Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

That being said, it is also true that the pressure we face is greater than before.

The night before the French launched their attack, the Russian army was making intensive deployments, and operations always had to be relatively covert.

Although the 8th Army's forces were concentrated at this time, it had to obey Raevsky's command as a whole.

However, the order that Rajevsky gave him was very clear. The 8th Army was on standby as a reserve, but the grenadiers were pulled out to cover Paskevich's actions.

At the army headquarters, while Bagration was making deployments, Raevsky and Paskevich were also carrying out intensive pre-war deployments in the fortress left by the Poles.

The artillery had been arranged, but Paskevich, who had chosen this place as the core of the defense zone, was still worried because what he wanted to develop before was a relatively complete system.

However, there was far from enough time, so the trenches dug by the six infantry regiments were not deep. Fortunately, the trenches on the side of the road could provide some cover, and together with the city walls of Smolensk, a defensive position could still be built.

When Solovyov came to the "Royal Fortress" in the morning to find Paskevich, he also saw the whole picture of his defense zone.

"Your artillery is good, with 70 cannons at your disposal, but if the French attack now, if their artillery is well prepared, you will have to withstand fire from several directions, which is still a difficult task. It would be better if the walls of these fortresses were rebuilt after the time of Vauban."

"Mikhail Sergeyevich, the last time Russian land was invaded was at that time."

"Your ancestors weren't Russian at that time, were they?"

Paskovich knew Solovyov's habit, he always liked to check the little notebook, and he knew everything about them. If he was not in the army, the most suitable position might be to manage the civil archives of the whole of Russia.
Their family did come from a Zaporizhia Cossack family, and might even have been considered Polish at the time.

However, these Cossacks who wrote back to the Sultan, although they were also a group of "free men", were mainly infantry and could be considered Poland's cheap cannon fodder.

Now, the Poles really came, but Poniatowski was still far away from the battlefield, and Neverowski might be a distant relative of his family.
In short, there are always Poles in Eastern Europe.

"But they haven't come yet. What do you think about the defense here?"

This was the first time that Paskevich actually independently commanded a defensive operation of this scale, and it could even be considered a temporarily organized army-level unit.

The 26th Division was responsible for the frontal defense, the flank was part of the 6th Division belonging to the 24th Army, and the 27th Division was also here.

However, judging from the military serial numbers of these three divisions, they are all newly formed division-level combat units, and many of the regiments have relatively low serial numbers. If Paskevich did not have the older 5th Jaeger Regiment, it would probably be the same.

"These earthen walls in the suburbs can only block bullets. If the French artillery fire comes, it will cause you considerable damage. But we have no other choice. It has been 200 years since we have been hit so deeply by foreigners. And time is limited. If we had chosen to hold on, we could have used the perimeter of the fortress to build positions."

"We don't have such convenient conditions now, but we still need to protect this fortress. After all, it is one of the few fortifications we can rely on. I also told Nikolai Nikolayevich that this is a place for division and defense. But you pointed out the periphery..."

"If possible, we should take advantage of the gaps in the enemy's attack to have the militia set up some obstacles here, at least to prevent the enemy from running. The French cavalry advantage allows them to launch an attack, and their infantry is stronger than us in many aspects except for hand-to-hand combat."

Although, it's only slightly stronger.

There are still many worrying issues now, and I am afraid that only the cavalry is not affected.

The reason was that the 7th Army only had one light cavalry regiment and could not provide any counterattack power.

Paskevich envied his brothers in the 8th Army, who could directly call for the 2nd Cuirassier Division within their own army.

However, precisely because this cavalry division was a powerful cuirassiers, the Russian army's most powerful cavalry unit other than the Guards Cavalry was often drawn out.

"In the cemetery over there, we can ambush four regiments. Fortunately, there are bushes around."

"But when the battle comes, the French will use artillery fire there, and we have nothing to rely on except the tombstones and the front trenches."

As they were talking, they heard a roar coming from the high observation post.

"The French! Three versts away!"

When it came to this, Solovyov was using binoculars, while Paskevich was still using a monocular, and they both could see clearly now.

"Mikhail Sergeyevich, your relatives seem to be very active. They came to form a battle array today. It seems that they want to seize the city immediately to pave the way for either defeating us or heading for Moscow."

"Then let them call us. I'm afraid we won't get anything in the end."

Solovyov looked at Paskevich, who was also a "model worker" during the reign of Nicholas I. He was on active duty until the Crimean War and died in Warsaw.

Speaking of which, if this group of people born in the 1780s were still the main force during the Crimean War, it was either because of a talent gap or because Russia's system was rigid and some changes had to be made.

Of course, by then the older Yermolov was still serving as the militia commander in Moscow, just like Kutuzov had been in St. Petersburg when the war just started.

But they are still young and energetic, and Paskevich doesn't even have a wife.

They still have a long time to go on this stage.

Solovyov returned to the grenadiers to prepare for the next action.

He was quite worried. He could barely see the French flag through the telescope, with its eagle emblem, and it looked like Ney's 3rd Army had arrived.

Let’s not talk about what happens to others for now. If this reckless man comes, he will easily get carried away during the battle. In that case, the intensity of the battle may have reached its maximum level soon after it begins.

Paskevich trusted Solovyov very much. He had strong command ability between the regiment commander and the army commander. As for the army group, he led a small temporary army group and defeated 300,000 Turkish troops. This ability was already good, but he had never fought against the French at the large army group level.

The French came in neat rows from a distant field, covered by their artillery.

