Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 350 Austerlitz (I)

It was just past midnight on December 1805, 12, and the plan was unlikely to change.

Andrei was there and heard what Kutuzov said, and the old general was a defeatist counselor.

What he said was completely pessimistic, while the optimistic Solovyov was still making final arrangements for the Guards troops and even building positions to protect the southern route for the retreat of the various coalition forces.

As for the north, Bagration was on the right wing and he could control the retreat there.

But the center and left wing are more troublesome.

With the same view on the Battle of Austerlitz, Solovyov, an optimist, chose some nearby estates. Although the terrain here was not as dangerous as Dürenstein, it could block the main roads.

From the outer stone wall fence to the inner manor building, Solovyov was actually still a little worried. After all, in this not-too-big place, it was hard to say whether the wall could block the direct fire of the 6-pound cannon.

But there was still time, so he had to deploy the troops in this area, build fortifications, and even bring in a few 6-pound cannons. These cannons and artillery were left here to strengthen the camp because the Russian army had a good supply of war horses, but lost some draft horses, and could not use all the cannons.

Grand Duke Constantine was also puzzled by the construction of his camp. Although the people around Kutuzov were spreading defeatist remarks all day long, this guy worked hard and was still digging holes in the late night, which was very characteristic of him.

As for Solovyov, he had actually learned the artillery's stuff and was confirming the firing range of each gun. He also loaded tools and chatted with the artillerymen.

Of course, since he couldn't get a reliable artillery company commander like Tushen, he could only make do with the artillery company commander of the Guards.

He also has to take each gun position into consideration.

"Colonel, you want me to deploy the artillery in this place. What if the cannon is lost?"

"Don't worry about that, Captain. We have to leave these few cannons here because we are short of horses. Your goal is to protect our camp. Although there is no main camp, we still have to consider that the French are on the other side of the mountain. They are burning things over there. God knows what they are going to do. Maybe they are going to attack us, or maybe they are going to run away?"

Solovyov's attitude is very clear.

The reason why he is deploying the troops here now is indeed because the Guards are placed in the back and are not attacking on the front line.

Constantine felt a little embarrassed watching this.

His method is very retro no matter how you look at it, making it seem like the Roman camp of the past.

But never mind, this deployment of positions does make some sense, but there is no conclusion yet as to whether this battle can be won or lost.

Constantine himself was confident of victory, which was different from optimistic defeatist strategists like Solovyov.

If you are pessimistic, wait until the afternoon of December 12nd to find out what he is going to say.

At this time, many people were going back to sleep, but the French were particularly excited.

After all, their emperor was active in the military camp at this time, and the French shouting "Long live the emperor" could be heard across the Pratzen Heights all the way to Austerlitz where the Guards were stationed.

Although this battle is called the Battle of Austerlitz, it mainly revolves around the great battles that took place east of Brno and west of Austerlitz, around the Olmutz Road and the Pratzen Heights. The battle was not necessarily named after the battlefield.

As for Solovyov, who went back to sleep, he was also a little uneasy. After all, this was a very intense battle.

Even though he was not a guard who was immediately deployed to the battlefield, he was very clear that in this battle, with hundreds of thousands of troops from both sides present, no one could predict what would happen in the battle during the day.

Once on the battlefield, with so many people here, even the commander would be in great danger.

But there is no way to control such things. Although destiny is in everyone's own hands, it also depends on the course of history and must adapt to the development of any place.

After pulling out the cannons that were missing horses and building a position facing the Pratzen Heights, the deployment of the Guards was completed, and they had to wait for the daytime battle to officially begin.

But after daytime, the thick fog on the Pratzen Heights always hid some things, and if there was any cheering from the French, apart from "Long live the Emperor", it had a lot to do with the sun.

This was the battle Napoleon had always wanted to fight. A few days ago, he was worried and even wanted Talleyrand to give an explanation to Queen Josephine to avoid the impact of defeat.

But now, based on the strategic deployment and troop movements, although he is at a disadvantage in terms of military strength, he is confident.

When the sun rose, the battlefield was still shrouded in fog. The armies on both sides were now deploying their forces, and both sides began to assemble to the sound of drums and military music.

The soldiers came out from the campfire and the tents and began to line up in an orderly manner.

For junior officers and soldiers, they still have to do their best on the battlefield and establish meritorious service.

On the Russian army's side, there was no problem with the deployment of several columns, but the Fifth Column of the Allied Forces, a cavalry column commanded by the Grand Duke of Liechtenstein, was not currently deployed as they expected.

Blocking the road like this obviously went against Werosser's original arrangement, and even in terms of formation, it disrupted the overall deployment. However, several infantry columns and reserve troops acted strictly according to the deployment.

As for Kutuzov, who was on the top of Pratzen Heights, he was not in a hurry to start. In fact, his attitude was quite negative and he was unwilling to come down from the top of Pratzen Heights.

In his opinion, this high ground is very critical and will determine the success or failure of the entire battle.

He knew that when Suvorov went on the expedition, the Russian and Austrian armies joined forces, and Melas often violated Suvorov's orders and kept the Austrian army where it was.

He was thinking the same thing now, so he remained on the sidelines.

But sometimes, you can't expect to be able to control the army yourself.

In fact, Kutuzov was now only the nominal commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces, and the real "commander" was Alexander himself.

Young people are bound to be full of youthful vigor, and a young monarch like Alexander cannot avoid this kind of temper.

As some soldiers shouted "Ura", Kutuzov knew that someone was coming.

Alexander himself came here, and his problem was that he had to intervene and command at this critical moment.

