Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 460 037 Solovyov defeats the Polish birdmen (Part )
On the way back with the 3rd Division, Solovyov became a little nervous.

Since a squadron of cavalry was able to get close, even though we set up an ambush to destroy them, there was still a possibility that a few of them would escape.

Although these cavalry squadrons are currently short of manpower, who knows whether the French will send more troops to pursue them, and the winter climate allows the troops to pass through the edge of the frozen swamp. At this moment, the roads are relatively fixed.

That's it. He was even more worried. After all, the routes were relatively fixed, so he sent out scouts in advance to find out the surrounding situation.

At this time, we still need to fully grasp the situation on the battlefield.

As for the enemy he expected, the old ruffian Massena who would chase him from near Pultusk, the enemy cunningly withdrew from the front line after a cavalry squadron was wiped out and some scouts were lost.

At this time, he knew that the Russian army would definitely be prepared.

As for the friendly forces nearby, although there is some competition, Massena would not deliberately harm them.

Next, we have to take into account the armies of these vassal states, each of which has some kind of in-law relationship with the emperor.

We also have to distinguish between close and distant relatives. Jerome married a princess of Württemberg, Eugene's wife was from Bavaria, and as for Baden, since the emperor adopted the niece of the queen's ex-husband as his adopted daughter, she is naturally a son-in-law, and we cannot easily set them up.

Now it seems that the Poles are more suitable as cannon fodder, and we cannot betray people like Dombrovski who fought alongside the French in the past, or Poniatowski who led the way this time. If we must find cannon fodder, then those small nobles who are not very clear-headed would be more suitable to pursue the Russian army.

To this end, Massena went to the Polish Army Headquarters between Pultusk and Warsaw to dispatch troops for pursuit.

Solovyov could not have expected such a bold move by him. While retreating his troops, he also paid careful attention to the surrounding situation.

"Bao Hong, I'm always worried. I don't know why."

"You are just too suspicious. You always suspect that the French are setting a trap for you. We escaped from this trap before their reinforcements arrived, so nothing serious should happen. What's more, the terrain on both sides is already familiar to us after previous battles. There is nothing to worry about."

"Yes, there is nothing to worry about. But if the French pursue us, we have to move faster, and of course the rear guard must stay behind."

"Which regiment do you plan to keep?" a staff officer asked at this time.

"The Tafrid Grenadiers, um. Also, tell their commander to take off the bishop's hats from the soldiers' heads. They will be elite at first glance and need to disguise themselves as ordinary infantry. There are hats prepared for the 21st Jaegers in the carriage, so have them put them on."

After hearing this, Major General Titov was the first to speak.

"What are you doing?"

"If an enemy who doesn't understand the market pursues us, he will definitely notice the hat first. Our grenadiers always wear bishop hats on their heads, which is too obvious and inconvenient when marching. This year, the grenadiers will almost have to change their hats when they go back."

After hearing this, you probably know what Solovyov is thinking.

On Massena's side, he actually persuaded some Poles, and they each brought their cavalry and rushed along the Russian retreat route, attempting to pursue and intercept the Russian baggage.

Some Poles also fought against the Russian army that came to assist the Prussian army from 1794 to 1795. It should be noted that the only time Suvorov was forced into a frenzy and ordered the execution of many resistance personnel was in the Braga district in the east of Warsaw.

150 years later, the Braga district was fine, but the Germans carried out an even more brutal massacre on the other side.

In comparison, it was no big deal for the Russian army to shoot a few die-hard prisoners who resisted fiercely.

But it was precisely this group of people who never showed mercy when killing the capitulationists and moderates within Poland.

You know, the Polish army has always had a bad performance. I'm afraid that Dombrovski is now outside the city of Kolberg, letting Polish knights ride on Prussian dragoons!

Compared with them, the French army, which has always looted villages along the way, and the Russian army, which will kill people when forced into a corner, are both considered to have strict military discipline.

By the way, these people killed many pro-Russian Polish nobles in Warsaw, and had very bad relations with the nobles and civilians in eastern Poland.

Bao Hong made this very clear when he talked about his ancestor, Colonel Bao Hong, one of the Cossack leaders.

"That's right. My ancestor's situation was good. His family had always lived near Zaporizhia, unlike the unfortunate Bogdan Hrymenitsky, whose wife and children were killed. But that's how it was. The Zaporizhia Cossacks and the Poles had been at war for a long time. And there is a strange rule in my family. Maybe you are so smart that you can guess it."

"I wonder if they don't want you to marry a Polish woman? If the scope is narrow, maybe a country girl is okay. Those Polish ladies can't afford it."

"That's probably it. And the Cossack leaders who murdered my ancestors should have gone to the Turks as well."

As they were talking, they could already hear the roar of gunfire.

"what happened?"

"Sir, it's the Tafred Regiment. They've engaged the pursuing enemy!"

"What? They came so quickly. They look like cavalry. It's unlikely there are any infantry."

Solovyov had no intention of retreating further eastward. In this unknown place, he did not deploy his troops, but simply placed his infantry and artillery at the intersection, ready to support the grenadiers who were guarding the rear at any time.

He rode back to the battlefield with his entourage, but the battle was over halfway through.

Solovyov couldn't understand such a brief exchange of fire. After all, he had never understood the Polish way of thinking.

"See, Chief, that's it, the Poles always show up when you least expect them."

"Bao Hong, we have to see if there are any survivors, and then ask them what happened. Why did the Poles chase us here?"

As for Bao Hong's approach, it was the traditional method of the Cossacks. After a while, the few surviving captives confessed.

"That's exactly what happened. These people are Polish Lancers that the French recently recruited. However, they are not the main force. Those who can fight are all under Prince Poniatowski."

