Chapter 69 019 The commander is at fault and the adjutant needs to take the blame

Chapter 69 019 The commander is at fault and the adjutant needs to take the blame

Chapter 69 019 The lieutenant must take the blame for the chief's mistakes
Komarovsky witnessed the entire process of Grand Duke Constantine's distress on the shore. He was also worried, but several Cossacks and the staff of the Grand Company were quick to act. The Grand Duke himself was only shivering, and it did not develop into a cold or more deadly pneumonia. This was due to his strong physique and strong resistance.

As for Solovyov, judging from their body shapes, Konstantin is equivalent to a giant grenadier, while Solovyov is just a large-sized hunter, two of whom can fit into the Grand Duke's physique.

He was able to grab it without tearing himself apart. It was also the miraculous structure of the human body that has high strength and is not that fragile. This little guy actually grabbed the Grand Duke and was finally fished out by the Cossacks.

Of course, the Russian army's failure on the banks of the Po River also led to a problem. After such a stupid battle, Suvorov decided to let his troops rest on the north bank of the Po River and not take any action for the time being.

But the old marshal did want to confirm the responsibility for the failure of this battle, and asked Archduke Constantine and General Rosenberg to come to him with their entourage.

Prior to this, the Russian army had repaired a ferry on the north bank of the Po River and withdrew all the Russian troops remaining on the island to the north bank.

Of course, they also remained highly vigilant, after all, they didn't know what the French were going to do.

Two days after the battle, a group of people suddenly appeared near the Russian military base.

This time it was General Victor of the French Army who released some of the captured Russian soldiers on the battlefield in order to express his respect for the heroic fighting of the Russian soldiers.

It is not surprising that such a thing happened in the war of 1799. Both sides still have to abide by some basic rules of war, but when the war enters into a total war, it will become more and more unbridled and cruel.

The Russian army itself suffered heavy losses, with 7 officers killed and 50 wounded, and heavy losses in all aspects. The combat losses after entering Italy were also due to the fact that the young and middle-aged officers of the Russian army always appeared at the forefront of the battlefield and were therefore killed by enemy fire.

But such an unnecessary battle is obviously not satisfactory.

Marshal Suvorov did not show any anger when he met the two commanders who were primarily responsible for the battle at his residence.

"Your Highness, our soldiers fought bravely in Basignano. That's good, but before crossing the river, the troops did not conduct adequate reconnaissance, and the enemy also feinted and ambushed nearby. In times like this, I hope we can learn from our mistakes in the future, but not in such a bloody way. I hope this will never happen again!"

"Alexander Vasilyevich, I think at this time."

"Your Highness, don't discuss who is responsible. I will naturally find a way to report to the Emperor. You should pay careful attention to the situation on the battlefield. Andrei Grigorievich, as the commander of the column and the grenadier regiment, you should be more familiar with our troops and should not make such a mistake. You should follow the order and look for a ferry upstream instead of here."

In fact, Suvorov's attitude was very clear. The report said that it was General Rosenberg's fault, but the actual problem was with Grand Duke Constantine himself. It was his own recklessness that led to the failure of such a river crossing battle. Not to mention the loss of personnel, a lot of weapons and equipment were lost, including 4 cannons and thousands of rifles on the south bank of the Po River.

Such a battle is what the disadvantaged French army has always dreamed of. This preset battlefield is more suitable for them. In an ambush, with smaller casualties, they can achieve a higher exchange ratio and even gradually reverse the situation on the battlefield.

The blame lies with General Rosenberg. This veteran is 60 years old, and it is only a matter of time before he retires and goes home. In terms of seniority, he ranks second after Suvorov.

However, in order to appease the Grand Duke, we must also show some deterrence.

Marshal Suvorov then began to rebuke Komarovsky: "If you make this kind of mistake of poor protection again, I will send you directly back to St. Petersburg. This serious mistake will eventually lead to disastrous consequences. At that time, you will be tried by a military court."

