Even if our infantry is right behind us, we need to be cautious when facing the French."

"Our commander-in-chief is too cautious. The main force of the French is probably farther away from here!"

Louis Ferdinand's estimate was correct. The large French force was indeed still lagging behind, but it would take some time to advance to Fulda.

So, he decided to advance his column quickly, and without waiting for any instructions from the Duke of Brunswick and Hohenlohe, he directly ordered the infantry column to speed up its march.

The Prussian army was closer, but their ammunition trucks were still on the road, and the bullets they carried were not enough to fight the French army.

In the past, the Prussian army often ran out of ammunition very quickly during the battle!

Louis Ferdinand's idea was nothing more than to seize the initiative, organize the possible actions of the French army on the north bank of the Fulda River, and use Fulda as the Prussian army's forward base.

It's just that he overestimated his own strength and underestimated the enemy.

On the south bank of the Fulda River, the 10th Hussar Regiment of the French Army also discovered the activities of the Prussians in black clothes on the north bank.

Lannes, who was leading his troops to Fulda, soon received a report from the Hussars.

So he decided to speed up the march of his troops and march towards Fulda.

It was just that the messenger encountered a small problem on the road. The road that the messenger went to the Suchet Division was more difficult to walk on, so he arrived a little slower.

The Gazan Division received the order obviously faster. The road they took did not become muddy due to the autumn rain. It can only be said that the German princes still cared about the roads in their own territories. In addition, this area was less ravaged by war in the past, so it was more convenient to move.

In this case, Gazan called all the brigade commanders and regiment commanders to discuss countermeasures.

"Now we should advance quickly to the Fulda River according to the order. The Prussian light cavalry has appeared on the north bank. According to their marching speed, the distance of the follow-up troops should not be very far. In this way, it is even more necessary to speed up the march."

"What do you say we should do, General? We suffered from the Russians and Austrians in Dürenstein. This time, the brothers are holding their breath and want to get it back from the Prussians."

"Then you will listen to my orders. The two light infantry regiments of the Grandorge Brigade will set off immediately and must arrive at dusk. Arriving along the Fulda River, the two regiments of the Campana Brigade set out afterwards, with the 12-pound guns and howitzers at the end of the team, and the 3-pound guns and 6-pound guns following the light infantry. "

"When we get there, if we encounter the French army, we won't suffer from the artillery, right?"

"The brothers of the Hussars are already active near Fulda, so we have to hurry up. If we go too late and let the Prussians occupy the high ground and the river bank, we will suffer!"

The officers on Gazan's side are all ready to fight in the subsequent battles.

Especially Gazan himself, who became a prisoner of the Allied forces in the Battle of Dürenstein. Because he commanded properly, His Majesty the Emperor did not punish him, and he was reinstated to command the Second Division of the Fifth Army again. Under this trust, he naturally worked harder.

This was a good opportunity. After receiving the order, the Gazan Division marched quickly. They marched very fast, using drums and military bands to encourage them along the way. Finally, they arrived at the south bank of the Fulda River one step ahead of Suchet Division.

At this time, Louis Ferdinand knew that speed was of the essence in the Prussian army on the north bank, but the marching speed of the Prussian army, plus the daily training subjects, delayed his plan to some extent.

When he saw the French troops wearing gray coats and blue uniforms approaching, the Prussian prince also felt something was wrong.

However, the French army arrived at the south bank of the Fulda River before nightfall. According to the information obtained from the light cavalry reconnaissance, the French army should have only one division of troops along the way, which was at most equal to his own strength.

But the French have always fought with light infantry and line infantry, which is not much different in tactics, so Louis Ferdinand also asked the infantry who had arrived to enter their respective positions in advance before resting at night.

There is no way, this is also a Prussian feature. As for night battles, the young prince is also very clear that it is not something that his vanguard, which is still mixed with the Saxon army, can do.

As for the intelligence of encountering the French army on the Fulda River, he also reported it to Prince Hohenlohe as soon as possible. After all, the old man is his direct leader, and he did not exceed his authority to report directly to the Duke of Brunswick.

But there were serious loopholes in the staff work of Prince Hohenlohe.

Although Colonel Mesenbach liked to argue with Scharnhorst, he immediately reported to the Duke of Brunswick after receiving the intelligence. However, his busy staff not only failed to mobilize the troops scattered around Weimar, but also failed to send a messenger officer to the Duke of Brunswick to convey this set of important intelligence.

At the same time, in the headquarters of the Duke of Brunswick, although Scharnhorst led a group of rookie staff, the work was in an orderly manner. Although these young officers had little experience, they still barely maintained the operation of the headquarters under the leadership of Lao Sha.

For the Duke of Brunswick, he was still very confident that Prince Louis Ferdinand could arrive in Fulda smoothly, but he was not clear about the movements of the French army. At the same time, the Hohenlohe Corps was still active in the east. His only worry was that this guy would make decisions and take some actions without authorization.

But sometimes it makes people feel that it is hard to guard against. Mesenbach's mind is running at a high speed, and these old staff officers who are slacking off below did not even pass on the intelligence.

A court attendant from the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar came from Weimar on Pegasus and reported that someone had discovered French military activities in the Jena area.

"Why is there no movement in Hohenlohe?"