After meeting Kutuzov, his problem was.

"Why don't you start yet, my general?"

Kutuzov's answer was simple.

"We are waiting, Your Majesty."

And he had to repeat it again. You have to know that Alexander's military branch was also artillery. He used to fire too many artillery shells, not because of kidney problems, which caused one ear to become deaf, so his hearing was incomplete. Kutuzov was in such an open place, surrounded by soldiers, and the cheering "Ura" was fading away, so he had to repeat it.

"Some of the troops have not yet been fully assembled, Your Majesty."

The fact is that all the Russian military orders have been conveyed, but some troops are still carrying out the final deployment and mobilization.

Of course, Alexander's attitude was quite relaxed, and he even showed care for the veteran. His tone sounded gentle: "This is not a military parade, Kutuzov. Only in a military parade do you need to wait for the troops to gather before reviewing them."

Alexander's words clearly showed that he was actively seeking a fight, and it was clearly a urging, but his attitude did not sound that strong.

However, Kutuzov's attitude at this time was still very serious. After all, war was not a joke.

"It is precisely because it is not a military parade, not a royal review, that I did not announce the start."

Upon hearing this, Alexander's expression was obviously not very good.

But it would not lead to the color of the uniforms being the same as the Russian army's uniforms.

As an old hand, Kutuzov was a clever guy who condescended to personally grind coffee for a young man like Zubov. He had a strong ability to read people's expressions.

Since Alexander's expression suddenly changed, he also had to express his opinion: "However, Your Majesty, as long as you give the order, we can start."

Although there was some reluctance in his expression, Alexander was the monarch and Kutuzov had no choice but to act according to his will.

At this time, the battle is about to begin.

However, the battle was not initially launched at the Pratzen Heights where the Fourth Column was located. While the troops here were still gathering, the First Column on the left wing of the Allied Forces had already opened fire and launched an attack on the French positions.

Dokhturov and Langeron each commanded a column and began the action. Langeron issued an order for the artillery of the second column to fire directly at the French army, and the progress seemed to be very fast.

After this round of artillery fire, the French actually abandoned some of their frontline positions and retreated a distance in the early morning fog.

This allowed the coalition forces on the left wing to start moving forward, completely leaving the ice lake behind.

When Napoleon received the report at his command post, he was not nervous but seemed very relaxed.

Obviously, the coalition's attack was exactly what he wanted. His show of weakness was also to make the coalition focus its attacking forces on this side, thereby weakening the front and trapping the supporting troops in the battle. There was no need to worry too much in this direction. The troops of Davout's Third Army were marching quickly to join the battlefield to supplement this side.

As for the front side, he is still waiting for the opportunity.

When the fog dissipates, it will be a more appropriate time.

The current deployment of the coalition forces is somewhat chaotic. Kutuzov has just started the operation, but his actions are very slow.

If we really go down from the Pratzen Heights and the French army launches an attack from the front, the situation will be very bad.

But Alexander was here, and he had issued the order to attack, so at this time he had to send the troops down.

In the thick fog at that time, the Allied forces could not see the French deployment clearly. Except for the troops fighting on the west side of the battlefield, everyone else only heard the sound of artillery fire and knew that the battle had begun.

Napoleon was observing the front from the high ground. He was always accompanied by the old guards wearing bearskin hats, but he always kept these most elite troops in his hands as the final reserve.

"It looks like it's OK. Soult, the Pratzen Heights are right there. What are you going to do?"

Surt's answer was very straightforward: "Your Majesty, we only need twenty minutes!"

Napoleon was very satisfied after hearing this, and the Fourth Army has now advanced in full force.

At the same time, Napoleon made a deployment to strengthen the front line and pulled the grenadier division commanded by Oudinot into the battlefield.

Although this force was a patchwork and had only more than 5,000 soldiers, it was very useful. Grenadiers have always been the best soldiers in the army.

If this troop charges forward, it will have some impact on the situation on the battlefield.

However, the Guards were left behind and did not join the battle.

Now Soult's forces had moved on, and the sun was higher in the sky.

As the fog dissipated, the Russian soldiers who had just come down from the Pratzen Heights discovered the French soldiers not far away from them, and were also hit by a round of premeditated shooting.

The two sides started exchanging fire at this position, and the previous thick fog was replaced by smoke caused by black gunpowder during the exchange of fire between the two sides.

However, for the soldiers in the rear, this kind of battle is also quite painful, after all, they have not yet been thrown into the battlefield.

As for the current position of the Guards, it is not bad. After all, the artillery shells have little killing effect on the reverse slope, and many troops are currently out of range, so it is relatively safe.

Solovyov was standing in front of the soldiers of the Guards Chasseur Regiment, and he was very relaxed.

"Colonel, I saw you calibrating the gun positions at night, why are you quiet now?"

"It's better when the battle starts. Well, let's sit down, brothers. There's no need for us to stand here and waste our energy."

"Sit down right there!"

Of course, his two battalions of soldiers are relatively easier to command.

As for the order received by Grand Duke Constantine, it was also to prepare the infantry regiment of the Guards Column to engage in battle, but there was no specific order.

It all depends on how the battle goes on the high ground. The current level of firepower, with guns firing from both sides, means that the exchange of fire between the Allied forces and the French army is very intense.

For others, it may be a fierce battle.

But although Solovyov looked calm, he was very uneasy inside.

After all, a person already knows the outcome based on the roughly similar deployment before the battle begins, just like a plot, so it is inevitable that this will happen.

(End of this chapter)