Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Since the road was destroyed, Napoleon could indeed sense that the current situation of the Russian army was different.

He could even judge that Langeron was just more familiar with the various tactics of the French army. He had done both sides from the Bourbon army to the Republic period, so he was familiar with it.

But the Russian army was able to maneuver so quickly and deploy defenses in this village called Yankovo ​​by the Poles and Yankendorf by the Prussians. This staff work and mobility were more like the Russian army's expedition to Italy in 1799.

Of course, compared with Suvorov's rapid mobility, there is still some gap. In addition to the current cold environment and the fact that the Russian army always carries a lot of baggage, it is indeed impossible to achieve the effect in Italy.

However, when the French army was operating, they even began to lack material supplies. The current food supply was only at the minimum. Under such circumstances, the efficiency of the French army's operations was actually greatly reduced.

Now that they finally encountered a Russian army, Napoleon naturally had to fight.

What he didn't expect was that the middle of the two undamaged bridges on the Aare River exploded with a deafening explosion just after the battle began.

"Your Majesty, the Russians have blown up another bridge."

"They are really capable. If this Russian army does not cross the Aare River, where will they retreat to?"

Before Napoleon heard the report from the messenger, he roughly knew the direction of the explosion just by looking at it.

"Your Majesty, if the Russian army does not advance through the Aare River, they can only maneuver through the northwest road."

"Berthier, now it depends on whether Soult and Murat can achieve their goal."

Kamensky blew up a bridge as soon as possible, which also forced the French army to advance northward and go a longer way to seize a bridge. In Poland in February, although the river was frozen, it was okay for a few people to walk. If more people walked, it might not be a way to survive.

Therefore, when Saint-Hilaire and Lasalle launched the frontal attack, the flanking troops did not cross the river on the ice, but went back to the forest in the north, trying to cross the river from there.

On the Russian side, at this stage of the exchange of fire between the two sides, the artillery fire was directed at the infantry, so they continued to fire.

Considering the current situation, Kamensky was not afraid of the loss of artillery and the consumption of ammunition. According to the latest regulations of the Russian army, there was no need to bear too much inappropriate responsibility for the artillery lost in the battle. During the rearguard battle and retreat, these artillery could be used to bombard the French army.

Anyway, as long as the artillery could run away, cover the main force to complete the retreat, and interfere with the next move of the French army, it would be considered a completed mission.

For Soult, this attack was indeed very bad. His experience of being captured in Italy made him unwilling to be on the front line, but under this roundabout tactic, he believed that he could seize the bridge here and destroy this Russian army.

However, the roundabout Reval and Legrand saw the Russian army waiting in full battle array at the bridgehead. Although the number of troops was not large, the firepower intensity was very high.

Several artillery companies of the Prussian army also joined the division of Kamensky the Younger. They had some relatively bulky old-fashioned 12-pound guns, which played a role in this place, but it was also appropriate.

After all, the range and power of the shotgun shells fired by the 12-pound guns were still very impressive.

Under the breeze-like grapeshot shooting, the French army had to give up the strong attack, dragging artillery from behind, and honestly passed the position of the Ryazan regiment.

The French army had no choice but to fight in accordance with the "rules" of the war, after all, it was such a narrow road.

As for their desire to seize the bridge, Lieutenant Colonel Benzer would not give them a chance. When the count saw that the French army's marching column behind was not short, he knew that it would be difficult for this enemy to defend with just one regiment.

So, he followed the method he had heard from the veterans who had participated in the Italian expedition, learned from the French experience, arranged artillery in stages, and attacked the French army in depth.

At the same time, he also asked the engineers to light the fuse and destroy the bridge.

For the French army, they continued to attack the bridgehead after the first round of attack was frustrated.

It looked good. The Russian army finally gave up the east bank of the Aare River under the bayonet attack of the front-line French infantry, and even the Russian army on the west bank of the Aare River was "shaken".

However, this was just an appearance.

The fuse of the Russian engineers was set very long, which was also to lure the French into a trap.

At this time, considering the overall situation of the battlefield, even if there was a trap on the bridge, the French army would rush over.

Then, there was a loud noise close to the previous explosion.

Some French soldiers successfully flew into the sky without a hot air balloon.

This was a killing spree by the Russian Empire. Napoleon was furious when he learned that another bridge had been destroyed.

He ordered the artillery to set up artillery on the other side of the Aare River to fire at the Russian positions, and also ordered Soult to attack from the front.

However, during the attack from the afternoon to dusk, the French army was always frustrated and was stuck in the second line of the Russian army.

Such delay actually gave Kamensky some opportunities. He had to obey Bagration's order at night, leave Yankovo, retreat northwest from here, look for an opportunity to join Markov, and then find Bagration. Gradion.

They have to complete a detour on the battlefield, and when the main force of the Russian army appears, that is the time for them to escape.

Napoleon was indeed angry at these little tricks.

"We actually captured only half of the bridge on the Aare River, and the rest were blown up by the Russians. If this is the case, we can only maneuver to both sides from Ellenstein. To Sirte Continue to pursue this Russian army, whether it is the main force or the rear guard, we must continue to pursue it.”

"Your Majesty, where should we find the main force of the Russian army?"

"The Russians must have divided their forces into two groups. We wanted Sirte to pursue from the northwest. The strength of the Fourth Army was always relatively large, allowing the Russians to judge that we had taken the bait. Then our main force moved toward the northeast, but The main force should not go through these lake areas, but go behind them. "

Napoleon obviously got excited here when the Russian army was "playing tricks".

Davout has already crossed the river. In addition, the Guards, Ney's Sixth Army, and Augereau's Seventh Army will also go from here to the east bank of the Aare River, with the cavalry corps advancing first.