This is a harsh statement, but it should be raised high and then put down gently, just a warning.

However, this also happened to curb Constantine's arrogance, and he knew that he should fight according to orders instead of launching reckless attacks.

Suvorov then turned to Solovyov.

"My child, you did a great job and acted decisively. I will report to the emperor the credit for rescuing His Highness from the Po River and for capturing General Scherer alive."

"Your Excellency Marshal, this is just what a soldier should do, just like you said in the past."

"Rewards and punishments are necessary. It is not acceptable to not praise merits or investigate faults. Franz, in the name of me and General Melas, report to our emperor and the Austrian emperor respectively on the situation in Basignano and how we are still confident of future victories."

"So where do we proceed next?"

"Move westward. I think the French will still try to fight us in the shallower areas upstream. This time, Your Highness, please lead the Guards column to Marengo!"

"Marengo?"

"Yes, Your Highness, come to this direction with the Bagration Column and capture the French there. Don't let them escape easily. Our Cossacks and the Austrian cavalry have already detected their movements."

Speaking of Marengo, this is the place where General Bonaparte finally won the battle when he was promoted to the First Consul, but he lost Desaix and an ear of Arboise, a veteran soldier from Pentoise.

There was no Marengo yet, but the Allied forces launched an attack on the French on the Italian battlefield.

Bagration crossed the river from Piacenza and continued to move forward. After taking control of the city, he also received orders to move forward to Marengo.

On his flank, 1 Austrians were operating nearby, but the French also took action, and it seemed that quite a few people were active here.

Grand Duke Constantine accepted the order this time, and was obviously very cautious because Suvorov covered up his huge mistake. The same was true in front of Komarovsky and other adjutants brought from St. Petersburg.

Solovyov did not want to stay with the Grand Duke for long, but went to the Combined Regiment which was mainly composed of the Guards Chasseur Battalion, where he might have a better conversation with von Bystrom.

"Misha, welcome back. According to the order we received, you should command the Combined Battalion, and I will command the Guards Chasseur Battalion."

"What about the captain?"

"There is no commander yet. Prince Bagration's column is in front. We must prepare to support them. This is also an order."

"I don't know what the French will do. It will take us another day to walk from here to Marengo. But we don't need to march quickly. This is better than when we were rushing to Verona!"

"Of course, but you are in Basignano"

"Don't talk too much about the responsibility for this battle. Our reports all say that it was General Rosenberg. You should also pay attention to the corps' notification." "Well, there are some things that really can't be discussed."

The Guards column marched quite fast, and on this kind of road, it was at least relatively friendly to boots.

When they marched to the vicinity of Marengo in the early morning of May 5 (May 16 in the Russian calendar), they could already hear the sound of artillery.

"This time it's good. It looks like they've arrived just in time. They're about three miles away from us. If we walk faster, we'll be there by noon."

At this time, the Russian army also began to march quickly, and the Russian and Austrian coalition forces in front each occupied some forests as a support.

Prince Bagration saw in the woods that the French cavalry launched an attack on the Austrian troops of the Marquis of Lusignan. At one point, the light infantry in the front were driven away to a farther place, and the line infantry behind formed a hollow square formation, but there was also a battalion square that could not be opened and was broken through by the French cavalry.

"Something has to be done. We can't let our Austrian allies get beaten like this."

"But our Cossacks and Hussars, as well as the Austrian Hussars, are unwilling to attack the French infantry."

"Forget it, it looks like we have to come after all, God bless."

Bagration rode to the edge of the woods and used a telescope to observe the movements of the French. If the Austrian army was driven further away, such a battle would not be very good.

At least the Marquis de Lusignan sent a messenger an hour later to ask for support and to lend a hand to his brothers.

Bagration dismounted from his horse, stood behind the line of chasseurs, and gave the order to beat the drums.

These Russian troops came out of the woods on this side, and the chasseurs formed a skirmish line and began shooting at the French line infantry.

