Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 414 056 Napoleon's Fast Road to Berlin (Part ) Battle of the Sauerkraut Field

When Blücher made his deployment, Napoleon was in Weimar. After all, the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar was also a relative of Russia. Before Russia officially joined the war, he did not take any action here to "anger" Alexander.

Essentially, Napoleon still wanted to deal with his enemies one by one, rather than all at once.

As long as the British are across the English Channel and Britain remains hostile to France, this attempt to find allies across Europe to form an anti-French alliance will not stop.

But there was no suitable means to contain the British.

Of course, to solve this problem, we must first defeat the enemy in front of us before we can take the next stage of measures.

"The Prussians are moving. What are they going to do?"

"Your Majesty, it seems that their goal is to move the entire army in front of us, rather than to engage in a battle."

"The Duke of Brunswick wants to bring all the Prussian troops to Berlin. He is now using Fabian tactics and will not engage in a large-scale battle with us. At the same time, he also wants to ensure that he still has a certain amount of strength in his hands."

As he said this, Napoleon was holding a chicken leg in his hand. After arriving in Weimar, he was finally able to eat chicken.

"Then we can't let him have his way. Berthier, what is the current movement of the Prussian army, apart from the corps in Erfurt?"

"This morning, the vanguard of the Prussians has entered Krautheim, with a considerable number of hussars."

"What? Sauerkraut fields? These Germans don't look so humorous, but this place is indeed appropriate. Germans, sauerkraut... No, we must stop them now. The Prussians obviously hope to use this village to cover the retreat of his large army. At the same time, leave Luchel's Corps in Erfurt to threaten our flank. It's a good idea, but it's difficult for the Prussians to execute it because their actions are too rigid."

"Your Majesty, how should the order be given?"

"Soult and Augereau, both of them, are to march towards the sauerkraut, and the Guards will follow. At the same time, Murat will send out both the cuirassiers and the dragoons. The cuirassiers will be commanded by Nansouty, and the dragoons by Grouchy. They will intercept the Prussians on the east side of the sauerkraut. After that, Bernadotte will advance westward, and Davout will make a detour on the westernmost side."

"And what about the enemies in Erfurt?"

"Just leave one division to keep an eye on them. We have to let these Prussians know that running away is meaningless. They can only fight us here!"

Napoleon acted quickly. In fact, by the time he entered the city of Weimar, the idea had probably already taken shape. Whether the Prussian army wanted to fight or run, they had to pass through this open terrain. Although this place was flat, there were also many forests, ponds and lakes. Not all places were suitable for the army to advance.

The Duke of Brunswick was also desperate and tried every possible means, and his troops moved slower than the French. Apart from Blücher and von Arnim of the reserve who arrived at the designated area on time, only the Duke of Brunswick's headquarters and part of the army approached Krautheim.

Also, there is their King.

Frederick William III was now completely panicked. After a series of failures, the Prussian army seemed to have more than 100,000 troops that could be mobilized to fight the French head-on before the war, but now it quickly lost 40,000 troops.

Moreover, he did not know the situation on Louis Ferdinand's side. It was only through the liaison officer sent by the Duke of Brunswick that he returned to the headquarters and learned that there was even a French troop that was crossing the Thuringian Mountains and heading towards Erfurt.

In other words, there are two French armies behind them. No matter how you look at it, they have no choice but to run away at this time.

"Sir, what should we do now?"

The Duke of Brunswick could do nothing when he saw him like this.

It would be better for the King of Prussia to run straight back to Berlin than to command the army.

But if something happens, it’s best not to happen.

"Your Majesty, at this time, we need to gather our troops. Blücher has entered Krautheim, and his advance division will ensure the safety of the entire corps' flank. However, if the French attack us, we will have no choice but to fight here."

"Fighting on the plains?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. Right here, some of our officers were arrogant before the war and believed that the French were vulnerable. These clowns have now obviously brought our army to the edge of the cliff. We can only find a way to retreat from here."

