Chapter 75 025 Four Days of the Battle of Trebia

Chapter 75 025 Four Days of the Battle of Trebia

Chapter 75 025 Four Days of the Battle of Trebia (Day )
The Russians had no feeling about the day the battle officially began.

But the Austrians feel particularly excited when they turn over the calendar.

Today is the 42nd anniversary of the Battle of Kolin. On this day, Austrian Marshal Daun defeated the Prussian army in Kolin near Prague. So today the Austrian army's pre-war slogan became "Theresa" and "Kolin". No matter how weak the Austrians are in normal times, they still have to fight a good fight today for the Queen's face.

The Russian army was on the south side of the battlefield, and many of its troops could not hear the cheers from the Austrian army today.

Of course, the French are not a piece of cream cake that will melt in your mouth if you cut it. After treating the wound, MacDonald went to the front line in person to boost the morale of the French army.

The Scotsman did not bring his bagpipes to entertain his brothers. Besides, he had lived in France since he was a child and had never had the chance to taste the Scottish offal delicacies, so he spared his brothers' ears and stomachs.

Several French divisions are now lined up on the front line. Opposite the Poles is Bagration, while the main force of the French army crosses the Trebia River to face General Rosenberg's right wing troops in the north, with the Austrians in front of them.

I don't know if June 6th is an "unlucky day" in the French "almanac", but when the Poles first came into contact with Bagration's column, Dombrovsky discovered that in the skirmishing, the accuracy of these Russians was already ridiculous.

The Polish infantry can now only use the terrain in front of them to find cover for themselves. In this respect, the Russian army and the Polish Corps are the same. They will lie down and seek cover when fighting, which is different from those in Western Europe who fight in line.

When Moreau saw the Russian soldiers, he called them "villains", and no one knew why he said that.

The Russian army is quite fierce in bayonet fighting, has no "martial arts ethics" when shooting at close range, and seeks cover so that they are not easily hit. These factors should be fully met.

By the way, after the Poles encountered the Russian army head-on today, they were overwhelmed by the two chasseur regiments in the front row of Bagration.

However, Dombrovsky's current situation forced Bagration's two regiments to turn south together, creating a gap on the right wing of the Russian army led by General Povaro-Shveykovsky, and the French left wing was preparing to launch an attack from here.

The French attack required crossing the river, and they had to advance under artillery fire.

The bottom of the Trebbia River is mainly composed of pebbles. Whether it is a grenade or a solid bullet, falling in such a place will cause huge casualties to the passing infantry column.

Especially those shells that fell under the feet, many of them directly broke the soldiers' legs. No soldier with a little experience would try to kick away the things rolling around on the battlefield, unless he didn't want his legs and didn't want to be a soldier anymore.

These days, being a soldier is still a promising career option for both nobles and commoners.

Moreover, in the Russian army, there was a way for serf soldiers to liberate themselves directly, which was to make great contributions on the battlefield. In this way, they could become officers as an exception and completely get rid of their original identity.

This is the fastest way now that they can't see any other way out.

Of course, if farmers realize what power they have, they can still unleash great power.

The fighting between the two sides became increasingly fierce. The Poles now found themselves facing the Russians, so they fought even more fiercely.

When the shells flew over the Russian skirmish line and landed among the line infantry behind them, blood and flesh would fly everywhere, and broken limbs and bones would be scattered everywhere.

When hitting a single infantryman, it would often create a bloody hole.

The Russian infantry shot accurately, while the Poles fired artillery at the Russians and the cavalry on the flanks also tried to outflank them.

However, after discovering that the Russian skirmishers were hitting accurately, the Polish cavalry did not provoke them, but instead detoured to the flank of Bagration's troops, preparing to harass the line infantry.

In this situation, Bagration only deployed a hollow square formation with a battalion on the edge. The Polish cavalry could not rush in when they got close. In addition, the Russian soldiers shot at close range, and a few shots could hit a Polish cavalryman, forcing the Poles to give up the attack on the line infantry.