"Ah, the nephew of the last king of Poland. His uncle is also the old lover of Her Majesty the Queen. But why are they not pursued by the prince's cavalry, but by these miscellaneous ones?" "This is quite interesting. Do you want to hear it?"

Seeing that Bao Hong was still keeping him in suspense, Solovyov knew that there must be something interesting.

"You say it."

"When we were fighting the Germans at Pultusk, Marshal Massena came to their headquarters and ordered the Lancers to cross the river to pursue us, but he did not want any French troops to pursue us."

“The reason is not clear, is it?”

"Indeed! The Poles only knew that the French marshal had come to them and said that a Russian troop, badly beaten by the Bavarian grenadiers, was retreating, and that they should come and pursue and take prisoners."

"So, this is what happened. This old soldier blocked our way to Zurich when we were in Switzerland, and caused us a lot of trouble. This time, he probably knew that we were on guard, so he didn't send the French army to die, but only wanted some newly recruited Poles to come. This is good, I already have an idea."

When Bao Hong saw him like this, he naturally knew that he had to hit him.

In this kind of ambush, the terrain needs to be taken into consideration.

Solovyov knew that being a division commander required understanding the intentions of his superiors and then executing them.

However, this time he led the troops independently, replacing Baron Sacken who had not recovered, and it was also his first time to act as a division commander.

When he was chief of staff, he was already very familiar with the work process, especially the terrain of the war zone.

The place he was walking to now was a terrain that he had never been to before, but was suitable for an ambush.

When Schmidt was the Quartermaster General, he demonstrated this once in Dürenstein.

Unfortunately, just after meeting the chief of staff, he was killed in this battle.

But it is enough to learn something.

Solovyov retreated along the river to Ostrolenka. The riverside area here looked relatively flat, but the forest on both sides of the river road was very suitable for hiding light cavalry and cavalry artillery. As for the front, infantry could operate there.

According to the confessions of the prisoners, the number of Poles pursuing them should be equal to theirs, but most of them were newly recruited troops.

Among them there were 3000 cavalry and 8000 infantry, but considering the degree of troop organization, these Poles should be far inferior to the French army and its German vassal troops, not to mention the Polish Corps that had been fighting with the French army.

In order to catch them off guard, it was necessary to hide the troops and put the baggage train and part of the infantry on the road.

But Solovyov had a bad habit of being too calculating. He could not afford to sacrifice a large amount of supplies just to annihilate a Polish army, but he could not not give it up either.

This reminded him that when Count Palen the Younger and Mikhail Dolgorukov attacked Bernadotte's column, they actually seized a lot of spoils, including many personal belongings.

So he thought of giving a speech to the soldiers.

"Brothers, you also know that we failed to capture the pontoon bridge in Putusk this time. But the French did not give up. They sent out the newly recruited Polish Corps to pursue us, because in the battle report, the French Marshal Massena claimed that our 3rd Division suffered a heavy blow. In fact, in addition to the personnel lost at the bridgehead, there are brothers lying on stretchers and carriages. The remaining wounded are in the rear hospital, and the number is not as high as they said. We must let this talkative old soldier know that our Russian army is still combat-effective. These Poles, however, will use their blood to water this land and lubricate our bayonets!"

Anyway, he spoke passionately, and the veterans listened. No matter what the content was, it was still quite passionate.

This is also a very important point. The commander's style also determines the combat effectiveness of the troops.

Since Solovyov was determined to fight, he also wanted to see the attitude of the soldiers.

"Master General, tell me what we should do!"

An old soldier who was nearby said this. As for the "young master", it was true. Solovyov was young and looked immature. Naturally, in the eyes of some old soldiers who had served for more than ten years, he was still a young master, not an old master in some situations.

"What's your name, old soldier?"

"I didn't have a last name before I joined the army. I came from Chernov, so the conscription officer gave me the last name Chernov. Ivan Ivanovich, that's my first name."

"It's a good thing the recruiting officer didn't write you an Ivanov, old soldier!"

Then the old soldiers who were nearby also started to make a noise, and it took a while for them to calm down. It seemed that the atmosphere was quite lively.

"That's good. We have some spoils of war and personal belongings from previous battles. They may not be valuable, but they can all be loaded onto the cart. We can't use all our baggage and ammunition as bait. We need you to work harder, like when you're working in the fields for the landlords, you need to carry more stuff and move them to the woods."

"That's no problem. Since we're not in a hurry, we're just carrying heavy loads. We old guys are farmers, so we can still do it!"

"That's good. We put all our personal belongings on the wagons. When the Poles come, they will surely rob our baggage wagons. At this time, we can take advantage of their chaos and outflank them from the woods. If we annihilate the enemy, it will be a great military achievement!"

Hearing this, the Russian soldiers understood that this young general was even more cunning than the peddler in the countryside! He was trying to lure the enemy into the trap. Anyway, the captured items were not valuable, except for the poultry and livestock caught along the way, the needles, thread, mahogany combs and copper belt buckles.

Therefore, these veterans still contributed their backpacks.

Seeing that the morale-boosting stage was almost complete, Solovyov began to pay attention to the terrain, mobilize troops, and select some cavalry and horse artillery to play the role of feigning defeat and luring the enemy.

After all, they were the Poles. They were in a hurry to chase us, and they rashly chased us without knowing the situation ahead.

This time, we are falling into Solovyov's trap.

Moreover, since the Poles did not know the situation of the vanguard troops and had not conducted careful communication and reconnaissance, they were not clear about what was happening in the front. They even thought that it was what Massena said, and the Russian army retreated due to heavy losses.

In this case, if we let them pass Ostrolenka, the Russian army will come to support them, and there will be no military achievement this time!

(End of this chapter)