Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 541 Solovyov's Waiting for the Enemy (Part 053)
After a long march, the Swedish army complained bitterly during these days. They finally found a village in Offwald, but it was not enough for more than 10,000 people to garrison there. It can be seen that the towns ahead were all under the control of the Russian army.

For Amfeldt, he had to take this job. He was the only one among the royalists who had long-term experience in leading and organizing the army. Perhaps he had even more experience when Count von Fersen served as Rochambeau's adjutant during the American War of Independence. In actual fighting, he could only rely on his previous experience on the battlefield. His worries were not wrong.

Now, the Swedish army of more than 17,000 people finally had a place to stay after a long march, but there were only a few houses. The Swedes were familiar with the situation in their own country, so they took tents and baggage behind them and temporarily built a military camp.

"It looks like there are quite a lot of people down there, but it's a pity they'll be here at nightfall, otherwise we should move now."

"It's true that night raids are unreliable, but Mick, you should go back and rest."

"It's better to rest after the battle. You know that the war is coming soon, which is the best stimulant. Carl, I want all the captains to check their watches. We may only have five or six hours to fight the enemy, so we must understand the situation clearly."

This is true. The winter in Northern Europe is a long night, and the same is true in places further north.

If I were to say, this is also the wonder of the earth.

At night, you can also see the aurora borealis at this latitude.

Although he never wrote any "solo photography" poems, Solovyov also had a bit of romantic temperament, and he somewhat hoped that at this time, he would be accompanied by a beautiful woman to watch the aurora together.

Unfortunately, no, there are only 20,000 Russian brothers with him, and except for the soldiers on night shift guard, most people would choose to rest at this time.

In the area north of Stockholm, the sun usually rises around 8 o'clock in the winter and sets around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, so there is actually very little time available for fighting.

To achieve the suddenness of the battle, one must begin to gather troops and actively seek battle as soon as the sun appears above the horizon.

For the Swedes, they originally estimated that the Russian army here was at most a few cavalry regiments crossing the sea to harass, and they were still planning to fight and drive the Russian army out of Gävle so that they could enter the city.

However, when he actually saw the Russian army through his telescope, Baron Armfelt was already giving him a headache just from the infantry battalions and the large number of cannons.

"How the hell did these Russians manage to get an army of the same size as ours from Finland in just a few days?"

"Sir, the Russians are indeed cunning, but..."

"Shut up first. If the scale is based on this, the Russians must have at least 16,000 people, which is comparable to ours. They are waiting for us here. We have to fight this battle, otherwise we will all be driven into the swamp and freeze to death."

After seeing this situation, Amfelt also asked his troops to prepare for battle.

However, it seems that the situation is not very good for the Swedes now. The better terrain has been controlled by the Russians in advance, and even the main road has been blocked. They are lined up neatly in front of them.

In addition to the infantry, artillery cannons have also been dragged over.

Fighting a battle at this time can be said to be quite passive.

At the same time, Solovyov had already asked each regiment to start lining up. Due to the relatively narrow terrain, both sides had not fully deployed their forces. It was even considered good that one regiment in the front row could accommodate two infantry battalions.

Due to this situation, Solovyov had to choose to keep the important cavalry units in his hands. These 6,000 cavalrymen could not be used now, unless the initial battle was victorious and the enemy suffered huge losses, otherwise not even a squadron of hussars could be used.

With this in mind, he will have to use more artillery and infantry.

Although the Russian army later seemed to be famous for its cavalry because of the Cossacks, in fact the Cossacks' initial way of fighting was infantry + chariots + small artillery, which is what the Zaporizhia Cossacks did.

For the Russian army, the real strength lies in their tenacious infantry.

But in this battle, even though he was well-rested, Solovyov did not imagine defeating the Swedes in one go, even though he had a great advantage.

"Tell the artillery that it's time to start, starting with our Unicorn Cannon."

