Chapter 62 012 Caught a big fish

Chapter 62 012 Caught a big fish

Chapter 62 012 Caught a Big Fish

On April 4, the Russian army once again rested. On this day Suvorov issued an order on personal hygiene. Russian soldiers went into the river for a collective "baptism" just like when Kievan Rus converted to Orthodoxy. Seeing that the water quality in this area was pretty good, they went into the river for a collective bath to keep clean.

However, the officers still want to stay neat and clean and would prefer to find a place like a public bathroom where they can take turns to clean it.

After all, Italy has a long tradition of bathing in public baths, so it is very convenient to find a bathhouse.

But Solovyov preferred to have a single room with a bathtub, which was not a problem for him since he lived opposite Suvorov's headquarters and lived with Arkady and the other two young men.

"Why did you come to live with me? Aren't you going to stay with Alexander Vasilyevich?"

"He is my father, but if he wants me to be recognized, besides admitting that I am his son, I have to show it, and I can't always let others say: 'Look, that's Marshal Suvorov's son.'"

"Having such a father, you must be under a lot of pressure, right?"

Arkady sighed, began to dry himself with a towel, and went to change his clothes.

"I'm not like my cousin who changed his unit to come here. I don't want to join the army, but with my father here, I have no choice but to take this path! The emperor also wanted me to come here, unlike you, Misha, who came here voluntarily."

Perhaps these tsars had some habit of collecting famous generals and were willing to train their sons. Of course, Rumyantsev's sons were all civil servants, which was something the empress had not expected.

When it came to Tsar Paul, he had the same problem. Was it because Kamensky's two sons were older and had already served in the army?
Arkady's appearance was quite different from his thin and skinny father. He was quite handsome. Of course, his face shape was a bit like the marshal himself, and his facial features were closer to his sister "Suvorovchka".

Therefore, he was very popular in the palace, because he was asked to fill the position left by Solovyov when he went out to fight. Although the maids were all close friends of Elena, being her model was too torturous.
But Paul didn't want Arkady to be a eunuch, so he sent him to the military camp. Because he was young, Suvorov didn't assign him too many tasks. He mainly helped in the headquarters.

These accompanying officers, who were a few years older, had already joined the combat units, and Solovyov himself would lead the jäger company to the Moscow Grenadiers and march with them.

General Rosenberg welcomed his arrival, but since this team of hunters was well-equipped, he held them like treasures in his hands and would never let them go to the front.

During several river crossings, the general also required Solovyov's troops to prevent the paper bullets and primers from getting wet. The jaegers, who were known for their mobility and flexibility, actually had to control the bridge or build a pontoon bridge before crossing the bridge.

Although this was very incomprehensible, he could only accept it. When he arrived at the front line, he still had to listen to the commander.

On April 4, as soon as the Moscow Regiment started to move, it came into contact with the French army. Both sides used artillery to harass each other. After a few hours, not many casualties were caused, and both sides slowed down the actions of the other side.

This was also the first time that the Jager Company joined the battle. It was said that the Guards Jager Battalion and the Izmailov Guards Regiment would join the army later. When in St. Petersburg, they had been organized with the Guards, and would be under the command of Grand Duke Constantine at that time.

Naming after commanders is not in line with the tradition of any country's army, and it also sounds awkward for some old regiments with traditions.

Even someone like Solovyov, who had only been with the regiment for a short time, still preferred to refer to it by the old name.

Paul's military reforms, new guns, new cannons, new coats and new boots, are all good, but the customary names are really hard to get used to after they have been changed.

Even when giving orders, Suvorov was now speaking to the commanders, according to the old custom.

However, the Austrian Chief of Staff, Werosser, was used to this. After all, no matter how many columns and divisions the Austrian army formed temporarily, they were all named after their commanders, so both sides were just trying to make a positive out of a negative.

After Suvorov emphasized "simple words", the efficiency of Weroser's plan was indeed improved, and it was easier for the Austrian army to understand his intentions.

