Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 342 044 Almost Destroyed Two French Divisions

"Schmidt is dead. This is a bit troublesome."

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

But Dokhturov was moving slowly, which was not a good thing.

Of course, Solovyov had another small problem. He could actually command the commanders on Kutuzov's wing better. Among these people was his senior brother, and they had a good relationship with each other. The right wing was full of Germans.

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

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 is based on seniority. There are not even hammock numbers and XX classes of XX military academies to determine the promotion. It is actually quite troublesome.

Moreover, von Rosen's column was moving quite slowly and had not yet reached the battlefield.

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

What he could consider was to use Austrian cavalry to attack Gazan's division's ships at dawn, completely cutting off the French army's waterway retreat, thus completely trapping the French army here.

The reason why he wanted to do this was that when he climbed up to a high place and looked out, he could see at night what seemed to be people sailing on the Danube with torches.

Seeing this problem, he could only grit his teeth and give the order to mobilize a team of 6-pound cannons.

"Major, do you have the confidence to aim at the river bank and give it a fuck?"

"That's no problem. All four guns firing at the same time will be enough for them."

Seeing the assurance from the artillery battalion commander who had followed, Solovyov ordered the artillery to fire, regardless of 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, and was definitely different from the Austrian army whose morale had plummeted.

If the Russian army launched a general offensive during the day, it would be extremely disadvantageous to the remaining French troops.

"We have lost one third of our division's strength, and we have almost used up our ammunition. It's just that the Russians didn't pursue us further because it was dark and they were worried about accidentally hurting their own people."

“But that won’t work either.”

Because the retreat was too slow and Russian artillery fire destroyed some ships during the day, the French retreat was also very difficult.

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

But for the Dupont Division, they still had a retreat route there, while at the same time, the Gazan Division also encountered a baptism of artillery fire.

Obviously, Motier had the same problem. His army had three infantry divisions and one cavalry division. The cavalry were dispersed and the two infantry divisions suffered heavy losses here.

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

The artillery on the Russian right wing still opened fire at night, giving the French army only a brief window to retreat. Such artillery firing also forced the French army to be passive and the path of 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 trapped on the north bank of the Danube.

Motier also felt a headache. The coalition's command style during the day was obviously calm and conservative. They wanted to use their military advantage to divide and surround the French army and defeat them one by one. But at this moment, the Russian attack had obviously changed its direction.

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

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

However, if Solovyov did this, he would have to leave half of his troops to rest in the rear, and he would just send troops from several regiments that did not participate in the battle to join the battle.

At this time, the French were in a very bad situation. They had no rest at night, and they were surrounded and out of ammunition and food. They were extremely tired.

And Solovyov, at this moment, still had the energy to lay down straw and blankets behind the trench, so that he could take a nap at this moment.

After all, a 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. After Schmidt's death, he dispatched troops as the commander of the right wing, and he had not had any rest that day.

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

As for getting up the next morning, even though he himself didn't want to get up, he gave orders to the Austrian officer beside him.

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

These Austrians would obey orders, but they thought it was a little strange: "What strange Russians, they always give strange orders."

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

After he lay down, he slept for several hours while listening to the cannon fire and got up again at dawn.

This night battle was also mainly fought with artillery firing at the riverbank, while the infantry approached the French army with their necks tightened like a Spanish hanging.

In the morning, when Solovyov got up when the sun rose, he lay in the grass and watched the situation of the French army through binoculars, feeling a little proud.

Because of the nighttime artillery fire, the French army's retreat was significantly slowed down. If they did not run with torches, it would be easy for their boats to capsize in the Danube. Once ignited, the Russian artillery shells would soon arrive.

Considering that the moonlight was not bright at this time, 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, bushes and stone walls to build positions, attempting to continue to resist here.

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

It was Solovyov who ordered the artillery to go up the mountain and shoot at the French infantry for a while, which thwarted Dupont's fierce offensive and prevented Dokhturov from being attacked from both sides like on the first day.

