I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 756 Attack! Attack!
Outside the town of Mavrgne, thousands of French soldiers formed several lines and stared at the town with a covetous eye.

Seven or eight cannons had been firing shells at the Austrian troops in the town since early morning.

Count Radetzky was disturbed by the noise, but he still checked the deployment personally.

As the vanguard of Prince Coburg, he not only failed to capture Wavre, but also had nearly half of his troops wiped out by the sudden French army.

This small town is the only place to stay on the north side of Wavre. If he loses it again, the prince will most likely send him to a military court.

Fortunately, he still had nearly 6 soldiers, and after most of the day's reconnaissance, he had confirmed that the French army attacking him should be more than 6 people.

Although the French troops had performed extremely fiercely yesterday, he believed that if he devoted all his efforts to the defense, it should be enough to delay until Prince Coburg's main force arrived here tomorrow.

After encouraging the soldiers, Count Radetzky returned to the headquarters panting and instructed the messenger:

"Send someone to report the situation here to His Royal Highness."

This was the third time he had sent someone to ask Prince Coburg for help since yesterday afternoon.

South of Brussels.

The town of Uccle.

The main force of the Austrian Southern Netherlands Front, led by Prince Coburg, was slowly moving southward.

This place is nearly 20 kilometers away from Wavre. If nothing goes wrong, they will arrive there at noon tomorrow.

Prince Coburg rode on his horse, frowned and said to Chief of Staff Karl von Leberich:
"How could the French show up in Wavre so quickly? Did they fly in?"

Austria ruled the Southern Netherlands for more than 80 years, and as there were many Flemish people in Wallonia, it could be said that Austria had eyes and ears all over Wallonia.

So he was very sure that just four days ago, no French troops had entered Wallonia.

It took the French only three days to reach Wavre from the Lille border.

That’s nearly 6 days’ journey under normal circumstances!

Leiberich said:
"Perhaps it was only a French cavalry, Marshal."

If it is pure cavalry without supplies, it is understandable that they can achieve this marching speed.

Prince Coburg glanced at him. "General Radetzky's report says that the French also brought artillery."

He waved his hand again: "In the end, his reconnaissance was not thorough enough and he failed to discover the French army in advance. Otherwise, he would not have been beaten so badly."

The chief of staff nodded: "Yes, Marshal. General Radetzky has the advantage in manpower."

As the two were talking, an officer came over and handed an urgent report to Prince Coburg's attendant:

"Marshal, this has just been sent by Count Radetzky."

Prince Coburg glanced at the report and handed it to Leiberich:

"The French are continuing to attack Radetzky's corps."

When the latter took the report, he saw that it was basically Count Radetzky's request for help. It was obvious that the French army had put him under great pressure.

He looked at the prince and said, “The French should want to capture the town of Mavergne to expand Wavre’s defenses.

"Do you think we should send a cavalry battalion to provide support?"

Prince Coburg thought for a moment and shook his head.

"Cavalry alone is not enough. "The French are obviously overwhelmed by yesterday's successful raid, so we now have a good opportunity."

"You mean?"

“The French have put all their forces into the siege of the town of Mavergne, so the defenses of Wavre must be very empty now.

"We should try to eliminate them near the town of Mavrgne, so that we can easily get Wavre."

Based on the intelligence he had obtained previously, he knew that there were more than 20,000 French troops entering the Wallonia region.

It was obvious that only their vanguard troops had arrived in Wavre.

If these people held Wavre until their main force arrived, the Austrian army would face a difficult siege.

Even though the Austrian army had an absolute advantage in manpower, it was likely to be blocked north of Wavre.

But now the French have rashly left Wavre to attack the Radetzky Corps, and he must seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Prince Coburg immediately ordered:
"Let General Gruber lead the Pearson Corps, the Grenadiers Battalion, and all the cavalry to the town of Mavergne as quickly as possible. Then, depending on the situation, surround the French troops there, or directly capture Wavre."

The Pilsen Corps was the only unit in his army that was brought from Austria, and the grenadier battalion was even more elite, and these were soldiers who could march at high speeds.

As a prince of Thuringia, he was able to rise to the position of marshal in the Austrian army, which shows that he did have certain abilities in military command.

At this time, he decisively sent all his elite troops forward.

Soon, more than 6 Austrian infantry and 4 cavalry began to break away from the main force and rushed south at a very fast speed.

Prince Coburg watched the raiding force disappear from his sight, and then turned to Leiberich:

"Order the whole army to speed up the march. We must reach Wavre before dark. If General Gruber is held up by the French, we can launch an attack on Wavre tomorrow morning."

He had an army of 4 at his command, and his mind was now full of thoughts on how to capture Wavre as quickly as possible and how to march into Namur next, but he did not consider at all that his opponent had no intention of defending from the very beginning.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Gruber's raiding force had arrived 4 kilometers north of the town of Mavni.

The main force of Prince Coburg was nearly 7 kilometers away from them.

Prince Coburg kept whipping the warhorse under his crotch with a whip, and the horse almost kept trotting. It can be predicted that after the journey today, it will take at least a week to rest before it can recover its strength.

At this moment, a melodious trombone sound suddenly came from the west.

Prince Coburg frowned immediately, but before he could ask, a hussar came galloping over and shouted at him nervously:

"French! A large number of French troops were spotted on the west side, at least more than 10,000!"

Prince Coburg was stunned.

Count Radetzky has 6 French troops, so where did these 1 people come from?
But he had no time to think about it at the moment, and hurriedly shouted to Leiberich:
"Quick! Order the entire army to gather and switch to a defensive formation!"

His order was quickly passed down, and the Austrian soldiers began to line up in a hurry, but for a while most of the officers did not figure out where the enemy would attack from.

The worst thing was that Prince Coburg had previously asked the entire army to rush to Wavre as quickly as possible, resulting in a huge gap between the well-trained legions and the under-trained legions.

Looking down from the sky, the main force of the Austrian army at this time was just a thin line 5 kilometers long.

And a French army unit was stabbing straight towards the waist of this thin line from 3 kilometers away.

(End of this chapter)