It can be seen that the French army's infantry formation today is not thick enough. In order to exert the firepower of the infantry, they mostly adopt a two-row formation. Suvorov believes that this formation has good firepower, but lacks thickness and impact force. He does not advocate using this.

Although he also said that the Prussian army's three-row formation was like "a vegetable vendor displaying a pile of cabbages in the market", this formation was still the basic formation of the Russian army. When increasing the impact, a six-row formation could be considered.

After being shot by Bagration, the French also began to make on-the-spot arrangements. General Moreau had obviously noticed the actions of the coalition forces. The Russian army should have wanted him to deliberately stretch the front line and launch an attack when a flaw was exposed.

At this time, the French drew some troops from the reserve and used two and a half brigades of troops to block the Bagration column. The attack of more than 5,000 people really required the French to pay attention to the safety of the front line.

The French were still in high spirits on the battlefield. They had won a victory a few days ago and were now singing "La Marseillaise" to boost morale, while the Austrians responded by playing music from the military band.

In terms of momentum, it has to be said that the Austrians have already lost in momentum.

But the Russian army was even simpler than the French. While their chasseurs were shooting at the French, the follow-up troops were also following suit.

When the Russian line infantry launched an attack, they always shouted "Ura". Hearing this, the French had not yet shown the symptoms they would later suffer and were thrown into chaos by the Russian charge.

They still had to defend their own republic, rather than robbing other people's territories as they would in the future. Therefore, when fighting, they still had enough patriotic enthusiasm.

Therefore, when the bullets came, the French could still resist for a while, especially in today's battle. Compared with Scherer's previous reckless attack, they finally had a little advantage this time.

However, this advantage was fleeting during the afternoon battle.

Russian reinforcements had arrived on the battlefield, but they had not yet been put into action.

The Guards column led by Grand Duke Constantine has arrived behind Bagration. He is not here to command on his own. After doing something stupid before, he has to listen to the opinions of Bagration, who has a lower rank.

"Your Highness, I think at this time, we should move the Guards Regiment back to the flank of our column. After launching the attack, we should move forward and shoot at close range according to the situation, and finally launch a bayonet charge!"

At least Grand Duke Constantine has learned now not to be so reckless and sent out the Guards Regiment under his command.

The Guards Chasseurs and the Union Chasseurs were split up and used to support the Austrians and strike at the French flank.

Subsequent troops were still entering the battlefield. After learning that the column of the Austrian veteran von Keim had also entered the battlefield, Moreau chose to withdraw from the battle and not continue to waste his manpower here. The Allied forces were already growing in number, and it would be very unwise to continue fighting.

So he ordered the Italian republican troops that were marching together to withdraw from the battle, and the two French divisions took turns covering each other and withdrew from the battlefield as rear guards.

After Moreau gave up fighting and withdrew from the battlefield, the coalition forces did not choose to pursue him despite their superior military strength.

The reason is quite funny. After the Austrian army was attacked by the French army, except for General von Keim who came to support, they had been retreating, while the Russian army had been advancing, and the troops were very uncoordinated.

When Suvorov arrived at the battlefield, the battle was almost over. This time he needed to inquire carefully about the situation on the Austrian side.

The ones who took the blame were the Austrian adjutants. Suvorov was very resourceful. To the honorable Grand Duke Constantine, he only criticized those adjutants indirectly.

The same situation occurred with the Austrians.

Unlike the Russian army which was full of courage and even a bit reckless, they were cautious to the point of being timid. As Austria's traditional ally over the years, Russia actually knew quite well what they would do.

It is unlikely to change this habit, but on the battlefield, the coalition forces still need to cooperate well and explain things clearly to these adjutants to prevent their superiors from making stupid mistakes.

Now that an armed struggle against France had broken out in Genoa, the French army had to withdraw troops there, and Suvorov finally had the opportunity to rectify some minor problems within the coalition forces.

(End of this chapter)