In the battle the day before, if Murat had not been careless and left the cavalry artillery behind, Neverovsky would have faced a more severe test, and the Russian army might even have lost a division in the battle. However, Ney's troops were light infantry, and Murat's cavalry artillery had not arrived at all.

Although Nansouty and Grouchy were very dissatisfied with this, they just let it go since he was the emperor's brother-in-law and their superior.

Today, it was the infantry army that came, and it was obvious that both sides were going to set up their battle formations and engage in a full-scale fight.

The French chose cemeteries and fortresses as their main attack targets, which happened to be the main fortified areas of the Russian army.

Seeing this situation, Paskevich fought for a while and then went to the Oryol Regiment's ranks in person, ready to lead the regiment into the battle.

He was surrounded by only a few followers, which was also the custom among Russian generals at that time. They always joined the battle in the front line of the army.

Just like the battle of Shengraben seven years ago, the Russian Orel Regiment lined up in neat rows in front of the valley. When they got close to the French army, they shouted "Ura" and launched a bayonet charge.

However, there was a problem. When the 1st Battalion and Paskevich launched the charge together, the 2nd Battalion was a little behind.

As a last resort, he sent his adjutant Borodin to find the 2nd Battalion.

When the Orel Regiment launched the attack, the three infantry regiments next to it also joined the counterattack. The French's first attack on the Royal Fortress was unsuccessful.

But Ney's enthusiasm remained unabated. He must have thought of the past when he fought Prussia. Just like the walls of Jericho collapsed when Moses returned to Canaan in the Bible, the Prussian fortifications also collapsed under the impact of the cavalry.

If it were Solovyov, he would probably complain that Jesus' birthplace is in the Palestinian-controlled area of ​​the West Bank of the Jordan River, and why the foreign Eastern European teppanyaki separation wall has not fallen down?

Now the French continued their attack, and Paskevich deployed his troops and finally repelled the first French attack.

When he had his troops return to their starting point, still holding the fort, he had some time to look at the French across the street.

"Damn it, it looks like the main French force is coming, there's people all over this back there."

However, his judgment may be somewhat wrong, that is, the French troops that have arrived so far are mainly Ney's 3rd Army, and some of the follow-up troops are still far away.

The one who arrived was probably Davout, who was always a fast runner. Poniatowski's Polish Army was still far away from here, not to mention the armies of other vassal states.

The proportion of French people in the French army is not that high now, and among the Twelve-Nation Alliance, only the French army's own infantry regiment has a relatively large organization, while the infantry organization of other troops remains the same.

This principle also applied to the two Portuguese infantry regiments in Ney's III Corps, which were attached to the 3th and 10th Divisions.

When these infantry regiments were first formed in Portugal, they may have been large in number and could even be organized into a small legion on their own.

However, due to the great weakness of the French on the Iberian Peninsula and the poor organization of the Portuguese themselves, this legion now consists of only three small infantry regiments, which were all incorporated into the expeditionary army in this war.

They were quickly beaten back by the Russian bayonet charge. If the 46th Line Infantry Regiment of the Marion Brigade had not been pulled out and organized into formation to launch a counterattack against the Orel Regiment's attack, these Portuguese regiments would have been driven under Ney's nose.

Then the French artillery spoke again, and Paskevich even had to hide behind a bunker to avoid grenades.

Fortunately, it was not under the city wall. The French artillery fire mainly hit the Russian troops near the city wall, where there were some cannons.

Paskevich was dissatisfied with Barclay's instructions that artillery could be deployed in cemeteries and under city walls, but the actual number of artillery deployed was limited.

The 24 cannons obviously faced a huge challenge when facing the French army's larger number of artillery.

"If we had 100 cannons, the French wouldn't be so arrogant."

When he said this, the returning adjutant Borodin couldn't help but complain about him.

"You also need a commander who can effectively organize these artillery units? Although our artillery units are more powerful and can be reloaded faster, our officers are not as good as ours."

"Oh, these are all old problems."

As they were talking, they also saw a section of the city wall collapsed, and some unlucky Russian soldiers were buried alive underneath. It seemed unlikely that they would survive.

Especially now that a fierce battle is still going on, both sides have been fighting repeatedly over the outer positions throughout the morning.

The Russian army also discovered that if it were a pure French army, it might cause even greater trouble to the Russian army.

If it were the French brothers or the armies of the German princes, their cavalry, regardless of their quality, would at best be considered to have performed well.

Infantryman's words
Seeing some people whose uniforms were different in color from those of the Portuguese Legion and the French Army, Paskevich saw the 25th Division, which was composed entirely of Württemberg people, and they were now attacking.

"What the hell, they are from Wurtemberg, the Empress Dowager's family, which means they are relatives of the Emperor."

Paskevich also wanted to have some sense of humor, but seeing this situation, he couldn't laugh.

The French attack was more like a war of attrition. Although he was able to repel the enemy's multiple attacks in the morning, by noon when he was replaced by the "not very good" Württemberg infantry, he found it a bit difficult.

It's not because of anything else. The 26th Division is also a relatively new unit. Although the new troops organized by the Russian army can use some infantry regiments as a basis and draw officers to build the structure, the weapons have always been the best ones for the more elite old regiments first, and the weapons of the new infantry regiments are relatively poor.

Seeing this situation and considering the large number of Portuguese and French bodies that had been knocked down by them in front, Paskevich asked the officers to start letting some young soldiers collect weapons, ammunition, and even other usable equipment from the bodies during the intervals between the French attacks.

Otherwise, he would run out of ammunition. (End of this chapter)