Chapter 74 024 Four Days of the Battle of Trebia

Chapter 74 024 Four Days of the Battle of Trebia

Chapter 74 024 Four Days of the Battle of Trebia (Day )
These veterans of the Smolensk Regiment did not fire their guns during the bayonet charge. They simply loaded their bullets and charged forward with their bayonets pointed.

It was their experience that came in handy. There were more Polish soldiers in the village than them. During the raid, many of the Polish soldiers' guns had no bullets in their chambers, as the veterans had guessed.

If you want to fight at this time, you have to fight with bayonets, but the Russian army's close-range shooting in the face always causes considerable casualties.

Some veterans had two bullets in the chamber, or there were bullets in the rifle when they cleaned it, which made the killing effect even more obvious.

These Polish soldiers who were caught off guard in the bayonet fight were driven out of the village. Behind the stone wall outside the village, they saw the Russian troops arranged in a skirmish line and rushed towards them with their lances.

However, Solovyov's company of hunters was obviously different from the infantry that the Polish Legion had encountered in the past, in terms of weapons and equipment and shooting skills.

The chasseurs were accurate, but generally speaking, their reloading speed was very slow. If these Poles' charge had encountered the team of veterans with muskets rushing into the village, they would probably have succeeded.

However, after many of them were killed along with their horses in the first round of volleys, they encountered the second round of "free shooting" by the Russian army.

Solovyov led the company according to the old Russian army custom. Even officers had to be equipped with rifles. Although he was now the temporary battalion commander, he had a carbine in his hand. The officers and sergeants in the company also had guns. Even the second lieutenant who was the flag officer carried a revolver.

This density of firepower was a disaster for the Poles. The charging Polish cavalry suffered heavy casualties after continuous shooting by the Russian army.

The Polish infantry behind saw this situation and realized that they were at a great disadvantage as they were attacked from both sides.

If they did not come out of the village, they would have to fight with these old Russian soldiers with bayonets. After capturing several houses in the village, the old guys shot at the Polish soldiers outside from the more sturdy houses.

They have gained a wealth of experience over the years, and are not comparable to the Polish volunteers who traveled around the world to fight against Russia and Austria for Poland's independence.

The reason why Prussia is not included is that Prussia occupies the most territory, but they did not join the anti-French alliance, so the Poles did not cause trouble for them.

Don’t you see how much effort Frederick and his cousin put in and how much profit they made when they divided Poland?

The Russian army's dense firepower and accurate shooting made it impossible for the bayonets to defeat the Polish army, which led to chaos in the Polish army.

What's even more terrible is that the three cannons brought by the Poles were all captured by the Russian army. If the follow-up troops had not caught up yet and there were no one in these two companies who knew how to fire cannons, the Poles would have been hit by solid bullets and grapeshot.

What now decides the outcome of the battle is the main force of Bagration's column that arrived later. After receiving the news of the exchange of fire with the Polish Corps in the front, he sent the Guards Chasseur Battalion to move in this direction, and also brought 4 cannons and 60 Austrian dragoons.

As for the Chasseurs and other troops under his command, they moved to the southeast of the village, where the French troops brought by MacDonald might be.

The fighting in the village was still going on. Solovyov now led the chasseur company to close in and start to drive the Poles out of every house one by one.

If they didn't come out, the hunters would make homemade Molotov cocktails using rum bottles mixed with flammable materials, sugar and sulfur, which were all recipes that had already been used. While smashing the windows with their rifle butts, the cooperating hunters would use the Molotov cocktails to ignite the cloth strips and throw the Molotov cocktails into the house.

Now the Poles could no longer use the houses in the village and could only come out to be beaten in the open space.

Finally, after the Guards Jagers arrived, they set up artillery and fired, completely blocking the Polish army's retreat, and they chose to surrender.

Von Bystrom only caught up with the tail end and missed the most intense part of the battle, but he was involved in the final decisive blow.

"See? There are so many Poles. They all work for the French."

"The Poles are not very friendly to the Allied Forces. How should we deal with them?"

"We can't just drive them into the river with bayonets like we did when we suppressed the Braga district. We are here to liberate Italy! Even though these Poles are accomplices of the French, we should still send them back to Warsaw to teach those Prussians a lesson!"

It's okay to tell von Bystrom that he is a Baltic German and his relations with Prussia are not very good.

In these times of "no Poland", Prussia and Austria benefited the most. Later, Warsaw was occupied by Russia. That was a problem of the Vienna system. What is followed now is still the Westphalian system that was finally determined during the period of Cardinal Richelieu and Mazarin.

Prussia was the robber who made the most profit in Europe in the 18th century, and their king had the nerve to condemn his cousin's conscience, even though what she said made a lot of sense.

And behind Prussia are the British, and everyone can see that.

After a fierce battle, a Polish infantry battalion and its attached artillery and cavalry were annihilated, which was a significant achievement.

Solovyov looked at the burned houses and realized that these hunters would perform well as "arsonists".

He decided to interrogate the prisoners. There are many similar words in Russian and Polish, and the pronunciation is often the same, but there are also some words that are not.

This interrogation went relatively smoothly. It didn't matter that he didn't speak Polish, as long as he could speak French. Besides, when the support of Bagration's column arrived, there were some in his unit who could speak Polish.

"These Poles belong to the First Battalion of the Italian-Polish Legion organized by Dąbrowski. Look at this crimson decoration with silver buttons, which is their identification mark."

"Misha, you did a great job. At least we know that MacDonald has passed Modena. They broke through the Austrian Otto Column and are coming this way."

"Then what should we do? We can use the terrain here to build a position directly. I think it's a good idea. There's actually a little embankment over there. We can hide all the hunters behind it and ambush the French."