The meaning of this order is also very simple. The shrapnel used by the Unicorn gun has been improved and its reliability has been greatly increased. These grenades should be used to kill the enemy and force the Swedes to advance the front line so that the two sides can engage in battle.

When the Swedish army was forced to advance, the Pavlovsk Regiment could be deployed to inflict casualties on the enemy from a long distance.

Even if it is only a half-Putt Unicorn cannon, its destructive power is enormous among artillery using grenades.

Solovyov brought a company of 12 guns to verify the reliability of this artillery and its new applications in actual combat.

If crossing the sea had not been too troublesome, he might have brought a Pood, which is equivalent to a 20-pound cannon. It has great power, but its loading speed is slower. Once it causes casualties on the battlefield, its power is astonishing.

Even if it was only half of this level, the Swedish army was still in a state of panic after being bombarded.

In order to avoid being attacked passively, Armfeldt also ordered the artillery regiment to fight back, but the Swedish artillery's accuracy was not very good, and the shells they fired fell between the two armies. Due to the awkward winter environment, they did not cause any casualties, but the shells just penetrated into the snow.

"It seems that the Swedish artillery is not good enough."

"Sir, do you want our regiment to go up? A bayonet charge will crush the enemy."

"Why, Apollo, are you going to attack us like this? Grenadiers are very valuable, and I can't bear to use them now, even though I saw the Swedish Guards."

Speaking of which, among these regimental commanders, Apollo Zhemchuzhnikov is the oldest, and because of his seniority, he is also the commander of the Grenadiers Brigade.

"I'm a little unwilling to let Neverovsky get ahead of me."

"You are on my wife's side, and the Pavlovsk Regiment is on my side. If everyone in your regiment has a good gun, I will really let your two regiments attack together. I am worried, so you just stay behind the Murom Regiment and wait for my instructions. When you have the chance to make merit, believe it or not, after this battle, you will be close to becoming a formal general." Speaking of which, the old regiment commander was just impatient. After hearing Solovyov's flattery and the "big promise" that he could become a general in the future, he naturally returned to the grenadiers.

Four infantry regiments in the front and the Pavlovsk Regiment on the flank did seem strange to the Swedes, although they had heard of the strange tactics of the Russian Guards.

However, because the Pavlovsk Regiment did not appear at Austerlitz, during the subsequent War of the Fourth Coalition, when the French army was hit by a surprise attack, this regiment was usually not far from the Guards, and was naturally mistaken for the Guards Grenadiers.

As for verifying the actual situation, the Swedes did not do it. Their king was hostile to Russia simply based on his own likes and dislikes, so the intelligence work was naturally very poor.

Therefore, the results achieved by the Pavlovsk Regiment's free shooting were still very amazing.

The Kalmar Regiment, which was closest to them, was shot and fell to the ground under the attack of these grenadiers, and many of them were shot in the torso. Obviously, the location of the Pavlovsk Regiment's camp near the Winter Palace did not affect their hard training on the training ground.

There was additional training afterwards, which obviously greatly improved the regiment's shooting level, which was a qualitative leap.

"Very good. In this way, an infantry battalion is almost defeated before it even gets close. Karl, tell the 1st and 2nd Brigades to get close to the enemy. Don't rush to charge with bayonets. Engage the enemy in a firefight first."

Clausewitz also quickly sent someone to give the order, but the distance was very close. For a division-level operation, the command center would not be too far from the front. Considering that it might be obscured by the smoke from the shooting, there was no problem in sending a messenger.

When the four regiment commanders heard that they were not allowed to charge directly with bayonets, they obediently obeyed the order.

When it comes to shooting at each other, which is the first round that is closer to a volley, when the fighting starts, it still depends on the soldiers' courage and their usual training.

The Ottoman Empire's skirmishers were very powerful, but they could also be driven out of the orchard by bayonets. The Qing Dynasty had its own national conditions. We practiced shooting with bird guns many times in normal times, but shooting at critical moments was useless and we were still defeated by bayonets.

