I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 909: Melee and Blind Spot

On Augereau's side, the staff officer handed him the casualty list: "Colonel, today there are 287 killed, 330 missing, 202 seriously injured, 493 slightly injured..."

Twenty thousand soldiers suffered thousands of casualties, which could be considered the most tragic day since the French army entered northern Italy.

In the Austrian officers' tent, Bajahaza handed Alvinci's order to Archduke Karl.

The latter quickly read the last few lines and shook his head helplessly - due to the tense situation in Molvino, Alvinzi reduced the number of reinforcements sent to them to 2.

However, in the early morning of the next day, both sides of the war received good news.

On the French position, there were 5 six-pound cannons and 1 twelve-pound cannon.

This was the wood that Marmont and his men had cut down last night, tied together into a huge raft, and secretly transported from the other side of the river - although three cannons fell into the water during this period, at least they had cannons available.

In front of Bajahaza stood the messenger sent by Wilmser.

"That means General Wilmser will be here tomorrow at noon?" Bajahaza looked at the officer in front of him excitedly, "A total of 1 soldiers?"

"Yes, Marshal." The summons officer looked a little weak. He could only eat two meals a day in the fortress, totaling two pounds of black bread.

In fact, Wurmser brought 1 people out of the fortress. Hundreds of them were killed during the breakout, and many more escaped along the way.

"Oh, praise General Wurmser." Bajahaza pointed his cane toward the river. "The French are doomed now!"

The herald officer stammered again, "Marshal, you still have to solve some minor problems. There are more than 1 Sardinian troops following us."

Yes, after being broken through by Wurmser, Thaon was worried about being punished by France, so he led his troops to chase the Austrian army, showing that "I am trying hard to make up for my mistakes."

Karl Ludwig thought for a moment and said to Bajahaza, "Marshal, the fighting power of the Sardinian army is not that strong, so we can just send two or three regiments to hold them back.

"We will concentrate our superior forces here and defeat Augereau as quickly as possible. After that, we can either rush to Trento to reinforce Marshal Alvinzi or annihilate the Sardinian army first. It is up to us to choose."

The Bajahaza Corps and the soldiers brought by Wurmser together had a total of 3 people. Even if three or four thousand were separated, the remaining ones would be able to form an overwhelming force advantage over the French army on the riverside.

Bajahaza nodded repeatedly and wrote a letter to the messenger: "Please tell General Wilmser that after he arrives tomorrow, we will immediately launch a general attack on the French."

……

Napoleon stared at the map in front of him, his right hand slapping his hip.

Well, his hemorrhoids have come back and it hurts so much.

But what bothered him more than the hemorrhoids were the two red lines on the map.

They represented Alvinzi's Zweig Corps and Buch Corps, with a total of nearly 20,000 people, and had built a defense line based on the southern foothills of Mount Paganella.

Napoleon had absolute confidence that he could break this line of defense, but Alvinzi still had nearly 3 troops, and he could not be sure whether these troops would suddenly appear on his flank or behind him.

"Someone must be stationed in the east to contain the enemy..."

He drummed his knuckles on the table, lost in thought.

It was unlikely that Augereau's Corps would arrive in a short period of time, and the Austrians would definitely try to launch a surprise attack or outflank them.

So, how can we avoid a head-on confrontation with an enemy with superior forces?
The candle flame flickered, casting the shadow of the quill pen beside it onto the map.

The shadow rose and fell, covering Trento and then moving away.

Napoleon picked up the pen irritably, but suddenly something happened to him.

Wait, I seem to have overlooked something...

Why did Alvinzi's army appear here?
He came to attack Trento.

But now he focused all his attention on his sneak attack force. In other words, he would never split his troops to attack Trento at this time.

Then the 1 people under Victor's command stationed in Trento would become a mobile force!

Moreover, he was only six or seven kilometers away from Alvinzi's main force.

Thinking of this, Napoleon smiled and said to Lucien, "Call all the officers and hold a combat meeting!"

"Yes, General!"

Nine o'clock the next morning.

Napoleon's army's artillery began to bombard the Austrian Zweig Army.

Half an hour later, thousands of French infantrymen, under the cover of skirmishers, launched a strong attack on Zweig's defense line.

However, their attack was quickly beaten back by Zweig's army, which had arranged a dense defense line.

The French were clearly not giving up and launched two more attacks before noon, the latter of which even involved cavalry, but they only managed to break through the Austrian army's first line of defense.

There are two more solid lines of defense behind.

After receiving the battlefield intelligence from the cavalry, Alvin Qi said to the staff officer beside him with a relaxed look:
"The French are locked in a trench war with us, and they are finished."

He pointed his cane at the map: "Where is Strome now?"

The staff officer glanced at the record and said, "We are still 5 kilometers away from the French army, Marshal."

"Very good." Alvin nodded, "Let them attack together with Colonel Bucher.

“The Central Army continues to move westward.

“The battle in Molvino cannot end today.

"We just need to get there by tomorrow afternoon."

The tight formation he had always demanded played a crucial role at this moment.

After Kostanovich was defeated, the reinforcements he sent arrived to the southeast of Molvino town in just half a day and quickly built a defense line.

The main force of his central army also arrived at the battlefield within a day.

Napoleon would soon discover to his horror that he was facing more and more enemies and was eventually surrounded.

Alvinzi was even prepared to deal with Napoleon's escape, and he sent a 3-man force to the west in advance to intercept him.

At the same time, the cavalry units have also been assembled and can pursue at any time.

After half a day of fierce attack, the French army seemed to have exhausted its strength and the offensive began to weaken significantly.

At 1: p.m., more than Austrian Strome Corps suddenly appeared on Napoleon's right wing, forming a long and narrow infantry line, and together with the Austrian troops on the side of Mount Topaganella, they formed a semi-encirclement of Napoleon.

In the command post next to Mount Topaganella.

Zweig nodded to the interrogator in front of him and said, "Please tell Colonel Strome that we can launch an attack at any time."

At this moment, he suddenly felt the sound of artillery fire coming from behind him. He frowned and looked at the staff officer beside him: "What's going on?"

The latter carefully distinguished it and said nervously:
"General, that seems to be the direction of Marshal Alvin's headquarters..."

(End of this chapter)