Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 325 027 Russian Army Likes Hand-to-Hand Combat

Although there is a perception that "bayonet makes a hero", Solovyov believes that at this time, it is sometimes a waste to use tall grenadiers to fight with bayonets.

The Guards' drill manual and training syllabus had changed, but the progress was far from enough and could not keep up with the impending war.

The latest order issued by War Minister Sergei Kuzmich also added the collection of tactical regulations on shooting, formations and bayonet fighting.

In fact, Solovyov was relatively good at this aspect, but no one expected that the subject he chose was not the shooting subject he had always been doing, but something related to bayonet fighting.

When he led his troops in pursuit and bayonet charge on the battlefield, he didn't feel anything at the time, because the French would generally retreat when faced with Russian bayonet charges. This was also the common practice in hand-to-hand combat of that era. The attacked party would always choose a suitable method to retreat and reorganize, and in turn suppress the opponent with shooting.

The problem the Russians encountered during the battle was the French's accurate shooting, which was used to deal with the impact of the tall Russian soldiers.

Of course, during the Italian campaign, the French were suppressed because they had the help of the Austrian skirmishers who were good at shooting from behind and the Russian army's own carefully selected light infantry.

This is also thanks to the fact that Scheerer sent away many elite troops of the Italian Legion during the Italian Campaign, and the front line was shaken, resulting in Moreau having few men available. At the same time, MacDonald had to return to his division, and then there was a total collapse, and most of the territory that Napoleon had conquered during his first expedition to Italy was sent back.

It was obvious that the two sides were fighting under unequal circumstances, and the battle that might take place in 1805 was full of uncertainties.

Solovyov expressed the same thing when he was summoned by Grand Duke Konstantin.

"How should the problems mentioned in your report be solved?"

"We need to train in hand-to-hand combat, just like the Ulan Lancers' methods of dealing with cavalry and infantry. And we also need to enable the infantry to be able to deal with nearby cavalry and infantry in small units below the battalion level, such as companies, platoons, or even squads, and engage in hand-to-hand combat."

"But you still have to emphasize shooting, Misha. Both aspects need to be considered."

Grand Duke Constantine said this, and Komarovsky beside him also spoke up: "Yes, there are many things to consider."

"In fact, Your Highness, and General Komarovsky, our shooting training, except for the chasseur squad, the number of additional shooting training for the general infantry is very limited. The situation of the grenadiers is slightly better."

Of course, the Russians' opponents and allies were in a similar situation.

But there are still other things that can be trained.

The parts that need to be adjusted and corrected have been done many times since the shooting training.

Now Solovyov has returned to focus on hand-to-hand combat. The main reason is that most of the Russian army officers are unwilling to abandon this tradition, and it has been carried on until 1945.

From now on, there will be no more rolling human waves, only "Ula" with five or six pairs of wheels.

In Solovyov's mind, theater always takes a long detour, and he needs to suppress this "divergent" thinking.

One point that needs to be mentioned now is that although bayonet charges were also popular in European armies, they were only used to drive away the enemy with bayonets, just like suppressing a mob. If it came to bayonet fighting, it was still a little bit lacking.

At this time, there is actually a need for people who live a tight life, and they like to play this.

But the distance was too far, and the shogunate was not friendly to the Russian global exploration fleet that was just passing by. The magistrate of Nagasaki even blackmailed the Russian ships.

Now, we can only work based on the materials we have.

While he was thinking this, Grand Duke Constantine continued the same topic.

"That's not what we're talking about. Now, what should we do?"

When asked this, Solovyov knew that he was asked to explain clearly that he could not dig a hole and then not fill it back.

"In the early days of line infantry fighting, I remember the Swedes still had pikemen, and the Spanish even had the 'large square', right?"

"Indeed, you mean there was something wrong with the way we fought in the past?"

"That's true, but I hope Your Highness can watch General Komarovsky and I standing here to demonstrate."

"Do you want me to show you how to fight with a bayonet? When fighting with a bayonet, being tall and strong is an advantage for you, a 'jumping soldier'."

"Of course, but my current height is not what you call a 'prancing soldier'. Moreover, for the French, when they were still in Gaul, in Carrhae."

Crassus's classic defeat, apart from the fact that his mouth was filled with molten gold, some of the Roman combat troops still showed great courage in this battle. It was entirely the commander's incompetence and arrogance that ruined the army.

"what do you want to say?"

"What those Gauls did was to die with the enemy. They knocked down the Parthian cavalry from horseback. Apparently, that's how they attacked. If we were grenadiers, we wouldn't even need bayonets to fight them. Fists might be enough."

The height of the leaping soldiers is no more than 1.6 meters, which makes them look quite funny on the battlefield, especially when they encounter the tall and strong Russian grenadiers. The height comparison is unbearable.

"But if the bayonet technique is correct, you can also come and see what the bayonet effect is like through our internal training."

Solovyov came to Konstantin's office carrying a "musical instrument box" on his back. After opening it, he saw what was inside.

"This is a wooden sword, and this is protective gear. If bamboo wasn't so hard to find in Russia, I would use a bamboo sword."

By the way, in order to let his two older sisters, Julia and Adela, have some self-defense ability, he gave this thing to her and Adela to practice against when Julia came home.

Speaking of which, Maomei's fighting power is also very strong, and Adela, the French girl, is not a pushover either. It is quite fun to see the two girls practicing against each other in protective gear, which also indirectly proves that this training method is still effective.

What he showed to Grand Duke Constantine and General Komarovsky was a set of "house props" for soldiers, not made for little girls.

"It looks good. Your Highness and I are about the same size, and you are taller than the hunter now. Is this your armor?"

"Yes, soldiers can use this for sparring. You can also add a sheath to the top of the stick to make the 'gun head' ineffective. This can also be used."

