Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

The French counterattack was very sharp. The dragoons' counterattack broke through the Prussian chasseurs in front. They were fighting in a scattered manner and were easily hit by this kind of attack.

Soon, these hunters could no longer resist and could only be hacked and killed by the rushing dragoons.

The French army, which launched a frontal attack on these four villages, put great pressure on Blücher's front line.

The Prussian front was under tremendous pressure at this time. The elite troops sent out to capture the village at noon had been fighting alone.

At the same time, the reinforcements on both wings, whether from the Prussians or the Russians, had not yet arrived.

Berg's legion was even further away from the battlefield, and even until now, they were still standing still.

It was also very strange for York. They were also Prussian troops, but they had been carrying out flank protection all the time.

The farthest Russian army, led by Baron Winzengorod, did take some action, but without orders they did not act easily. Only the Queen Mother's nephew, Prince Eugene of Württemberg, led the 2nd Army forward for a while on this side.

On the battlefield, many people probably don't pay attention to the situation on his side.

In fact, the most suitable background music for this section of the coalition operation is probably the Calm Etude.

"This is not good. The French have already moved forward."

By the time we react, it will probably be too late.

The French attack was so fierce that even the new recruits held their bayonets and launched a bayonet charge on the Allied positions.

As for morale, it can be guaranteed as long as Napoleon is still on the battlefield and has not suffered a decisive defeat.

The Prussian army had been hit by a series of attacks from the French army, and the troops in the front were already unable to hold out.

At this time, part of the York Corps joined the battlefield.

But it was a drop in the bucket. The Prussian army was soon driven out of the village of Kaya in front, and then Marmont's troops appeared near the village of Lannes.

Even Solovyov himself wanted to complain. Compared with those French veterans who had suffered great losses in Russia, these new recruits had no skills. In terms of combat effectiveness, they might be even stronger. The bayonet charge completely avoided their weaknesses. Even if some of them were hit by shotgun shells from the Prussian artillery in front, the French soldiers on the side could still continue to launch attacks.

It was difficult to resist the one who rushed over with all his strength for a while.

The Prussian army had already suffered heavy losses here, and could not hold out in the following actions, and began to show signs of retreat.

However, the coalition's command system at this time was still not so flexible.

The Russian troops led by Berg were still outside the battlefield, and the battle took place because the French army's flanking attack touched them.

Vinzengorod did not receive any orders, and as the journey was too far, he moved forward slowly.

By the time York joined the battle, the situation was no longer favorable for the Prussian army that was defending four villages.

At this time, the combat effectiveness shortcomings of the troops that were assembled from military organizations such as the "reserve army" and "border guards" other than the Prussian elite troops were constantly magnified.

Originally, the French army relied on their young recruits who were fearless and pursued the enemy fiercely again and again. Now, they are becoming more and more courageous as the battle goes on.

The situation was out of control and Napoleon soon received good news from two directions.

"Your Majesty, the 6th Army has raised its flag in Lana Village."

"very good"

Although it's just a homonym, Napoleon missed Lannes a little. If he were still alive, he would probably still lead his army to fight fiercely, and he probably wouldn't have to worry about his generals not being strong enough.

With the loss of Bessières in the past two days, the number of generals he can mobilize is getting fewer and fewer. Some of them are loyal enough but lack ability, and those who are capable either have bad character or are not loyal enough.

Moreau, who had no problems in all aspects, was finally expelled because of his different political views. Napoleon, the petty-minded emperor, actually understood this, so it was not surprising that he did it.

Now Moreau was defeated first and then won in North America, defeating the British army repeatedly in New England, but the news was still difficult to convey to Europe.

"Your Majesty, Russians have been spotted moving around on the south side of the battlefield."

"Russian?"

Napoleon had found it strange before. Since the outer battle of Lützen, apart from a few Russian Cossacks, only a few hussar regiments cooperating with the Prussian army appeared on the battlefield.

