Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 77 027 Four Days of the Battle of Trebbia (Day 4)

When Suvorov decided to fight again the next day, there was already a heated debate on MacDonald's side.

There were already a large number of wounded soldiers in the city of Piacenza. After repeated statistics, the French army now had no idea how many losses they had suffered. The field force of more than 30,000 people seemed to have lost more than 10,000 people, and since the Allied forces were still fighting with the First Battalion of the Polish Legion on the opposite bank, their losses were already extremely huge.

Now MacDonald knew that Moreau would not arrive within two days. If the French army fought with the Allied forces under this circumstance, would there be reinforcements from the Allied forces in the future, or would there be reinforcements from Cremona east of Piacenza, or even from the Mantua Fortress farther away.

If they had to fight like this, the French army had already been shaken. As long as the officers who could still stand up, no one was willing to continue fighting on such a battlefield.

But retreating meant abandoning the wounded. There were more than 7,000 people lying in the city alone, and many of them were senior officers.

After making a choice, the sentry on the Russian river bank saw many campfires in the French camp, but few people were active, so there must be something fishy.

The Russian army was sleeping at this time, and they were too tired.

The French escaped very quickly. MacDonald gritted his teeth and finally decided to abandon the baggage and wounded, and even overturned the cannon that was missing shells on the roadside.

On the morning of the last day of this battle, when the early Austrian cavalry on the battlefield scouted forward, they entered the city of Piacenza and did not see a single standing French soldier.

There were only the wailing of the seriously wounded, and many of them were now in a dying state.

The Austrian cavalry could only do two things now, one was to go back and report to the two commanders of the coalition forces, and the other was to call all the "Sanita".

It would not work if so many wounded were not dealt with. If they were on the battlefield, they might have to use bayonets to make up for it to prevent someone from faking death and shooting.

Melas was not as slow as usual at this time. According to the tradition of the Austrian army when he followed Marshal Daun, they were always active in pursuit.

At this time, it was easy to obtain spoils and capture prisoners.

When friendly forces were in trouble, the Austrian army had a problem of being immovable, but Melas had a reserve force to fight against the French army for two days in the middle of the battle, which was correct, because the Austrian army with less than 10,000 troops alone could hardly stop the French army on the battlefield.

There was nothing wrong with his deployment, and he also informed Suvorov.

Now those lightly armed chasseurs, with a shortage of ammunition, had an average of ten bullets in their hands, and they had to cross the river.

Solovyov brought the horse again. When he crossed the river, he found that the cunning French opened the gates of the dam upstream, causing the water level of the Trebia River to surge. Now it was enough to cover his boots. If he rode on a horse, his boots were well sealed and would not be filled with water.

But it was not so easy for the general soldiers to cross the river. In order to ensure that the ammunition was dry, they put the bags of bullets and dry food in their hats or on the barrels of their rifles when crossing the river, like a cunning peddler in the countryside.

Then Solovyov saw this scene and really sang "The Peddler". Who let this song be in Tetris?

"Look at our captain, he started singing again. Don't say, the tune is not bad!"

But this time, Solovyov stopped and said sternly: "Catch up, use bayonets to make those French guys bite the mud!"

Then he rode a horse and set off to chase with the front chariot.

There were no tents in the French camp. They didn't use tents very much. In order to facilitate the transportation of baggage, they all liked to requisition on the spot.

In fact, if there were more baggage wagons, they should be abandoned on the road directly, so that the coalition forces chasing them could slow down.

Since there were not many of them, it would save the Russian troops from the countryside from looting the French soldiers' baggage and spoils on the road.

But at this moment, anyone who stopped to grab the abandoned baggage would be whipped by the usually kind officers!

Suvorov's order was to pursue the enemy, cross the Nur River, and not let them run away.

The Austrian army was closer to the city, their infantry entered Piacenza, and the cavalry now joined the Russian Cossack pursuit army.

When the cavalry was chasing, they had to control the stone bridge over the Nur River. They galloped and caught up with some French soldiers at the bridgehead. These French soldiers were now eager to retreat from the stone bridge. When the familiar sound of horse hooves came from far away, they also saw the coalition cavalry waving sabers and lances around them.

It is better to capture them alive at this time. When the Turks are chasing, they prefer to cut off the heads of the defeated soldiers.

Hundreds of people were captured at once, and the spoils they seized from Italy were also captured.

In the Russian pursuit column, the infantrymen swam across the river. Even the injured Prince Bagration, with a bandage on his head, chased with his entourage to capture all the French soldiers.

At this time in the summer, if you are at the foot of the peaks of the Alps and the Caucasus, you can still see the melting snow, and the defeat of the French is like this.

During the pursuit, Solovyov kept riding his horse to keep up with the infantry's fast pace. If he ran too fast, he would be alone, and this was not the time to be a hero.

"Brothers, catch up with those Frenchmen, seize their cannons, baggage and flags, and it would be best if you catch a French officer alive!"

For some veterans, this kind of merit can get a reward at the lowest level. If they are lucky, they can be promoted from a soldier or sergeant to a second lieutenant, and then they will become the lowest level among the "masters". If they don't fight anymore in the future, they can apply for early retirement and go home a year later, with medals and rewards issued by the emperor. Don't mention how impressive it is!

That's how the Cossack cavalry seized the bridge and threw the French baggage wagons on both sides of the road, which could make way for the infantry brothers and cavalry artillery chasing behind.

If there are still some French troops who can form a formation to resist, they should use these small cannons to make more transparent holes for them!

When Solovyov led his troops to rush up, the Cossacks ran further forward. Some French soldiers who were caught behind were now running around. In order to save their lives, many of them hid in the ditches beside the road.

