Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 354 056 Austerlitz (V)
Napoleon's plan was to first annihilate the left-wing coalition forces, and then come back to encircle and deal with the Russian Guards who were forming a frontal formation.

He realized that these Russian troops had formed a static formation with the intention of making the French army lose their teeth.

Even during the intervals between the chasseurs' shooting, when Bernadotte regrouped his troops and prepared to continue the attack, he would encounter the Russian army's "curtain-lifting tactics".

Solovyov really used the essence of "Tubalu", but when he explained it to the veterans of the Guards before the war, he unexpectedly discovered that this tactic was used in the Russo-Turkish War. The Russian army often left gunpowder and bullets in the barrels before hand-to-hand combat, and they were also experts in this.

According to some veterans, the Turks also quickly learned this tactic, but the Turkish army had fewer firearms, and the cavalry and infantry mostly engaged in hand-to-hand combat, so the Russian army did not suffer many losses.

But later, when the Russian army became "gray cattle" during the reign of Nicholas I, this tradition was completely lost.

This time, we can see that the French army is lined up in a skirmish line and approaches the Russian position. Then, they are driven away by the Russian Guards Grenadiers in hand-to-hand combat, while enjoying the black guns of the Guards Jagdpanzers.

As a result, a stalemate on the battlefield is inevitable.

However, Napoleon had already seen that the Russian army's combat method was rather rigid, mainly because they had no cavalry, and their combat goal was to rely on their own firepower range and advantages in hand-to-hand combat to hold out, inflict heavy losses on the French army, and then turn around and use artillery to concentrate bombardment.

That is to say, the French army had an advantage in terms of the number of artillery pieces, and when the two sides were separated, they were able to make up for some of the gap.

However, as a result, a lot of artillery was deployed in front of the Pratzen Heights to suppress the Russian Guards, resulting in the weakening of the firepower on this side of the Fourth Army.

However, Soult was not without a solution. His three divisions were the main force of the French army in the center. With the cooperation of Davout, they attacked the three Russian columns from both sides.

Langgeron, who realized the disadvantage of this formation before the war, was somewhat cautious. Kamensky the Great's proactive counterattack on Plattsenberg disrupted the French deployment. Although he had to retreat due to the disadvantage in troop strength, this guy was still quite considerate. He gathered the defeated soldiers near the ice lake, thus blocking the retreat for the three columns on the left wing.

In this situation, Langgelon contacted Bookholden, hoping that he could lead the orderly retreat of the three columns and at least occupy this passage.

However, Buckholden, who had been drinking heavily the night before, was in a state of panic. He abandoned his troops and started to flee.

At this rate, it looks like the end is nigh.

Just as Langeron sent people to Buchholden, the French army had already rushed down from the Pratzen Heights.

Even if it was an infantry charge, the Russian army would be attacked from both sides, making it difficult to resist.

The unfortunate Third Column was attacked from three sides by the French army and was in chaos. However, the Russian officers and soldiers were always tenacious. From generals to soldiers, even if they were fighting alone, they would fight to the death as long as you did not disarm them.

At this time, Langgeron didn't care about so many things. He sent people to contact Dokhturov, the only one on the entire battlefield who had made some progress in the attack. He hoped that the two columns would take advantage of the opportunity when the French army encircled and annihilated the third column and quickly retreat to open a retreat route.

After waiting for Langgeron's messenger, Dokhturov knew that he would definitely not win the battle today, so he ordered his headquarters to retreat.

But at this time, even if they wanted to run away, they had to ask a guy with a glowing head.

Davout and Friant discovered that the Russian army wanted to escape, so they took the initiative to pursue them. Even if they had run out of bullets, they still held up their bayonets and acted as a motivator, in order to entangle the Russian troops who were preparing to retreat and maximize the results of the battle.

He was so proactive that Napoleon frowned after receiving the report.

Today, all the army commanders, except for the old guards who were watching from the back, fought very well, except Bernadotte who was blocked there.

"Davout and Friant did a great job. Now we can continue to encircle and annihilate these three Russian columns!"

He couldn't give any instructions to Bernadotte. The First Army had been slacking off most of the time all the way from Hanover, and now they encountered such a porcupine during the pursuit.