Now that he finally had intelligence on the Russian army, he felt a little relaxed and even smiled with disdain.

"Your Majesty, what is going on?"

"Our old friends, their deployment is always problematic. They are in Pultusk or Eylau, or the place where we defeated Bernadotte. I can't remember clearly where the Russian soldiers showed great resilience."

Unfortunately, what Napoleon boasted about were all related to the Polish Campaign.

The actual chief of staff of the Russian army at that time was Solovyov. As long as he was clear-headed, he would constantly mobilize troops. It is no wonder that he was unwilling to return to the duties of chief of staff.

It is this extreme mobilization that allows the Russian army to unleash its strength.

"Your Majesty, so what?"

"The Russians at that time, even the commander-in-chief was a Frenchman, but they acted very quickly, and obviously had a very efficient staff. When we were in Russia, the Russian army we encountered was sometimes effective and sometimes not, but they acted very quickly. These people may not be talented enough, but they are very hardworking, which makes up for their lack of general talent. If it were the people today, they would be a bunch of mediocre people."

Napoleon never said a word about his adopted nephew, but that was a compliment.

Winzengorod was still cautious and had strict requirements on military orders. He almost sent Davydov to a military court for entering Dresden without permission.

That is to say, the Prince of Württemberg was the nephew of the Queen Mother, and he had connections. Winzengorod, who had survived Napoleon's hands thanks to the Tsar, could not be provoked.

What's more, he was the nephew that the Queen Mother particularly favored. When he pulled the 2nd Army to the front, he could only express his consent.

And this deployment is always correct.

Just when the Prussian army was being pursued and even abandoned the front line at one point, the Russian 2nd Army, which was the farthest away, unexpectedly arrived at the edge of the battlefield in time.

Although this prince's abilities were limited, according to evaluations, he had some success in infantry tactics, and his status made him unacceptable to his superior commanders.

In addition, in the current situation, even some generals with average military capabilities knew that they needed to cross the river to meet the French army and support the actions of friendly forces, whether they were attacking or defending. So Prince Württemberg personally led the 3rd Infantry Division to prepare to cross the river. Even if the French army discovered them, these Russian soldiers did not retreat. After swimming across the river, they deployed on the front line and launched an attack on the French army's flank.

This was how they barely managed to withstand the French attack. When the Prussians saw their friendly troops coming, they cheered and continued to fight back against the French.

The village of Little Gerschen was also lost to the French. Now the Prussian army only controlled one position in the village of Big Gerschen and faced attacks from several directions by the French army.

At this time, York and Borg continued to fight. At the beginning, the artillery fire was very fierce. The French and the Allied forces had fought so many times, but this was the first time they encountered such fierce artillery fire.

But there always seems to be some problems with the accuracy of these shells.

It is old news that the Prussian artillery had poor accuracy and was always dogmatic.

But the problem for the Russian army is that their large artillery tactics only count, and if small-scale artillery groups fire in a dispersed manner, they might be able to gain a considerable advantage.

But if they are asked to fire in groups, the organization of the artillery fire will obviously be a problem.

If in the future the number of artillery fire per kilometer doubles, that would be a real headache for the enemy.

Today's artillery is making the same trouble as Africans farming.

Looking at this artillery organization, Solovyov, a infantryman, now frowned.

But he couldn't say anything. After all, this battle didn't require him to participate in any action.

He even made up his mind to return to the front-line troops in the future. There are already two emperors and two commanders-in-chief in the army. When the Austrian emperor and his commander-in-chief, who is even more stupid than Liu Zhi, come, this place will not be a place for people to stay.

He still felt that if Alexander just stood aside when the Russian army was fighting alone, they would be able to achieve a brilliant victory. As for the current French troops, many of them were just brave and not very powerful.

If there were some way, especially to make the mobilization of troops smoother, there might be some advantages.

As for having hundreds of thousands of people fighting on a battlefield, that is probably the limit of this era.

"Sir, I think so."

