Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 342 044 Almost ate up two French divisions

"Schmidt was killed, this is a bit troublesome."

After receiving the report, Kutuzov was also very worried about the situation on the right wing. He could rely on the Russian army's own adjutant system to command the left wing, and the three columns had already controlled the various intersections in the east.

But Dokhturov's progress was slow, which was not good.

Of course, Solovyov had a small problem. He could actually use the commanders on Kutuzov's wing more. Among these people was his senior brother, and they had a good relationship at ordinary times, while the right wing was full of Germans.

Even if he looked like those Germans, for these guys with the surname Feng, whose names had to be transcribed and the pronunciation had to be changed, he could only command them in this battle and could barely command them.

You have to know that in the Russian army, except for the royal family and a few specially promoted generals, most people still have to be promoted according to seniority. Even the promotion of a general has to be based on seniority, and there is no hammock number and XX period of various XX military academies. It is actually quite troublesome.

Moreover, the column of von Rosen is still moving very slowly and has not arrived at the battlefield yet.

Solovyov now feels that it is more troublesome. Now is the best time to fight. If the Sixth Column cannot arrive in time, it may not be able to hold the Dupont Division at this time.

What he can consider is to use the Austrian cavalry to attack the ships of the Gazan Division at dawn, completely cutting off the French army's retreat route by water, so that the French army will be completely trapped here.

Why did he want to do this? It was because when he climbed up to look out, he could see that there seemed to be people sailing on the Danube at night with torches.

Seeing this problem, he could only grit his teeth and give orders to transfer a team of 6-pound guns.

"Major, do you have the confidence to aim at the river bank and give them a fucking shot?"

"That's no problem. Four guns will fire at the same time. That's enough for them."

Seeing the artillery battalion commander who came over to guarantee this, Solovyov ordered the artillery to fire, no matter what the projectiles were.

At this moment, Mortier and Gazan also knew that the Russian army accounted for the vast majority of the coalition forces, which was definitely different from the Austrian army whose morale had plummeted.

If the Russian army launched a general attack during the day, it would be extremely disadvantageous for the remaining French army.

"Our division has lost one-third of its troops, and the ammunition has been almost used up. It's just that the Russians didn't pursue further because it was dark and they were worried about accidentally hurting their own people."

"But this won't work either."

Because the retreat was too slow, the Russian artillery fire during the day destroyed some ships, making the French army's retreat very difficult.

Moreover, under the cover of night, Dupont also sent a messenger to say that his division had been attacked by the Russian army, and there was an Austrian cavalry operating nearby, and now it was also facing a crisis.

However, for Dupont's division, they still had a retreat route there, while at the same time, Gazan's division also ushered in a baptism of artillery fire.

Obviously, Motier had the same problem. He had three infantry divisions and one cavalry division in one army. The cavalry was used in a scattered manner, and the two infantry divisions suffered heavy losses here.

As for the artillery, they only had 6 guns on the battlefield, and 5 of them were damaged. Even if the Russian army did not drag all the cannons on the battlefield, there were more than 20 cannons that could aim at the French positions and fire.

The artillery on the right wing of the Russian army still opened fire at night, giving the French army only a short window of retreat. Such artillery firing also made the French army passively beaten all the time. The path to retreat to the south bank of the Danube was blocked. Only a group of infantrymen with better luck crossed the river first, and the rest were still trapped on the north bank of the Danube.

Motier also felt a headache. The command style of the coalition forces during the day was obviously calm and conservative, that is, to divide and surround the French army and defeat them one by one by taking advantage of the force advantage, but now, the Russian attack has obviously changed its way.

According to his estimation, the Russian army should take action again the next day, but he didn't expect that he would not rest at night.

Even some Russian troops had already approached the French positions in battalions at night.

However, Solovyov did this, and half of his troops had to rest in the back, just letting several regiments that did not participate in the battle to draw troops to stick to it.

At this time, the French were in a very bad situation. They could not rest at night, and they were surrounded and out of ammunition and food, which was extremely tiring.

And Solovyov, at this moment, was still willing to lay straw and blankets behind the trench, and take a nap at this moment.

After all, the general offensive would be launched the next day, and he had been traveling back and forth between the two columns of the Allied Forces during the day, and dispatched troops as the commander of the right wing after Schmidt was killed, and he did not rest at all that day.

Speaking of which, he was very young, but he actually spent 20 hours on horseback in one day without rest. If this intensity was endured by an old man, I am afraid that many people would not be able to bear it.

As for getting up the next morning, even if he didn't want to get up, he also gave an order to the Austrian officer beside him.

"If I can't get up, wake me up with the scabbard!"

These Austrians would obey orders, but they just felt a little strange: "What strange Russians, always giving strange orders."

But considering that he was Suvorov's disciple, he was no exception to the abstract things he did. His master liked to roll on the grass and run in the morning in thin clothes.

After he lay down, he still slept for a few hours listening to the cannons, and got up again at dawn.

This night battle was mainly about using artillery to shoot at the river beach, and the infantry approached the French army like a Spanish hanging with a tight neck.

When Solovyov got up in the morning when the sun rose, he was lying in the grass with binoculars to watch the situation of the French army, and he was a little proud.

Because of the artillery fire at night, the French army's retreat speed slowed down significantly. If they didn't run with torches, it would be easy to capsize in the Danube. Once the Russian artillery shells were ignited, they would come quickly.

Considering that the moonlight at this time was not bright, it was not friendly to the retreating French army.

Now most of the troops of the Gazan Division are still on the river bank, relying on villages, shrubs and stone walls to build positions, trying to continue to resist here.