That’s right, Solovyov’s tactics can be said to be a kind of pig’s tactics, coupled with flexible defense, which made Bernadotte miserable.

Napoleon no longer cared about the losses of the First Army. He now targeted the three Russian columns and deployed the Grenadier Division.

"Tell Duroc to pass between the 2nd and 3rd Divisions of the 4th Army and strike the Russians from behind!"

After the grenadiers joined, the Russian army's originally orderly retreat column began to fall into chaos.

Langgeron's troops were the first to bear the brunt of the attack. He only had Orsufiev's three infantry regiments, and they had suffered heavy losses. They could not withstand the French attack. If Dokhturov, who was retreating, had not sent the Moscow Infantry Regiment to support them, all three regiments would have been killed here.

However, the unlucky ones now became the Moscow Regiment. They formed a hollow square formation to resist the French cavalry that were coming to attack, and also had to deal with the French grenadiers who were pushing forward from the front. They could not hold out for half an hour.

The commander of the Moscow Infantry Regiment was captured and the military flag was taken away, but fortunately they were not completely wiped out. After being severely damaged, the three infantry battalions escaped to the vicinity of the ice lake under the cover of the Kiev Grenadiers Regiment.

As for the Ice Lake, although it was hit by Napoleon's artillery fire, the main losses in this small pond were artillery carriages and baggage.

There were indeed Russian soldiers who fell into the water, but most of them swam ashore in winter, which actually did not play much of a role.

Under such circumstances, Soult and Davout could only be content with killing most of the Austrians, and many Russian officers were also captured.

Moreover, among the captured officers there were even the sons of the Cossack Hetman and many children of nobles, and these people had to be provided with good food and drink.

As for Andre and Tickenhausen on the Pratzen Heights, they did not die on the spot, but Tickenhausen was seriously injured. Andre's condition was better, and they were both sent to a nearby hotel.

Now Napoleon, on the Pratzen Heights, could see the entire battlefield situation clearly. Only the Russian Guards were still fighting here for the honor and the retreat of friendly forces. The rest of the coalition forces, only the troops led by Bagration and the Archduke of Liechtenstein, retreated in an orderly manner. Miloradovich still had three regiments that suffered heavy losses, and the rest of the troops were in retreat.

However, when Napoleon was about to give the order to attack the Russian Guards, he saw that the Russian army had abandoned its artillery and a large amount of baggage and was retreating.

"What are they going to do?"

This time it was not Soloviev's dirty trick, but Grand Duke Constantine saw that the situation was almost over and asked the troops to evacuate quickly. As for the remaining cannons, the shells had almost been fired, and now they had to destroy them. When retreating, the artillerymen could still ride away on horses, abandon the things on the baggage carts, and drag the injured brothers to move together.

But Solovyov in front was not willing to give in. He even wondered whether he could launch a counterattack if the French came to seize the baggage.

But when he wanted to play like this, he would need at least a few cavalry squadrons.

However, the Russian army suffered too great cavalry losses in this battle. When he formed a battle formation here, he could not find a few cavalry nearby to launch a tactical counterattack.

Therefore, he had no choice but to obey the order of Grand Duke Constantine and retreat to the Guards camp, which was the position dug out overnight by the Guards. They could rely on it to fight a battle and hold out until nightfall before withdrawing from the battlefield.

But Napoleon saw through these tricks and ordered the First Army not to pursue in a hurry.

However, Bernadotte was somewhat overwhelmed. Although not many were killed on the spot, many were wounded and several officers were captured. The eagle flags of the 54th and 95th Line Infantry Regiments were lost. If it were not for the threat from Murat's heavy cavalry and the Guards cavalry from the flank, the Russian army would not have retreated so easily.

After noticing that the Russian army had retreated to its position on the high ground north of Austerlitz, he ordered his troops to pursue them directly.

Solovyov's plan to disrupt the French army's formation by relying on the "bandit characteristics" of the French army also failed because of Bernadotte's order.

However, he somewhat hoped that the First Army would be able to bypass the abandoned Russian positions and attack the heights directly.

"Your Highness, it looks like we can still fight another battle relying on this position."