The Poles were now at a disadvantage. After they were suppressed by firepower, the Russian army launched a counterattack. A battalion of the Polish regiment was surrounded and would soon succumb to the Russian bayonets as expected.

At this time, the left wing of the French army was crossing the river one after another. After seeing the Russian army turn around, the staff officer Gausselin, who was observing on the river bank, ordered a counterattack.

The three French divisions crossed the river here, with the Polish Corps in the front. They rushed so fast in the battle, which was very foolish and would have been a waste of lives, but Bagration had to turn around to deal with them, which gave the French an opportunity to attack from the flank.

There was some confusion among Bagration's infantry, which was noticed by Suvorov himself. He was about to ride to General Rosenberg's center to observe the battle situation, but the situation on his right wing made him feel that there was a problem.

The old marshal rode up behind Bagration to stop the retreat of the chasseurs and musketeers.

"Children, stop! Use bullets and bayonets to teach the enemy a lesson! Hurra!"

Hearing the old marshal's call, the retreating soldiers stopped retreating and instead scattered their formation, shouting "Ura" and launched a counterattack against the French.

The Combined Chasseur Regiment on Solovyov's side defeated a battalion of the Polish Legion. Instead of making a detour to help destroy the battalion in front of Bagration, they turned around to support from behind and began shooting at the French.

The French did not expect that the Russian army would charge back in such a disorganized formation with bayonets held high. The fact that they only maintained three rows of wave-like battle lines advancing already surprised the French generals.

At least it is true that Russian soldiers are not easy to mess with, especially when their old marshal is personally supervising the battle at the front line.

The Russian soldiers who had run back earlier now turned around and attacked, and the French army did not retreat either.

Before they got close, the French shooting had knocked down many Russian soldiers, but these guys in green uniforms and white trousers did not retreat at all and continued to advance with bayonets.

When the distance reached a closer one, only the first row of the Russian army fired a volley of gunfire, and then launched an attack.

The skirmishers on the flanks had dealt with the Poles at this time, and Bagration could now withdraw and tangle with the French army. In this situation, Suvorov first mobilized the Smolensk Regiment to join the battle, and then he sent a military envoy to Rosenberg to seek support from him for the reserve troops.

Rosenberg's front was already under fire, and he told the marshal that there were no reserves available.

At the same time, the Allied forces in the center began to exchange fire with the French in the village of Gragnano in front. Unexpectedly, the French troops who entered the village collapsed at the first touch and were quickly driven out of the surrounding positions by Rosenberg's 2500 men.

The right wing is very critical now, and Suvorov himself needs to stay here to command. After seeing Rosenberg's performance, he was quite satisfied.

"On the battlefield, no one knows what will happen next."

"Your Excellency Marshal, our army has already wiped out the Poles and is now engaging the French army's left wing with all our strength!"

During the battle, he also saw that the Russian army had stabilized the front line after the chaos caused by the French army's attack across the river. The Poles' performance today was just like they had encountered them before.

You first shouted "We are sworn enemies with the Russians", and then said "You can kill me or chop me up as you please". Even the great hero Ke Zhen'e was not defeated as quickly as you.

Moreover, Mr. Ke is an upright man, and he would not do things like the Poles who always bully the weak.

In June, the sun always sets later, and during the battle, since both sides are entangled, they have to fight for a while longer.

The Russian army managed to force the French troops to retreat on the right wing, but they also suffered heavy losses themselves.

The chasseurs under Solovyov's command were arranged in a skirmish line in the front. At the beginning, they suffered few casualties. However, in the subsequent exchange of fire, their bullets were exhausted, and the French cavalry and Polish lancers turned back to attack them, so he had to reorganize the formation of his troops and formed a square formation for the first time on the battlefield.

This is not a game from the "Napoleon: Total War" series, but a real battlefield. Light infantry sometimes form square formations, and line infantry will also spread out to meet the enemy in skirmish lines when necessary.

