Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 411 053 The Prussian Army that Looks Fierce but Actually Sends Heads for Death (Part 3)

The Duke of Brunswick was worried about Weimar's retreat at this time. When Prince Louis Ferdinand was exchanging fire with the French army, first the court attendants of Saxe-Weimar sent news of the French army's activities in Jena, and then Hohenlohe finally sent intelligence.

"What do we need these delayed intelligence for? Major, please return to Hohenlohe's headquarters and convey the order to his corps to move eastward to protect the traffic lines passing through Weimar, and keep in touch with my headquarters at any time."

"Sir, the Hohenlohe Corps should set a time, and we will arrive in Weimar a few days after them."

After listening to Scharnhorst's reminder, the Duke of Brunswick also added an instruction.

"It shouldn't be difficult to ask Hohenlohe to hold out for two days. Remember to protect the traffic lines and don't fight the French army easily."

The old duke was determined in his heart that he should learn from Daun in Austria now, and he retreated to Weimar with the existing troops when he was not in a dominant position, and then retreated to Berlin while fighting.

He was also very worried about this plan. Frederick William III was unwilling to give up Berlin, which would restrict all combat plans.

If the queen was the queen, it might be better.

But Louise was a woman, and the Salic succession law could be said to be the most unfriendly succession law for women. Secondly, she was married from Mecklenburg, which naturally cut off her possibility of directly holding power, that is, being able to exert influence.

After the officer who sent the message left, he was still worried.

"If Lücher's corps follows up, I'm always worried that Hohenlohe will cause trouble."

"Sir, this will still disperse the troops."

"There is no way, we may be led by Bonaparte. What he wants is to start from Jena and mobilize our troops to return to support. At the same time, look here. Gerhard, if you were Bonaparte, what would you do?"

"If it were me, I would choose to involve the main force of the Duke of Brunswick, who could not return to Jena in time north of Fulda, and then his main force would leave Jena and go straight to Weimar to cut off the Duke of Brunswick's transportation line."

"Yes, the strategy he adopted is consistent with ours. And doing so is to force us to return from Weimar, which is a very clever means."

But the Duke of Brunswick could not continue to criticize. He knew that the Prussian army, from the king to the generals below, was generally unwilling to give up Berlin. Otherwise, Scharnhorst's plan would not have attracted unanimous opposition from the Prussian army, and they all knew that this plan was the most rational and had the greatest chance of winning.

The old duke himself did not dare to take this risk, so his choice was to have Prince Louis Ferdinand stay behind on the north bank of the Fulda River to give his troops some time to take the initiative.

At the same time, Napoleon received a report from Davout that he was close to Jena and had no obstacles along the way.

This kind of unimpeded access was also a strategic problem for the Prussian army. The Duke of Brunswick's plan was just the optimal solution under the condition that the Prussian army was unwilling to give up Berlin at this time.

If Berlin could be abandoned and the Russian army could retreat to the Oder River while fighting, it would have entered West Prussia even if it crawled over.

At this time, the Russian army was still preparing. The war between Prussia and France broke out so suddenly that Napoleon himself calmed down for a quarter of an hour. If he came here without an ally, it would be a suicide mission.

However, the incident happened suddenly. If the French mobilization had not been in the southern German region, it would have been very troublesome.

Prussia's ultimatum was not well prepared for Russia and Britain. The former's 150,000 troops were still training at home; although the latter's navy could react, it was a problem to deploy the limited number of British troops, not to mention that there was no means of payment, and it was too late to write checks or ask branches of British banks in Berlin to prepare banknotes and cash.

That's it. The British cabinet and the Russian Tsar did not scold their teammates, which was already elegant and easy-going, and they put the overall situation first.

In his forward headquarters, Napoleon soon received the enemy situation report from Lannes and the victory report of the next day.

"It seems that the Prussians are still holding on to their old tricks, which makes it easier for us to march into Weimar."

"Your Majesty, do you want to give another order?"

"Ask Bernadotte and Davout to continue to detour eastward, Soult to advance to Jena from the front, where is Augereau?"

"The Seventh Army has passed Münchberg, and Marshal Augereau should have reached Lichtenberg at a normal marching speed."

"Although it is a bit slow, the distance is enough. We can let Soult's 30,000 people lure the Prussians on the front line, and then the Seventh Army will join the battlefield, and the First and Third Armies will detour. This is a hammer and anvil. After attacking from both sides, if the Prussian army comes with a corps, we can easily defeat them. If it is the main force, we must choose a good place for the battle. Berthier, let's go now and go to Jena to take a look."

"Your Majesty, you still have to pay attention to safety. After all, the fate of the empire depends on you."

"I believe that I will be the master of my destiny and not just 'lucky'. Berthier, let's just go there in the uniforms of dragoons and chasseurs. If possible, Jena is not even a strategic center of gravity , we can hold the Prussian army at bay East of Weimar. The only thing that worries me is that they are unwilling to take the initiative. You know, the Duke of Brunswick has been in the army for 50 years, and he is still very cautious. If he is just on the battlefield, he is not my opponent. Don’t fight with me, that’s the most troublesome thing.”

"Your Majesty, you also hope that at this time, you will cut off his lines of communication and force the Prussian army to fight with us."

"The Prussians also wanted to cut off our lines of communication, but Lannes defeated his vanguard at Fulda. This plan was no longer possible. It was impossible for him to make a desperate move and pull the main force of the Prussian army to the Fulda River. Go, where Rana and Ney can stop them. At the same time, our retreat in Weimar is not guaranteed, and our threat to Berlin will depend on the lines of communication!"

At this time, Napoleon could be said to have a plan in mind. Before the large-scale exchange of fire with Prussia had even begun, the balance of victory and defeat in the war was already leaning towards him.