The situation of the Swedish army was the same. First, the older Kalmar Regiment suffered heavy casualties from the shooting of the Pavlovsk Regiment. One battalion was defeated. Seeing the bad situation, the other infantry battalions did not dare to get too close to those damn grenadiers.

Next, the Guards were fighting with the Russian army again. Before they could get close to fire, they encountered fierce bombardment from the Russian artillery, especially the extremely lethal Unicorn cannon, and the half of it was equally powerful.

Amfeldt considered himself unlucky. Although the Swedish army's combat effectiveness was not as good as before, the infantry was still relatively reliable. Less than an hour after the exchange of fire began, they had already suffered heavy losses from the Russian army's new weapons and new tactics.

However, at this time, they had no choice but to continue fighting. They had never seen an order to retreat within an hour.

If this is the case, then the Prussians' curses would be proven true, not to mention that this battle takes place on Swedish soil!

Now, he had no choice but to let these infantry regiments continue to move forward, and then sent out a cavalry unit on the narrow battlefield, attempting to harass the flank of the Pavlovsk Regiment so that they could not focus on killing the Swedish soldiers.

There was nothing wrong with what they did, but this was a grenadier regiment, and although they did wear chasseur-style otter-skin hats on their heads to keep warm, they were experts in bayonet fighting, brave and good at fighting, and they also had flying props.

It's better to forget about the weak cavalry of the Swedes. Neverovsky was very cautious. He directly ordered the three grenadier battalions to form a battalion formation, but it was a more traditional square formation. Since the shooting accuracy was high enough, it would be better to consider the defense strength more.

After their horses were knocked down, the Swedish cavalry had no choice but to hide behind the infantry in shame.

This made Amfelt feel humiliated, as he watched his left wing waver before he had even started to engage the enemy.

"It looks good. It feels good to be a commander."

Solovyov was indeed very satisfied with the performance of his troops. As for the "Sun God" of the Tavrid Regiment, he had no intention of sending this regiment to the front line. The traditional grenadier regiment would play a greater role in future tough battles.

He knew in his heart, but he never told anyone else, that the closer you get to Stockholm in Sweden, the harder the battle will be. This was not the case in today's battle, where he encountered part of the Swedish Guards, and it was easy to say that the opponent was easy to deal with.

What's more, there were nearly 20,000 British troops led by Sir John Moore, whose whereabouts were unknown at this time, and they were probably still in southern Sweden.

Fighting those crayfish might be the most troublesome thing in this expedition.

There are so many things to consider, but the most important thing is to win on the battlefield.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Solovyov gave a strange order.

"The Tafred Regiment advances 500 Arshin, and all members of the infantry regiment charge with bayonets!"

He had done too many things to fool the enemy, so he came up with this idea, to bluff the grenadiers into action, to give his own men courage, and at the same time to scare the Swedish army that had already suffered heavy losses.

However, he did not expect that after the Swedish army encountered the bayonet charge, they did run away, but they did not retreat for a while and then reorganize. Instead, except for a guards regiment they brought with them, they all fled blindly to the south.

"Damn it, this is too fragile. All regiments must maintain formation, and the cavalry artillery must follow behind. If any enemy still maintains formation, use shotgun shells to bomb them!"

At this time, the morning had just ended, and Solovyov even thought about it. He felt sorry for the cavalry and grenadiers, especially since the regiment sponsored by the young ladies was the elite Russian cavalry. If there were losses in such a quick victory, it would be a loss.

What's more, if we capture prisoners, we will have a few more mouths to feed.

In fact, he also knew that sometimes it was difficult to see prisoners on the battlefield, because the soldiers on both sides had the habit of finishing off each other during the battle.

But victory is always good, there are not so many restrictions.

The enemy had 18,000 men when they set out, but due to casualties on the way the number was reduced to 17,000. The result here was that the Russian army had not even exerted its full strength yet and the Swedes fell.

The more troublesome issue now is probably how to capture Uppsala, the gateway to Stockholm.

(End of this chapter)