Chapter 87: Bloody Battle at the Gotthard Pass

Chapter 87: Bloody Battle at the Gotthard Pass

Chapter 87: Bloody Battle at the Gotthard Pass
Claude Jacques Lecourbe might not be a well-known figure, but he had some real skills.

He was a close friend of Moreau, and when Moreau was involved in a "conspiracy" to overthrow the First Consul, he defended his friend and angered Napoleon, and was ordered to retire in 1805, missing all the wars from 1805 to 1814.

But in 1815, he was employed by the restored Bourbon dynasty. As a republican general, he finally responded to the returning emperor. In Jura, when Waterloo had finally failed, he commanded the battle despite his illness. With a force of men, he held back Archduke Ferdinand's Austrian troops for days. Even at this time, the entire war was over!
This was the last glory of the French army in this war. Napoleon also commented on him in St. Helena: "Very brave, he should have become a French marshal!"

It is indeed very rare for this emperor, who is always stubborn, to make such an evaluation. He always likes to belittle his opponents at home and abroad. Many of Moreau's confidants and friends were demoted or even sent to guard islands in the Indian Ocean during his reign. However, these people were not ambiguous at all on the battlefield, and sometimes performed better than some of Napoleon's confidants.

The general is now standing at the highest point of the Gotthard Pass, looking at the densely packed Russian soldiers below through a telescope.

"This is the army of Marshal Suvorov, the most famous veteran general in Russia. It's interesting. They are coming faster than we expected! Guding's brigade must be ready for battle. We must delay them as much as possible. Also, the artillery must pay attention to the flag signals from the top of the mountain!"

In other words, the Gotthard Pass was too three-dimensional, which gave Lecour the opportunity to perform. He must have studied the firepower configuration of this three-dimensional defense with Moreau before, and he arranged a number of artillery positions from the top of the mountain to the foot of the mountain.

Although he only deployed more than 1,800 people from the Guding Brigade on the front line, which was insufficient and seemed difficult to defend, the firepower configuration of this artillery was indeed unique and caused great trouble to the Russian army.

Bagration wanted to switch back to his native dialect and curse, but he quickly switched back to the Russian channel: "Damn it, we were bombarded by the French in the mountains in Novi, and we were bombarded by the French in the mountains in Switzerland. Is this what they learned from the same military academy?"

Moreover, the French artillery, whether firing grapeshot or solid bullets, could hit the Russian troops.

This forced Bagration's vanguard troops to disperse their formation and launch an attack.

The Russian army had previously fought against the French army in Italy and had a great psychological advantage, especially this time with the old marshal right behind them, their morale was even higher.

But as in the battle of Novi, the French artillery fire slowed down the Russian attack, and they were blocked on the first bridge over the Gotthard Pass for an hour.

This forced Bagration to change his strategy. During the breaks in the French army's shooting, he used chasseurs to attack the French soldiers on the opposite bank, and then launched an attack from the front of the bridge with a grenadier battalion.

This opened up the first French blocking position. After fighting for several rounds, the French soldiers no longer guarded the bridge and even abandoned everything they were carrying and simply ran away.

After seeing this scene, the Georgian prince discovered something was wrong. The "cow backpacks" and various pendants that the French used to carry in battle were almost nowhere to be seen on these French soldiers.

He had a lot of experience in the military over the years, and he immediately judged that the French army had blocking positions behind him.

Especially the two small cannons that were dragged to the middle of the mountain. Although the damage caused by any ammunition they fired was not great, it was still a headache to keep firing there.

But if the Russian army wanted to go up the mountain, it would obviously take a while to climb. By the time they got close, the French soldiers would not be able to escape. If they surrendered, they would have to push all the artillery into the mountain stream and leave nothing for the Russian army.

Such a disgusting way of fighting is indeed rarely seen before. They are not trying to win the battle at all, but to delay time here.