Obviously, Napoleon wanted to use part of the light cavalry to conduct reconnaissance in front to find out the movements of the Russian army.

Such a small-scale cavalry battle may not be interrupted, and it may even interfere with the judgment of the Russian military headquarters.

Langeron and Solovyov soon became troubled by Napoleon's methods.

"It is no longer clear from which side Bonaparte's main force came."

Langeron said this because some of the scouts of the Russian army still had the habit of exaggerating the enemy's situation.

Soult's army was already large in size, and was accompanied by Lassalle's hussars and Grouchy's dragoons. Therefore, it was not possible to accurately judge the extent of the French troops attracted by Kamensky. What is the scale?

When attracting monsters, you have to watch the opponent's movements to some extent, but due to limited conditions, Solovyov's little trick allowed Napoleon to divide his troops.

There is a battle in Poland. On the one hand, the troops must be dispersed to collect supplies, and on the other hand, the troops must be gathered before the battle begins.

If one is not careful, it may turn into a battle of fuel tactics.

The fourth anti-French alliance battle that left a deep impression on Solovyov was undoubtedly the bloody Battle of Eylau. He did not believe that it would be beneficial to the Russian army to conduct a battle at this time. Instead, he should carry out further consumption and lure the French army. Close to the Russian border.

He expected that Napoleon might not be able to catch him in his series of attacks in the east and west, and that he would even have countermeasures, so he was very cautious.

At the Russian temporary command headquarters in Frankovo, thanks to the clear weather these days, the Russian army's optical communications during the day are also extremely frequent. It is possible to figure out the movements of the French army in some areas, and it is also easier for troops to gather.

"It seems that the 14th Division has broken away from the French army, Michel. But what I'm worried about is that Bonaparte is really coming towards us. He himself is good at strategic maneuvers. If he marches quickly and detours back to our flank, What should we do?"

"We are resting here for the next action. Barclay has arrived at Hof and has set up a position there."

"You have to consider a problem. If we are marching all the time during the movement instead of fighting, our officers and soldiers will complain."

"I know this, but in order to win the final victory, we naturally have to move and fight. When the enemy is partial and the terrain is favorable to us, we can fight. If the terrain is not favorable to us, then we need to abandon this place."

Solovyov has seen the terrain in Frankovo ​​many times. Although it is a small village, for the French army, if they can have a room to live in during the march, it will be a very comfortable environment.

During the march, these French troops often gathered around campfires without tents.

Solovyov took this point in mind and moved all the residents of Francovo to vacate the houses here.

He didn't expect the enemy to be fooled. The lakes and forests in the south cut off the roads in this area.

There should not be such a stupid person. After he set fire to the town of Jeziorany, he saw the movement of the Russian army from this direction and pursued him.

"Don't you still believe that the French would fall into this trap?"

"I hope they won't be fooled. Taking this opportunity, we can continue to maneuver, join Bagration's column as early as possible, and seize a favorable terrain ahead of the French."

"I don't believe they will fall for it, but if they do come in, I really have to have a good fight with them."

The idea of ​​​​Langeron and Solovyov is indeed to fight if they can, and run if they can't. This will indeed be very uncomfortable when the French army pursues them.

The current high-intensity operations between the two armies even made Napoleon, who was familiar with Plutarch's works, think of the series of operations performed by Caesar and Pompey before Pharsalus during the Roman Civil War.

As for himself, after sending scouts to scout the movements of the Russian army in a series of places in the northeast, he was also worried about Frankovo, because the villagers and supplies in many villages along the way were also taken away by the Russian army.

This is East Prussia after all, and it is considered the territory of Russia's allies. It is sparsely populated here, and the Russian army's actions have indeed made the French army miserable.

So when the Third Army led by Davout took the main road to pursue, this army had always had strict military discipline in the past, and it was inevitable that there would be some complaints.

As for Davout's marching direction, after receiving the order, he asked a regiment of hussars to move around Jeziorany. After seeing that the houses here were burned down, he gave up the idea of ​​marching from the front, which seemed more dangerous.

His choice was not wrong, and it also reminded Murat, Ney and Augereau who followed up, and he led the Third Army to detour from the east side of the lake and then march north.

This road was well chosen, and if the follow-up troops followed his path, the Russian army would have to give up the plan to ambush in Frankovo ​​and retreat north to Bartoszyce, which is considered the main road to retreat to East Prussia.

However, after Davout passed by here, Ney followed him and followed behind.

But when it came to the cavalry commander Murat, they could not convince him, and Napoleon himself had to make some micro-management.

After looking at the terrain, Murat disagreed and thought that he could march north from this area, which could shorten the time and join Davout's troops earlier.

So Murat decided to lead the cavalry army to this side, accompanied by Augereau's Seventh Army.

Napoleon and the Guards walked at the back, but he was always paying attention to the battlefield situation.

After Soult pursued Kamensky the Younger, he also found something wrong. The Russian army actually had only two divisions in this direction, and had been luring him to the northwest, deviating from the marching route of the corps.

For this reason, Soult contacted Bernadotte and asked him to cooperate in pursuing the Bagration column when he approached his direction, so that the speed of this Russian army joining the main force would slow down.

His own approach was to choose to advance to Gorovo after the pursuit broke off on the first day.

Langeron and Solovyov were squatting in Frankovo ​​at this time, which was a bit arrogant, but the advantage for the Russian army was that the two groups were obviously far away and it was unlikely to form a siege.

Even if the French army really cut off the Russian army's retreat, the Bagration column and the Prussian army commanded by Lestock were also in the west, but Soult's Fourth Army was isolated, making it easier for the main force of the Russian army to break out from here.