Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 437 014 A battle in a meat grinder (IV) What is this?
"Bonaparte is now launching attacks in several directions, but there is no movement in the southwest."

"Count, is there anything on my face?"

"It's just that this lens looks a little weird."

"Nothing, it's just a personal hobby. Now we have to defend well, and we may even need to launch a counterattack in some places."

"What's your plan?"

"You are the commander-in-chief, and I need to complete the plan according to your vision."

Langgeron and Solovyov worked well together and had skillfully mobilized the troops in the months since they arrived at the East Prussian Corps.

Sometimes, Langgeron even kicked the ball to Solovyov when he couldn't make a decision.

If he dares to kick, this guy really dares to catch it.

But at this moment, the situation is quite tense for the Russian army, and they need this Frenchman and a Russian who has changed the core program to make the decision.

"Well, I still need to make the decision at this time. But one day, Michelle, if you are in the position of commander-in-chief, you must be more decisive."

Langgeron's own headquarters was located in the town's church, and he now observed the movements of the French army through the church's bell tower.

Although the distance is a little far, it is still clear when seen through a telescope.

"Bonaparte's idea is to launch attacks from several directions and then coordinate them remotely, so that we can be driven out of our current position and he can concentrate his forces. In this case, we can't rush to use the reserve troops."

"But after our night attack on Augereau's troops on the southeast road, it was clear that Napoleon's approach was to launch a counterattack in the wake of our attack. If we want to defend, we also need to launch a counterattack in the right place."

"Are you still planning to strike on the main road?"

Langgeron pointed to the area where Essen and Augereau were currently exchanging fire. The smoke from black gunpowder surrounded the area. If the fighting continued for a while, the infantry on both sides would begin to slack off.

At this time, if we follow the method used during the Seven Years' War, we should send cavalry into the battle to cause chaos in the French army.

But that was the Bourbon army, and the current French army won't fall for it.

"If you send out cavalry, the effect may not be very good. The battlefield there is too narrow."

Langgelon pointed out this problem. Although the infantry line could be held, there was no chance for the cavalry to make a detour.

After returning from the night attack, Bagowut was assigned to the rear and did not immediately join the battle.

Therefore, it is also necessary to replace some troops to support Baron Essen.

"Let's transfer the Selenge and Smolensk regiments. I think Essen will be able to make good use of these two regiments."

Before Apraksin took up his post in Smolensk, General Rosenberg was in charge there for a while. Essen was familiar with Rosenberg's methods, and the Smolensk Regiment was one of the more elite infantry regiments in the Russian Army, capable of both attack and defense, and the more severe the environment, the more resilient they were.

As for the Selenge Regiment, there is no way. This is how Apraksin arranged it when he called for reinforcements.

But Solovyov had a relatively clear understanding of this regiment, and although he was only there for two or three months, the tone he set for the regiment was still good.

Moreover, this is the reserve force that has participated in relatively few battles so far, and its morale is relatively high.

"Who will take charge?"

At this time, it was Bagration who stood up, after all, he was Langgeron's deputy.

"Now let me go there. If the French offensive is fierce, I will start a rearguard battle there and let the 8th Division withdraw safely. However, when I go there, I have to unify the command and the Moscow Grenadiers will serve as the rear guard."

Bagration and Solovyov had deep feelings for this regiment, as they had fought together in Italy and Switzerland but were unable to join the front-line battle at Austerlitz due to the long journey.

Moreover, they were indeed capable of fighting tough battles. Bagration was able to avoid being caught up by the old soldier Massena on the mountain roads in Switzerland thanks to the heroic performance of this regiment in the rearguard battle.

"Who will command the 4th Division now?" Solovyov asked this question, and Bagration understood it and answered.

"Somov's words won't work. Let Barclay take command. Although he didn't fight very well in Hof, he still has some skills to bring back an entire brigade intact in the face of the attack of the French cuirassiers."

As for the current arrangement, the 4th Division has 5 cavalry regiments, 6 infantry regiments and 6 artillery companies with 12 guns. This is the most important force currently in the hands of the Russian army.

This division will not be deployed unless the most critical moment comes.

After Bagration arrived in Essen with two regiments of the reserve brigade, he was able to discover the chaos on the battlefield.

The Russian troops were holding their positions. There were many bodies of soldiers from both armies under the artillery positions, and it could be seen here that the battle was very fierce.

Baron Essen breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Bagration coming.

"You have to suffer a lot when you come here, especially be careful of those Frenchmen. They attack in turns and they are simply reckless."

"What on earth is this for?"

When Bagration raised the question, Essen still felt confused.

"I don't know. These French soldiers are attacking our positions with red eyes. Maybe they are trying to seize our supplies?"

"It is very likely so, and in this case we should hold on even more."

The two infantry regiments that arrived later deployed on Essen's flank and joined the battle.

After seeing the arrival of the Russian reinforcements, Augereau ordered the 1st Division on the left wing to adjust its formation, but the French marshal felt more and more dizzy and began to cough.

This performance is also very simple. What is different from the killing of French troops on the battlefield is that the insects carrying pathogens may have killed more French troops.

In addition, among the French army, no one except doctors has masks, so it is not surprising that some problems arise at this time.

Maybe it's mycoplasma infection.

Under such circumstances, Augereau's command was naturally greatly reduced. He felt fine when he set out, but now the situation is not good. So he had to choose to rest behind a stone wall.

At this time, Bagration was not in a hurry to launch an attack. After he had the two regiments line up, he was also paying attention to the situation on the battlefield.