As for the defeat of the Prussian army, the 9,000 Prussian and Saxon troops on the north bank of the Fulda River were almost wiped out. Prince Louis Ferdinand refused to surrender and died in battle after being surrounded by French hussars. This Prussian army The advance troops of the army, and only a few squadrons of hussars successfully broke through.

The main force of the Duke of Brunswick also stopped marching towards Fulda at this time. Instead, the entire army retreated to the pass of the Thuringian Mountains, first reached Erfurt, and then marched eastward.

At this time, Prince Hohenlohe's army and General von Lücher's army were both advancing towards Weimar. Although they were marching on the inside, there was a problem. The Prussian army's rapid march was significantly slower. For the French Army.

And what's even more terrible is that after Hohenlohe received the order from the Duke of Brunswick, he didn't take it seriously.

"The commander-in-chief is still old. Even though he is as timid as a mouse, he is actually afraid of the French. If the French army has fewer troops than us, they will definitely be able to defeat them in battle. But he demands so."

"Your Excellency, our legion only has 40,000 men, and with Lücher's reinforcements, the number is still limited. And the troops led by the Commander-in-Chief are still at the pass of the Thuringia Mountains, so it is more advantageous for the armies to get closer. "

"That's not true. Ever since they beheaded the king, the French have never penetrated so deeply into the heart of Germany. We can take advantage of the advantage of fighting on the inside to defeat the French vanguard first and frustrate the French. Spirited!"

Meissenbach, the chief of staff, also highly agreed with Hohenlohe's opinion.

This also left Gneisenau, who had just made the suggestion, helpless. What if the French method was to show weakness?

"Your Excellency, I think this still needs to be taken into consideration. The French have not had experience in deceiving the Austrian army in Hohenlinden before, so they still need to be careful in fighting!"

However, Hohenlohe was unmoved: "Don't you agree with that Hanoverian farmer?"

"Your Excellency, I am considering the fate of the Prussian army! This battle is related to the fate of Prussia! As for Colonel Scharnhorst, his opinion is still of some use. We must concentrate our forces to fight the French army. Not like this now.”

As a 46-year-old lieutenant colonel, his future is relatively limited in the Prussian army. After all, there are a group of old colonels in their 50s and veteran generals in their 60s.

Before the Milk Method, you also have to look at the age structure of the Prussians when they were speed-passed. They were actually the same.

But Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, even though they didn't know each other at this time, still showed their abilities.

They knew how the Prussian army should fight at this time, but all of them were denied by their superiors, or there was interference from within the Prussian army. If this continues, hundreds of thousands of Prussian and Saxon troops may be destroyed here.

As for their current location, it is Gotha, 40 kilometers west of Weimar. It seems that the distance is not far, that is, a day's journey.

However, according to the French troop movements reported by the hussars who opened the way, French cavalry had already appeared near Weimar.

Now, the situation is not very good.

The Duke of Saxony-Weimar himself was in the Prussian army. His family had already traveled from Weimar to Berlin before the war began, and there were not many defenders in the city.

In this case, Hohenlohe decided to send the cavalry as the vanguard to drive away the French cavalry operating near Weimar.

There is nothing wrong with this kind of action. After all, if the French cavalry is active nearby, they will continuously pass information to Napoleon, allowing him to grasp the movements of the Prussian army.

However, after the Prussian cavalry was in place and the French cavalry was driven away, they also discovered that there were more French cavalry moving around Weimar.

If analyzed according to the numbers of the killed and captured French troops, they belonged to three different cavalry regiments, but they all belonged to Soult's Fourth Army.

"The Fourth Army is the one with the largest strength among Bonaparte's armies. We estimate that they have 30,000 people. However, according to the confessions of the prisoners, the other troops are relatively far away. In this case, should we directly Launch an attack and repel this French army first?"

Hohenlohe convened a military meeting in Gotha, and called all the generals and many staff officers to decide whether to fight or avoid the battle.

Gneisenau looked at these eager Prussian officers, and he was helpless.

Hohenlohe did not even give him a chance to speak, and the senior officers present agreed to take the initiative.

After all, including Luchel's more than 10,000 men, their strength exceeded 50,000, which was even "not a small advantage" compared to Soult's 30,000 men.

The deployment of the French army did confirm Gneisenau's concerns.

At this time, Napoleon placed the Fourth Army in Jena, which was actually very close to Weimar.

The two armies were in Erfurt and Jena, respectively, and were actually within 20 kilometers of Weimar. Considering the tortuous roads and the difference in marching speed between the two sides, it can be said that the Prussian army still had a slight advantage.

But the French army moved faster, and Hohenlohe obviously did not notice the information covered by the "battlefield fog". Bernadotte, Davout and Augereau each commanded an army not far from Soult.

This is not to mention that the old guards who were actually hiding in the south of Jena would not wear bearskin hats during the march, and they looked no different from ordinary French troops.

The Prussian army's reconnaissance was not sufficient, and there were even many flaws.

Now they have actually entered the trap carefully laid by Napoleon.

Even Bernadotte and Davout, although their two armies moved at different speeds and it was difficult for them to communicate with each other on the battlefield, Davout was moving northeast of Weimar at this time. As long as he moved forward a little, he could quickly cut off the traffic line behind the Prussian army.

Once the traffic line was cut off, Davout could hold his glasses and say that the aorta of the Prussian army was cut off by him.

Of course, from the perspective of this bald marshal, this kind of funny picture would not be done.

However, as outstanding graduates from the French military academy, they inevitably have some commonalities.

Hohenlohe is still asking Lücher to get close to him. The two corps will join forces to give Soult a big blow.

He thinks he has the advantage, but the actual strength of the French army is much larger than his.

In this place, if you are not careful, you will be beaten.