I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1265 Complete defeat
The skirmish lasted only an hour and a half, and Milius's vanguard of more than 1 men was annihilated.

Fortunately, Milius's marching column was extremely long, with the distance between the front and rear columns exceeding 10 kilometers, which gave him the opportunity to lead the main force to escape eastward.

……

The city of Nardlingen in western Bavaria.

The city's chamber of commerce president, police commissioner, and other officials were enthusiastically leading citizens in throwing confetti, accompanied by loud cheers and a band playing music.

Squads of imposing French soldiers marched through the middle of the street. The ranks were so long that the officials of Naderlingen were too tired to lift their arms, and it was said that the end of the column was still three miles south of the city.

In the café on the street corner, a middle-aged man dressed as a craftsman frowned as he watched the cannons passing by, silently counting: "40, 41, 42..."

"God, has our city been occupied by the French?"

His words immediately made the other customers in the shop nervous. A few years ago, Moro had easily defeated the Bavarian army, and Ney had even once besieged Munich.

The shop owner rolled his eyes at the man, annoyed: "Don't talk nonsense. The French are here to help us."

"Help us?"

The minor nobleman sitting in the corner continued, "Haven't you heard? The armies of Austria and Saxony invaded Amberg more than a month ago, and His Majesty has officially declared war on them."

"In other words, the French are now our allies."

Although the Bavarian Mutual Defense Treaty had been signed for several years, Bavaria had not made it public to avoid criticism from Austria.

In fact, according to the treaty, Bavaria should have sent troops to participate in the war as early as when the anti-French coalition declared war on France.

However, Karl Theodor was getting old and was hesitant to get involved in the war. Joseph, on the other hand, didn't care about Bavaria's small military strength, so he let him drag things out.

In fact, Bavaria's previous secret supply of the Morrow Legion could be considered as fulfilling the treaty in some form.

Now that Prussia has surrendered and the French army has won a series of victories and even begun a counter-offensive, it would be unreasonable for Bavaria not to openly join the war.

In fact, confronting Austria has long been a core part of Bavaria's national strategy. Austria's desire to unify the Holy Roman Empire made Bavaria a priority target, even more so than Prussia, as it was easier to deal with. Historically, Bavaria and Austria have clashed multiple times.

Just two days after 18 French troops passed through Naderlingen, the vanguard of the French Sixth Army, commanded by Davout, encountered enemy forces north of the town of Wassert-Lüdingen.

Prince Schwarzenberg led the main Austrian army, responsible for launching a frontal attack on Baden, so his forces numbered over 15.

The two sides then engaged in fierce fighting in the vicinity of Wassert-Lüdingen.

As it turned out, with the French army having a numerical advantage, the Austrians had absolutely no chance.

In just one morning, Davout made a breakthrough at the village of Gerber on the east side. As the gap in the front line widened, Prince Schwarzenberg was forced to begin a retreat.

By the time the Brunswick Legion, which had come from Kassel, arrived on the battlefield the following day, the town of Wassert-Lüdingen was already completely under French control.

It should be noted that the main force fighting the Austrian army was the French Sixth and Seventh Armies. Just a month and a half ago, they were brand new recruits, but they were still not at a disadvantage against the elite Royal German Legion of Austria.

The month-long battle to defend Baden was indeed extremely fierce, with France suffering its greatest casualties since the start of the war against the anti-French coalition. However, this also allowed the soldiers to grow rapidly.

...Nuremberg.

Allied Command Headquarters.

Archduke Karl looked solemnly at the group of officers before him, and after a long while, he said in a deep voice, "19 French troops...where did they come from?"

Just half a month ago, the Allied intelligence showed that there were only about 9 French troops in Baden. Even if the French had already amassed a large number of troops in Paris at that time, it would have been impossible for them to deploy 10 troops to the front line in just half a month!

It's important to understand that this only refers to the French army on the front lines.

Five days earlier, Milius had encountered more than 30,000 enemy troops in Coburg.

This morning, intelligence was delivered that nearly 5 French troops were still in Stuttgart preparing to head to the front lines.

In addition to the Moreau Legion trapped in Amberg, the Victor Legion harassing Saxony, and the Augerau Legion controlling Prussia, the total strength of the French army has now reached an astonishing 33!
This doesn't even include the Prussian troops who defected to France, or the Bavarian army that had just declared war on the Allied forces a few days earlier.

In other words, the coalition forces have completely lost their numerical superiority...

The Duke of York spoke up: “It is clear that the French have been hiding their forces. We must be wary that they may have bigger schemes.”

Austrian Chief of Staff Werösser stood up and said, "Marshal, I think we should take advantage of the French forces being dispersed and concentrate our strength to defeat their main force in Wassert-Lüdingen."

A kind voice came from across the conference table: "Perhaps, stabilizing the front line is the most important thing."

"The Sirte Legion in the north could move south at any time, putting immense pressure on our flanks. If the frontal attack fails to break through quickly, the situation will become very dire."

"Don't forget, we're fighting in enemy territory. My supply truck was attacked by Bavarian local forces the day before yesterday."

The Duke of York nodded and said, "General Kutuzov is right. We should avoid a decisive battle with the enemy in Bavaria."

"The best course of action now is to retreat to the Leipzig-Dresden line, where we can confront the French forces, and then turn our main offensive northward to deal with Prussia first."

News of the French occupation of Hanover only reached Nuremberg yesterday—because the Schap signal tower in Prussia was no longer transmitting information to the Allied forces, British spies had to walk through central Germany to report the situation to the Allied command.

The Duke of York, being a British prince, was furious. To reclaim the ancestral lands of the British monarch, he first had to find a way to bring Prussia back into the anti-French alliance; otherwise, there wouldn't even be a land route connecting Hanover.

Verother clenched his fists and shouted, "We are now at the balance of the battle. We cannot back down, or we will lose all chance of victory!"

If Joseph were here, he would definitely give him a thumbs up and say, "Well done, that's how you do it."

Kutuzov maintained his harmless expression: "Until the situation on the battlefield becomes clear, a solid defense is the right choice."

"No, we should continue to maintain strong pressure on the enemy!"

Just as the group was arguing heatedly, an advisor pushed open the door and handed a battle report to Verother.

The latter glanced at it and immediately broke out in a cold sweat: "Yesterday morning, 4 French troops occupied Augsburg."

(End of this chapter)