Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 423 065 Soloviev showed off his skills in Pultusk (Part 3)

The troops led by Davout always moved in a more coquettish manner.

During the Battle of Austerlitz, the Friant Division marched to join the battlefield and played a significant role.

Because the history could not be restored, Davout's magical operation was gone, but when he fought with the Prussian army, he also appeared on the battlefield in time, cut off Hohenlohe's retreat, and made a Prussian dumpling filling.

Before in Charnovo, he almost caught Osterman-Tolstoy, but the count was quick enough to escape after losing some troops, and also used grenadiers to throw a row of grenades, successfully deterring the pursuing French army.

But in Soloviev's view, it seemed that playing like this made him look like a ninja among those who had a good life, throwing smoke bombs before running away.

But the 2nd Division finally escaped, and its performance in Pultusk today was very good.

"Sir, we have repelled the French attack. Should we continue the pursuit?"

Osterman-Tolstoy sent his adjutant, still wanting to take advantage of this counterattack to continue the pursuit to expand the results.

If the Gudin Division had not appeared on the flank at this time, Langgeron would definitely agree, and give him the reserve troops, and even pull out the ambush troops.

But the problem is that the Gudin Division appeared here, and although the Suchet Division exposed the flank, when Gazan was beaten, it was obvious that he retreated in an orderly manner.

In addition to the Suchet Division brigade that began to attack Bagvout, these troops still maintain a relatively symmetrical front, which makes it difficult for the Russian army to attack at present.

"Guests are coming from the Golim direction, and we can no longer take out the reserve troops to cross this road."

Langgeron sighed, looked at the new French reinforcements through a telescope, and finally issued a new order.

"Let the reserve brigade, the Novorossiysk Dragoon Regiment and the Pavlovsk Grenadiers go to the right wing. Barclay may have some trouble."

"Count, who should lead the team?"

Soloviev asked, and Langeron just smiled crookedly.

"Now I have no choice but to let you go. There are enough staff officers in the staff, but I don't even have a suitable commander left."

That's right. Wittgenstein volunteered to become the cavalry commander, and the division commanders and brigade commanders also performed their duties. Some were injured on the battlefield.

There was only one brigade under Kamensky the Younger and the reserve brigade without a commander. According to the formation, Kamensky the Younger had to cover the back of Bagowut, but Barclay had the reserve brigade and the Sacken Division behind him.

Langeron proposed this, obviously wanting to split the troops into two groups and tear the French front line.

However, he was not completely sure about the division coming from Davout's Third Army.

Therefore, the Isaken Division attacked from behind Barclay to hit the flank of the Suchet Division. After a series of complicated operations, Solovyov led three infantry regiments and a dragoon regiment to deal with the Gudin Division. Now this was the only way.

Langgeron thought so because the Selenge Regiment had never participated in any battles. The Novorossiysk Dragoon Regiment was also a new unit, and its combat effectiveness could not be guaranteed. The pressure was normally on the Smolensk Regiment and the Pavlovsk Grenadiers.

However, the Selenge Regiment was still led by Solovyov himself, and the training methods were ready-made. Even most of the Russian army now took this method.

"Two infantry regiments should withdraw their grenadier companies. In addition, the grenadier companies of the Tenkins Regiment should also be left behind to form a combined grenadier battalion as the final reserve. The rest of the troops should directly attack the French army!"

"Directly attack?"

"Time is the most precious thing now. We have not experienced any battles here. Instead, we have rested for two days. The enemy is marching to join the battlefield. We cannot be afraid of such a tired enemy here!"

After saying that, Solovyov drew the sword from his waist. He did not pick up the pistol as usual and walked in front of the team to attack the French position.

Of course, this scene was a bit reckless, but he did not expect that

the Guding Division, a unit that has always been able to fight hard battles and performed very well in training and exercises, only fired sporadically at the infantry columns of the Russian army. Instead, the Russian army has been slowly advancing and shooting, and moving closer to the village where the French army is located.

