I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 912: A good officer is one who knows how to retreat

Augereau looked at the chaotic Austrian camp through the telescope and felt a sense of unreality.

How come the Austrians, who had always been in the upper hand and were constantly attacking, suddenly became vulnerable after receiving reinforcements?

Even though he couldn't figure it out, he issued the attack orders one by one without any delay:

"Let Lieutenant Colonel Marmont push the cannon forward 500 steps. Don't worry, there is no enemy who can threaten him now.

"The Seventh and Eighth Battalions, ignore the prisoners and continue to push forward. Don't give the enemy time to reorganize their formation.

"Where are my cavalry now? Let them attack the northern position immediately before the Austrian artillery is ready..."

The infantry line consisting of nearly 7 French soldiers quickly crossed the Austrian army's outermost defense line. With the support of artillery fire, it took less than an hour to advance to the edge of Bajahaza's camp.

This made the already chaotic Austrian camp even more chaotic.

After several unsuccessful attempts to get Wilmzer to take his men out of the camp, Bajahaza had no choice but to order a retreat. The latter's soldiers only cared about food and could not even form a basic team. If they stayed in the camp, Bajahaza could do nothing.

However, when the French artillery shells fell into Bajahaza's camp, the soldiers coming out of the Mantua fortress reacted immediately.

However, they did not organize any resistance, but fled in the opposite direction without hesitation.

Well, I just managed to fill my stomach, and now my legs have more strength to run.

The reserve corps left behind by Bajahaza was still gathering when it was instantly dispersed by tens of thousands of deserters.

Behind them, the French line followed closely, and the two sides coordinated as if they had rehearsed the battle.

Thus, the Austrian retreat turned into a rout.

In this way, more than 1 soldiers of the Augereau Legion chased more than 3 enemy troops, and in just over an hour, they ran 6 kilometers across the Po River Plain.

3 km northwest of Bajahaza camp.

Karl Ludwig rode back and forth on his horse, anxiously urging those officers who had not yet completed their formation.

He had realized that the situation in the Austrian camp was out of control, so he decisively pulled his legion out.

Since they were far away from those "starving ghosts" coming from Mantua, and the Moravian soldiers under his command were well trained, they were finally able to organize their formation.

At this moment, Lieutenant Colonel Moser under Bajahaza and hundreds of defeated soldiers ran towards them in panic.

When Moser saw the flag of the Moravian Legion and the thousands of soldiers lined up, he was ecstatic.

He quickly found Archduke Karl and shouted from a distance:
"Your Highness, the general has ordered a retreat, but the French have broken through our remaining defense line. Please rush to reinforce us immediately!"

Archduke Karl looked solemn as he asked his staff officer to bring a map and gestured to Moser, "So, where can I most effectively stop the enemy now?"

"Where to stop them?" Moser was stunned for a moment. "There are Frenchmen everywhere. We can stop them anywhere."

Archduke Karl frowned and continued to ask:
"So, which direction has the least enemy forces?"

"Yes, it should be the north side..."

Archduke Karl immediately turned around and told the herald: "Order the entire army to move north immediately. Expand the reconnaissance range and try not to engage in combat with the enemy."

"Yes, General!"

Moser tried to dissuade him, "Your Highness, if you don't go to reinforce, the army will be finished!" Archduke Karl glanced at him and said coldly, "It is obvious that our army has completely collapsed. If I go to fight the French now, I will destroy the lives of my soldiers."

"But……"

Archduke Karl motioned Moser to mount his horse, turned the reins, and asked, "What do you think the French want to do most now?"

"It should be the pursuit of General Bajahaza..."

"No, we are heading to Trento," Archduke Karl said, "Judging from Napoleon's previous attack route, he should be planning to encircle Marshal Alvinzi from the east and west.

“And the Augereau Corps is responsible for attacking the east side.

"However, he was stopped by us at the Visio River, and now he must be anxious to complete the encirclement."

Mo Ze said anxiously: "Then you must not let him go!"

"My troops are simply not strong enough to stop him."

"Then, what should we do?"

"Let the French feel that they are in great danger, and slow them down. Then ask Marshal Alvin for help." Archduke Karl sighed, "I hope this method will work."

He was lucky in that his corps retreated 4 kilometers to the north without encountering Augereau's troops along the way.

After confirming that there were no French troops nearby, Archduke Karl ordered 5 soldiers to deploy in an east-west direction, using sparse single-row lines to cover as much area as possible.

He then sent several infantry battalions south, ordering them to fire a few shots if they encountered the French, but not to engage in fighting.

After arranging all this, he looked at Mo Ze again:

"Your mission is to contact General Bajahaza as soon as possible and ask him to..."

Before dawn the next day, Augereau and Marmont discussed today's battle plan.

Although they unexpectedly won a decisive victory, there are still 7,000 to 8,000 remnants of Bajahaza, fleeing southward. At the same time, another group of thousands of Austrian troops should be preparing to join Alvinzi's central army.

They must try to strike a balance between completing the encirclement mission and pursuing and defeating the enemy to expand the results of the battle.

As the two were talking, a cavalry captain entered the tent and saluted, saying, "Colonel, we have found traces of the enemy in the north of San Leon Village and Salorno."

The tent door was opened again, and a messenger came in: "Colonel, the 7th Infantry Battalion was attacked by the Austrians just now. But we quickly repelled the enemy."

Augereau frowned and marked the point where the abnormality occurred on the map.

Marmont looked at the map and said, "It seems that the enemy has ambushed an army on our right wing?"

Augereau nodded: "Send the rangers to the north for a thorough reconnaissance immediately."

He thought again of the location of the remnants of Bajahaza and the enemy troops from Trento that fled to the west, and his brows frowned even deeper - if there were really Austrian troops lurking to his north, then he was trapped in a huge encirclement!
He immediately thought of a possibility and looked at Marmon and said, "Perhaps, Bajahaza's sudden retreat yesterday was intended to lure us into a trap?"

The latter's heart tightened as well: "In this case, their strange confusion can be explained."

Two hours later, two rangers returned and reported to Augereau: "Colonel, a large number of enemy troops were found 4 kilometers to the north, possibly more than 1 people."

(End of this chapter)