Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 410 052: The Prussian Army Looks Fierce, but Actually It's Sending Them to Death (Part )

The troops commanded by Louis Ferdinand advanced slowly forward after crossing the Thuringian Mountains. The reason was simple. The speed of the Prussian baggage train, even if it was accompanied by the baggage of a division-level column, the food, ammunition and supplies collected along the way, would slow down the marching speed of the troops.

So the prince had no choice but to lead a light cavalry unit to conduct reconnaissance in the Fulda area.

But what they saw along the way, when they arrived in the city of Fulda, the locals opened the windows and shouted "Go back" at them, which made Prince Louis Ferdinand feel highly alert.

"We should send a small team to explore the south, especially the area around the Fulda River."

As for the Highlands, the prince planned to take a squadron of cavalry to take a look.

His vigilance came a little late. If he had sent out an outpost before reaching Fulda, he might have learned more intelligence.

When the Prussian cavalry squad at the outpost reached the bank of the Fulda River, they saw that French hussars were already active there.

Louis Ferdinand himself saw the same thing through a telescope from the heights.

"Fortunately, the ones who came here are only hussars, but with the Fulda River between us, we don't have to worry about them coming directly over."

"But your highness, you must also pay attention to the fact that the French arrived here before us. Even if our infantry is right behind us, we need to be cautious when facing the French."

"Our commander-in-chief is too cautious. The main French force is probably even further away from here!"

Louis Ferdinand's estimate was correct. The main French force was indeed still lagging behind, but it would take some time to reach Fulda.

He therefore decided to advance his column rapidly, and without waiting for any instructions from the Duke of Brunswick and Hohenlohe, he ordered the infantry columns to speed up their march.

The Prussian army was closer, but their ammunition trucks were still on the road, and the bullets they carried were not enough to fight the French.

In the past, the Prussian army often ran out of ammunition very quickly during battles!

Louis Ferdinand's idea was simply to seize the initiative, organize the possible actions of the French army on the north bank of the Fulda River, and use Fulda as the Prussian army's forward base.

It's just that he overestimated his own strength and underestimated the enemy.

On the south bank of the Fulda River, the French 10th Hussars also discovered the activities of the Prussians in black on the north bank.

Lannes, who was leading his troops towards Fulda, soon received the report from the Hussars.

So he decided to speed up the march of his troops towards Fulda.

It's just that the messenger encountered some minor problems on the way. The road taken by the messenger heading to Division Xuche was more difficult to travel, so he arrived a little slower.

The Gazan Division obviously received the order faster, and the road they were taking did not become muddy due to the autumn rain. It can only be said that the German princes were quite concerned about the roads in their own territories. Moreover, this area had been less ravaged by war in the past, so it was more convenient to move around.

Under such circumstances, Jiazan called all the brigade commanders and regiment commanders to discuss countermeasures.

"Now we should follow orders and quickly advance towards the Fulda River. The Prussian light cavalry has already appeared on the north bank. Given their marching speed, the follow-up troops should not be very far away. In this case, we need to speed up our march."

"You tell me what to do, General. We suffered at the hands of the Russians and Austrians in Dürenstein, and this time we brothers are determined to get revenge on the Prussians."

"Then you will obey my orders. The two light infantry regiments of the Grandorge Brigade will set out immediately and must reach the banks of the Fulda River at dusk. As for the two regiments of the Campana Brigade, they will set out later. The 12-pounders and howitzers will be at the end of the team, and the 3-pounders and 6-pounders will follow the light infantry."

"If we run into the French when we get there, we won't have to suffer at the hands of the artillery, right?"

"The Hussar brothers are already active near Fulda. We must hurry up. If we are late and the Prussians occupy the high ground and the river bank, we will suffer!"

The officers on Gazan's side were all geared up and ready to fight a big battle in the ensuing battle.

Especially Gazan himself, who became a prisoner of the Allied forces in the Battle of Dürenstein. Because of his proper command, His Majesty the Emperor did not punish him at all, but reinstated him to his original post and returned to command the Second Division of the Fifth Army. Under such trust, he naturally worked even harder.