Grand Duke Constantine nodded in agreement and also issued deployment orders, asking the Cossack Guards to ensure the army's retreat and to maintain contact with Bagration in the north.

As long as he could confirm that his brother had safely left the battlefield, Grand Duke Constantine believed that his mission was accomplished.

In Russia, if the Tsar lost a battle, it was actually no big deal. The saying that he would die if he lost a battle did not exist and was a false rumor.

Moreover, when leaving St. Petersburg, domestic affairs had already been arranged. With Sergei Kuzmich guarding St. Petersburg and Prince Saltykov as regent in charge of government affairs, there would be no problems.

Bernadotte, who had been repelled once before, chased the Russian army relentlessly as soon as it returned to the camp, so that a fierce battle broke out between the two sides on the hillside, and there was even a bit of chaos.

Hand-to-hand combat broke out in many areas, and the Russian army would not necessarily choose to retreat when the opponent launched a bayonet charge.

There had been an incident before where the short French vaulters tried to charge the Russian grenadiers, but they didn't even have time to use their bayonets and were beaten back with rifle butts.

At this moment, the Russian army fought back with bayonets, which was beyond the French's expectations.

Solovyov himself also joined the hand-to-hand combat in the Guards Jagdpanzer Regiment, but his point of view was that within seven steps, the gun was still faster.

Besides, he was only at an average level in knife handling and couldn't perform knife skills like the Cossacks, so it would be more reliable to use a gun.

The Russian counterattack repelled the French army, and cheers broke out all over the mountains and plains, with everyone shouting "Ura".

The French would not attack here for a while. After this wave of bayonet charge was repelled, Bernadotte could only stare at the Russian troops on the high ground in amazement.

By nightfall, the French army had no intention of pursuing, and Constantine issued the final order for the Guards to withdraw from the battlefield.

For Napoleon, this victory can still be said to be glorious. Although the First Army suffered a series of setbacks, which made the entire battle somewhat flawed, his victory on the battlefield could be well publicized in the "Gazette of the Grand Army".

Of course, the First Army, like Trafalgar, does not exist in France.

The winners should enjoy their honor, but for the losers, the current situation is very bad.

The Tsar himself was able to safely withdraw from the battlefield only after the Guards fought desperately.

When Constantine led his entourage to catch up with the Tsar's entourage, he saw the embarrassing state of his elder brother and hid under an old oak tree wiping his tears.

The losses were indeed enormous. The coalition forces deployed 90,000 troops on the battlefield, but the battlefield losses reached as high as 40,000, so that the two emperors of the coalition forces lost the determination to fight on.

But there were also some good reasons for celebrating a funeral. Although 50 flags and 200 cannons were lost, Bagration's consecutive rearguard battles never allowed the French to gain an advantage. The Guards captured seven flags and retreated relatively intact.

Especially the 4th Line Infantry Regiment, which was defeated by the Guards Cavalry under the personal command of Grand Duke Constantine. Its honorary commander was Napoleon's elder brother Joseph Bonaparte. This incident also seemed somewhat funny.

It's like: I can't beat you, but my brother can beat your brother.
However, Konstantin's praise for Solovyov was suppressed by Alexander.

The reason is simple. After all, Solovyov expressed his opinions on behalf of Kutuzov before the war, and Langeron and Bagration also opposed this way of fighting, so they were all recorded.

The only difference is that Bagration is still more or less a Georgian prince, and because he married Alexander's cousin, he is considered a family member. He also fought very well along the way, so Alexander would not "miss" him.

But Kutuzov and Langeron would certainly fall out of favor after the war.

As for Solovyov, his output was simply off the charts, and both Dyrenstein and Austerlitz performed well, so he didn't encounter any trouble.

But there was indeed no chance of promotion. Konstantin's plan to treat Solovyov as his own, promote him to general and let him command the Semenovsky Regiment did not succeed.

Of course, the medal was still approved. Alexander's pettiness and blame-shifting were not directed at a young colonel, and he could still get a third-class Order of St. George.

However, in this way, Solovyov will not have the opportunity to get the full set of the Order of St. George, because the Order of St. George for officers cannot be counted for the next level if it is obtained by skipping a grade.

(End of this chapter)