Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

The river where the two sides fought was not wide, but the water surface was wider due to recent rainfall.

The disadvantage for the Russian army was probably that the riverbed was relatively soft, which would affect the speed of the army's advance.

But it was not without advantages. When the shells hit such places, their lethality would be weakened, especially when they fell into the water.

The French artillery was originally inferior to the Russian army. If their shells fell on the riverbed, they could only kill a few Russian soldiers. The kinetic energy had been offset. Unlike the Russian bombardment of the French army at this time, it often caused considerable casualties on the river beach.

Because of this, it is no wonder that the French army on the front also sought support from Bernadotte.

"If the Dupont Division is deployed to the battle on the left wing, I think the Russians will use it. If they want to win a complete victory, they will definitely attack here at this time."

Bernadotte now feels the same as MacDonald during the Battle of the Trebia River. After a morning of fighting, although the French front line is still there, there are signs of wavering.

The most terrible thing is that the terrain in this area is flat, and the troops of both sides are not hidden. He can clearly see that there are still a large number of troops behind the Russian army who have not joined the battle. If they continue to fight like this, there is really no way to fight.

He even planned to retreat from Dabstein. It was already difficult to stay in this ghost place.

The problem is that when fighting, the most difficult one is to retreat safely from the battlefield.

Therefore, in this situation, Bernadotte still gritted his teeth to avoid defeat.

You must know that the Battle of the Trebia River, although including the outpost battle, was fought for four days, but the last day and a half was completely one-sided, and even the last day was a direct defeat.

As for the fact that he could not withstand the firepower of the Russian army in one day, it was not entirely because the French army was not well prepared. They even replenished the new recruits prepared in 1808 in winter, and even had sufficient training and replenishment.

The problem is that the firepower density of the Russian infantry shooting was ridiculously high in a few places.

Even this accuracy was a familiar experience for him.

This is how it felt after crossing the Pratzen Heights at Austerlitz.

The Pavlovsk Grenadiers were equipped with breech-loading rifles, and they were at the outermost, beating the French army back all the way.

They had not even used their full strength, but were only asked to shoot behind the trenches on the side of the road.

It was different from the situation of the Guards before, after all, they still had bishop hats on their heads, so it would make people feel confused.

They couldn't win in hand-to-hand combat or shooting, which meant that the Russian army was moving slowly, otherwise there would be no fight.

"The victory or defeat should be decided, let the cuirassiers join the battle."

Bagration decided to go to the cavalry in person.

The two brothers Palen were both heavy cavalrymen, and when they saw Bagration coming, they knew that they were going to launch a general attack.

The French army could not resist now, and if they were rushed by such a group of people, the effect would indeed be very obvious.

The First Army did not catch up with the Battle of Eylau, so they naturally did not see the attack of their own cuirassiers.

Now that they were charged by the Russian heavy cavalry, it was like a hot knife cutting butter, and the effect was beyond words.

At this time, Bernadotte had to let the Dupont Division turn around and come to resist these Russian cavalry.

Because the heavy cavalry were all concentrated here, and most of the French heavy cavalry had always been in Murat's cavalry, it was difficult to stop the hussars and hunting cavalry to meet them. Even if they were shot at close range, they could not penetrate the breastplate from the front.

There was no way. The power of these muskets was really limited. We had to wait until technology advanced before we could have some confidence to penetrate them.

As for dealing with these cavalry now, we had to either use cavalry to resist or use artillery bombardment.

Because the French army also found it difficult to form a formation, Dupont only fought for a while, and the phalanx of his two regiments was broken.

"Well done, now we can pursue them."

But he couldn't always get what he wanted. The Russian cavalry was chasing and had just defeated three divisions of the First Army, and Davout's troops had arrived.

However, seeing the scattered friendly forces, Friant once again played the role of emergency. While finding a position and shooting at the Russian cavalry in a favorable formation, he also took in the fleeing soldiers.