Before coming, Langeron and Solovyov emphasized that they should use the existing positions in Essen and the temporary positions left by Bagowut to block the French attack, rather than launch a counterattack.

To put it bluntly, it means active defense and launching local counterattacks to contain the French army, which requires very high qualities of the commander.

If it were anyone else, the headquarters would not be so confident, but Bagration was able to lead the team wherever he went.

Solovyov continued to organize the reports from various divisions in the headquarters. It was obvious that Napoleon's attack this time was aimed at dividing and attacking together. He just attacked separately so that the Russian army could not distinguish the priority. After crossing the forest and leveling the front line, it was time to launch the next round of attack on Eylau.

At this time, the Russian army had shown great resilience in its defense.

Langgelon felt that he could not wait in the church all the time, so he went to the front line to supervise the troops.

Little Kamensky, in the east, was now entangled with Ney.

In Yankovo, he met with Soult and escaped the pursuit of the French army with great difficulty.

Now here we are, facing the Warrior Marshal of the Sixth Army.

You know, this guy Ney is quite reckless when attacking.

Moreover, commanding an army was easy for him.

When Langgeron came to him, he saw that the pressure on the front line was very high. The two French divisions here were not the strongest. After all, each had only four regiments. They were not like Davout and Soult's divisions with five regiments and reinforced artillery.

But when little Kamensky saw Solovyov's look, he couldn't help but complain.

"You definitely didn't learn this from Paris. Parisian girls would have you dress up nicely, not with lenses stuck in your eye sockets like this."

Of course, Kamensky didn’t know that monocles weren’t popular among soldiers at first.
The audience group at that time was probably even the opposite of the temperament of the military. Judging from Solovyov's situation, his character is probably incomparable to that of people like him.

"Indeed, it's not. This is our company's latest product. I just think that it might be more comfortable to look at the map this way when organizing defense. You know, I often stay up late to look at maps and do staff work, which is still very tiring."

While they were talking here, the French army continued to attack, but it did not affect their chat.

Although the battle was indeed very difficult, due to the tenacious resistance of the Russian army, the French army only captured a little territory on the periphery and failed to break into the position set up by Kamensky the Younger. He even had two dragoon regiments in his hands that did not join the battlefield.

"The French didn't think about the back-up plan and just attacked like this."

"That's nothing, but there are shells flying past us all the time."

As Solovyov said this, a solid bullet flew past the cottage where they were and broke a small tree.

"If you keep talking like this, it seems that the French want to drive us out of the front line." Little Kamensky could no longer hold it in and said this directly.

"It's not that easy for him to drive us away. As it is now, the French army has left no infantry reserves and has deployed all of them. It is obvious that they want to quickly crush us."

"If heavy cavalry comes, I don't know if I can stop them, especially those damn cuirassiers."

They looked at the situation and were speechless. If the French army deployed cuirassiers, it would definitely not be treating them as ordinary Russian troops.

If this happened, Solovyov was not without a plan. The new hollow square formation he designed before the war could exert stronger firepower on both sides. The weak side only had a company-wide side, and two battalion formations could be arranged vertically or at a large angle to form cross-fire.

In addition, there is the arrangement of the artillery group.

The French army still has a large number of heavy cavalry that have not joined the battle, but they have also discovered that although the Russian army's firepower organization is still relatively weak, due to the adjustment of the formation, the firepower is much more fierce than before.

When the French army rushed to the front, they were often killed and wounded by the two rows of Russian chasseurs and the concentrated Russian artillery groups, so the offensive was often delayed.

However, their artillery was well organized. Although they could not suppress the fierce firepower of the Russian army, the casualties inflicted on the Russian army were increasing.

After seeing this situation on the battlefield, both sides couldn't help but sigh. They had never seen such a bloody and meaningless battle before.

The casualties on both sides are still increasing. In this relatively cold weather, if soldiers are shot and fall down and no one takes them in time, they will probably die from excessive bleeding and loss of body temperature in a short time.

Over the course of the morning, whether it was Bagration and Essen versus Ogero, or Kamensky the Younger versus Ney, both caused unprecedented casualties on the battlefield.

Even as Langgeron traveled north from Little Kamensky to Dokhturov, the shock did not seem to wear off.

The same goes for Solovyov, but what he needs to do now is mainly defense. It would be best to let the French army retreat, but Napoleon obviously will not accept this.

He will continue to attack, and correspondingly, the Russian army must now defend here to the death. Without formal orders, they cannot retreat a single step and must withstand the French attack on their respective fronts.

The tenacity of the Russian soldiers prevented the French army from making any progress for the entire morning.

When Napoleon saw this situation, he also felt that it was troublesome.

Since the Sixth Army and the Seventh Army were in a stalemate, the key to the outcome of the battle would be Davout's diversionary attack and Soult's side.

If the Russian army's attention is drawn to the east, and even the reserve troops are pulled to the area where the fighting is most intense, then Surt can launch a flank attack from the southwest when part of the Russian army's strength is withdrawn.

This time, it looks like a surprise victory.

However, the Russian army was obviously well-managed in defense. Although they felt it was difficult, the pressure on the French side was also great.

It’s just that Davout’s attack does have some methods. His current attack has made Dokhturov exhausted.

Only Yermolov's 12 cavalry guns were missing, but Dokhturov still had 60 guns available.

Actually, what he lacked the least was cannons, but the 46 cannons on Davout's side were enough to temporarily suppress his division.

Under this kind of battle situation, the Russian army had to hold on firmly on the one hand, and on the other hand, they really needed the remaining reinforcements from Prussia to come, even if they were just hiding in the city of Eylau. Moving the 4th Division to the required direction might change the situation on the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)