Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 541 053 Soloviev's waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out (Part 2)

After a long march, the Swedish army complained bitterly in the past few days. They finally found a village in Aufwald, but it was not enough for more than 10,000 people to station there. It can be seen that the towns ahead are all under the control of the Russian army.

For Amfelt, he had to take this job. He was the only one among the royalists who had long-term experience in leading and organizing troops. Count von Fersen may have had more experience when he served as an adjutant to Rochambeau during the American War of Independence. The real battle was based on the experience he had seen on the battlefield before. His worries were not wrong.

Now, after a long march, the Swedish army of more than 17,000 people finally had a place to stay, but there were only a few houses. That is, the Swedes were familiar with the situation in their own country. They brought tents and baggage behind them and set up a temporary military camp.

"It looks like there are a lot of people down there, but it's a pity that they will arrive at night, otherwise we should move now."

"Night attacks are indeed unreliable, but Mick, you should go back and rest."

"It's better to rest after the battle. You know that the war is coming soon, which is the best stimulant. Karl, I want all the commanders to check their watches. We may only have five or six hours to fight the enemy, but we must understand the situation clearly."

This is true. The winter in Northern Europe is a long night, and the same is true for places further north.

If you say it, this is also the wonder of the earth.

At night, you can still see the aurora at this latitude.

Although he has never written any "solo" poems, Solovyov also has a romantic temperament. He hopes that at this time, there will be a beauty to accompany him to watch the aurora together.

Unfortunately, there is no one. There are only 20,000 Russian brothers with him here, and except for the soldiers who take turns to guard at night, most people will choose to rest at this time.

In the area north of Stockholm, the sun usually rises around 8 o'clock in the morning and sets around 3 o'clock in the afternoon in the winter, so there is actually very little time for fighting.

To achieve the suddenness of the battle, the troops must be assembled and actively seek battle when the sun just appears on the horizon.

For the Swedes, they originally estimated that the Russian army here was at most a few cavalry regiments crossing the sea to harass, and they were still holding the plan of fighting and driving the Russian army out of Gävle so that they could enter the city.

However, when Baron Armfelt saw the Russian army through his telescope, the infantry battalion square and the large number of artillery were enough to give him a headache.

"It's really a damn thing. How did these Russians get an army of the same size as ours from Finland in just a few days?"

"Sir, the Russians are indeed cunning, but..."

"Shut up first. If the Russians are at least 16,000 people, they are the same size as us. They are waiting for us here. We have to fight this battle, otherwise we will all be driven to the swamp and freeze to death."

After seeing this situation, Amfelt also asked his troops to prepare for the battle.

But now it seems that the situation is not too good for the Swedes. The better terrain has been controlled by the Russians in advance, and even the main road has been blocked. They are lining up in front of them.

In addition to the infantry, the artillery cannons have also been dragged over.

It can be said that it is quite passive to fight a battle at this time.

At the same time, Solovyov has also asked the regiments to start lining up. Because the terrain is relatively narrow, both sides have not fully deployed. Even one regiment in the front row can put down two infantry battalions, which is good.

Due to this situation, Solovyov had to choose to keep the important cavalry unit in his hands. These 6,000 cavalrymen could not be used now, unless the first battle was victorious and the enemy suffered huge losses, otherwise even a squadron of hussars should not be used.

With this consideration, he would use more artillery and infantry.

Although the Russian army later seemed to be famous for cavalry because of the Cossacks, in fact, the Cossacks' initial way of fighting was infantry + chariot formation + small artillery, which was what the Zaporizhia Cossacks did.

For the Russian army, the real housekeeping skills are still their tenacious infantry.

It's just that in this battle, even if Solovyov was waiting for the opportunity, he did not imagine defeating the Swedes in one go, even if he had a great advantage.

"Tell the artillery that it can start, starting with our unicorn cannon."

