Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Wittgenstein's intention was to control four villages, including Großgerschen and Kleine Gerschen, while continuing to advance and drive the French army out of the battlefield.

However, his idea was good, but there were many mistakes during the execution.

First, Blücher finally cleared his mind and launched a quick attack, but his subordinates wasted the opportunity he had created, and even the subsequent French troops joined the battlefield.

Next, here, when facing a group of French recruits, the Prussian cavalry obviously did not pay attention to the terrain.

In the area they attacked, there were swamps, ponds and ditches, which made it inconvenient for cavalry to move.

As a result, the several cavalry regiments of the Prussian army that launched the attack soon exposed their flanks.

Their attack was effective, at least it loosened the 8th Division's position, but what they did next was somewhat surprising.

Saito's troops coordinated fairly well. They took advantage of the French army's high morale but inexperience, and the fact that many of the recruits had only just learned combat skills, and launched an attack that forced back the approaching French.

But the cavalry
Colonel Dovers' problem was probably that he was too dogmatic.

The Prussian cavalry here seemed too proactive, and they were not even far away on the battlefield.

The French artillery hidden in the position of the nearby Kaya village opened fire, and dense artillery shells hit the Prussian cavalry formation, causing them considerable casualties. These cavalry were trapped by the terrain ahead and finally performed worse than their dogmatic companions.

Even some attacks, with their resulting casualties, seemed meaningless.

Blücher would also be angry about this, but he also saw the opportunity. At least now the French are still retreating, and the opportunity has come.

The order he issued was to have the reserve infantry brigade join the battle, in addition to the cavalry units that could be mobilized.

But Ney came back at this time. He saw the chaos in front of him. Although he felt the situation was bad, he still gave orders and asked the troops to launch a counterattack.

Just like what happened the day before, the two sides started a passionate confrontation again, but this choice should still be correct.

“The French strike back!”

A Prussian staff officer shouted on the hill that he saw smoke ahead through a telescope, and some cavalry in it, moving in the distance like a bunch of small dots. At this time, the people in the Allied headquarters also knew about the French counterattack.

A French hussar regiment launched an attack, first repelling a Prussian lancer regiment, and then charging the Prussian infantry that had not yet formed a battle formation. For a time, it achieved good results and even broke through the phalanx of a part of the Prussian infantry regiment.

The several battalion formations in front and the scattered infantrymen who formed a small-scale defensive formation were soon hit.

The Prussian army was defeated again because the French army's strength was constantly increasing.

"Sir, do you think the French have more troops than we expected?"

Solovyov was still very polite in reminding Blücher that he had experienced the other's violent temper.

Of course, he is not in a big way yet and is always able to listen to what his subordinates say.

"Even if there are more of them, so what? We can still keep fighting. Young man, you are too cautious. We should continue the attack and drive the enemy out of the village ahead."

While saying this, Solovyov's eyes did not leave the telescope; he was still watching the situation ahead.

"Ah, the Guards are doing a good job. If we attack them like this, the French will probably abandon these villages."

"Of course, and we should increase the artillery fire. All our cannons that can fire should open fire and the entire army should launch an attack!"

Blücher was always a passionate person, and he was able to infect his subordinates with this.

However, after he gave the order to attack, he also looked at Solovyov.

"You have a good telescope, Count. I saw it on the staff officers who came back from Russia."

"Ah, these are all products of a Petersburg company, of which I am probably one of the shareholders."

As for the boss, he is nominally under the Tsar’s uncle, Count Bobulinsky.

"It's a really good thing. It's also very convenient to hang around your neck."

"If you want, I can make you a custom version, like this one."

There is also an exclusive mark on it, indicating ownership.

"That's fine, but..."

As shells flew past them, Blücher became more and more determined to fight, and even wanted to move his headquarters forward.

As he continued to advance like this, his soldiers were indeed encouraged, and the Prussian attack seemed to have achieved great results, severely damaging one French division. Another two French divisions also retreated continuously. Even Marshal Marmont, who came to reinforce, had his two divisions involved in a tough battle.

Napoleon finally received news of the fighting at the front. He had been waiting for this opportunity.

When he arrived at the front with his entourage, the French soldiers also shouted "Long live the emperor".

Even before the soldiers saw him there, they knew that His Majesty the Emperor had arrived at the front just by looking at the leading marching columns of the Grenadiers and Old Guards.

The French people's morale was boosted by the cheers, and Napoleon was very satisfied with the performance of his soldiers.

It seems that this is also a test for the French army, which can be used to restore their confidence.

"Your Majesty, the situation of the 8th Division is very bad now."

"Ney, don't say anything! Now it's just like in Marengo. Although we encountered setbacks at the beginning, we still have a chance!"

What's more, many of the troops commanded by Napoleon himself did not join the battlefield, and only Marmont and Ney joined the battle in the several villages on the front.

"We should adjust our deployment and strengthen our forces on both wings. Also, tell Marmont that he doesn't need reinforcements. The focus of the battlefield is on Kaya Village!"

As for him, he rode on horseback and arrived at the front with his adjutants and followers, and the soldiers were even more excited.

The situation was even the same on the other side. Even the King of Prussia went to the front line to boost morale, and the Tsar himself would naturally go there as well.

It's just that although his intervention this time is obviously not as good as before, it is inevitable that he will have some ideas. Since Napoleon can boost morale, he can also do it.

As for micro-management, Solovyov was on the Prussian army side at the time, not in the Tsar's headquarters, so he had no idea what his monarch was addicted to.

But this battle might still leave him some opportunities to make mistakes. After all, if he failed to deploy decisive cavalry to pursue the defeated army on the battlefield of Lucen, it would be difficult to achieve any results.