Just as he was about to say something to Scharnhorst, he discovered that he had fallen.

Solovyov dismounted to observe his condition and it seemed that his injuries were not serious.

"Your Excellency, you have been shot in the knee."

"This is inevitable. Things like this will happen on the battlefield."

Solovyov then remembered that this man was really unlucky. The seemingly insignificant wound quickly worsened.

He remembered that he had a first aid kit on hand, which was in the shape of a leather bag.

But he didn't do anything more and just drew a red cross on it. It was a perfect target.

"You should try this wound medicine and disinfectant alcohol."

"Thank you. I remember you seemed to know some medical skills."

"It's just some knowledge of herbs. These are used to stop bleeding, reduce inflammation and detoxify. How should I put it? They need to be used for at least a week, and the wound needs to be carefully protected."

There were some things he couldn't say. He couldn't say he had only delivered babies twice.
If he died now, it would be a huge blow to the future cause of the coalition forces.

As the coalition forces are now full of talented people, Solovyov even feels that the cautious Barclay might be able to stabilize the situation if he returns as commander-in-chief. At least when he is not forced to fight, he can still implement various strategies more steadily.

At this moment, the French artillery launched a counterattack.

Napoleon became increasingly impatient and asked the Guards Artillery to join the battle.

The Guards Artillery finally received an order. After they joined the battle, they used 80 cannons, together with some temporarily assigned cannons, to directly bombard the Allied forces' positions.

Now the coalition forces can no longer defend the small village of Gershen, and they can only choose to retreat.

The French seemed to be on the verge of victory, but due to the tenacious resistance of the Allied infantry and the chaotic deployment, at least 22 Russian troops were unable to enter the battlefield due to their pre-war deployment. They were even farther away than the French nd Division, which was not deployed on the battlefield but was still marching to the front line.

Because he was unable to join the battle, Miloradovich became more and more resentful of Wittgenstein. This honest man offended many of his colleagues who had originally had a good relationship with him with his stupid actions.

"Your Majesty, are you going to deploy the Guards?"

Once again it was suggested that Napoleon should throw the Guard into battle.

This time, too, he sent the Young Guards troops into battle only after the Guards Artillery had taken action.

He was reluctant to use the old guards, so the task of the Young Guards at this stage was, on the one hand, to fill the battle line, and on the other hand, to expand the results of the battle.

After these troops went up, they did achieve considerable results.

Even now the French army has reorganized some of its troops. Ney reorganized his previously scattered troops and joined the battle at the front.

The coalition forces were gradually unable to hold out, and now it was almost night. If the French army continued to attack, it could be a catastrophic blow to the coalition forces.

But Napoleon always kept the Guards in his hands and would not deploy the reserve troops unless he was forced to the point of emergency.

Moreover, the French army lacked cavalry at that time. When they wanted to launch an attack, it was difficult for them to make a flanking maneuver. Therefore, the originally planned encirclement and annihilation battle could not be achieved.

Probably the worse thing that the coalition forces encountered was that they suddenly ran out of artillery shells.

The reason for saying this is that the coalition forces have always had an adequate supply of artillery shells. From noon to afternoon, ammunition trucks continued to arrive. When it was almost nightfall, the gunners discovered that their ammunition supply was suddenly interrupted.

But the French were not in a hurry to attack, and the battlefield fell into silence under this strange situation.

Napoleon saw that he could not achieve a decisive victory, so he did not rush to attack.

At the same time, in order to guard against possible night attacks by the coalition forces, he also ordered the artillery to prepare shotgun shells in advance, so that when the coalition forces were likely to launch a night attack, they would be given a big blow.

Although they failed to capture the village of Großgerschen, the French army had accomplished their mission. At least on the first day of the battle, they had won. This was good news for the troops, which were mainly recruits. The French recruits were even more motivated because they had won the first battle. They also believed more in the emperor's ability to win battles over and over again, which almost became a superstition. (End of this chapter)