Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 419 061 The sleepy Marshal Kamensky

Osterman-Tolstoy did fight a hard battle with Davout in the night battle. With both sides losing nearly a thousand people, the Russian side took the initiative to withdraw from the battlefield.

Although the count's ability to command troops may have an upper limit, he did a very good job at the level of division commander.

After the large army escaped from danger, he also paid attention to the weather conditions during the march.

What's more annoying is that it was rainy and snowy yesterday, but today the sky is clear and you can even send a group of signals.

Of course, Osterman-Tolstoy was lucky and happened to catch up with Stroganov passing by nearby.

The most handsome noble in Petersburg was leading two squadrons of the Mariupol Hussar Regiment on the way to transfer. They attacked the French transport team the night before and got a lot of supplies, which was a trick on Davout.

In the absence of supplies, even this "Iron Marshal" would slow down the pursuit.

After all, in order to capture the Russian 2nd Division, the Third Army had already marched hard and fought a fierce night battle, so they had to take a temporary rest in Charnovo, which they had just captured.

However, the three division commanders, Morand, Friant and Gudin, were still full of energy. They were all waiting for the supplies to catch up. Even if some of them were taken away by the Russians, they still needed to be replenished.

Then Count Stroganov was so hated.

Although he was handsome, he was also very ruthless and did things quite decisively. After seizing some supplies, he used Molotov cocktails to ignite and destroy those that could not be taken away.

As expected of someone who had been in the Jacobin Club, he was so decisive when doing things.

However, this only destroyed part of the supplies that Friant's division was supposed to obtain. The troops under Davout were still relatively united and would not make such jokes of snatching supplies from each other.

Because Friant often helped his brothers before, Morand gave him some supplies this time, and finally maintained the minimum supply.

But the people they wanted to curse and retaliate against were now on their way back.

Count Stroganov saw Osterman-Tolstoy's message clearly, so after the communication officer responded, he personally led the team to the headquarters of Wittgenstein's army.

On the way, he also met with a squadron of the Polish Ulan Lancers Regiment. Stroganov still had some impression of this old neighbor.

They traveled together to find a suitable place to send a signal.

You know, the most annoying thing about the terrain in northern Poland is that there are too many woods and swamps. Even if they are frozen in winter, they are not very solid now.

So the choice of road is also very troublesome. He decided to choose one of the young officers around him to go to a high place to send a signal.

According to the marks on the map, the location of the Russian headquarters can be found quickly from the top of the nearby mountain.

He didn't know that Kamensky, Langeron and Wittgenstein had all gone to Pultusk, but he asked this group of communication officers to send the message according to the approximate direction.

At the same time, in order to ensure the accurate delivery of intelligence, young officers who volunteered to go were also needed.

At this time, he did not expect that the person who stood up was "Sokolov", the woman dressed as a man, Durova.

"Lieutenant, this is a dangerous job."

Although Stroganov only slept with his wife, he had been in the social scene for a long time. Even if he did not notice it at first, because the Mariupol Regiment and the Polish Regiment were neighbors, he could still see this "young man" often and could always detect something strange.

As a married man in St. Petersburg with the best reputation and respect for everyone around him, he also kindly raised a little "small difficulty".

But Durova herself didn't care: "Colonel, you need a courier to convey information to the commander-in-chief. I happened to run this road twice and I am very familiar with it."

"No, you are too young. I still need an experienced officer, not just courage."

Speaking like this, let alone Durova, a strange person who is a woman dressed as a man and is competitive, if it were a real young officer or a young soldier, their competitive spirit would also be stimulated.

Maybe, this is a characteristic of Russians.

"I think you need a suitable courier, I emphasize it again, and you also said that you need a volunteer."

Seeing that the tomboy insisted again and again, Stroganov had to agree.

"Okay, young man, be careful on the road. Even if you are familiar with this road, you may run into French guys."

For the safety of the young man and to complete the task, Stroganov handed over the two revolvers on his belt to Durova.

"You can use this new cavalry pistol, right?"

"Before I fought with that colonel on horseback, I saw him use this gun on the shooting range."

Seeing her confidence, Count Stroganov was relieved and expected her to complete the task.

Even a real good man might not have her courage.

"Okay, you have to pay attention to the movements of our army along the way. When you find out where the headquarters is, hurry over and convey the news that the 2nd Division has escaped danger to the commander-in-chief. The colonel is the director of operations there. If you can't find anyone, go to him."

This was very convenient, and then Durova set off with two lancer companions.

On the way, he happened to encounter a group of French hussars.

Although on our own side, hussars and hussars are always brothers, to the enemy, hussars are always very dangerous.

After a brief exchange of fire, Durova finally got rid of the French and successfully found the Russian headquarters in the Puutusk area along the road.

Now, Kamensky proposed a fight, and both Langeron and Wittgenstein agreed. As for how to fight, the battle plan had to be formulated by Solovyov, who was the chief of the operations department.

According to his idea, the west and south of Puutusk may be areas where the French army will advance. If there are only two divisions on hand, it will definitely not be enough. The 14th Division is on its way, and Saken Parts of the two divisions Baron and Golitsyn have not yet arrived, and they should be on their way at this time.

The exchange of fire with the French army mentioned by Barclay was in that area. Infantry regiments belonging to several divisions encountered French scouts on the road. Then some French troops came and prepared to fight Barclay at the intersection. , in short, it is not safe here.

There was no movement in the south, and the French troops fighting on Barclay's side were coming from the south, so there was no need to worry about being outflanked.