Solovyov didn't expect it, and thought that the French army was preparing to play bayonet fighting at close range, but he was more cautious and approached the position of ten steps, and then ordered a bayonet charge!

"Ura!"

The Russian army shouted and rushed towards the French army. What surprised him again was that the French army retreated like this.

Originally, Solovyov was preparing for a tough battle. He didn't expect that the Gudin Division had no bullets. Facing this new force of the Russian army, Fournier, who was acting as the commander, chose to retreat and reorganize, but did not leave the battlefield too far.

The reason for doing this is also very simple, that is, the French army is short of manpower. Fournier brought a division here, but after a short exchange of fire, he almost ran out of ammunition. Before that, they had fought and exchanged fire with the Russian army near Golim!

While supporting Lannes here, Davout also issued an order to ask the 3rd Division to return to support, but Fournier chose to support Lannes in Pultusk.

This time, Solovyov was frightened and did not move forward.

After all, the French army was in this posture, and it was unknown whether they had an ambush or something else.

Of course, under normal circumstances, Fournier's bluff would be successful, and even able to contain some Russian troops.

However, when Soloviev saw this posture, he ordered the Novorossiysk Dragoon Regiment and several Cossack squadrons, which had not yet been put into battle, to bypass Barclay's right side and support the Sacken Division, which was fighting Suchet.

Langgeron ordered the entire army to counterattack, but the Russian army's formation was still relatively tight, and everyone did not have any fancy moves.

The French army was also desperately resisting at this time. The two divisions of Suchet and Gazan formed an iron chain, which made it difficult for the Russian army to break through easily. In addition, the Russian army was constantly consuming in the battle, so that it fell into a stalemate in this place.

Soloviev ordered his cavalry to support Sacken's attack, which had a good effect.

But if he knew that the soldiers of the Gudin Division had almost no bullets in their guns, I don't know what he would think.

But the flank attack of the cavalry did cause the 3rd Light Infantry Regiment on the left wing of Suchet's division to fall into a brief chaos.

At this moment, Barclay seized the opportunity to prepare for a counterattack first, and the fresh troops on the side of Sacken also crossed the line left by Ostermann-Tolstoy and directly attacked Suchet's troops.

Just like that, the 3rd Light Infantry Regiment had just escaped the attack of the Russian dragoons, and then was attacked by the Polish Lancers Regiment in the Russian army. Not only was the phalanx broken up, but the flag was also taken away.

You know, the combat effectiveness of this regiment is not bad. It is still the "Emperor's cousin" and the Bourbon King's Army. Their scattered soldiers are Corsicans.

In this case, the connection between Suchet's division and Gudin's division was separated, and even the Russian cavalry now specifically picked up the gaps between the French divisions, brigades and regiments to launch attacks in an attempt to split the French army.

Under such pressure, no matter how brave Lannes was, he was not a foolish person, and he could only order the troops to prepare for retreat.

When the French army retreated in formation, the Russian army did not pursue them on a large scale.

When the battle reached the afternoon, the sound of artillery fire from the fierce battle between the two sides could still be heard from Golim, and on the Pultusk side, it seemed that both sides had a tacit understanding and were not prepared to fight again.

The problem on Lannes' side was that he thought that the Russian army had more troops than him and had launched continuous counterattacks. If this continued, he was afraid that he would not be able to stop it, and even whether the Russian army would have reinforcements was a problem.

At the same time, Murat and Davout failed to catch Golitsyn and Dokhturov. They were fighting and retreating to find a transfer route.

As for the Russian army, although Langgeron still wanted to pursue, considering the Russian army's mission, it was originally for Wittgenstein and Buchholden to meet and then prepare for war. But Marshal Kamensky changed his mind temporarily, which also caused the Russian army to have to abandon the original plan.

Even Langgeron now didn't know where Buchholden's troops, except Dokhturov, had gone. Therefore, his battle was to protect his artillery and baggage, and to ensure the safe evacuation of the large group of troops, and then he would have to choose another opportunity to fight.