As for the Russian army in front, the Guards had not joined the battle at this time, which was equivalent to the opponent falling without any effort.

It was not surprising, because even if the Russian army had already deployed troops on the front line, it was more than the French army at this time, which was not a rare thing.

It was just that Bernadotte could not stop both sides. If this continued, Napoleon would definitely have to think about it in the future.

Since the battle with the Prussian army, only the First Army was often defeated, and this time it was even more outrageous that it was defeated by the Russian army within a day.

Even if he was the brother-in-law of the emperor's eldest brother, he had to bear it.

Davout had not caught up yet, and Friant could only shake his head when he saw it. The Third Army had been strengthening training throughout the winter, especially his division. After all, every time there was a battle, the Third Army always ran the longest distance to fight, and the battle was often quite difficult.

They were still able to resist the Russian attack, but the First Army, except for the Dupont Division, which was still occupying one corner of the battlefield against the Russians, was completely chased away.

If you count it all, I'm afraid the defeat was as tragic as the Battle of the Trebia River.

Many of these people had not experienced the humiliating defeat of Italy in 1799. Even Grouchy, who was captured in Novi, had never encountered such a thing, and he was on the side of the cavalry.

The Russian troops who were pursuing did not act rashly after being blocked by someone.

Bagration, on the other hand, was still a little doubtful.

This was different from his usual performance. If it were usual, he would have fought long ago.

"I didn't expect the French reinforcements to come so quickly."

"Let's stop while we're ahead."

Sacken was also here, and he was a little lazy.

This was no wonder, like a thief who stole something, he had to consider the retreat when he ran into the house.

"But in this case, we still have a chance to attack the Third Army."

Solovyov was unwilling. He wanted to expand the results of the battle at this moment, and after attacking the First Army, he would defeat the Third Army in succession. The entire left wing of the French army would be shattered.

"You are still young and energetic, Misha. We have such a long march. If someone attacks the transportation line, won't we be intercepted here? Although your plan is good and we have defeated the enemy, we must also consider retaining the main force."

Grand Duke Constantine nodded and said, "It is indeed dangerous. We can only cut off the French transportation line, but it is difficult for us to cut off the road in Silesia."

"Yes, Your Highness, what you said is true. But it is a pity for us to return now."

"Misha, I think we should retreat, don't insist."

Since these two said so, we should retreat.

But they also know that this kid has a good appetite and is going to attack the most difficult army in the French army.

With the current strength of the Russian army, it is not impossible to defeat the opponent by concentrating these divisions, but the logistics of the entire army will be cut off.

With such a piece of Polish land occupied by Prussia, even the Polish Lancers will find it difficult to collect food locally.

In fact, the Poles on the west bank of the Vistula River might welcome the Russian army more.

In this case, they had no choice but to withdraw.

As for Napoleon, after hearing about Bernadotte's defeat, he directly ordered that since he was injured, he should go to the rear to recuperate.

After all, this humiliating defeat was indeed embarrassing enough.

He did not make other deployments because he was busy beating Dokhturov's division and exploring the transportation lines behind the Russian army. So many things were not his business.

"Bernadot dared to fight like this."

"Your Majesty, should we return to support the Third Army and attack the main force of the Russian army?"

"No need. We just need to find the Russian army's transportation line. No matter what, the transportation line is the lifeline of the Russian army. Even if they ate up the First Army and we cut off their supplies, this should be called Caulaincourt. What is catching a turtle in a jar?"

"Your Majesty, it's catching a turtle in a jar."

"That's the reason, Caulaincourt, you can read, but you are not very good at fighting. You are not as good as your brother."

"Yes, but Your Majesty still needs diplomatic work and soldiers who understand diplomacy."

"That's right. I think we should be prepared to write a letter to the Tsar and let him accept a peace agreement."

If others open champagne at halftime, they may have to explain.

But Napoleon seems to be ineffective for which side to lose, opening champagne at halftime, and winning three to zero in advance.