On the nearby mountain peak, because the distance was not too far, some French light infantry were also firing. They might not be able to shoot accurately, but the harassment made the Russian army uneasy.

That is to say, in mountain warfare, carrying equipment consumes too much physical energy, and the French troops can only fire 10 shots at most and then escape. Otherwise, the Russian army will be harassed all the time during the march.

After passing the first position at the Gotthard Pass, the French troops behind them, just as Bagration had expected, continued to block the way.

The Russian vanguard troops were continuously harassed by this sporadic skirmishing and their advance speed was greatly delayed.

The lightly armed French continued to retreat, and even though the Russian army had Cossack horses carrying a lot of baggage, they still had to move forward in the mountains with great difficulty, carrying a lot of equipment. For ordinary climbers, this journey would take two and a half hours, but now they had to continue walking until the sun set, and only then did they control the first village behind the Gotthard Pass.

Due to the congestion of troops in the front, Suvorov did not get any news from Bagration for a while. Being stuck in the mountains was actually quite disadvantageous.

"Damn it, we encountered a cunning circus monkey in the mountains! If it were an eagle, it would be able to fly over it!"

The nearby Reuss River flows beside the road, but these rivers have fast currents and extremely steep banks, making it impossible for the Russian army to adopt roundabout tactics.

Suvorov could only hope that Rosenberg's troops could make a breakthrough from the mountain on the flank, and judging from his usual habit of acting crazy, his show was about to begin.

When the Russian army suffered repeated setbacks in their attacks on the hillside, the old marshal got off his horse, saw a depression that was just big enough for him to lie down, and then he lay down there.

"Your Excellency Marshal, what are you doing?"

"Misha, bury me alive! You are no longer my children, and I am no longer your father. I have no choice but to die!"

"Uncle Proshka, what's going on?"

"When the master encounters an emergency situation, sometimes it will be like this, and the scene is different every time!"

But it really worked. Bagration was not far from Suvorov. After seeing his master's performance of performance art, he began to shout to his men.

"Brothers, don't let the marshal down. Follow me, Hurrah!"

He drew his sword and led the charge, and the Russian soldiers on the front line also rushed forward with bayonets in hand.

This recklessness actually broke through two French defense lines. General Lecour did not want his division to fight the Russian army head-on, but to delay time and consume the Russian army at the same time, so as to lead the Russian army into a desperate situation. The battlefield he carefully designed was surrounded by a series of mountains, and the French could lure the enemy deep into the mountains.

Suvorov saw through this trick, but he had to accept it.

"A cunning French hunter is trying to lead us into a trap!"

"You're not lying in the pit anymore?"

"Misha, help me up."

Solovyov slid down quickly. He went into the pit and helped Suvorov up, but he was still talking: "This French hunter must have mistaken us for foxes!"

"Then, you, the Liangzan fox, have you come up with a solution?"

"There is no brain solution, but you hand over the Guards Chasseur Battalion to me and I will take down the hill ahead!"

The old marshal smiled. The usually brave Bagration, young Kamensky and Miloradovich now began to use their brains. But Solovyov, who loved to think, was going to attack with force today.

The commander of the Guards Jager Battalion, von Bystrom, has not returned to the team due to injury, and the battalion now has more than 300 people after reinforcement. Although the ammunition is insufficient, it can still fight.

"Go, boy. I know what you are up to! Take the Guards Chasseurs to Bagration's column and obey his orders from now on!"

After receiving the order, Solovyov came to the middle of the Guards Chasseur Battalion.

"Hey, Captain, you're here from the old marshal. Are you going to have a tough battle?"

"Yes, brothers, the French are blocking the road ahead. Now our 'dad' needs brothers to go up and clear that damn mountain pass!"

The battle is now at its most intense. The French army is defending the village of Hospental, and Bagration's troops are blocked outside. This is when reinforcements are needed.