The meaning of this order is also very simple. The shrapnel used by the unicorn cannon has been improved and its reliability has been greatly increased. These grenades should be used to kill the enemy and force the Swedes to advance the front line so that both sides can fight.

At this time when the Swedish army was forced to advance, the Pavlovsk Regiment could be used to inflict damage to the enemy at a long distance.

Even if it was a half-Putt Unicorn gun, this destructive power was also huge among the artillery using grenades.

Solovyov brought a company of 12 guns to verify the reliability of this artillery and its new application in actual combat.

If it weren't for the trouble of crossing the sea, he might have brought a pood, which is equivalent to a 20-pound cannon. It is very powerful, that is, the reloading speed is slower. Once it causes damage on the battlefield, it is amazingly powerful.

Even at this half level, now that the Swedish army has been shelled, it has caused a lot of panic.

In order to avoid being passively beaten, Amfeldt also ordered the artillery regiment to fight back. However, the Swedish army's artillery was not very accurate. The shells fired fell between the two armies. Because of the embarrassing environment in winter, they did not cause any damage. , just letting the shells go into the snow.

"It seems that the Swedish artillery is not good."

"Sir, would you like our regiment to go up? We can crush the enemy with a single bayonet charge."

"Why, Sun God, are you going to fight like this? Grenadiers are very valuable, and I can't bear to use them now, even though I saw the Swedish Guards."

Speaking of which, these group leaders, that is, Apollo Zhemzhzhnikov, are older. And because of his seniority, he was also the commander of the Grenadier Brigade.

"I'm not willing to let that guy Neverovsky take the lead."

"You are from my wife's side, and the Pavlovsk regiment is from my side. If your regiment also has a good gun, I will really let you two regiments go together. I don't worry, You are just behind the Murom regiment, waiting for my orders. When you perform meritorious service, believe it or not, you will not be far away from becoming a formal general after this battle."

Speaking of which, the old regiment leader was impatient. After hearing Solovyov's compliments and the "big cake" that he could become a general in the future, he naturally returned to the grenadiers.

The four infantry regiments are on the front, and the Pavlovsk regiment is on the flanks. It seems strange to the Swedes, although they have heard of the strange tactics of the Russian Guards.

However, because the Pavlovsk regiment did not appear at Austerlitz, during the Fourth Anti-French Alliance War, when the French army was sapling, the regiment was generally not far from the Guards, so it was naturally eliminated. Considered as Guards Grenadier.

As for the real situation verification, the Swedes have not done it. Their king is hostile to Russia just based on his own likes and dislikes, and the intelligence work is naturally very poor.

Therefore, the results of the free fire of the Pavlovsk regiment were still very amazing.

The Kalma Regiment closest to them was shot and fell to the ground under the attack of these grenadiers. Many of them were shot in the torso. Obviously, the Pavlovsk Regiment's military camp was near the Winter Palace, so there was no impact. They train hard on the drill field.

After that, there was additional training, which obviously greatly improved the shooting level of the regiment, which can be regarded as a qualitative leap.

"Very good. At this rate, an infantry battalion was almost defeated before it even got close. Karl, ask the 1st and 2nd brigades to get close to the enemy. Don't rush to charge with bayonets. Let's exchange fire with the enemy for a while."

Clausewitz also quickly sent someone to give the order, but the distance was very close. In division-level operations, the headquarters would not be too far from the front. Considering that it might be obscured by the smoke from the shooting, it was not necessary to send the order person. No problem.

The four regiment leaders heard that they were not allowed to charge directly with bayonets, but they obeyed the order honestly.

When it comes to shooting, that is, the first round is relatively close to a salvo. When fighting begins, it still depends on the courage of the soldiers and their usual training.

The Ottoman skirmishers were very powerful, but they would also be driven out of the orchards by bayonets. The Qing Dynasty has its own national conditions here, and I have practiced shooting with blunderbuss many times in daily life. However, at critical moments, the shooting has no effect, and I will still be defeated by the bayonet.

