I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 680: Burning Eastern Europe
At this moment, the gunfire from the farmhouse ahead stopped abruptly.

Drasovitz turned his head and saw more than a dozen Russian cavalrymen rushing to the back of the farmhouse from both sides, stabbing the bodies of Father Stashak and others with sabers, wondering whether they were venting their anger or confirming whether they were dead.

The other soldiers obviously also saw this scene. They all clenched their flintlocks tightly, with flames of anger in their eyes.

"Damn beast!"

Someone shouted with bloodshot eyes: "Let's go and avenge the priest!"

"Yes, kill these sons of bitches!"

"Come back!" The captain of the Seventh Company also had a livid face, but he stopped the soldiers and shouted, "We want Father Starshak's death to be meaningful! We must defend the cannon!"

Everyone was silent.

Drasovitz gritted his teeth and said, "Sir, what should we do?"

The company commander quickly took a look at the simple artillery position at his feet.

This is a small earthen mound, slightly elevated, with nothing to shelter it except a bunch of trees behind it, and only two triangular wooden frames were placed perfunctorily to defend against cavalry.

That is to say, the Russian cavalry could attack from several directions.

In the distance came the howling of the Cossacks.

The company commander glanced at the cannon wheels buried in the soil - gunners often did this to make it more stable when shooting - and couldn't help but frown. It was too late to move the cannon.

He didn't have time to think about it, and said to the soldiers: "Twenty strong men with bayonets, form a semicircle and try to block the cannon.

“Others were shooting from the inside.

"Karoslaw, take a few people to move the barricades over here."

He looked at the captain of the artillery and said, "Tell your men to pick up their guns and fight off the cavalry together."

"Yes, sir. But we only have four flintlocks."

The artillery's guns were taken away by Father Stashak and his men.

"Then use a ramrod, a long-handled brush, or anything."

"Okay, sir!"

The Cossack cavalry was very fast. Without even forming a formation, they roared and pressed towards the artillery position from the west.

Drasovitz's legs were spread out in a lunge, with the butt of the flintlock clamped at his waist, and the bayonet on the muzzle was tilted upward at a 45-degree angle.

The veterans around him didn't need his reminder, so he turned to Yannick behind him and said, "Hold steady. The cavalry rifle has a short range. Aim first before shooting. You may only have one chance to shoot."

Yannick's breathing was very rapid, and he nodded vigorously: "Okay, I remember it."

Just a few minutes later, the wolf-like Russian cavalry arrived eighty or ninety steps away from the artillery position and began to gallop.

Generally speaking, when facing an infantry bayonet formation, cavalry would choose to pass in front of the formation, waiting for an opportunity to kill with guns or sabers, and then form a team at a distance, turn around and try again.

Through repeated harassment, they created a gap in the infantry formation and then forced their way in from there.

However, this time the Russians discovered that the number of defending infantry was less than their own, and because the defense area was too wide, there was only a thin row of infantry, so they decided to charge directly.

The rumbling sound of horse hooves struck the heart of every Polish infantryman.

Even the most experienced veterans would feel a strong sense of fear when facing a tall warhorse charging head-on. But the 20 Polish infantrymen who formed a semicircle were like nails to the ground at this moment. Even though their eyes were wide open and they even forgot to breathe, they did not move at all.

With a loud "bang", the cannon surrounded by the Polish soldiers opened fire first.

But only one gun had an angle that could reach the Russians, and a large number of iron balls suddenly drilled into the cavalry column and scattered under the huge impact, directly piercing two horses and three Russian cavalrymen. Dust wrapped in flesh and blood left traces in the cavalry column.

Several artillerymen used wet cloth to cool the gun barrel as quickly as possible, and then loaded gunpowder.

However, the Cossack cavalry had already rushed onto the mound, and the cavalry guns were crackling. Immediately, two Polish soldiers fell down, covering their wounds.

The commander of the 7th Company kept repeating: "Don't shoot, wait a little longer--"

The cavalry had rushed to a place only 30 steps away from the Polish defense line. They threw away their guns and drew their sabers - which were their main weapons - and rushed forward with strange cries.

Of course, also because this is the heartland of the Polish army, Polish soldiers may come to reinforce at any time, which makes them want to win the battle quickly.

Just when Drasovitz could clearly smell the bad breath of the horses, he finally heard the company commander shout: "Shoot--"

A row of flames suddenly burst out behind him.

The six Cossack cavalrymen running in the front fell off their horses, and tripped two of the cavalrymen behind them.

"withstand!"

As soon as the company commander roared, Drasovitz felt a large amount of sand and gravel coming towards him, and his eyes darkened. It was because the sunlight was blocked by the warhorse.

The situation commonly seen in movies where cavalrymen charge head-on at infantrymen is impossible to happen - horses will instinctively stop when faced with sharp bayonets.

The Cossacks on horseback raised their sabers high and slashed at him.

"Be careful!" the soldier next to him shouted loudly, and quickly thrust the bayonet forward. When the saber fell halfway, it first stabbed the cavalryman's waist.

The Russian screamed and fell off his horse.

"Thanks……"

As soon as Drasovitz uttered a word, a saber slashed at him from the side, and a horrific wound instantly appeared on the chest of the soldier who had just saved his life.

"No!"

Drasovitz's eyes were about to ooze blood. He shouted and raised his bayonet and rushed towards the Russian cavalry...

Behind him, Yannik was holding a flintlock and facing a Cossack cavalryman head-on.

The cavalrymen were much taller than the infantrymen on horseback, so when they engaged in hand-to-hand combat, it was like an ordinary person fighting a dwarf. However, he showed no fear at all, and continued to grit his teeth and stab his abdomen as the Russian saber chopped him down...

Not far away, Karoslaw knocked down a Russian cavalryman, and the two of them grabbed each other's necks and rolled down the mound together...

The Polish artillerymen in the back row poked the horse's neck with a long-handled brush, and the frightened horse threw the cavalryman off its back. But the next moment, a hand axe suddenly flew from somewhere and nailed him in the forehead with a "puff"...

A Polish soldier with a broken right leg gasped for breath and crawled to the nearest Cossack cavalry. With his last bit of strength, he chopped the horse's leg with a saber he had picked up - that was the highest position he could reach...

The Russians had never expected that such a loose infantry defense line could hold its own against the full force of more than 30 cavalrymen.

Moreover, they were dragged into a hellish life-and-death battle.

In just over ten minutes, the slope was covered with corpses. Amid the blood and broken limbs, several horses twisted their bodies impatiently, trying to throw the dead bodies hanging on the stirrups off.

(End of this chapter)