Soon an order came from the headquarters, requiring Rosenberg to command the troops at the front and control several bridges controlled by the French. If the French army destroyed them, troops would be dispatched to repair them.

Rosenberg asked Colonel Pasek to send a battalion of grenadiers, but unfortunately, when they reached the river, the French had already "crossed the river and destroyed the bridge" and fled.

"Damn, these French guys run really fast."

When Pasek arrived at the bridge on horseback, he began to urge the grenadiers to repair the bridge. He also sent two chasseur companies to stand guard.

Solovyov's company was sent out to guard because their guns had high accuracy at long distances. If any French stragglers came back for a surprise attack, they could be suppressed in the trenches and on the roof of the farm.

These hunters are much more "scattered" than those in our regiment, but they can still play a role.

In fact, if a war really came to a head, this company could be dispersed and used as a sniper company. There are few rifles that are more accurate than theirs. By the way, after they arrived in Italy, they actually found some things to make Molotov cocktails.
If Rosenberg had not left his company behind to protect it, they might have already started reconnaissance activities in the front.

But paper shell bullets are afraid of water, even more so than grenades.

The Austrian engineers following the grenadiers prepared the wood and placed it on the broken bridge first, always requiring the infantry column to pass first.

Another thing I want to point out is that the bridge is so dilapidated that if you want to pass a cannon vehicle over it, you're afraid it will collapse and fall into the river.

It would be better to build two pontoon bridges nearby. At least Weiser did not lose his mind. He marked all the locations where pontoon bridges needed to be built on the road and sent scouts to supervise the engineers.

Some people may not be able to achieve his level of professional ability even after 150 years. In fact, they still have to learn a little bit. Besides, this is not even the most advanced staff business of this era.

After the grenadier battalion of the vanguard of the Russian army crossed the river, they quickly assembled and moved forward to the village of Palazzolo at night. Judging from the harassment they had encountered before and the movements of the French army reported by local villagers, the enemy was coming from this direction.

But they still came to nothing. Rosenberg wanted to launch an attack in the early morning, but there was not a single French soldier in the village.

After calling out a few villagers from the cellar, we learned that the French light cavalry had dismantled the bridge the night before and fled to Alcole overnight, so it could be said that they had made a safe transition.

Rosenberg quickly sent someone back to report this intelligence to Suvorov. "Scherer is running like a hare. We can't catch him, but we can't let the French destroy the bridge in Alcole. They are good at sabotage!"

It is not surprising that the Austrians were reluctant to destroy bridges and chose to fight the French several times. If they had done more to destroy the transportation lines in the battles in 1796, they would not have been defeated so quickly.

"Your Excellency Marshal, I think this has something to do with what the French did. They occupied Italy and established a bunch of republics, but they still wanted to control the region and gain control of local fiscal revenue. Our Emperor Franz was worried that the French would sabotage us. Now it seems that their destruction of the transportation lines has greatly slowed down our march. After we left Verona, we were still very fast to Brescia. Now we are marching to Arcole, but the roads along the way have been destroyed."

"The French want to slow down their pace to buy time for the arrival of reinforcements. It doesn't matter. You can't run fast on an empty stomach. If reinforcements really arrive from the battlefields, it will be too late!"

The main option for Scherer was to flee. He had lost more than 10,000 soldiers in two battles, and the reinforcements from the rear could not keep up. What the coalition forces needed to do now was to capture his legion, and the secondary thing was to continue to march forward.

But Scherer was a great long-distance runner and his running skills made Suvorov unsuccessful several times in trying to catch him in motion and start a battle with him.

Although some French soldiers who had straggled were captured, the main force could not be caught.

He moved as fast as the wind, and for a while the coalition forces couldn't catch him.

Even General Scherer, who was now preparing to retreat to Milan, was quite complacent. He said that our corps was currently transferring safely and had no obstacles along the way.

He also planned to send Moreau to guard the bridge in Arcole. If things got bad, he could destroy the bridge again to delay the fast-pursuing Russian army.

