I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 800: The Battle of Brussels III

Joseph used the tactic of back slope and thin red line invented by the Duke of Wellington in history.

Oh, it should now be called the Thin White Line Tactics - the French army's uniforms are white, and the naming rights of this tactic have belonged to France.

In fact, the number of troops Joseph deployed on the front was less than 1, and the troops they deployed were not in a regular battle line, but at best could only be called a horizontal column.

A large number of two horizontal rows of 100 to 150 meters are arranged at the top of the slope, staggered front and back.

There is a distance of about 10 meters between different columns, so a very wide battlefield can be covered with limited forces.

Prussian Count Karlcroit thought that his attack position had exceeded the end of the French defense line and could outflank its flank, but in fact, even if his troops extended another 100 meters to the west, there would still be a French column there.

Moreover, according to the requirements of the rear slope tactics, there was a skirmisher group on each wing of the horizontal column to provide cover, and there were cavalry further away.

If you want to compete in the length of the battle line, the currently commonly used infantry line plus skirmisher tactics are nothing compared to the "thin white line".

As for the density of firepower, the Duke of Wellington had conducted repeated tests and found that when occupying high ground, two rows of troops were enough, and the width of the battle line was the key.

As long as the battle line is wider than that of the opponent, a higher firepower density can be exerted.

If Joseph was more radical, he could even fold the two wings inward to outflank the Anglo-Prussian and Austrian coalition forces.

Of course, the tactic of back slope and thin white line also has its flaws, mainly because it requires very high quality of soldiers.

The relative positions between the columns must be maintained very accurately. When facing enemy artillery and cavalry raids, they must be able to quickly use the back of the slope for cover and transform into a dense four-row column.

If the soldiers are not well trained, they will soon break up their own formation even without the enemy attacking.

However, at this time, the main French force fighting in Mechelen was the Royal 4th Infantry Division.

They have the best training level in Europe.

Even though Joseph originally planned to let them practice the back slope and thin white line tactics for three weeks, they mastered it in less than half a month.

In fact, from the very beginning, there was no suspense about the outcome of the Battle of Mechelen.

As Carlo Croit's Corps on the west retreated, the last bit of hope in the hearts of the British troops in the middle completely disappeared. The morale, which had long been on the verge of collapse due to the French troops on high ground, now burst out like a flood.

General Harris did not even struggle, but ordered the Austrian skirmishers to stay behind and let the soldiers run down the slope.

At the same time, a drumbeat sounded on the French left wing.

Murat galloped over the top of the slope, drew his saber, swung it majestically, and shouted, "In the name of the Crown Prince! Follow me!"

Behind him, three companies of hussars formed a neat row and rushed towards the chaotic British infantry with shouts.

Murat's face still had the sallow color of someone who had just recovered from an illness - he had suffered from severe dysentery and had just returned to the team last week - but his spirit was extremely excited, and he swung his saber back and forth, bringing up a puff of blood each time.

As the Duke of York stretched the offensive line very wide, the Austrian skirmishers could only cover a few hundred meters to the west. Murat's cavalry moved freely on both sides of them, wantonly harvesting the lives of British soldiers. In this way, less than 500 hussars drove tens of thousands of British infantry to run two kilometers away.

It was not until the British cavalry came to support that Murat retreated to the high ground under Lefebvre's order. After all, the main task of the French army this time was to hold on, and it was not advisable to pursue too deep.

But in less than 20 minutes, thousands of British infantrymen were hacked to death by the French cavalry or trampled to death by each other.

The Duke of York was an excellent commander. He immediately mobilized Count Clefalt's Austrian Corps to organize a defense line below the high ground and sent his own guards up there, thus saving most of the fleeing soldiers.

After the allied forces rested for two days, the Duke of York regrouped his troops and launched another attack on the French positions.

It’s not that he didn’t want to bypass the French defense line. In fact, the terrain of the Southern Netherlands is flat, and Brussels can be reached from Gant or Diest.

But Brussels could be captured by the French army at any time, so he did not dare to take a detour and waste time. He could only fight a decisive battle on the battlefield selected by Joseph.

This time, the Duke of York adjusted his tactics and concentrated all his cavalry to attack the French artillery positions. His own artillery took the opportunity to occupy a raised area on the east side of the slope and bombarded the French defense line from there.

At the same time, the British and Austrian infantry, under the cover of artillery, stormed the top of the slope.

As for the Prussians, their morale had been low since the defeat three days ago. They did not have the indomitable spirit of the Prussian army in the era of Frederick the Great at all, so the Duke of York could only let them be responsible for auxiliary tasks such as covering the two wings.

With the sound of low trumpets, more than 2400 British and Austrian cavalry rushed towards the French artillery positions from the east side of the slope.

The French artillery responded immediately, with shells continuously and accurately hitting the Allied cavalry ranks, tearing both men and horses to pieces.

But under the strict order of the Duke of York, these cavalrymen had no choice but to continue their charge despite the terrifying artillery bombardment.

Soon, the British cavalry commander vaguely saw the thin white infantry column in front of him, and his heart was suddenly excited.

It was exactly the same as what General Harris said, it was just two rows of loose horizontal formations, there was no way they could stop him.

As long as they can easily break through the infantry's defense line, the French artillery not far away will be lambs to be slaughtered!
But at this moment, the rhythm of the drums in the French position suddenly changed, and several horizontal columns in front of the artillery quickly changed their formation and gathered into four thick rows of linear arrays.

The soldiers in the first two rows pointed their bayonets diagonally forward, while the soldiers in the back two rows raised their guns and aimed.

The entire formation change process took only two or three minutes!
Faced with such a "hedgehog formation", the Allied cavalry had to go around to the sides, but on both sides of this infantry line, there were two infantry columns responsible for cover, forming a flat "U" shape as a whole.

In fact, this is a variation of the hollow square formation - since the Paris Police Academy, the hollow square formation has been one of the standard courses for infantry and is extremely easy to use.

Because the Allied cavalry had been climbing the hill and their speed was very slow when they approached the French defense line, there was no need to use a hollow square formation; this force-saving variant was enough to resist.

Sure enough, the Allied cavalry bypassed the defense line from both sides, and after being hit by several rounds of artillery shells, they were already showing signs of fatigue.

Just as the Union cavalry commander wanted to regroup his troops and try another attack, thousands of American soldiers in gray-blue uniforms and flying the American flag suddenly appeared on the east side of the slope.

The Americans were in disarray and did not fire their guns. Instead, they kept shouting obscenities at the Allied cavalry.

(End of this chapter)