The Duke of Brunswick had made it very clear before that Hohenlohe should not rush into battle when encountering the French army. As a result, this guy lost 40,000 people in a day and a half, which indeed set a record for the Prussian army's defeat.

At this moment, there is no choice but to rush forward.

However, for him, it seemed to be a destiny.

In the woods near Krautheim, the French army quickly discovered the Prussian actions after advancing, so Soult ordered his troops to drag up the cannons, then aimed at the Prussian marching column in front and began to fire shells.

When the Prussians were attacked by this round of shells, most of the shells fell into the woods behind them, destroying more trees than killing more soldiers.

In this way, the Prussian soldiers changed their formation, formed three rows on the spot, put down their backpacks, and started fighting with the French army.

When the Duke of Brunswick saw this situation, he knew that the courage of the soldiers at this moment was the key to determining victory or defeat, so he led his staff to approach the Prussian column in front, hoping to inspire these soldiers to fight bravely.

At first, the Prussian soldiers were indeed encouraged when they saw the elderly commander-in-chief riding his horse and coming up behind them, and the French attack was thwarted for a time.

Suchet and Ghazin each commanded a division to attack, but with little success, and even the Prussian soldiers now fired more boldly, not as cautiously as they had in previous battles.

After all, now is the time to fight to the death. The soldiers are not afraid of death and dare to make correct shooting movements. Indeed, no unlucky guy is shot in the head by his own people.

There were even Prussian soldiers who used their shoulders as gun racks for their comrades. Although the continuous firing caused tinnitus from the explosion of black powder, it also improved the shooting efficiency of the soldiers in the back row.

This way no one will be shot in the head, but the soldiers in the front row will suffer more.

But that was where the French ended up. After pulling up their howitzers, they began firing these unreliable grenades at the Prussian crowd.

If the grenade hits you without exploding, just treat it as a solid bullet; if it explodes, the lethality will be even greater.

It was at this time that the Duke of Brunswick was hit by shrapnel from the explosion and fell off his horse.

After seeing the commander-in-chief fall, the Prussian army was in chaos.

Unfortunately, Scharnhorst was sent by the Duke of Brunswick to assist in commanding the battle of the 3rd Division. None of the staff officers left by the old duke had the ability to command, nor were they as quick-witted as Moreau.

After the fall of the Duke of Brunswick, they simply fulfilled their duty and took the elderly commander-in-chief to a safe place in the rear.

The nearby Prussian army saw this situation, and although their morale had just been boosted, it had returned to normal. Meanwhile, the French army launched another attack.

After Augereau's Seventh Army arrived, while Soult attacked the Prussian army west of the "Sauerkraut Fields", he launched an attack on the village controlled by Blücher.

It is true that Blücher is an older and more reckless man, but he is also famous for his fearlessness in battle, and he actually rode his horse himself and led his hussars to launch an attack.

You know, this old man is 64 years old this year. Although his brain is not very smart, his personal strength and courage are there, and he caused a lot of trouble to Augereau for a while.

This forced the French soldiers of the Seventh Army to form a hollow square formation. Those who did not have time to form a formation formed a smaller anti-cavalry formation, relying on each other to deal with the charging Prussian Hussars.

Although Blücher's attack was somewhat brainless, it disrupted the rhythm of the French army.

Napoleon was on the mountain north of Weimar at this time and could see the situation ahead.

"It looks like the Prussians are trying desperately to escape from this 'sauerkraut farm' today. But it's a good thing this way. They can resist here, and we don't need to go to Berlin to destroy them."

"Your Majesty, the Cuirassiers have arrived at the battlefield, and General Nansuti is over there."

The adjutant who came back to report pointed to the northeast direction to Napoleon, but the distance was already very far and it was difficult for Napoleon to see clearly.

"Let Nansouty launch the attack, and Grouchy's dragoons be ready to throw themselves at the sauerkraut."

"But there are Germans everywhere, your majesty."

"It's not 'Kraut'. The place where the Prussians are stationed is called Krautheim. Isn't that sauerkraut?"

