Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 556 068  Outpost battle with the British

In the Chinese Palace in Stockholm, Bennigsen also placed his headquarters here, which is quite convenient.

However, Soloviev and Grand Duke Constantine felt that since Louisa/sister-in-law had lived here, this old guy was somewhat ignorant. Soloviev left maps and sand tables here, which was more suitable for studying battlefield conditions.

"Count, I have read your report before. The battle in Norrkoping was very good, but in the end, the enemy ran too fast and failed to achieve the goal of annihilation. But this is enough. A decisive victory will always make them clear-headed."

"If we have to fight now, it may be with the British. For example, many people in the King of England's German Corps came from Hanover."

"I am the same, I am from Hanover."

Bennigsen did not shy away from this matter. Soloviev had played for the Russians, French, Georgians and even the Dutch in the Russian army, so he naturally did not think it was strange.

This old guy is a speculator. If he can, he can sell his son for a good price. Naturally, his fellow Hanoverians are nothing to him.

Sometimes you have to compare people and goods. As a Hanoverian, Sha always has some bottom line.

As for Bennigsen, he doesn't care about that. He just wants Solovyov to defeat the British and even tells the King of England about the situation of the German Corps.

There are indeed many Hanoverian soldiers, but there are also many from Hesse. This is also simple. After all, the country is so poor that they can only sell soldiers as mercenaries and serve in Britain in the future.

Hesse has some relationship with Britain, and many people in the British army are from here.

Their biggest feature is that soldiers may fear the whip of their superiors more than death. Although the performance of such an army seems to be okay, due to training problems, it is really necessary to consider the average quality at present. It is not necessarily better than the worse army on the mainland.

Yes, I am talking about Prussia.

As for the Russian combat troops at this time, in fact, after the battle of Linköping, they have a slight advantage, but both sides have to divide their troops to garrison. The Russian army has to leave garrisons, and Sweden needs to guard against Denmark.

But the initiative is in the hands of the Russian army, even if it has snowed heavily.

". Therefore, my plan is to take advantage of the freezing season in many parts of the Baltic Sea, quickly go south, seize Kalmar, and then actively seek a decisive battle with the British."

"Your idea is good, but the climate will be relatively warm in the south, what should you do?"

"This is simple. The floating ice has not retreated yet, and the British will not come so quickly. Besides, if the landing force is too small, it will be feeding fresh meat to a wolf, and too much will make them starve themselves, which is self-destruction, which is not advisable."

Soloviev's attitude is already very firm. After listening to what he said, Bennigsen also agreed with this series of plans.

As for the subsequent southward march of the Russian army, it naturally also included these elite troops now, including the troops left by Bagration and the Guards in addition to the Finnish Division.

Grand Duke Constantine did not interfere with the command of the Russian army. Besides, the Russian army itself was divided into two routes, with roughly equal strength.

The route led by the Grand Duke had to keep an eye on the movements of the Swedish army in Jönköping. After the failure, von Essen could still concentrate part of the army in the forest area and always keep an eye on them.

At the same time, the troops led by Soloviev had to march south to Kalmar according to the original plan.

This was still based on the Finnish Division, with conscripted cavalry and infantry of the Guards.

Soloviev also learned a lesson. More infantry can always ensure the width of the battlefield. In the densely wooded terrain of Sweden, not every place is suitable for deployment.

He wanted the Guards Chasseur Regiment, and there was only one signal, that is, in the battle against the British, these Chasseurs should always be used more to fight outposts.

Of course, sometimes things would go beyond his expectations. That is, the British army was not standing still. Sir Moore led his troops northward and also assigned some Swedish troops. The total strength of both sides seemed to be similar in any battlefield.

This time, for the British, at least the British-Swedish coalition also included a lot of British troops, and the combat effectiveness would not be so poor.

As for the light infantry in the King of England's German Corps, they were at the forefront of the entire corps, marching after the light cavalry, and they were also deployed as skirmishers.

When they marched to an unknown Swedish village, they also made a fire and cooked, just to stay here.

All this attracted the attention of the royalist leader of the Guards Chasseur Corps. Even before he put down the telescope, the corners of his mouth raised a sly smile.

"The British formation is great, just right for us to fight."

"Should we send someone to report to the headquarters?"

"Of course, Count Solovyov is also my former commander. He still loves the Guards Chasseurs. If we attack rashly, although he is a tolerant person, he will nag us. You know, just like Count Langgeron, who nags us all the time."

Soloviev might even sneeze at this matter. Although he has a bad mouth, he won't say anything to his subordinates who actively seek a fight as long as they don't let the troops die for nothing.

In this atmosphere, after receiving the report from the front, he did not have any requirements, but only gave the Guards the order to start fighting.

You know, in addition to the Guards Jager Regiment, the Putin Regiment and the Semenovsky Regiment have also replaced new weapons, and can even directly line up a loose skirmish line to fight the British.

The British army actually does not have much chance of winning, although it seems that they have more infantry, and there are also the Ulster Regiment, the Gloucester Regiment and the like behind them, and the subordinate infantry battalions are all here.

If Soloviev knew about it, it would be quite funny.

The Americans have an old joke that has been used for 100 years, Custer in the Battle of the Little Bighorn River. When television became popular, this joke still existed.

And these regiments are all old friends of the Chinese people, and some will be replaced with military medals in the future.

When the battle started, the British quickly discovered the Russian army's actions, but because the Russian army's winter coats were all standard gray, and the new commander of the Guards Jager Regiment often played tricks on his hat, the British did not figure out the situation this time.

Especially after the first round of shooting by the Jagers, the Russian army generally opened up their formations, kept a distance between each person to avoid accidental injuries, and conducted free standing shooting, so the firing rate was not very fast, which made the British make a wrong judgment.