Now, as an accompanying adjutant, Solovyov has taken over the command of the Guards Chasseur Battalion. This is also a temporary arrangement on the battlefield. Sometimes the adjutant also has to execute the commander's orders, take over the troops and then engage in battle.

There were two French battalions defending the village, and Andermatt had four cannons and three grenadier companies behind them. The French used their firepower and placed three cannons across the road to fire grapeshot, making the Russian attack extremely difficult.

But at this time, the guardsmen behind were moving forward lightly, throwing all their bags to the joint hunter battalion in the rear, and only brought ammunition and bandages to the front.

They first took advantage of the French army's firing window and sniped the artillery at a long distance. This finally suppressed several guns in front of the French soldiers, allowing the Russian army's advancing column to continue advancing.

As soon as the French poked their heads out, they would be hit by the guards chasseurs from a farther distance. The same went for the ordinary chasseurs in front of them, who all shot very accurately and finally managed to suppress the French troops on this road.

Bagration now saw the opportunity and launched a bayonet charge.

Although the French troops in the Swiss Legion were more resilient, they would not rush into battle when they saw the bayonet charge. They first fought a few times relying on the village, and then chose to retreat under the order of General Gudin.

The French also like to use routine tactics, but with these high ground and firepower points along the way, when the Russian army launched a frontal attack, many Russian and Austrian troops on the side mountains also tried to find a secret path to get through.

A small team sent by Baranovsky actually climbed up the steep hill and prepared to outflank the French army.

It was almost night, and the French did not dare to fight. After the grenadiers' counterattack from Andermatt failed, they finally chose to retreat.
However, they still guarded many important roads on the winding mountain roads, especially a very dangerous bridge, which was the "Devil's Bridge" that would always impress the Russians in the future.

After a day of fighting, the French losses were not heavy. After losing more than 400 people on two mountain passes, they retreated to the rear front. Three lines of defense in front were opened. This was the result of the Russian charge being too strong and the repeated infiltration of several Russian and Austrian troops who were good at climbing mountains.

General Le Gourbe could feel satisfied. His military career was not glorious, but it still contained high technical content. In the battle to stop Suvorov, Massena actually asked him to complete the mission after two days of blocking. Now he had completed the first day of the operation, dragging the Russian army into the mountains and crossing the first pass of the St. Gotthard Pass. There were still winding mountain roads waiting for them.

When Solovyov came down with the Guards Chasseurs and saw the battle report written by Weroser, he was so angry that he almost laughed!
After all, the report written by Werosser was: 187 of our soldiers were killed, XX people fell to death from falling into the mountain stream, XX people were swept away by the rapids, XX people were injured by mules, and the whereabouts of several others were unknown.
You are wearing all white clothes, and you are acting as a translator for free?
What's even more ironic is that this shitty battle report he wrote is actually the result of the French army's blocking of the Russian army that day! The French losses were actually not that great, and the 10 abandoned cannons were all pushed down in the valley, and the military flags were also taken away. There was no valuable material left for the Russian army, and nothing to brag about.

He came back too late. Werosser had just been scolding his Austrian staff for marking a non-existent road in Andermatt. There were only mountain roads here.

This led to a bad consequence. Although the Russian and Austrian troops marched fast enough in the mountains, facing the French obstruction and the long and winding road, it was unlikely that they would reach General Korsakov's base on the scheduled time of September 9.

However, the Austrian army had control of the eastern side of Blisten Hill, so they could see the French actions clearly the next morning. This was the only compensation.

Although Suvorov was also dissatisfied with the situation on the battlefield, he continued to encourage his soldiers and hoped that they would win the next battle.

In fact, the old commander deliberately overlooked one point, which was that the French army had probably already launched an attack on Korsakov in Zurich. All he could do here was to open the mountain pass first and find out the situation on the northern battlefield. There was not much else he could do.

Meanwhile, the old soldier, Massena, was sharpening his knife, ready to strike at Korsakov's series of stupid arrangements.

(End of this chapter)