"I see, Your Majesty, it's the Kraut's sauerkraut head!"

Nansouty's division of cuirassiers was the only one that immediately went into battle.

It was still difficult for Blücher's hussars to deal with the cuirassiers, especially since the French cuirassiers were well-equipped and had strong impact power.

As a result, Blücher was forced to bring the Hussars back to the north of the village and try to use infantry and artillery to deal with the approaching Nansouty.

Both sides were experts in using cavalry, but since there was no hiding place around the village, Blücher deployed his infantry to attack. However, Nansouty would not pay any attention to him and just led his cuirassiers to bypass the Prussian army.

The Duke of Brunswick originally wanted to let Blücher, who was more determined in fighting, to delay the French army, and then let the main force escape from the north of Krautheim.

However, the French army's detour exposed the retreating Prussian troops to French sabers, and the order of the marching column was soon disrupted.

Unlike the troops led by the Duke of Brunswick and Blücher who were able to resist for a while, the morale of these Prussian troops was obviously low, and many of them were captured by the French.

As for the gap created by Nansouty, Napoleon was also very satisfied after receiving the report.

However, he still kept the Guards in his hands. No matter how Bessières asked for battle, Napoleon would not touch a battalion of the Guards.

This also made the old guards start sitting on the ground and complaining again.

"Our young platoon leader won't let us go to the battle again. We are already in the German's sauerkraut field, and they still want us to wait here. In my opinion, the Germans will definitely be chased by those little pups of the Tengbing Soldiers again."

"Don't talk about this for now, you old man. When he comes over again, we'll do the same as before and shout 'Long Live the Emperor' to him. If the young platoon leader is happy, who knows, he might even let us go up and fight the Germans!"

However, these "complaining soldiers" had good ideas, but Napoleon had no intention of letting them go up at all. Instead, he wanted to pull up the Guards Artillery and use 12-pound cannons to bombard the Prussian positions.

Compared with general artillery, the artillery of the Guards Artillery was obviously more accurate. After the Prussian army was "rewarded" with a barrage of shells, a gap was opened in the frontal position blocking the French army.

In this way, the French army continued to launch an attack, and the Prussians were obviously unable to resist.

By the time Davout came from the left wing and Murat's cavalry came from the right wing, the Prussian army was no longer able to fight and fled to wherever they thought they could go.

Instead, it highlights Blücher, who is still defending Krautheim. This old man is now desperately leading his men to resist there, but is left behind by the French army.

Strangely, when Soult and Augereau passed by here, they only sent part of their troops to continue besieging Blücher, and had no intention of annihilating him.

Napoleon's instructions, after all, were to destroy as many of the Prussian main forces as possible.

Therefore, only two infantry brigades were left to monitor Blücher, and his resistance could ensure that he would stay in the village and not be destroyed by the French army.

When the sound of gunfire gradually moved northward, Blücher realized that the situation was hopeless.

Only then did he decide to lead the remaining troops to break out.

Because of his resistance, he fell behind the French army, which allowed him to return along the same route and break out to the west.

However, the battle with Davout on the road also caused the remaining Prussian troops to suffer heavy losses.

In the end, Blücher only escaped from the battlefield with a few hussar squadrons, but that was considered a good thing for him.

Because at this time, the Duke of Brunswick was seriously injured and had to leave the battlefield, and the Prussian army's command system was completely paralyzed.

Frederick William III tried to take over the troops, but with his level, Prince Eugene of Württemberg, who had been protecting him, was very helpless.

You know, the level of this Prussian king is not as good as Alexander.

At least Alexander knew how to appoint a suitable general as commander-in-chief and find a chief of staff to organize the battle plan. If he hadn't encountered Napoleon, his debut would have been acceptable.

But what about King Pu? He was in a state of panic, even very flustered, and couldn't command the army at all.

Finally, when fleeing the battlefield, the Prussian troops operating on the extreme left wing barely found a path and headed towards Leipzig.

Most of the Prussian troops were defeated here, and the only task left for the French army was to capture prisoners.

(End of this chapter)