Now we have to rely on Puutusk. There is a river on one side and the roads to the north and east are easy to pass. We can advance, attack, retreat or defend. Without a sudden attack, we will not be able to test the current strength of the French.

It's just that it's different from Bennigsen's method of thickening the formation. If Napoleon had seen Solovyov's combat style, he would have been amazed.

His idea was to deploy the troops on the front and create a pivot behind the right wing of his own troops, leaving an ambush behind.

Once an enemy army comes from the west, use the ambush behind this unit to launch an attack to repel the enemy.

He considered that the French army sometimes used roundabout methods in actual combat, and Caesar had used this method in the Battle of Pharsalus, so he planned to use it for comparison.

Not only as a reference, but after listening to it, Kamensky greatly appreciated it.

It even made Solovyov wonder, is this old guy confused?

At his worst, his performance was much better than Sleepy Joe's. At least he was self-aware, but he could no longer control how many troops he had.

Therefore, when Solovyov encounters a problem, he still has to discuss it with Langeron and Wittgenstein. These two chiefs are now the ones who can make decisions.

"Misha, you have to wait, at least until the 2nd Division has retreated safely before you can think of fighting the enemy. Our previous arrangement was to underestimate the speed of the French advance, so we have the current trouble."

Wittgenstein also spoke very sincerely. Although this person had many problems and had limited abilities, he could always listen to the opinions of people around him and was willing to discuss them with others.

As for his chief of staff, Major General Berg, because bullets knocked out several of his teeth when he was in Amstetten, he is now able to talk better. In this way, Wittgenstein, a cavalry general, can still have some patience. It can also prove his personal character.

Of course, Berg is not young anymore. He is still a major general at the age of 41 and is often injured during wars.

Wittgenstein gave this fierce general the position of chief of staff because he was afraid that he would be injured again.

What's more, there is an energetic young man as the chief of operations, who can shoulder his responsibilities as chief of military staff. He only needs the experienced Berg to help control.

"We can underestimate them no matter what, but we cannot underestimate the combat effectiveness of the French. I just think it is inappropriate to set up a three-tier reserve formation. At this time, we still need to have a proactive offensive spirit. According to the past It is estimated that if Napoleon used more than 60,000 troops on the battlefield, there would always be some coordination problems. Of course, he was a military genius with keen intuition. If he came in person, I would naturally have to deal with it. Come out with a two-tiered formation.”

But no one understands Napoleon during this period better than Solovyov. His uncle arrived in Warsaw, probably because he had an illegitimate son, Leon, and at the same time he was having fun with Countess Marie Walewska of Poland. And proud of it.

This may be a situation that all men understand. When French gentlemen meet a relatively simple Polish girl, they will definitely fall there like their own emperors.

It's just that the countess in Solovyov's mind probably looks like a Romanian actress, which is quite different from the real person.

But none of these marshals are fuel-efficient.

Solovyov thought about the abilities of his generals. When he met the French army commanders, Langeron might be at a disadvantage when he met Davout. When he met Soult, he could probably win 50-50. As for those few Rana, who is famous for his courage and is also good at deception, is not easy to deal with.

The rest, including Ney when his brain is short-circuited, are all world-class hunks from the neck down.

There is still a separate calculation here. Bernadotte can't say for sure, but as for Jérôme, fortunately, the Ninth Army he led is in Silesia, otherwise Solovyov would probably have to face this person in Silesia. Friends I know in the United States have improved their scores.

As for Solovyov's evaluation of his current ability, he is probably Marshal Daun when he was in the pit. Without the pit tactics, he still needs to train hard.

As for Wittgenstein, he was a lieutenant general of cavalry, so he could only fight these world-class tough guys with a 40:60 or 50:50 chance.

However, he also had one advantage, which was that he listened to advice very well. If he was assigned a suitable chief of staff, he might be able to play a good role.

At this time, Solovyov had been paying attention to the talent market in Prussia, wondering if he could find a few capable chiefs of staff from the fleeing Prussian army.

Clausewitz was about the same age as him, and he was probably captured in the defeat of the Prussian army.

The rest were the two pirates. Old Sha was the chief of staff of the Duke of Brunswick. This interpersonal relationship would definitely be useful, but I didn't know if he could be found in person.

You know, the poor old duke was seriously injured and died in the end. He entrusted all the family affairs to his youngest son, the "Black Duke", and he recommended Old Sha to the Prussian king for military affairs.

It would be great if Marshal Kamensky was always as sober as this old man.

Unfortunately, when he was sober, his eyesight was not good.

At this time, he still agreed to fight such a battle, which was the greatest support within his ability.

If he really commanded an army, he might not be as good as those old men in their seventies in Austria.

Fortunately, he knew his own limitations and let Langeron and Wittgenstein do it. He could also use his seniority to suppress Buchholden and let him quickly move closer to the main force.

But another problem was that if he ran to the rear without leaving a clear plan when he was in a bad mental state, what should he do?

Solovyov was also afraid that Kamensky would suddenly become an Irish old man, which would be a lot of fun.

Therefore, he still made two sets of contingency plans, one of which was how to act if he stayed and fought according to the order.

The other set was the route of action of the Russian army if he ran away from Pultusk.

Now there is one advantage, that is, most of the people in the headquarters advocated fighting, and Langeron and Wittgenstein also believed that if the French army did not come in full force, they could do something.

The downside is that Kamensky Jr. mentioned that his father seemed to be in an unstable state in recent days due to mental stress.

If he really turned into an Irish old man, it would be a big trouble.

Speaking of which, the descendants of Marshal Kamensky often play the role of queen and queen with English!