Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 421 063 Solovyov Shows Off His Skills in Pultusk (I)

The only problem with Langgelon being the acting commander-in-chief is that he may not be able to command Bookholden.

But there are solutions, such as letting Solovyov tell tales to Grand Duke Konstantin, which actually means making him act as if he is going to tell tales.

Of course, this was just to scare people. The relationship between Bukhoden and Langgeron was not that bad. Moreover, Bukhoden's army already had Dokhturov's 5th Division enter the war zone, right next to Golimin.

Solovyov was a young man after all, and he got up very early. He went to Barclay's residence for inspection at six o'clock in the morning.

Although he was only a colonel, if Langgeron wanted to be the temporary commander-in-chief, he had to fill the vacancy of chief of staff.

Of course, everyone would be comfortable in this way. Marshal Kamensky could find an excuse for being old and sick to go to the rear, and the Tsar himself could not do anything to him; Langgeron could get away from the staff work that gave him a headache and become the commander, and he could skillfully mobilize the troops while complaining; Wittgenstein, an honest man, would not have to worry about a bunch of ambiguous orders, and could lead the cavalry to squat instead of being a corps commander here; the division commanders would also be able to receive effective orders from the headquarters; Solovyov would not have to worry about not being able to lead these predecessors because of his low rank and young age, and he could organize the staff and even fill in the vacancies and command in the front.

If an outsider looks at Solovyov's fighting style, they will be surprised. Where did this squatting expert come from? He doesn't look like a Russian soldier at all, but more like a British or Austrian soldier.

Well, there's nothing that can be done about it. Solovyov is probably most familiar with the Total War series of games, except that he doesn't just click with the mouse. Instead, he takes a ready position and directs the micro-operations from left to right.

This Total War player's play style is somewhat similar to that of the person who was not yet a lord during the Peninsular War.

Of course, Wellesley is now a knight and a Knight of the Bath, but he is not a GCMG.

Barclay saw Solovyov from a distance, through a telescope. After all, the boy's smooth golden hair was too conspicuous.

"Misha, why did you come to me?"

"Don't be polite, Mikhail Bogdanovich. You are at the most critical point of the entire battle line. You are targeting the enemies on both sides, and it is also the hub of the entire position. If Sakken wants to move out, or if Osterman-Tolstoy wants to protect his flank when he attacks, your brigade is needed to stop the enemy."

"If nothing else, this battle plan is very aggressive and doesn't seem to be the work of a Frenchman like Langgeron."

"We have been adjusting our plans for the past few days. Now that the divisions are able to gather here, we naturally have to find a way to fight Napoleon. Of course, it may not be him who comes in person."

While they were talking, they heard the sound of artillery fire from the west.

"Where is that over there?"

"In the direction of Golim, I'm afraid they're fighting with the French."

"Maybe if we wait a little longer, we'll be able to get a signal."

Barclay and Solovyov were looking in the direction of Golymin in front of the position. They knew that part of Dokhturov's troops had arrived there, but they were not sure whether Golitsyn's troops had arrived there. They heard the artillery fire and probably thought that the French had taken the initiative to launch the attack.

The communications officer responsible for receiving the signal quickly translated the received code for Barclay.

"The French are attacking Golimyn. Parts of the 4th and 5th Divisions have come into contact with the French."

When Barclay was reading this, he also thought that the optical signal machine made by Solovyov was quite convenient. As long as it was daybreak, the signal could be sent out in places with conditions. Their place was also on high ground, so it was natural for them to receive this string of codes.

"This is not good. If the main French army arrives there, there should be enemy activity on our flanks as well."

"Wouldn't our deployment be useful then? According to the current order of command, Bagowut will command the outpost troops, and you will be in charge of the right wing. This is also unfair to Baron Sacken, after all, his troops have been arranged in the reserve."

What remained were Osterman-Tolstoy's troops in the front. If enemies came up from both sides, the Russian troops in Pultusk could support their own troops in the direction of Golimin and fight on both sides.