The situation of the Swedish army is the same. First, the older Kalmar regiment suffered heavy casualties from the Pavlovsk regiment's shooting. One battalion was defeated in this way. The other infantry battalions saw that the situation was not good and did not dare to fight. Those damn grenadiers are too close.

Next, the Guards were fighting with the Russian army again. Before they could get close to the firing, they encountered a fierce bombardment from the Russian artillery, especially the extremely lethal Unicorn cannon, and the same with the one-half. Powerful.

Amfeld considers himself unlucky. Although the Swedish army's combat effectiveness is not as good as before, the infantry is still relatively reliable. Less than an hour after the exchange of fire began, it has already suffered heavy losses due to the Russian army's new weapons and new tactics. .

However, at this time, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue fighting. I had never seen a retreat order issued within an hour.

If this is the case, it will confirm what the Prussians cursed, not to mention that this battle is still in Sweden!

Now, he could only let these infantry regiments continue to move forward, and then sent a cavalry unit on the narrow battlefield in an attempt to harass the flanks of the Pavlovsk regiment so that they could not focus on attacking the Swedish army. soldiers to kill.

The approach was correct, but this was a grenadier regiment. Although the tops of their heads were indeed equipped with chasseur-style otter skin hats to keep warm, they were specialized in stabbing, brave and good at fighting, and they also added flying props.

Given the weak cavalry of the Swedes, forget it. Neverovsky was very cautious. He directly ordered the three grenadier battalions to form a battalion square formation. It was just a more traditional square square formation. Since the shooting accuracy was sufficient, High, then we should consider the defense strength more.

After the Swedish cavalry was knocked down by their horses, they really had no choice but to hide behind the infantry in despair.

This made Amfelt feel humiliated. He watched his left wing waver before he had even fought the enemy.

"It looks good. It feels good to be a commander."

Soloviev was indeed very satisfied with the performance of his troops. As for the "Sun God" of the Tafred Regiment, he did not plan to send this regiment to the front line. The traditional grenadiers would play a greater role in future tough battles.

He knew in his heart, and he did not tell others that the closer to Stockholm, the harder the battle in Sweden. This is not the case in today's battle, where we encountered part of the Swedish Guards, and we can say that the opponent is easy to deal with.

What's more, there are nearly 20,000 British troops led by Sir John Moore, and we don't know where they are at this time. They are probably still in the south of Sweden.

Fighting those crayfish may be the most troublesome thing in this expedition.

There are too many things to consider, but the most important thing is to win on the battlefield.

Seeing that the time is ripe, Soloviev issued a strange order.

"The Tafred Regiment advances 500 Arshins, and all members of the Infantry Regiment charge with bayonets!"

He had done too many things to fool the enemy, so he came up with this idea, to bluff the grenadiers to move, to give his own people courage, and to scare the Swedish army that had already suffered heavy losses.

But he didn't expect that after the Swedish army encountered the bayonet charge, they ran away, but they did not retreat for a while and then reorganize, but except for the one Guards Regiment they brought, they all fled blindly to the south.

"Damn, this is too weak to fight, all regiments must maintain formation, and the cavalry artillery must follow behind. If there are enemies who still maintain formation, use shotgun shells to bomb them!"

At this time, the morning time had just ended, and even Solovyov thought about it. He really felt sorry for the cavalry and grenadiers, especially the regiments sponsored by the young ladies were all elite Russian cavalry. If there were losses in such a quick victory, it would be more than worth the loss.

What's more, if the prisoners were captured, there would be a few more mouths to feed.

In fact, he also knew that sometimes it was difficult to see prisoners on the battlefield, that is, the soldiers of both sides had the habit of finishing off each other when fighting.

But victory is always good, there are not so many places to restrict.

The enemy had 18,000 troops when they set out, but they were reduced to 17,000 on the way. The result here was that the Russian army had not yet fully exerted its strength, and the Swedes fell.

The more troublesome thing now is probably how to capture Uppsala, the gateway to Stockholm.