"Misha, do you want to catch them?"

"Major, please go first. They are just French soldiers. I don't have time to capture them!"

These stragglers are not of much value. The Guards Regiment of Grand Duke Constantine in the Guards did not join the battle until the third day. They have good physical strength and high morale, but now they only catch French soldiers on the road.

And the Guards Hunters, they are in the Bagration Column, and they are still moving forward to hunt down those high-value targets.

In particular, Solovyov saw what he had always wanted, a French flag was carried on the shoulders of a soldier.

In the previous battle, the United Hunters had captured two flags of the Polish Legion, but the flag of the genuine French had not been obtained.

Moreover, these Russian soldiers were still shouting: "Lève les mains!" (Raise your hands!)

If you say "surrender your weapons and don't kill, treat prisoners well" in French, it would be a bit long-winded. Solovyov approached the French soldier holding the flag and directly chopped him to the ground with the back of his knife.

At this time, it is better to catch him alive.

"Look at our captain, he is really good, he has seized a military flag by himself!"

"We should catch up and grab the cannons and supplies! Our "father" wants to chase, and there will be rewards for meritorious service!"

The speed of their pursuit was getting faster and faster. Inspired by the officers' "meritorious service", the Russian soldiers continued to chase the French soldiers.

At this time, if the flag-bearing soldier had a clear mind, he should hide the flag in his arms, so that it would not be easy to see.

But the Russians did the same thing. They tore open the French soldier's coat, and if there was a military flag inside, it would be directly seen.

When they chased to a lot of villages with "Piacentino", some French soldiers could not run anymore. The captured soldiers, wounded soldiers and those killed, at least 17,000 of the more than 30,000 French soldiers were killed.

In other words, half of the people were killed in the four-day battle, and a large number of military flags were captured. There were also dozens of cannons abandoned on the roadside. MacDonald's army was on the verge of collapse.

He said afterwards that this battle was a tragic failure and we paid a high price. If he had not met Suvorov in the Battle of Trebia River, he should have returned to the country to go to the military court.

Well, it was not too shameful to be defeated by an old comrade who was very "martial".

He could only lead the remnants of the defeated army to the south of the Apennines to join Moreau's army.

Moreau was unable to break through Bellegarde's blockade. Although the Austrian army fought with him on June 20 and then collapsed to the north of Alexandria, he soon received the news of his defeat.

In MacDonald's defeat, many officers were captured, and 8 generals were killed or captured. General Dombrowski, who had been captured in Warsaw before, was captured again this time.

Speaking of which, Bagration also achieved great results on this day. He led his column to pursue the Guards Chasseurs. As a rear guard, 1,100 people from the 17th Demi-Brigade laid down their weapons in St. George and obtained 6 cannons and 3 flags.

There were too many things captured on this day, which made Suvorov very happy. He was in a good spirit, which offset the fatigue of this period of time.

And he talked and laughed with the Austrian generals along the way, and the Austrian generals also came to congratulate him.

"Congratulations, Marshal, for achieving a great victory at such a time on the battlefield where General Hannibal once won. I just don't understand why Hannibal didn't march directly to Rome at that time?"

Hearing this, Suvorov laughed: "Maybe in Carthage, there is also a 'Military Committee' in the court!"

This joke is not funny, but it hits the nail on the head, and the veteran Melas also laughed.

After all, their Austrian emperor also has such an organization, which makes the Austrian army always fail to fight well.

You know, when the "Three Skirts" alliance was formed, the Austrian queen was in charge of political issues and took care of children at home, and would not ask about military issues.

And it is rumored that the French army lost the battle at that time because the "Fish Lady", that is, Madame Pompadour, actually intervened in French politics and military?

Paul's committee was indeed a problem, but this time Suvorov received Paul's full support and was not harassed during the entire war. Grand Duke Constantine was also sent to accompany the army.

When he was here, because of the defeat in the battle of the Po River, he completely obeyed the old marshal and admired him very much.

And in the letter to his brother, Crown Prince Alexander, he also mentioned the marshal's command and the bravery of the frontline soldiers.

He also wrote to Paul. After all, the traditional art of the Petersburg court is that the favorites attack each other, but there are not many words of praise.

The good news from Italy has also made the conspiracy group against Paul begin to be vigilant.

One of the brothers of Count Zubov married the daughter of the old marshal, so their conspiracy is still confidential.

At the same time, it should be taken into account that Britain is now allied with Russia, and the conspiracy organization is now slowing down their conspiracy.

Without the material support from the British, any conspiracy and alliance on the European continent would be difficult to carry out.

Now the victory of the Russian army has made Austria and Britain alert.

It is a small matter for the British to withdraw the fleet in Genoa and temporarily lift the blockade there.

After the news of the great victory of the Austrian emperor in Trebia came, he saw that the overall situation on the front line was now determined, so he began his magical micro-management.

"Ask the Austrian army to go to the Mantua Fortress to capture it?"

"Yes, Marshal, mobilize an Austrian column there."

"This is like General Melas. I think this "Military Committee" has played a role."

Melas also shook his head helplessly. He also thought that he should take advantage of the present time to pass the 40,000 assembled Russian troops in front of the Alexandria Fortress, regardless of whether Genoa was blockaded or not, and directly advance to the Mediterranean coast.

However, the Austrian army must execute the orders from the Austrian emperor, and the Russian army on the Italian battlefield must also follow the orders from Vienna.

In this situation, the best opportunity for battle has been lost, and the French now have a chance to catch their breath and even further deploy troops and take action in the northwest of Italy.