"I think Mesenbach should arrange a messenger, Commander-in-Chief, you should also rest."

"I know, Gerhard, but there is no movement of the French in the Jena direction, and the Hohenlohe headquarters did not report the work. If something goes wrong at this time, it will threaten the safety of the entire army."

Even the Duke of Brunswick was a little worried. He pulled Prince Louis Ferdinand's advance division out of Hohenlohe's troops, and this command organization would definitely have problems.

In this case, he sent an adjutant and several light cavalrymen to the Prussian garrison in Fulda overnight that night.

At this time, Louis Ferdinand also realized his mistake, but compared with the chaos in Mesenbach's side, this was already a big mistake.

The Duke of Brunswick's adjutant came here to understand the situation. He was quite confident about this issue.

"Please rest assured, Commander-in-Chief. The French army we have detected so far is a division. There will be more troops coming later. We are confident that we can fight this battle in Fulda. I hope the Commander-in-Chief can send troops to provide support in time."

"Your Highness, I will convey your confidence to the Commander-in-Chief. But for now, please be careful in the battle. Chief of Staff Scharnhorst has received intelligence that the French are active in the direction of Jena. At this time, the entire army may change its action target, and then you will serve as the rear guard of the entire corps."

The rear guard battle has always been difficult to fight. No one questioned Bagration's promotion to lieutenant general. He was the vanguard in every battle when he won, and led the troops to the rear when he lost. Regardless of his qualifications, it is difficult to find his problems.

"Then please rest assured, Commander-in-Chief. As the advance troops, we will definitely ensure the safety of the rear of the main corps."

But we should also pay attention to how many French troops came the next day.

In fact, Louis Ferdinand's troops were not strong in combat effectiveness, because of the four battalions of the Saxon Army. At the same time, he also had five flintlock battalions and a chasseur battalion of the Prussian Army. Although there were Saxon troops in the 18 hussar squadrons, the combat effectiveness of these hussars in Germany was not bad.

In addition to the troops of Lannes' Fifth Army that had already arrived, he also had to face the Marchand Division and a Hussar Regiment of Ney's Sixth Army that ran into him from the small road on the east side.

However, the movements of this force were unknown to both the French and Prussian armies. Lannes was also observing the situation of the Prussian Army on the other side and was not in a hurry to attack.

After all, Napoleon's task for him was to delay the main force of the Prussian Army so that they could not return to Weimar in time.

Therefore, he and Ney were required to actively move closer to the Fulda River, but Augereau's Seventh Army was withdrawn, leaving only these two armies to advance the main force of the Prussian Army.

However, the Prussian army marched at a speed that meant that Prince Louis Ferdinand, who was the vanguard, arrived at the north bank of the Fulda River as expected. The two sides were facing each other across the river, and if they wanted to launch an attack, they had to be cautious.

Lannes thought about it and finally ordered Gazan to fire first and prepare to launch an offensive. At the same time, he ordered Suchet to launch an operation from the downstream to drive out the Prussian Muvrin Infantry Regiment that had crossed the river.

Fortunately, the Fulda River is not very wide, and there are shallows in some places. It is also the dry season now, so even if it rains, it will not bring too much water.

The good news is that this is not a cobblestone riverbed like the Trebbia River.

The bad news is that since this is a river where boats often travel on weekdays, the riverbed has been cleaned and is not very easy to walk on.

In this case, the infantry of the Gazan Division also needs to withstand the Prussian artillery fire when crossing the river to attack.

Fortunately, in order to march quickly, Gazan only put two 12-pound guns and two howitzers at the end of the team. Now there are still some 3-pound guns and 6-pound guns available, which can be concentrated to bombard the Prussian army on the opposite bank.

The artillery on the Prussian side is scattered in two brigades. Von Pellet, who is opposite Gazan, is a 64-year-old veteran who has been an infantryman for a long time. What about artillery?

His 6-pound guns are not enough to suppress the French army. On the contrary, one of his guns was damaged by a shell.

Although the battle of crossing the river by the Gazan Division was very difficult, the French soldiers have always been more proactive and fired back at the densely fired Prussian army on the opposite side while marching.

Of course, the Prussians arranged their infantry so densely that if the French solid bullets hit them, blood and flesh would fly everywhere and they would fall to the ground.

That is, the Prussian flintlock regiments in von Pellet's brigade were all Prussian flintlock regiments. These troops had some honor in the past, and they were well trained in daily life. They fired at a very high rate of fire and were able to hold on to the river bank for a while, so as not to be defeated as soon as they came up.

The battlefield was still in a relative balance at this time, but Prince Louis Ferdinand was also in trouble, as he had no support from the rear.

The Duke of Brunswick was obviously preparing to retreat, so his advance team actually became the rear guard.

The French army was also increasing, and their strength was greater than his.

When the easternmost French army appeared on the bank of the Fulda River, the young prince was still able to remain calm, but many soldiers and officers were already a little shaken.

In this situation, Louis Ferdinand had no choice but to place the flintlock regiment on the high ground and take a defensive position with the artillery on both sides.

He still had to resist. If he continued to fight like this on the Fulda River, the French army would rush over in half a day, and it was obvious that the mission would not be completed.

His choice was to fight and retreat, but whether the French would give him this opportunity and whether his soldiers had the ability to do so were all questions.