This was a good opportunity. After receiving the order, the Gazan Division advanced quickly. They marched very fast and used drums and military bands to encourage themselves along the way. In the end, they arrived at the south bank of the Fulda River ahead of Suchet Division.

At this time, Louis Ferdinand of the Prussian army on the north bank knew that speed was of the essence in war, but the marching speed of the Prussian army and the daily training subjects delayed his plan to some extent.

When the Prussian prince saw the French soldiers approaching in gray coats and blue uniforms underneath, he secretly felt something was wrong.

However, the French army reached the south bank of the Fulda River before nightfall. According to information obtained from the light cavalry reconnaissance, the French army should have only one division of troops along the way, which was at most comparable to their own strength.

But the French have always fought with light infantry and line infantry, with little difference in tactics, so Louis Ferdinand also required the infantry that had arrived to get into their respective positions in advance before resting at night.

There was no way around it. This was also a Prussian characteristic. As for night battles, the young prince knew very well that it was not something his vanguard troops, which were mixed with the Saxon army, could do.

As for the intelligence of encountering the French army on the Fulda River, he immediately reported it to Prince Hohenlohe. After all, the old man was his direct superior, and he did not overstep his authority to report directly to the Duke of Brunswick.

But on Prince Hohenlohe's side, there were serious flaws in the staff work.

Although Colonel Meisenbach liked to argue with Scharnhorst, he immediately reported to the Duke of Brunswick after receiving the intelligence. However, his flustered staff not only failed to mobilize the troops scattered around Weimar, but also did not send a messenger officer to the Duke of Brunswick to convey this important intelligence.

At the same time, in the headquarters of the Duke of Brunswick, although Scharnhorst led a group of rookie staff officers, the work was in an orderly manner. Although these young officers had little experience, under the leadership of Old Scharnhorst, they still managed to maintain the operation of the headquarters. For the Duke of Brunswick, he was still very confident that Prince Louis Ferdinand would be able to reach Fulda smoothly, but he was not clear about the movements of the French army. At the same time, the Hohenlohe Corps was still active in the east, and his only worry was that this guy would make decisions and take some actions without authorization.

But sometimes it makes people feel that they are defenseless. Mesenbacher's mind is working at a high speed, and these old staff officers who are slacking off can't even pass on any intelligence.

A court attendant from the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar came on Pegasus from Weimar, reporting intelligence that French troops had been spotted active in the Jena area.

"Why is there no movement in Hohenlohe?"

"I think Meisenbach will arrange a courier, Commander-in-Chief, you should rest."

"I know, Gerhard, but the headquarters in Hohenlohe did not report the French movement in the Jena direction. If something goes wrong at this time, it will threaten the safety of the entire army."

Even the Duke of Brunswick was a little worried. If he withdrew Prince Louis Ferdinand's advance division from Hohenlohe's troops, there would definitely be problems with this command structure.

In this situation, he sent an adjutant and several light cavalrymen to the Prussian military base in Fulda that night.

At this time, Louis Ferdinand also realized his mistake, but compared with the chaos on Meissenbach's side, it was already a not-so-small mistake.

The Duke of Brunswick's adjutant came here to understand the situation. He was knowledgeable and confident about this issue.

"Please rest assured, Commander-in-Chief. The French army we have detected so far is one division, and more troops will arrive later. We are confident that we can win this battle in Fulda. We hope that the Commander-in-Chief can send troops to provide support in a timely manner."

"Your Highness, I will convey your confidence to the commander-in-chief. But for now, please be careful in the battle. Chief of Staff Scharnhorst has received intelligence that the French are active in the direction of Jena. At this time, the entire army may change its operational objectives, and then you will serve as the rear guard of the entire corps."

Rear-guard battles have always been difficult to fight. No one questioned Bagration's promotion to lieutenant general. In every battle, he served as the vanguard when we won, and led the troops to the rear when we lost. Regardless of his qualifications, it was difficult to find any problems with him.