"Not all troops are like you hunters, so they can't fight separately. We need to rest tonight, and all troops must be on alert. We may collide with the French army tomorrow!"

Bagration seemed to have never been afraid of anything. Now he was considering continuing to march forward instead of fighting the French at the "pre-set" location in the village.

But there was also a problem. He was worried that the forced march would cause most of the troops to fall behind. These hunters were fine as they had rarely participated in recent battles. Apart from marching and besieging the fortress of Turin, there was not much consumption.

The main force of his column had been the vanguard of the Russian army since entering Italy, and it had been like this on the north bank of the Po River. Now it had made a big circle and came to the south bank of the Po River without stopping. For this reason, he personally went to Suvorov's station and begged that the troops could be assembled and at least wait until the strength of the various battalions reached 60% before engaging in battle.

When Suvorov heard Bagration say this, he became angry and struck the ground with his cane.

"Kid, you claim that there are only 40 men in a company who can join the battle, so MacDonald only has 20 men!"

The meaning is simple: the Russian army is tired, and the French army is even more tired after coming from afar.

At this time, no matter how you look at it, Suvorov is the "military god" of the Russian army. No wonder there is a "one-eyed dragon" who always quotes him.

"God bless you, launch the attack, this is the time to see who has more courage!"

Since Bagration met the old commander, he knew his temper, which was rarely like today.

So he rode back to his troops and decided to take action that night to attack the French.

After he left, Suvorov received good news that General Melas's column had arrived near the Castello di San Giovanni. This time the Austrian army moved much faster than before, and even their cavalry and artillery were intact, and the three grenadier battalions that had arrived were relatively well-equipped and could quickly go into battle.

At the same time, although the main force of the French army defeated Otto, the news of the vanguard of the Polish Legion was completely cut off, and not even a scout returned.

MacDonald was stabbed twice by the Austrian cavalry in the encounter and is now receiving treatment. However, the temporary commander of the French army did not take responsibility and was also in Piacenza. The main force was still east of the Trebbia River.

It was not until Bagration's troops advanced and inflicted heavy damage on another French unit that they attracted the attention of MacDonald, who was recovering from his injuries.

He didn't even have time to greet these idiots under his command, but instead began to adjust the deployment himself.

After all, he was a descendant of the Scottish Jacobite Party, and was much more proactive than these generals in France.

I just don't know why Barclay de Tolly, who is also of Scottish descent, is different from him in this respect.

Bagration won two games in one day and captured more than a thousand prisoners, which greatly boosted the morale of the coalition forces.

This also supported Ott's column, which joined the Austrian camp in the north, making the number of troops currently available to the Russian-Austrian coalition west of the Trebbia River 33000.

The French army also has the same number of troops, and now they need to conduct reconnaissance of the battlefield.

The two sides were already on both sides of the Trebbia River, and a battle was inevitable.

Before this, the scale of the battles after the Russian army entered Italy was not large. The battle of Verona had not yet caught up, and they had been running fast to divide and surround the French all the way. A battle of the battle level was finally encountered here.

Suvorov also found an opportunity to engage the French on the Trebia River through a series of rapid maneuvers.

During the march, Russian soldiers also saw a statue commemorating the Battle of the Trebia River.

However, this was built for the Roman generals who were defeated by Hannibal.

These Russian soldiers were still discussing at night. They had been stationed in many places in Russia, so they began to compare.

Compared with these monuments in Russia today, the statues commemorating Scipio the Elder and Roman Consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus seen in Italy seem a bit shabby.

That night, Suvorov was in a good mood. He set up the tent and went to sleep on the haystack. But Bagration did not rest because he was waiting for the results of the scouts.

Besides, he is still very young and can withstand such circumstances on the battlefield.

Although he usually looks a bit reckless, he also pays attention to the situation on the battlefield.

"Misha, do you know about Hannibal's Battle of the Trebia?"

"Why are you asking me this question? You have more experience than me, so you should be more familiar with these historical battles, right?"

"I just want to hear your outline of the entire battle. You read books every day, so you must know a lot."

"Then let me tell you about it. It was during the Second Punic War, after Hannibal crossed the Alps."

Solovyov also found it funny. Bagration was a famous general, but sometimes, just like Miloradovich's foreign language ability, people always have shortcomings. He was not sure whether the prince really did not remember this battle example, so he had to talk about it.

Apart from the elites of Russia, France and Prussia, the most elite prince is Romania. This prince is a descendant of the royal family of Georgia, an ally of the Eastern Roman Empire. Is he unwilling to tell the story of the famous defeat of Rome from his own mouth?
"Piacenza, where the French are, was the Roman colony of Placentia at the time, and was also the location of the Roman army's camp. Hannibal deployed his troops west of the Trebia River, which is where we are now. The Roman consul led his army across the river, right in front of us. However, the Roman records are too old, and we cannot be sure that the terrain at that time was exactly the same as it is now. All we can say is that Hannibal's army deployed on both wings and eventually surrounded the Romans who were trying to break through in the center, and finally dealt a devastating blow to the Romans."

"Misha, so the French are now in the same situation as the Romans were back then?"

"We can't say that they are completely consistent, but in this situation, our army does have the upper hand."

After hearing this, Bagration thought about it again and felt that there was no big problem, so he handed over the task of meeting the scouts to his adjutant and went to rest, as if he was sure of victory.

At this point, Solovyov also believed that he would win. The only question was whether he could achieve the same victory as Hannibal.

Their position was at the southernmost part of the entire battlefield. If the Polish Corps was eager to avenge their annihilated First Battalion, they would most likely come from this place.

(End of this chapter)