Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 75 025 Four days of the Battle of Trebia (the second day)

The Russians didn’t feel anything about the day when the battle officially began.

But the Austrians, after turning over the calendar, felt particularly excited.

This day is the 42nd anniversary of the Battle of Kolin, on which Austrian Marshal Daun defeated the Prussian army in Kolin near Prague, so today the Austrian army’s pre-war slogan became "Theresia" and "Kolin". No matter how lame the Austrians are at ordinary times, they still have to fight hard today for the sake of the Queen.

The Russian army is on the south side of the battlefield, and many troops can’t hear the cheers from the Austrian army today.

Of course, the French are not a piece of cream cake that will melt in your mouth if you cut it casually. After treating his wounds, MacDonald went to the front line to boost the morale of the French army.

This Scotsman didn’t bring a bagpipe to cheer his brothers. Besides, he had lived in France since he was a child, and he had no chance to come into contact with those Scottish haggis delicacies, so he spared his brothers’ ears and stomachs.

Several French divisions are now lined up on the front line. Bagration is opposite the Poles, while the main force of the French army crosses the Trebia River to face General Rosenberg. The right wing troops in the north are facing the Austrians.

I don’t know if June 18th is a "bad day" in the French "almanac". When the Poles first came into contact with Bagration's column, Dombrowski found that the accuracy of these Russians in skirmishes was outrageous.

The Polish infantry can only use some terrain in front of them to find cover for themselves. In this regard, the Russian army and the Polish army are the same. They will lie down and find cover when fighting, which is different from those in Western Europe who fight in line.

When Moreau saw the Russian soldiers, he cursed them as "villains", and I don't know why he said that.

The Russian army is fierce in bayonet fighting, "unethical" shooting close to the face, and will find cover and not be easily hit. These elements should be full.

By the way, today, after the Poles encountered the Russian army head-on, they were beaten by the two chasseur regiments in the front row of Bagration.

However, the confrontation of Dombrovsky at this time also forced Bagration's two regiments to turn south together. There was a gap on the right wing of the Russian army led by General Bovalo-Shvykovsky, and the French left wing was ready to launch an attack from here.

The French attack required crossing the river, and at this time they had to advance under artillery fire.

The bottom of the Trebia River is mainly composed of pebbles. Whether it is a grenade or a solid bullet, falling in such a place will cause huge casualties to the passing infantry column.

Especially the shells that fell under the feet, there were many rolling shells that directly broke the soldiers' legs. No experienced soldier would try to kick away this thing rolling around on the battlefield, unless he didn't want his legs and didn't want to be a soldier.

These days, being a soldier is still a good way out, whether for nobles or civilians.

Moreover, for the serfs in the Russian army, there is a way to liberate themselves directly, that is, to make great contributions on the battlefield, so that they can become officers as an exception and completely get rid of their original identity.

When they can't see any other way out now, this way is the fastest.

Of course, if the peasants realize what power they have, they can still burst out with great power.

The battle between the two sides became more and more intense. The Poles now found that they were facing the Russians, and they fought even more fiercely.

When the shells flew over the Russian skirmish line and landed in the line infantry behind, blood and flesh would fly everywhere, and broken limbs and broken bones would be everywhere.

When hitting a single infantry, it would often directly smash out a bloody hole.

The Russian infantry was accurate, and the Poles fired at the Russians with artillery, and the cavalry on the flanks also had to outflank them.

However, after discovering that the Russian skirmishers were accurate, the Polish lancers did not provoke them, but detoured to the flank of Bagration's troops, preparing to harass those line infantry.

In this situation, Bagration only deployed a hollow square formation with a battalion on the edge. The Polish cavalry could not rush in when they approached. In addition, the Russian soldiers could hit a Polish cavalryman with a few shots at close range, which forced the Poles to give up the attack on the line infantry.

The Poles were now at a disadvantage. After they were suppressed by firepower, the Russian army launched a counterattack. A battalion of Polish corps was surrounded and would soon succumb to the Russian bayonets.

At this time, the left wing of the French army was crossing the river one after another. After seeing the Russian army turn around, the staff officer Gosselin, who was observing on the river bank, ordered a counterattack.

The three divisions of the French army crossing the river here, the Polish corps was at the front. They rushed so fast in the battle, which was originally very stupid to give their heads, but Bagration had to turn around to deal with them, and now gave the French army a gap for a flank attack.

There was some confusion in Bagration's infantry, which was noticed by Suvorov himself. He was going to ride to General Rosenberg's middle road to observe the battle situation, but the situation on his right wing made him feel the problem.

The old marshal rode up behind Bagration to stop the retreat of the chasseurs and musketeers.

"Stop, boys! Show the enemy some color with bullets and bayonets! Hurrah!"

Hearing the old marshal's call, the retreating soldiers stopped retreating, but scattered their formations, shouting "Ura" and launched a counterattack against the French.

The combined chariot regiment on Solovyov's side defeated a battalion of the Polish Legion. They did not go around to help eliminate the battalion in front of Bagration, but turned to support the back and started shooting at the French.

The French did not expect that the Russian army would come back in such a scattered formation with bayonets, and just maintaining a three-row wave-like front line, which surprised the French generals.

At least it is true that Russian soldiers are not easy to mess with, especially when their old marshal personally supervises the battle at the front.

The Russian soldiers who ran back before now turned around and killed, and the French did not retreat.

Before they approached, the French shooting had knocked down many Russian soldiers, but these guys in green uniforms and white pants did not retreat at all, and were still advancing with bayonets.

At a closer distance, the Russian army only fired a volley of guns in the first row, and then launched an attack.

The scattered soldiers on the flanks had dealt with the Poles at this time, and Bagration could now withdraw and entangle with the French army.