The report that Sir Moore received was just about contact with an ordinary Jager Regiment of the Russian Army.

On Solovyov's side, because the colors of the clothes of the various units in the King of England's German Legion were somewhat different from those of the general lobster soldiers, the intelligence was more accurate.

"That's great! Our commander-in-chief's fellow countryman has finally arrived! How is the battle going?"

"We just started to make contact. The weather is bad today, and the commander didn't let us use optical signals to transmit messages."

"That's right. Sometimes we need your judgment on the front line."

Soloviev also began to deploy troops at this time. Since he had the endorsement of the commander-in-chief and Grand Duke Constantine, he acted quickly.

"Karl, which unit is the closest?"

"It's the Tafred Grenadiers. They are half a mile away from the front battlefield."

"Half a mile? Can you change to a distance that Russians can understand in the future? I can understand you talking to me like this, which is about 3 versts. If it's changed to an uneducated rough man, it will be troublesome."

After all, in the Russian army, the units of measurement sometimes used in the instructions are often Russian, such as the length unit of Alshin and the unit representing the caliber of the Russian line.

Clausewitz wrote this casually today, and then he completed the conversion. After all, when Solovyov gave the order, he preferred to use the Russian system for marching distance.

"This is the current situation, Mick. If we want to mobilize troops, we can successively send four regiments to support the front line. However, if the marching of each regiment is inconsistent, it will become a "refueling tactic" as you said, which is not very effective."

"Then send the hussars to attack the discovered British light dragoons. We must move quickly now and stick to the enemy in front, and don't let them run away."

For the British army, the opponents they encountered this time are indeed more difficult, mainly because they are more accurate at long distances.

When they fought with the French before, they often knocked down some people at the beginning with a burst of firepower, but not like today, even the scattered light infantry were often hit.

As for sending light cavalry, although the British cavalry is not as bad as the Swedish cavalry, they are completely given away when they encounter these Russian hunters and become the prey of the hunters.

There were also many British soldiers who were knocked down with their horses, which made the cavalry dare not approach easily in the form of a small team.

When the battle started, when the distance was close, the Russian army even launched a bayonet charge with a skirmish line after shooting to destroy the British army's formation.

To be honest, the British who were well-trained in this kind of battle were always in a state of confusion.

They finally decided to retreat into the village. At this time, the follow-up troops of the Russian army also arrived, and the reinforcements sent by Sir Moore on the British side also approached. The two sides stopped fighting in this state and began to choose their own camps and resting places.

The British suffered heavy losses, with more than 600 casualties, while the losses on the Russian side were less than 100, which was considered a kill by the new light weapons.

Sir John Moore was good at light infantry tactics. When he saw the gunshot wounds on the wounded and some dead soldiers, he had already judged what the situation was on the Russian side.

"The cunning opponent put the elite chasseurs in front to catch us off guard. I'm afraid they are mobilizing a large group of troops to fight."

"Sir, what should we do?"

"Only the elite troops of the Russian army are equipped with the rumored new rifles. I know that there are three old regiments and a chasseur regiment of the Guards, and a grenadier regiment. If there are more, the Russian military industry cannot afford it."

Sir Moore is also thinking about countermeasures. As for the arrival of follow-up troops, he also needs to think carefully, at least to ensure that his army can retreat safely.

As for Solovyov, he knew that he had encountered the British on the front line, so he was relatively cautious.

If these people came over playing "The Great Qing Dynasty is not good", they are also well-trained line infantry.

Grand Duke Constantine usually only gave his two guards regiments to fight together. Although this time was a special case, he was given the general regiment and the hunter regiment, but he had a total of 11 infantry regiments and 7 cavalry regiments. He habitually held the reserve in his hands, so he had 3 new rifle regiments, all of which were elite troops. Generally, he only put one in the front when he deployed troops.

The Grand Duke did not comment on his approach. After all, he personally admired the French emperor from Corsica.

But Soloviev's style was more or less squatting there, making his side safer and more willing to let the enemy make mistakes.

So after inspecting the battlefield, he deployed all his troops on the reverse slope, with only the front row of the infantry line exposed, and the artillery deployed between the infantry, leaving some channels for the cavalry to attack.

If the British knew Soloviev's formation, they would probably call him an expert. Isn't this just taking our path and leaving us with nowhere to go?

Yes, Solovyov likes to defend in a crouching position, and now that the British army has also come out, he judged that Sir Moore should also take the initiative to seek a fight, so he arranged the battle like this.

As for the British side, he doesn't care.

Both sides adopted a self-centered strategy, so there is a lot of freedom, and neither of them is going for a single battle.

Even if Solovyov had won three consecutive victories before, he only beat the Swedish army to a pulp, but after returning, there were still a large number of troops, and he couldn't win in the end for a while.

After all, 20,000 people were defeated. Although there are not many Swedes, the leeks can generally recruit a similar number of soldiers to supplement.

And considering the situation in London, the British losses here are probably impossible to supplement. After all, when the Royal Navy is short of sailors, they often capture Americans to make up the numbers.

Human resources are really a difficult task under the great shortage of Britain, not to mention the advantage of the parliamentary system at this time, which is probably to argue with each other and question the front line.

Even if Wellington wins against the French, he will enjoy this treatment. It can be said that the orthodoxy of Ming is probably to lead Britain.

If he loses, the trouble will be even greater. This special system problem is also accompanied by the political system of those colonial countries that have inherited relations with Britain. It can be said to be a kind of black humor.

As for the further battle between the two sides, it depends on the fighting between Solovyov and Sir Moore. (End of this chapter)

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