I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1251 Eastern Front Campaign
The dense thickets in southern Saxony concealed the French soldiers, and the Austrian cavalry also disliked conducting reconnaissance in such terrain.

Morrow's original plan was to open fire immediately if an infiltration force was discovered, to draw the enemy's attention and help the other side complete the infiltration.

But the French were very lucky this time; both divisions successfully maneuvered to the north flank of the Villeneuve Legion, that is, behind them.

An hour and a half later, a hussar excitedly reported to Moro: "General, there has been no fighting at the Wilmze line."

This shows that the infiltration troops were never detected by the enemy.

“Very good. Continue to keep a close eye on the enemy’s movements.” Moro nodded with a smile, then looked at Nei and said, “Have everyone prepare for the attack.”

That afternoon, after confirming that Archduke Karl's main force had left Bamberg, Wilmze was about to order his own legion to move south with them when his staff officer rushed over anxiously and said, "General, news has come from Kronach that tens of thousands of French troops are besieging it."

Wilmzee was stunned.

Kronach is about 20 kilometers north of Bayreuth. How did the French manage to get there, bypassing their own borders?
He dared not delay any longer and quickly ordered Baron Joseph von Ochko to lead 3 soldiers to Kronach as reinforcements, while also sending someone to report to Archduke Karl.

Not long after Ochiko left, Moro's main force launched a fierce attack on Prince Heisingen.

Upon receiving the news, Wilmzee immediately directed the entire army to move towards the left flank and ordered the Heinrich Legion to hold their ground.

He wasn't panicked; on the contrary, he felt somewhat relieved. He had been unable to pinpoint the location of the main French force, so he could only passively set up defensive lines.

Now that the French army has taken the initiative to show itself, he only needs to hold them off for two days, and Archduke Charles's main force will arrive.

However, the next morning, Prince Heisingen reported to him that the French had already withdrawn.

Wilmze dared not be careless and still ordered the entire army to strengthen its defenses. He also sent a large number of cavalry to the direction of Weiden to search for traces of the French. According to his guess, Moreau's army was probably going to use the attack to squeeze his own defensive line and then take the opportunity to slip north along the Shumawa Mountains in the east.

But his hussars kept reporting that they had not found any French troops.

Yes, after launching a feint attack on the left flank of Wirmze, Moreau immediately led his troops from Pegnitz, south of Bayreuth, to the west.

This was already Bavarian territory. He had no need to worry about anyone reporting his whereabouts to the Allied forces.

At 11 a.m. the next morning, he had arrived at Kunshofent, a small village located between Bamberg and Bayreuth, 45 kilometers away from the Heisingen Legion.

Under the command of the officers of the high-altitude reconnaissance battalion, the hot air balloon launcher quickly deployed two extremely long support poles to flatten the hot air balloon.

Then, flames more than half a meter long shot out from the top of the kerosene tank, and the steam-powered air pump next to it continuously blew the flames toward the bottom of the hot air balloon.

Currently, France's kerosene refining technology is still very primitive, resulting in very high costs; a can of kerosene can cost hundreds of francs.

However, during wartime, no expense is too high to save time. Therefore, the high-altitude reconnaissance battalions of the main army corps were almost all equipped with kerosene for heating.

In just 42 minutes, a light blue hot air balloon began to rise into the air.

A moment later, the reconnaissance battalion officer in the balloon basket operated a boom similar to the Sharp signal tower, sending a series of signals to the ground.

The staff officer took the translation from the ground receiving group and turned to Moro, saying, "General, exactly as you predicted, enemy troops, approximately 26,000 men, have been spotted 3 kilometers to the northeast." Moro judged that after being ambushed, Wilmze would most likely request reinforcements from the main Allied forces, and he was there specifically for these reinforcements.

Archduke Karl never expected that the French troops who attacked the left flank of the Wermsée just 40 kilometers away yesterday would suddenly appear between him and the Wermsée Legion this morning.

Moro immediately turned his horse around and led his troops toward their target.

A special cavalry unit, following the established battle plan, broke away from the main force and sped toward the Austrian reinforcements.

This "cavalry" force consisted of about 4,000 men, but only 2,000 horses. To reduce the burden on the horses, all the soldiers were short and their weight was strictly controlled to be below 60 kilograms.

Yes, this is the newly added Leaping Troops unit after the second French military reforms.

They only need a small number of warhorses to achieve a speed of mobility close to that of cavalry, making them ideal for rapid interception, flanking maneuvers, and surprise attacks.

The three leaping battalions circled around to within one kilometer of the Austrian reinforcements' east side before dismounting and forming ranks. By this time, their mounts were so exhausted they could barely stand, but leaping soldiers didn't rely on horses for combat, so they could maximize the use of their horsepower.

Baron Dennefield, the Austrian commander in charge of reinforcing Wilmze, was still urging his soldiers to speed up when a hussar returned to report: "General, enemy lines have been spotted ahead, numbering about four or five thousand."

Lord Dennefield suddenly felt a headache coming on.

He had heard Chief of the General Staff Werther mention at the Allied operations meeting a few days earlier that French troops had been appearing all over central Germany recently, and he never expected that they would all come here.

Fortunately, there are only a few thousand people; we can quickly defeat them.

But this would delay their arrival in Bayreuth. He sighed and ordered the vanguard to immediately attack the French lines, and then sent hussars to flank them on the left.

Half an hour later, the Austrian army's cannons began to roar.

As Baron Dennefield was worrying about not being able to reach Bayreuth before dark, he sensed that something was amiss with the sound of the cannons.

He turned his head, frowning. Why was there a cannon shot coming from his side and behind?

He suddenly jolted awake and shouted to the staff officer beside him:

"Enemy attack!"

On the French side, hot air balloons rose again, ready to provide firing corrections for their artillery at any time.

The Austrian army's rear guard was caught off guard by the shells coming from behind, and within just five or six minutes, two or three hundred corpses had appeared on the ground.

By the time Dennefeld's order to turn and defend arrived, the Austrian officers were no longer able to control their soldiers who were fleeing in all directions.

Moro gave the Austrian army no time to react. Ney and Nansutti immediately commanded two assault columns, which, accompanied by the sound of artillery fire, swiftly attacked the enemy from the west and south.

The Austrian army was already far inferior to the French army in terms of combat strength, and now it was attacked by Moreau's superior forces. It began to collapse almost as soon as the fighting started.

(End of this chapter)