At dusk, a letter came from the north, from Prince Bagration.

Langeron called Wittgenstein to discuss, and Solovyov was still in the village at the westernmost end of the front line, staring at the slowly retreating French army.

"Don't continue the pursuit?"

"Such a pursuit is unnecessary. We don't know what the situation is in Golim. In addition, although our army is well rested, the French army is very aggressive. Even with dozens of cannons, we couldn't make the tired French show signs of collapse. In the near future, I think it's better not to start a war on this front. Instead, we should prepare to go to the winter camp while preparing to give them a shot."

Moreover, Solovyov is not the commander-in-chief, and he really doesn't have the power to make this decision.

But there is still some room for imagination and room for development in what to do next.

At this stage, the Russian army can retreat to the winter camp near Königsberg and look for opportunities to fight again.

In addition to the main force led by Napoleon around Warsaw, the French army has Jerome's Ninth Army active in Silesia, and some troops are around Danzig and some fortresses. Only Bernadotte's First Army and Ney's Sixth Army are relatively far away at this time.

If you want to attack them, you also need to take some risks. For example, Napoleon designed a pocket and let Bernadotte lead his army to lure the Russian army deep into the depths, so that he could intercept from behind. This method cannot be ruled out even if both sides have to winter camp.

Now, he really has a lot of problems to consider.

And Langeron's victory letter to Alexander was rather ambiguous.

After all, the Russian army only temporarily repelled the French army, and then had to give up Pultusk and transfer.

In this way, both sides can claim to be the winner of this battle.

However, the Russian army didn't care so much and immediately retreated to the border near East Prussia.

This is also a guarantee for the Prussian army, the ally. After all, the only Prussian army capable of mobile operations, the Lestock Corps, is nearby, and both armies must march towards Königsberg.

At this point in the war, it is more of a political battle, and it is also a political account.

As long as Königsberg is still in the hands of the coalition forces, there is at least a reason to continue the war.

In this regard, Alexander and Frederick William III had already decided on an offensive and defensive alliance and "will definitely not negotiate unilaterally with the French."

But having said that, it is not that Napoleon did not use his diplomatic skills, although he may be poor in this aspect

For example, if Prussia is given a more decent peace negotiation condition, with the Elbe River as the boundary, Prussia will only lose some of its heavily invested industrial areas, and these areas will also be included in the control of the Kingdom of Westphalia. The king It’s Napoleon’s stupid brother and Solovyov’s friend Jerome in America.

This condition seems reasonable, and the war is currently taking place on Prussian territory.

When the news reached Vienna, Emperor Franz did not dare to act rashly, even though he had sent Archduke Karl in an attempt to use his garrison in Bohemia to do something clandestine.

Of course, Archduke Karl did not want to start a fight at this time, and he even had the intention to continue the business of creating human beings with his wife at the temporary residence in Prague.

But Napoleon still had to be on guard against this move, so the failure in Puutusk, because of the Russian army's active retreat, can also be said to be a victory for the French army.

After all, a few days after the Russian army withdrew, that is, in the last few days of 1806, the French army entered Puutusk and crossed the river from here.

Napoleon remembered the previous defeat at Putusk.

"This is definitely not a battle that Langeron, a royalist in exile, can command. There are probably others in the Russian army who are formulating combat plans or participating in the command."

"Your Majesty, what we need to worry about now is not just this issue. It is still very difficult to supply supplies. Do we need to camp in Poland for the winter?"

Napoleon really couldn't resist this problem. When his soldiers arrived here, they were unwilling to continue moving forward, but were still full of complaints.

"Well, we have to issue orders to all armies. At this time, it is indeed time to rest, and we must find a suitable place to camp in the winter to replenish our troops and collect supplies."

When the French army went on an expedition, they often did not have tents. Simplifying logistics and increasing the marching speed naturally led to big trouble when they were short of supplies. Napoleon himself understood this.