"Then please rest assured, Commander-in-Chief. As the advance troops, we will definitely ensure the safety of the rear of the main army."

But we should also note how many French troops came the next day.

In fact, the combat effectiveness of Louis Ferdinand's troops cannot be said to be strong. The reason is that in addition to the four battalions of the Saxon Army, he also had five flintlock battalions and one chasseur battalion of the Prussian Army. Although there were also Saxons in the 18 hussar squadrons, the combat effectiveness of these hussars in Germany was still good.

In addition to the troops of Lannes' Fifth Army that had already arrived, he also had to face the Marchand Division and a Hussar Regiment of Ney's Sixth Army that came running in from the small road on the east.

However, neither the French nor the Prussian armies knew the movements of this force. Lannes was also observing the situation of the Prussian army on the other side and was not in a hurry to attack.

After all, the task Napoleon gave him was to delay the main force of the Prussian army so that they could not return to Weimar for support in time.

Therefore, he and Ney were required to take the initiative to move closer to the Fulda River, but Augereau's Seventh Army was withdrawn, leaving only these two armies to advance the main force of the Prussian army.

However, the Prussian army's marching speed meant that Prince Louis Ferdinand, who served as the vanguard, arrived at the north bank of the Fulda River as expected. The two sides were facing each other across the river, and if they wanted to launch an attack, they both needed to be cautious.

Lannes thought about it and finally ordered Gazan to fire first and prepare to launch an offensive. At the same time, he ordered Suchet to launch an operation from downstream to drive out the Prussian Muvrin Infantry Regiment that had already crossed the river.

Fortunately, the Fulda River is not very wide, and there are shallows in some places. It is also the dry season now, so even if it rains, it will not bring too much water.

The good news is that this is not a pebbled riverbed like the Trebbia River.

The bad news is that since this is a river where boats often pass, the riverbed has been cleaned and it is not very easy to navigate.

In this situation, the infantry of Gazan's division had to cross the river to attack while facing Prussian artillery fire.

Fortunately, in order to march quickly, Gazan only placed two 2-pound guns and two howitzers at the end of the team. Now he still has some 12-pound guns and 2-pound guns available, which can be concentrated to bombard the Prussian troops on the opposite bank.

The artillery of the Prussian Army was dispersed among two brigades. Opposite Gazan, von Pellet, a 64-year-old veteran, had been an infantryman for a long time. How could he understand artillery?
His 6-pound cannons were not enough to suppress the French army, and one of his cannons was damaged by a cannonball.

Although the battle to cross the river was extremely difficult for the Gazan Division, the French soldiers were always very proactive and they even opened fire on the Prussian army's intensive fire from the opposite side while on the move.

Of course, the Prussians arranged their infantry so densely that if the French fired solid bullets at them, they would be hit by blood and flesh flying everywhere, and a large number of people would be knocked down.

That is, von Pellet's brigade was composed entirely of the Prussian Army's flintlock regiments. These troops had some honor in the past, and they were well trained in their daily lives, so they were able to fire at a very high rate of fire. For a while, they were able to hold on to the river bank and were not defeated as soon as they came up.

The situation on the battlefield was still relatively balanced at this time, but Prince Louis Ferdinand was also in trouble as he had no support from the rear.

The Duke of Brunswick was apparently preparing to retreat, so his advance team actually became the rear guard.

The French army was also increasing in number and had more troops than his.

When the easternmost French troops appeared on the banks of the Fulda River, the young prince was still able to remain calm, but many soldiers and officers had already become shaken.

In this situation, Louis Ferdinand had no choice but to place the flintlock regiment in his hands on the high ground and adopt a defensive position in conjunction with the artillery on both sides.

He still had to resist. If he continued to fight like this on the Fulda River, he would be overwhelmed by the French army in half a day, and it was obvious that the mission would not be accomplished.

His choice was to fight and retreat, but whether the French would give him this opportunity and whether his soldiers had the ability to do so were all questions.

(End of this chapter)