In fact, considering the entire battlefield environment, Murat and Davout encountered the retreating flank of the Russian army and Buchholden's vanguard at Golymin, while Langeron and Wittgenstein encountered the French army?
Gazan's right eyelid had been twitching since he woke up in the morning. Lannes ordered the Fifth Army to advance towards Pultusk. He and Suchet were to each lead a division to cross the river from Pultusk.

The French army knew in advance through reconnaissance that there were Russian military activities in this area, but the scale was unknown, with some saying it ranged from a brigade to a division. With the number of troops that the Fifth Army had advanced to this area, if these two types of reconnaissance intelligence were true, then the French army would still be at a relatively advantageous position no matter how they fought, and they could have fought.

Moreover, Rana had previously believed that His Majesty the Emperor sometimes lacked the proper honor for his military achievements, and he was always holding his breath, wanting to prove himself by showing off his prowess on the battlefield.

Driven by this idea, and having not suffered any loss in the previous battle with the Russian army, Lana gave the order to attack.

Judging from the situation on the front line, this is indeed correct. What can be seen south of Pultusk are mainly some scattered cavalry.

Due to the terrain factors and the interference of these cavalrymen on the scene, the French army did not realize that the main force of the Russian army was hiding behind them, and thought it was just some scattered cavalry on the periphery.

The most troublesome thing for the French at this time was that most of their artillery fell behind, and the road conditions in Poland could be said to be the worst that the French army had ever traveled.

Davout even complained that the French army often could not move very far in an entire morning. Even the wheels of the 6-pound guns were often stuck in the mud, and marching was a struggle.

It's clearly the end of the year and it should be winter, but it looks like autumn.

At the end of 1806, the weather did not seem to help the French.

At the same time, the Russian army had too many artillery pieces. If the road coming from the east had not been repaired, and only the reserve brigade that Solovyov was going to send passed through here, the road would have been in good condition, but the situation would have been bad.

Here, the Russian army actually dispatched hundreds of artillery pieces to the front line of Pultusk. This firepower can be said to be quite overwhelming.

On the French side, when Gazan and Suchet decided to launch an attack on Bagvout, their artillery was still far behind.

Therefore, Solovyov, who always judged the movements of the French army by artillery fire, did not notice any action by the French army when he hurried back to the headquarters from Barclay. It was only through the signal sent by Bagovut that he learned that the light cavalry in front had already started fighting.

“It’s coming so fast!”

This was his first reaction, while Langgelon was still looking at the battle situation ahead through a telescope.

"They launched the attack before the artillery arrived. This is too much of an underestimation of Bagowut's defense zone."

Langgeron was also observing the battle situation. It was very troublesome for the commander to decide when to send out the troops. At this time, Langgeron's headquarters received information from two directions. On the one hand, Golitsyn and Dokhturov were exchanging fire with the French army on Golimin's side, and on the other hand, the French army had already attacked from the front.

However, the Russian army on Golimin's side quickly figured out the French army's numbers. After all, Murat, a guy who loved to show off, brought so many cavalrymen to the battlefield, and he was dressed in strange clothes, so it was hard not to be noticed.

As for the front of Pultusk, the exchange of fire between the two sides has now spread across the entire front.

Lannes and Suchet launched an attack from the left wing, targeting Barclay's position, which was relatively the most conspicuous target on the entire Russian front and was located at an important intersection.

As a result, Barclay soon got into a tough battle, and the two regiments he placed on the front line were even driven out of their positions by the French infantry.

The French morale was now high, and they had made considerable progress even without artillery support.

"This is really troublesome!"

Langgeron asked Bagovut on the left wing to fight and retreat, but he still had to protect the bridge for retreating to the east, and was even prepared to send out reserve troops.

However, Barclays was under attack, forcing him to make adjustments.

"Michel, tell Sacken to send two regiments to support Barclay and drive the French out of our right wing!"

The Russian troops hiding on the river bank really need to be dispatched now.