Now the battle line in the south has stabilized. The Russian army has driven the French army across the Trebbia River. During the French retreat, the artillery shells fired by the artillery caused a lot of casualties to the French army on the cobblestone riverbed.

After all this battle, the French not only failed to repel the Russian army, but also suffered a lot of losses themselves.

The Russians were not having an easy time either. They found that the French soldiers were difficult to deal with during the battle.
Melas did not take action on the northern front for a long time that day, but it was not to preserve strength. He led the Austrian army forward cautiously and started a firefight with the vanguard of the French right wing that afternoon.

The Austrians themselves shouted these two slogans in the morning and certainly did not want to embarrass themselves on their anniversary, so they launched an attack.

The French army, which had defeated the Austrian army many times before, always had some psychological advantages when encountering them alone, and were even a little arrogant.

MacDonald knew that no matter how fast Moreau's reinforcements ran, they would not be able to arrive today. However, a grenadier battalion and two line infantry battalions in front of the French army, after hearing the sound of artillery firing from the Austrian rear, actually thought that Moreau's reinforcements had arrived and launched an attack.

It was already dusk at this time, and the Austrian army was also confused. Since the main forces of the Austrian army were gathered together in a tight formation, the French army only had three battalions rushing over and could not gain any advantage. After a round of exchange of fire, the two sides beat the French back.

Melas was now very cautious. Because of the changes in the situation on the right wing, Suvorov went there personally to take command. He did not support any direction with the reserve troops. After exchanging fire with the French army, after repeated tugs of war, he finally drove the French army back to the other side of the Trebia River.

At this time, the Russian army still had an extra guard regiment that was not used, and Grand Duke Constantine spent the day "watching the show" in the rear. Because of his performance in the previous battle of Basigliano, he did not dare to disobey the general's order this time, but waited in the rear.

Here were also the soldiers of the Guards, who had not received orders until that evening to meet the grenadiers who had crossed the river at the village of Gragnano, which had been captured by General Rosenberg.

It was the Moscow Grenadiers who launched a river crossing operation, harassed the French positions on the opposite bank that night, rescued some captured Austrian soldiers, and then returned to the west bank of the Trebbia River.

This final episode of the day's battle actually encouraged the Russian soldiers in the center. They also realized that even if the French really lined up in such an orderly manner to fight against them, they could still win like they did in the previous pursuit.

Moreover, it would not be difficult to fight from the east across the Trebia River.

At this point, both sides withdrew their troops and retreated along the river bank to confront each other.

The troops suffered heavy losses. Suvorov personally went to the headquarters of the Bagration Column and saw many wounded soldiers being carried down.

"Everyone did a great job today, especially the frontline hunters. They fought fiercely and accurately. They dealt a heavy blow to the enemy and they should be praised."

After hearing this, Solovyov thought that he should take a nap now. Even if the battlefield was full of blood, he would find a place to have a good rest.

Many of his hunters had run out of bullets and were now continuing to replenish their bullets on the second-line positions.

The largest consumer of ammunition among the Russian troops was the Combined Chasseurs. Their rapid-fire rifles shocked the French army with their extremely high firing rate and accuracy throughout the day, whether in line shooting or free shooting.

Moreover, their own losses were not small. All the hunters were operating on the front line. A quarter of the seven companies in the two battalions of the regiment suffered casualties.

Most of the people here were wounded. Solovyov was very glad that he had changed into a bear-skin hat. A French cavalryman came up to him from the side with a saber and chopped at his hat, but failed to injure him.

Then the two chasseurs beside him rushed over and stabbed the French cavalryman to death along with his horse, thus saving him from danger.

The frontline battlefield was so dangerous, and Solovyov was hit by his hat several times when he was in danger. Putting aside the previous times, this time he was really blessed by the goddess of luck. If the cavalryman's knife had been a little off, he might not have died, but he was unlikely to be healthy either, so the knife had to take away some parts of his body.

This is the battlefield, and it is actually very dangerous everywhere.

(End of this chapter)