The battle did not start from the Gazan Division, but the Dupont Division launched an attack on the Dokhturov Column again.

Solovyov sent the artillery up the mountain and fired at the French infantry for a while, which frustrated the fierce Dupont offensive, so that Dokhturov did not suffer from the front and back like the first day.

On the Gazan Division side, the grenadiers of the Bagration Column and the artillery coming along the river bank road had appeared behind them.

This time, the Gazan Division became a turtle in a jar. The French army was not a navy, and they could not sink with the ship, or bring Qing officials. They could not win and swallow the ointment. They could surrender!

The situation of the Gazan Division was also very bad. They had used up all the bullets and gunpowder. Although the Russian army did not have enough supplies, they had the advantage in numbers and were advancing steadily.

In this situation, under the continued attack of the Russian army, the French army finally couldn't hold on and had to raise the white flag to negotiate an armistice.

Of course, Mortier and Gazan still had a plan, asking Dupont to take advantage of the armistice negotiations, when their backs were not blocked, to escape from the direction they came from and join the remaining troops of the Eighth Army that had not yet approached.

At this time, Soloviev also considered this situation. After seeing the French captain, he also raised his question.

"Captain, what are you doing here?"

"Representing the commander of our army, to negotiate an armistice with your army."

"In whose name are you surrendering?"

"In the name of Marshal Edward Mortier, commander of the Eighth Army, and General Theodore Gazan, commander of the division, to negotiate an armistice with your army."

"But in the west, there is a division of General Dupont, note that it is 'bond', Captain."

Soloviev likes to be picky about words, and his words made the captain helpless.

"I have not received the relevant authorization, Colonel."

The captain also discovered that the commander of the right wing of the coalition forces was only a colonel, and he looked very young, and his medals were hung very messily.

There was no way. After the three liaison officers came back, Solovyov's medals were not as neat as usual, and they were all hung up again.

In the future, pins cannot be used, it is better to use bolts to hang directly.

He thought so, but the other party saw some strange things, so he also put forward conditions.

"Mr. Colonel, I still hope to negotiate with one of your generals."

"No need for any generals, I am General Kutuzov's quartermaster general, and also the aide-de-camp of our emperor, you can just talk to me."

The latter point is true, and the former one is that he took over according to the command order before Schmidt's death. There was no formal appointment, but it was still enough to bluff.

"Besides, we only have one choice now. Do you surrender or not? If you surrender, we can still let you keep your personal belongings, officers can still have private weapons, and within a year, you should not be enemies with Austria and Russia, and the wounded can also be treated. If you don't agree, then your marshal can only ask our cannons."

The captain was very upset. He didn't expect that this colonel was young, but he was so arrogant. He liked to speak with cannons like our emperor, and even more presumptuous.

Of course, the fact that he and the emperor were relatives was only known to the person who spoke, and others didn't know the connection.

The French captain had no choice but to return to Dürenstein and report the Russian conditions to Marshal Mortier.

At this time, there was no way to escape. Although the French army was accustomed to cheating, they didn't expect the Russian army to be so stubborn.

However, Motier now felt that he had bought enough time for Dupont, and although the Russian colonel was arrogant, the conditions he offered were acceptable, so he only delayed for a while and sent a military envoy to reply that he accepted the surrender conditions.

But some people have started burning military flags to prevent them from being taken by the Russians.

Motier and Gazan surrendered to the Russians here, and they did not take out all the military flags, but all the 6,000 men in this division, except for a few hundred who crossed the river and fled, were left here.

As for letting the Dupont Division escape, Soloviev didn't care. After he reported to Kutuzov, the one-eyed fat old man also didn't care. After all, more than 7,000 of the 10,000 French troops were wiped out at once, which was enough.

It was just the loss of General Schmidt and more than 3,000 Russian troops, which was indeed a bit of a loss. From the overall strategic point of view, Emperor Franz still felt the pain.

So much so that when Andrei, as Kutuzov's adjutant, went to report the battle situation to Emperor Franz, he had already run out of the Austrian court in Vienna, and also said that he failed to capture Dupont in this battle. Although it was a big victory, it was not satisfactory.

When Marshal Mortier surrendered, Soloviev had lunch with the French Marshal.

There were also General Gazan and several Russian officers here, and both sides actually ate canned food.

"How does it taste? It's made by our soldiers themselves, and there are also domestic factories."

"Ah, it's not bad to be able to eat meat during the march."

When Motier said this, he also remembered that when His Majesty the Emperor was the First Consul, he had ordered to collect similar plans, but he didn't expect that the Russians would get ahead of him.

"When I was in Paris, I heard that your Emperor had collected similar methods to preserve food for a long time, so I thought of this method. These traditional methods can be stored for several months, but you can't make too much. If you make too much, it will expire and spoil, so you have to add more salt."

"It must be very salty."

"But I still want to ask your Queen, is she from the West Indies?"

"Indeed, Queen Josephine is from Martinique."

"What a coincidence, my stepmother is also from Martinique, and it seems to be the Queen's cousin."

Motier was drinking soup, and he almost spit it out after hearing it. There are Russian officers who come to make relatives?

As for Gazan's mouth, he was surprised that he could fit a salted duck egg.

"Baron, you are not kidding, are you?"

"If you don't believe me, I would like to verify it. I have been to Martinique in the past and met my stepmother's family. She lives well in Petersburg and gave birth to three children for my father."

Well, it is indeed a bit outrageous.

But this person said it with certainty. Even if he was telling a story, there would not be such a complete logical chain.

"When I let you go back, you must send greetings to Her Majesty the Queen on behalf of our family. As a proof, you have to write a letter."