What the French lacked most was cavalry. As they pursued the French all the way across Russian territory, the Russian army saw a large number of horse skeletons. Due to a lack of food, many horses were eaten.

No one had ever provided them with wine like Qin Mugong did.
Therefore, at this time, the first thing to consider is how to avoid failure, because the opponent is Napoleon after all.

The current actions of the coalition forces are indeed a bit outrageous.

"It's time to send follow-up troops into battle! Now that we've opened a gap, that's what we should do."

At this time, Solovyov did not realize that he was still on the Prussian army and had no command authority.

"You mean now?"

"As long as we can take some action and push our troops forward, we will probably be able to achieve victory!"

Solovyov was also very confident when he said this. At least the French army in the front had been driven out of the designated area. If the attack continued, the reserve troops would be able to move forward and drive Marmont's reinforcements out of the battlefield. Napoleon would probably have to use the Guards and all the troops he could mobilize to the battlefield.

Now, apart from one division of Lauriston's 5th Army that entered Leipzig, the rest of the troops, including MacDonald who turned from the main road, were all heading towards the vicinity of the village of Großgerschen.

The French advantage in troop mobilization also became apparent at this time.

But Wittgenstein did not take any action. He seemed to be satisfied with just controlling these villages. At the same time, he was even a little confused about where the troops below were.

It is obvious that the communication system has made great improvements. Even on the day of the Battle of Lützen, the sunny day was very suitable for the optical communication used by the coalition forces.

However, the disconnect between the various troops, coupled with the fact that there were actually four headquarters on the mountain, also caused great chaos in the command system on the coalition side.

In other words, King FW was only responsible for boosting the morale of the Prussian army in his area and did not perform any micro-management.

Although Alexander was able to control his hands, he was unable to stop the aide-generals around him. Except for Volkonsky, who served as chief of staff, they all said that this was probably a victory for Napoleon.

But when Alexander heard this, he would feel a little elated in the past, but under today's circumstances, it was obvious that he couldn't laugh.

After all, there was the precedent of Austerlitz, and Alexander himself knew that, except for Volkonsky, few of the generals around him truly understood military affairs and were capable of leading troops above the division level in battle.

Especially Balashov, the former Minister of Police who has always been the Tsar's aide-general, he even did not hesitate to use all kinds of words to boast about the Tsar's military achievements.

"Balashov, you don't have to do this today. I have some bad memories"

"Your Majesty, don't worry about this. We have already taken control of the village, which should be considered a victory."

Even Arakcheev, who was standing aside with his eyes narrowed, had disgust written all over his face.

Although he was also a close minister, he was still a serious leader. Austerlitz had led a division and was mainly responsible for screwing and organizing artillery. He understood military affairs.

At least it was not yet time to achieve a decisive victory, as the Russian-Austrian coalition forces on the high ground were quickly overwhelmed.

Now here, the main position of the coalition forces is also on the high ground. Apart from this, after capturing several villages, Wittgenstein did not continue the attack.

On the contrary, Napoleon was still actively mobilizing his troops, and his response was also very quick.

There was even some element of gambling involved, as several divisions had to be deployed together, and in addition the cavalry had to be dispatched.

Although there are always some infantrymen with poor combat effectiveness in the armies of vassal states, these German cavalrymen still perform well on the battlefield.

Ney, who was wounded on the battlefield, still insisted on fighting. He asked the Baden Dragoons to join the counterattack. In addition, Napoleon also mobilized several divisions to join the battle and launched a counterattack against the villages of Kaya and Little Gerschen.

It seems that the emperor has sent out all the troops he could mobilize except the guards.

Except for MacDonald and Lauriston, who were moving slower and farther away, all the troops were moving towards the center of the battlefield.

The pressure on the coalition forces is very great now.

Blücher took the initiative at the beginning, and the next attack should be launched by the troops led by York and Berg, as well as Baron Winzengorod coming from the flank.

However, a lot of Russian cavalry were transferred to that side because of the fighting on the flank.

There were always problems, and whenever Wittgenstein wanted to mobilize the cavalry, he would always ask the Tsar for permission.

After hearing his request, Alexander also agreed to deploy the Guards Cavalry to join the flank battle, but the effect was not ideal.

General Bertrand on that side was more cautious. He encountered a large number of Allied troops head-on, especially cavalry, so he only advanced slowly. Unlike the other troops, he did not dare to fight back boldly.

At this time, Marmont launched a counterattack towards the village of Lannes, while the main force of the French army aimed at the village of Kaya. For a time, Blücher's vanguard was also frustrated.

The veteran's hot temper could no longer be suppressed. He even drew his sword and seemed to want to lead the team himself.

Seeing him like this, Scharnhorst hurried to dissuade him.

"Sir, it is not yet time for you to lead the attack yourself. Besides, our reinforcements are on the way."

"If you were in overall command, you might be better than General Wittgenstein."

Solovyov was also a little impatient. He thought that the armies commanded by York and Berg should catch up, at least to cover the flanks of Blücher's front troops, so as not to give the French too many opportunities to take advantage.

But now, because there are several headquarters in the coalition at the same time, the performance of the two monarchs today is even more reliable. One is only concerned with boosting his own morale, and the other is no longer engaged in random micro-management. Although Alexander also instructed some troops to join the battlefield, this is a great improvement over the previous micro-management, at least it is quite standard.

As for Blücher, although he was old and easily got carried away, his generals were able to persuade him.

If there was anyone to blame, it would probably be Wittgenstein's head. Today's operation turned out like this because he did not deploy the reserve troops in time and had to take away the Tsar's guards cavalry. He also has some responsibility for the loss.

Even more troublesome things may be coming later. (End of this chapter)