If the French army advances too quickly, even if they can hold their positions in today's battle, Golitsyn and Dokhturov will have no room to retreat to the east. They can only bite the bullet and retreat to the northeast or north. In that case, they may continue to be pursued by the French army, putting more than 10,000 people in great danger.

Therefore, for the Russian army, it is either to drive the French army back during the day or to win the battle. There is no reason to shrink back and defend.

As long as you are on the battlefield, you must seize the initiative. This is an obvious truth.

Therefore, Langgeron also asked Sacken's 3rd Division to act quickly to assist Barclay in regaining the position.

As for Barclay, he knew the seriousness of the problem and personally led his team to launch an attack. After two hours of repeated fighting, he finally drove Lana out of the position at noon and took back the cannon on the position.

As soon as the artillery saw that things were going badly, they fled. Now, when they returned to the artillery positions, they found that the French had not had time to destroy the cannons, nor had they driven any nails into them, and there had been no movement to dismantle the cannons.

In this way, they used the 12 guns deployed on the position to continue firing to suppress the French army.

After the messenger came to report, Solovyov felt a little embarrassed. Why are the French army like the French Superman when fighting?
This is only the case if they encountered the Russian army. If it were Prussia or Austria, they would have been beaten to a pulp.

What surprised Lana was that although the Russian army did not send out the Guards this time, its resilience was still amazing and it was even able to launch a counterattack.

It's not just that the Russian army is powerful, there are probably reserve troops behind them, as well as an important issue.

That is, Lana now has no idea how many Russian troops are here.

Moreover, his communication means were still somewhat inferior. The Russian army could use optical transmitters to transmit signals among the positions of each division, brigade, and even infantry regiment in some areas, thus enabling rapid interactive communication.

The situation was still fifty-fifty. The French attack was indeed very powerful. Once again, they charged the Russian positions despite being at an artillery disadvantage and almost succeeded.

"It's really dangerous, but I'm more concerned about the situation in Bagowut."

Langgeron could also see that on Bagvout's left wing position, the troops he sent out were engaged in fierce firefight with the French army.

The battle situation on the scene was that after the Gazan Division launched the attack, it first repelled the Russian cavalry at the outpost, and then the French marching column turned into an attacking column, and launched an attack on the Bagovut position on the Pultusk side.

In order to stop the French attack, Bagovut sent two chasseur regiments to launch a counterattack, but this failed to push the French back too far.

Even after the Russian army launched an attack, the French army retreated slightly to reorganize and launched a counterattack, thus driving the Russian army out again.

“This is terrible.”

As the actual chief of staff, Solovyov is now also making dispatches in several directions and processing information.

He still had this ability, but now he had no telephone, so he could only issue orders one by one and conduct remote dispatch through Morse code of optical signal machines.

The French attack from both wings was obviously intended to drive out all the Russian troops they saw from their positions, and use these positions to expand the results of the battle and ensure the capture of the bridge over the Narew River here in Pultusk.

This attack style was indeed too bold and brave. Judging from the battlefield style, Solovyov believed that he encountered Lana, but he had no evidence at hand until Barclay sent his adjutant to report the situation.

"The right wing position was almost lost to the French. What happened?"

"The French attack was very fierce. We only know from the uniforms of the dead French soldiers that they belonged to the 3rd Light Infantry Regiment."

"The 3rd Light Infantry?"

What Solovyov was thinking about now was probably the 1st Division of the th Army. This division had this light infantry regiment under it, and he had roughly learned about it from the pre-war intelligence.

Apart from this, this regiment may be relatively "familiar" to Solovyov.

It seems that this regiment was reformed from the Corsican Skirmishers. After the French Army became the Imperial Army, it was nicknamed "The Emperor's Cousin".

Considering this fighting style, which is so bold and fierce, the one he encountered should be Rana, who is very fierce in fighting.

"Damn it, we have a tough opponent and we have to fight a big battle."

(End of this chapter)