Under such circumstances, Suvorov first mobilized the Smolensk Regiment to join the battle, and then he sent a military envoy to Rosenberg to seek support from the reserve.

Rosenberg's front had already been engaged, and he told the marshal that there were no available reserves.

At the same time, the coalition's center road in the front of Gragnano Village also began to engage in fire with the French. Unexpectedly, the French army that entered the village collapsed at the first touch, and was soon driven out of the surrounding positions by Rosenberg's 2,500 men.

Now the right wing is very critical, and Suvorov himself needs to stay here to command. After seeing Rosenberg's performance, he was quite satisfied.

"No one knows what will happen on the battlefield."

"Marshal, our army has wiped out the Poles and is now fighting the French left wing with all its strength!"

During the battle, he also saw that the Russian army had stabilized the front line after the chaos caused by the French crossing the river. The performance of the Poles today was just like they had encountered them before.

First, they shouted "I will never reconcile with the Russians", and then "You can kill me or chop me up as you please". Even the hero Ke Zhenwu was not defeated so quickly by you.

And the hero Ke is an upright person, and he will not do things like the Poles who always bully the weak.

In June, the sunset is always late. In the battle, since the two sides are entangled, they have to fight for a while.

The Russian army on the right wing has made the French army retreat, but their own losses are not small.

The chasseurs under Solovyov's command were arranged in a skirmish line in front. At the beginning, the casualties were not great. However, in the subsequent exchange of fire, due to the exhaustion of bullets, and the French cavalry and Polish lancers turned back to kill, he had to reorganize the formation of the troops and set up a square formation on the battlefield for the first time.

This is not a game in the "Napoleon: Total War" series, but a real battlefield. Light infantry sometimes form a square formation, and line infantry will also be pulled apart to meet the enemy in a skirmish line when necessary.

Now the battle line has stabilized on the southern front. The Russian army has driven the French army across the Trebia River. During the French army's retreat, the artillery shells fired by the artillery caused a lot of casualties to the French army on the cobblestone riverbed.

This back and forth, the French not only failed to repel the Russian army today, but also suffered a lot of losses themselves.

The Russian army was not easy either. They found that the French soldiers were still difficult to deal with in the battle.

And Melas did not act for a long time on the northern front that day, but it was not to preserve strength. He led the Austrian army forward cautiously, and in the afternoon of the same day, he also started a firefight with the vanguard of the French right wing.

The Austrians themselves shouted these two slogans in the morning, and they certainly didn't want to be embarrassed on the anniversary, so they launched an attack.

The French army, which had defeated the Austrian army many times before, always had some psychological advantages when encountering them alone, and even a little arrogant.

MacDonald knew that no matter how fast Moreau's reinforcements ran, they would not arrive today, but a grenadier battalion and two line infantry battalions in front of the French army, after hearing the artillery firing in the rear of the Austrian army, actually thought that Moreau's reinforcements had arrived, so they launched an attack.

It was already dusk, and the Austrian army was also confused. Because the main forces of the Austrian army were gathered together and the formation was relatively tight, the French army had only three battalions rushing over, and could not gain any advantage. After a round of exchange of fire, the two sides beat the French back.

Melas was very cautious now. Suvorov went there to command in person because of the changes in the right-wing situation. He followed the reserve troops and did not support any direction. After the exchange of fire with the French army, after repeated pulling, the French army was finally driven back to the other side of the Trebbia River.

At this time, the Russian army still had an extra Guards Regiment that was not used. Grand Duke Constantine spent the day "watching the show" in the rear. Because of his performance in the previous battle of Basigiano, he did not dare to disobey the general's order this time, but waited in the rear.

The soldiers of the Guards Regiment were also here. They did not receive the order until that night to meet the grenadiers who crossed the river in the village of Gragnano captured by General Rosenberg.

It was the Moscow Grenadiers who launched a river crossing operation, harassed the French positions on the opposite bank that night, rescued some captured Austrian soldiers, and then returned to the west bank of the Trebia River.

This last episode of the day's battle inspired the Russian soldiers in the middle. They also realized that even if the French really lined up in such a neat formation to fight against them, they could still win like in the previous pursuit.

Moreover, it was not difficult to fight from the east across the Trebia River.

At this time, both sides withdrew their troops and retreated along the river bank.

The losses of the troops were not small. Suvorov personally went to the headquarters of the Bagration column and saw many wounded soldiers carried down.

"Everyone did a great job today, especially the front-line hunters, who fought fiercely and accurately, and dealt a heavy blow to the enemy. They should be praised."

Hearing this, Solovyov thought that he should take a nap now. Even if the battlefield was full of blood, he would find a place to rest for a while.

Many of his hunters had run out of bullets, and now they had to continue to replenish them on the second-line positions.

The Russian army consumed the most ammunition in the United Hunter Regiment. The rapid guns they used on this day, whether in formation or free shooting, shocked the French army with their extremely high firing rate and accuracy.

And there were also many losses. All the hunters were in the front line. The two battalions of the regiment had a total of 7 companies, and one-quarter of them were injured or killed.

Most of them were wounded. Solovyov was very glad that he changed into a bear fur hat. A French cavalryman came from the side with a saber and chopped it down, chopping it on the hat, but failed to injure him.

Then the two hunters beside him rushed over and stabbed the French cavalryman to death, which saved him.

The frontline battlefield is so dangerous. Solovyov was hit by his hat several times when he was in danger. Let’s not talk about the previous times. This time he was really blessed by the goddess of luck. If the cavalryman’s knife had been chopped down a little more, he might not have died, but it was unlikely that he would be healthy. At least the knife would take away some parts.

This is the battlefield. It is actually very dangerous everywhere.