"I think this will work, Your Highness."

"I've known about his trick for a long time."

"How do you know?" Constantine was a very straightforward person. He was never like his brother the Tsar, who would tell the "secret" right away.

"In the translation manuscript this guy gave me, there is such a story, about the Khitan 700 years ago."

"Your Highness, to be precise, that is not Khitan. The real Khitan is to the north of the Song Dynasty."

"Haha, there's nothing we can do about it. It's a convention. If you edit the next edition of the Russian dictionary, you can use this. But your Russian level is not necessarily higher than the emperor's sister-in-law."

Louisa's Russian proficiency was officially certified, and she may have mastered the language even faster than the Empress.

As for Konstantin's digression, there is one thing we know, that is, the Golovkin delegation has already set off for China.

What is being mentioned here is exactly the same thing. Constantine took the translated version of "Water Margin" which was still in the manuscript stage, but given his level, he was just there to watch the fun like the average reader.

The good thing is that he probably won't be able to see the sign of surrender for the time being.

But there is one thing he said quite accurately, that is, these "Khitan bandits" are indeed a bit like Pugachev back then.

Komarovsky and Solovyov had already dressed up for this kind of sparring in the study of the Constantine Marble Palace, ready to compete in the hall.

The Marble Palace was once an important venue for Russian Federation meetings in St. Petersburg, but now it has become a scene for two senior military officers to spar.

Komarovsky didn't expect that this boy Solovyov was not only good at shooting with long and short guns, but also good at bayonet fighting.

This is purely the result of personal technical development. He is not one of those guards who have nothing to do and just go looking for trouble. Recently, due to his busy military and official duties, he tries his best to turn down literary salons and various social engagements.

As for the evidence of the result of the competition, it is that Solovyov made Komarovsky covered in white, and although he himself was not as tall or as long as Komarovsky, he was still stabbed in several places.

"It seems that there is some effect."

"Also, we need to let our soldiers participate in slaughtering pigs and set up targets in the barracks for bayonet practice."

Catching pigs is actually not that easy. If there are really 50,000 pigs, it would be quite time-consuming to catch them.

After all, pigs don't surrender, they just run away.

The combat training itself also has an outline. For the Russian army, which is already keen on "Ura" in hand-to-hand combat, many officers will definitely support it.

After all, they fought two wars every year in peacetime, one was the big brawl on Maslenitsa, and the other was the snow war in winter. The snow war that Solovyov played in Smolensk was quite different.

Regarding this, Grand Duke Constantine asked Sergei Kuzmich and summoned the commanders and heads of the regiments in St. Petersburg and Vyborg - except for the Tsar and Nicholas, these people also expressed their support.

For this purpose, Sergei Kuzmich had to submit a memorial to the Tsar to explain this hand-to-hand combat training.

After seeing it, Alexander himself quickly responded that this is the way to conduct training.

However, for the Russian army, except for the elite troops of the Guards and Grenadiers, the newly formed troops and ordinary troops will have to undergo a period of training before the final training results can be reflected.

In this regard, Solovyov was still able to play tricks. The rifles of the Guards Jagdpanzer Regiment were all designed by him.

Therefore, the bayonet with a latch is used instead of a ring bayonet. However, due to problems with the processing technology, its reliability is still relatively poor, but it can also be changed back to a ring bayonet.

This can be easily accomplished by simply requiring a gunsmith to modify the structure under the muzzle, but many legions do not maintain their firearms well, and no matter which weapon it is used for stabbing, the joints are not secure.

Grand Duke Constantine saw that most of the soldiers of the Guards had their weapons in good condition, including the bayonets.

But ordinary troops, such as the Ingria Regiment and some other musketeer regiments, did not maintain their bayonets well. There were even cases where bayonets got stuck in the scarecrows during bayonet fighting training.

But at this time, the family skills of Russian veterans such as Suvorov can be used.

When there is no bayonet, you can use the butt of the gun to hit. Some officers and sergeants who carry cold weapons can also use their swords, spears and halberds to join in the hand-to-hand combat.

Of course, such large-scale bayonet fighting training is at least very impressive.

For a time, all the nobles around the training ground, as long as they were not from a military background, felt that the Guards were disturbing the people, and that the ordinary troops were now also beginning to shout and kill on the training ground every day.

This reminded everyone that Russia was indeed preparing for war.

However, this kind of training will also become a tradition in the future. It may be considered as sharpening the sword before the battle in the battle of 1805, but it will always be useful in future wars.

Moreover, for Russian officers and soldiers, training does not have to be confined to repetitive and tedious subjects such as marching in formations and pulling gun barrels. With the addition of bayonet fighting, whether it is sparring with wooden sticks cut into the shape of rifles or using real weapons to pierce scarecrows, it always makes daily training more enriched.

However, the training that Solovyov received in the Guards Jagdpanzer Regiment focused on uniformity and standardized movements.

But other Russian combat units do a variety of things.

In fact, the most outrageous thing he had ever seen was the training demonstration of the 8th Jaegers Regiment.

After watching it, the display was left very deep in Solovyov's mind.

This is not the usual behavior of Russians at all. If you don't know, you might think this is the Indian way.
The various training subjects of Indians are quite outrageous. I have to hold my forehead after watching them.

But this is still a minority after all. Most of the Russian army's bayonet fighting standards, ordinary musketeers and jägers follow the training subjects of the Semenovsky Regiment, and grenadiers follow the methods of the General Regiment.

This makes Solovyov's regiment look quite different.

However, after seeing it, Grand Duke Constantine was very satisfied.

"Your regiment is indeed well trained, and excels in every subject. You can say that it is well prepared. However, the real test will come when we get to the battlefield."

Yes, the battlefield is the real test.

(End of this chapter)