His idea was indeed good, but he drank so much red wine that day that it felt like blood was gushing out.

Rosenberg's Grenadiers had already caught up and were on the other side of the river, but because they were hiding behind the bushes, they were not discovered by the French outposts.

Therefore, he mistakenly believed that the Russian army could no longer catch up with him this time, so he followed the road to Bergamo.

But they didn't know that another battalion of the Grenadier Regiment and two companies of Jagers, accompanied by a group of Cossack cavalry, were approaching them from behind.

Colonel Pasek led the team personally. This time he wanted the hunters to act first, sneak into Bergamo, and detain the enemies here before dark.

During the day, Scherer was still congratulating himself on his safe retreat. So far, except for the soldiers who fell behind and the surprise attack on Brescia, there had not been too much loss. Gathering the troops here was also for his further retreat. Based on the principle of "a friend's death is not the fault of the poor", he would lead the main force to continue retreating to Milan and Turin, pulling the entire French marching column westwards, and simply running to Nice, so that he could feel at ease.

However, his current choice of base was a bit problematic, as he did not notice at all that the Russian Cossacks and infantry were arriving quickly.

It was not until he was blocked by a group of grenadiers wearing bishops' hats while retreating from Bergamo that he realized that something was wrong.

The Cossacks and the "In-Laws' Regiment" were now attacking from the front. These line infantry had not found any battles along the way, and now that they had encountered the French army, they launched a direct attack. Anyway, the French army had no defenses.

All battalion commanders and company commanders also received orders not to shout "Ura" even if they rushed within 10 steps to avoid alerting the enemy.

However, when they are on the battlefield, there are always people who can do this, but they also give face to their superiors. They only shout "Ura" with bayonets when they are within 10 steps of the city.

It's true, if they had sneaked in, it might not have been so dramatic.

The Russians rushed in with their guns loaded and bayonets pointed without firing a shot, catching Scherer off guard and causing great chaos.

The French troops who remained in the city saw that it was too late to escape, so some soldiers engaged in hand-to-hand combat at the intersections, taking advantage of the narrow streets and alleys.

However, they found that these Russian bumpkins would fire directly at close range during the battle, and many French soldiers fell into this trap.

If you ask where this trick came from, it was taught by Suvorov, who proposed that before the bayonet attack, it is best to leave gunpowder and bullets in the chamber, so that you can gain a lot of advantages in hand-to-hand combat when firing at close range.

When Scherer saw that things were going badly, he prepared to flee westward with his followers.

However, he escaped the pursuit of the Cossacks and the Russian musketeers who broke into the city, but encountered Russian hunters outside the city.

Solovyov's chasseur battalion had the first opportunity to open fire on the battlefield. They knelt and fired behind a stone wall, knocking many French soldiers off their horses.

It was also because this kid saw that the French army had good horses, and they were mainly used for beating people. The horses ran around for a while without their owners, and some of them stopped running. It would be great if he could still get them back.

His attitude towards every detail of the seizure, down to the smallest detail, was indeed too calculated.

After being hit, Scherer fell off his horse and was captured alive by the Jaegers.

More than 2,000 people were surrounded in the city at once, many of whom were officers and cavalrymen. This time they made a lot of money.

"Well done, little captain. You have wiped out Scherer's entire headquarters. Except for his deputy and the chief of staff, the rest are gone."

"General, please tell me, are my team of hunters well trained? Are they accurate in their shots?"

"That's great! I'm worried about your quick-firing guns, and I hope the bullets don't get soaked. Now it seems like you can go ahead and shoot!"

Although Rosenberg sometimes had some problems of a "German local rich man", he was a fair person. He immediately said that in this battle, the Jaegers Company captured the French commander-in-chief and wiped out most of the staff group, which should be counted as the first merit.

"The commander-in-chief likes you very much, and for a reason! Misha, send these Frenchmen to the marshal. We have found a 'big treasure'!"

(End of this chapter)