On the other hand, behind the Gazan Division, the grenadiers of the Bagration column and the artillery coming along the river bank road had already appeared.

This time, the Gazan Division was trapped in a jar. The French army was not a navy, so they could not sink with the ship, or bring Qing officers. They could surrender even if they could not win! 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.

Under such circumstances, the French army finally could not hold on under the continued attack of the Russian army and had to raise the white flag to negotiate a ceasefire.

Of course, Motier and Gazan had a plan in mind. They wanted Dupont to take advantage of the armistice negotiations and escape in the direction they came from before their backs were blocked, so as to join the remaining troops of the Eighth Army that had not yet approached.

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

"Captain, what are you doing here?"

"On behalf of our commander, I will initiate armistice negotiations with your army."

"In whose name are you surrendering?"

"In the name of Marshal Édouard Mortier, commander of the Eighth Army, and General Theodore Gazan, commander of the division, we are initiating armistice negotiations with your army."

"But to the west, there is another division of General Dupont. Note the 'pont', Captain."

Solovyov was a man of few words, and his words left the captain somewhat helpless.

"I have not received authorization to do so, Colonel."

The captain also discovered that the commander of the coalition's right wing was only a colonel, and he looked very young, and his medals were hung in a very messy manner.

There was no way around it. After the three liaison officers came back, the medals Solovyov wore were no longer as neatly arranged as usual and had to be re-hung.

Don’t use pins in the future. It’s better to use bolts to hang it directly.

He thought so, but it made the other party see something strange, so he also put forward conditions.

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

"No need for a general. I am General Kutuzov's quartermaster general and the aide-de-camp to our emperor. You can just talk to me."

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

"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 you must not be enemies with Austria and Russia for a year, and the wounded can also be treated. If you don't agree, then your marshal can only ask our cannons."

The captain was very surprised. He didn't expect that this young colonel was so arrogant and liked to talk like the emperor. He was even more outrageous.
Of course, the fact that he and the emperor were related was only known to the person who said it, and no one else knew the details.

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 did not expect the Russian army to be so stubborn.

However, Motier now felt that he had bought enough time for Dupont, and that although the Russian colonel's tone was arrogant, the conditions he offered were still acceptable. Therefore, he only delayed for a while before sending a military envoy to reply that he accepted the surrender conditions.

But some people have already started burning military flags to prevent them from being taken away by the Russian army.

Mortier and Gazan surrendered to the Russian army here, and they did not take out all the military flags, but except for a few hundred people who crossed the river and escaped, all the 6000 men of this division were surrendered here.

As for letting the Dupont Division escape, Solovyov didn't care. After he reported this 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 in one fell swoop, which was enough.

However, the loss of General Schmidt and more than 3,000 Russian troops was indeed not worth the cost. From a strategic perspective, 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. He 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, Solovyov had lunch with the French Marshal.

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

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

"Ah, it's good to be able to eat meat during the march."

When Motier said this, he also thought of the time when His Majesty the Emperor was the First Consul. He once ordered the collection of similar proposals, but he did not expect that the Russians would get there first.

"When I was in Paris, I heard that your emperor had collected similar methods to preserve food for a long time, so I came up with this idea. 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. You have to add more salt."

“That must be very salty.”

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

"Indeed, Queen Josephine was from Martinique."

"What a coincidence! My stepmother is also from Martinique and seems to be the Queen's cousin."

Motier was drinking soup and he almost spit it out when he heard this. There was a Russian officer here who came to claim to be a relative?
As for Jiazan's mouth, it was surprisingly big enough to fit a salted duck egg.

"Baron, you are kidding, right?"

"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 St. Petersburg and gave birth to three children for my father."

Well, it’s indeed a bit outrageous.

But this person said this with certainty. Even if he was just telling a story, there wouldn't be such a complete logical chain.

"When we let you go, you must send greetings to Her Majesty the Queen on behalf of our family. You must also write a letter as proof."

(End of this chapter)