He was also very confident and prepared to issue a declaration of war to have a decisive battle with the Russians.

He even judged that the road connecting Königsberg and the Russian transportation line was now the lifeblood of the Russian army.

Even if the main force of the Russian army could turn the tide and disrupt the rear of the French army, they could only cut off the supply line on the northern line.

Therefore, after winning, they would still break away from the contact with the French army and then turn back to the vicinity of Königsberg.

"Give Davout an order to assemble the Third Army and the Dupont Division, and hold them back when the Russian army attacks. If the Russian army retreats to Königsberg or moves to other directions, stick to them and don't let them break away from contact easily."

Since he has given such an order, it is obvious that he wants to do it.

As for the Russian army, they quickly returned to the east bank of the Pasag River, but Davout chasing them from behind would indeed give people a headache.

"It seems that we have to destroy all these roads on the way of retreat."

So, in order to avoid the pursuit and harassment of the bald man Davout, Bagration ordered the burning of the pontoon bridge and the destruction of the roads along the way, just to avoid this guy following all the way.

It is actually not convenient to go back and fight him, and it may also be Napoleon's way.

"There is no way, this bald man is the most difficult to deal with. Hasn't he been a nuisance in our several battles?"

This is indeed reasonable. Since the Third Anti-French Alliance, the output of Davout and the Third Army has been ridiculously high.

And with the troops he has taken in, although the French army is currently at a disadvantage in terms of manpower, under the special battlefield environment, the Russian army will still be chased by them.

But these roads are not easy to walk on. The roads filled with wood like Solovyov, set on fire, and destroyed in some places, will indeed give the French a headache.

If it were on normal terrain, Davout might have caught up with the Russians, or with the cooperation of reliable friendly forces, he could have stopped the enemy.

But in the swamp, the road is narrow, and once it is destroyed, he has no place to go.

When the report came back to Napoleon, he was surprised.

"The Russians are getting more and more slippery. They used to be just some tricks. This time, officers with Parisian accents disguised themselves to seize the bridge and opened the road in the swamp. It really broadened our horizons."

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid Davout can't catch up with the Russians."

"Let them run away along that route. We can find a place to wait for them. We can't let them run away this time."

While speaking, he looked at the map. The Russian army did gather the remaining troops near Heilsberg.

But these troops, because the main force was withdrawn, only Langeron and Barclay commanded this part of the troops, and it was still a bit difficult to face Napoleon.

Fortunately, Bagration's attack across the swamp defeated the First Army and took away the Third Army, so that the pressure on Heilsberg could be reduced.

However, Lana did not dare to attack easily.

After all, in winter in Pultusk, the Russian army's firepower organization, although not as good as the French artillery, was still quite cunning in action, especially when approaching.

The Russian artillery squatting in the pit was even more unethical than those infantrymen who kept bullets in the barrel, and often launched sneak attacks.

So he launched a tentative attack and found that the Russian artillery fire was extremely fierce, and even when dozens of artillery were concentrated in a small area, he did not let the Fifth Army and the Reserve Army act rashly.

Moreover, Oudinot, who was not enough to be shot, wanted to lead the grenadiers to launch a fierce attack.

This guy, as a grenadier, is really brave enough. It is true that he is not afraid of death. It is also true that he is knocked down by others in almost every big battle.

Lannes was reluctant to let him be seriously injured at this time without encountering the main force of the Russian army. At least he had to wait until the main force of the Russian army gathered before sacrificing him.

But because of this fierce shooting, the Russian army was able to quickly move from Helsberg at night.

Later, Lannes and Oudinot found out that they were fooled, because before the Russian army retreated, Yermolov specially concentrated a division of artillery and fired fiercely at the French army, regardless of whether these artillery would be lost.

But this was not a trick, after all, the Russian army retreated to the bank of the Aare River along the old winter road with a large amount of baggage and artillery carts, and the French could still catch up with them.