Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 870 Battle of Leipzig (V) Cannons Lead the Way

100 cannons, Napoleon wanted to do this long before the war.

The place called Gallows Mountain, just from the name, sounds very suitable for an attack by the coalition forces.

As the front-line infantry begins to deploy, the artillery will not be idle either.

Drouot was now dispatching artillery from several armies. In addition to these, there were also the Guards artillery who had been following the Old Guards among the Guards.

Among the Guards, the infantrymen were the largest in number and had the strongest fighting power, but because they were always placed at the back, they complained the most and were a group of grumblers. However, because of their attire and the emperor's reputation, they were the most famous and feared by the enemy.

As for the cavalry, they were used the most in battles, but they were always deployed in critical situations and received the most severe blows. However, they also had some advantages, because they were dressed gorgeously and were more popular among the girls among their cavalry colleagues.

As for these artillerymen, they can be said to be model workers. When the cavalry reserve is not used, the artillerymen always have to be deployed in the front and bombard the enemy's positions with cannons.

As long as they were not sucked away by the unsportsmanlike enemy cavalry, they could always deliver outrageous damage and let the enemy know the power of French cannons.

As for the bayonets, the Old Guards often did not get their turn, and they even became a battlefield sightseeing group in Austerlitz.

These artillery pieces passed through the slope behind the Gallows Hill, leaving behind a large number of wheel tracks and crushing the grass. If a hot air balloon was released into the air, it might be possible to see it more clearly.

The yellow-green land and the brown soil underneath are exposed.

Napoleon would go to the artillery position, and he would not ride in a carriage on the battlefield. Except when Queen Louise was helping her useless king husband, probably no one would sit in a carriage at the front.

"Your Majesty, it would be very dangerous if an artillery battle were to start here."

Drouot came forward to dissuade them immediately. He also knew that the artillery battle in this battle would be very fierce.

"But you, Antoine, have a Bible. God will always protect you, sir, no matter what happens on the battlefield."

The general meaning is that if you stand next to him, everything will be fine.

Drouot also knew that he could probably only dissuade the emperor from standing in front of the cannon, and that was his limit.

But you still have to prepare a position for this person who is more experienced than you, who is very accurate in shooting, but sometimes makes mistakes in basic calculations.

If there is a place to fire, no matter if it is on the battlefield, you still have to find a woman for him, there must always be a place for him, right?

"Drouot, I am right here. Your artillery deployment is very clever. Even at this time, I give you seven armies of artillery on this mountain, and you can arrange it well."

This compliment was obviously a bit groundless, but Napoleon admired Drouot very much. He had played with bayonets on cannons several times before, pushing the cannon right under the enemy's nose and then hitting them hard.

There would be no need for any calculations, the gunners would just have to arrive at the battlefield and pour their shells into the enemy ranks.

Given the current situation, he wished he could get all the cannons he could mobilize and prepare an additional 30,000 artillery shells.

But even on the battlefield in Leipzig, he had nowhere to get extra shells, and his supply lines were now even threatened.

Le Gourbe was guarding the retreat route of nearly 20 French troops there, not retreating a single step, and instead forced Giulay to withdraw his troops.

But he did need a carriage to transport the shells.

"All ready, sire. A total of 100 guns, 5 from Lauriston's 32th Corps, 32 from the Guards, 2 from Victor's 24nd Corps, and 12 horse guns from the Cavalry Corps."

"All right, Drouot, give the order to fire."

As Drouot gave the order, a gust of wind blew from the south side of the Gallows Hill, blowing his coat into the air.

Because he was wearing a gorgeous general's uniform underneath and his coat was not buttoned, it looked more like a cloak.

"Batteries! Take your positions! Fire!"

As he lowered his sword, the artillery opened fire, and smoke enveloped the entire Gallows Hill.

It was indeed very impressive. This round of artillery shells exploded directly in the coalition forces' ranks, and even caused considerable damage to the artillery and commanders behind them.

Prince Eugen was organizing his troops to move forward when the area where he was located was attacked by French grenades. The smoke from the exploding shells even enveloped them.

Prince Eugen was knocked to the ground with his horse, but he was lucky that his beloved mount blocked the damage for him, so he did not get hit by shrapnel in the buttocks like Prince Bagration.

But when he stood up, feeling that his luck always burst out at times like this, before he opened his mouth, he saw the situation around him.

Two of his adjutants were killed, and a Prussian hussar who had come with a message fell in a pool of blood with his orders in his hand.

In this situation, he had to find a place to temporarily avoid the shells and command the battle. He could do it behind some sturdy tree stumps. If he piled up some rubble around, he could deal with the grenades.

Shotgun shells might be able to hold out for a while, but solid bullets can always break down thick old oak trees.
The Allied forces on the front line also organized artillery. There were 76 cannons on the Russian-Prussian army's position, and they were also deploying them when the action was taken on Gallows Hill.

The two sides soon launched an artillery battle, and both fired accurately.

As a result, the Russian infantry had to choose to squat or sit down when artillery shells flew over their heads, just like those Poles who were always seeking death.

But if an infantryman lies down, he probably won't want to get up for a while, and that won't allow the rifle to fire.

In addition to the Guards and Grenadiers, there were also some officers and skirmishers who received new guns before the battle began.

The situation on the French side was better, but they also had to face attacks from Allied artillery shells.

The artillery battle between the two sides was still very intense. The clever infantrymen had untied the ties that bound their hats to prevent their heads and hats from being moved along with the French solid bullets. The French army hid behind trenches or obstacles as much as possible, and reorganized in a skirmish line after the bombardment.

Both the French positions on the Drouot side and the Allied positions chose to attack the opposing artillery first.

The training of both sides is in place, now it’s time to see their on-the-spot performance.

Although there was a lot of luck involved, the French artillery shells fell in front of the Russian positions at the beginning, which was not a good sign.

As is the characteristic of the French, they will also make adjustments after test firing or the first round of shelling.

Soon the shells hit the Russian ammunition wagons, detonating the ammunition still on the wagons and blowing the pack horses and escorting soldiers into pieces.

Obviously, the Russians did not have the good luck of the French artillery in Dresden. The French shells at that time exploded one after another after the carriage caught fire, and even the last horse was left with an intact body.

On the Russian side, there were people with broken legs or arms everywhere, and of course there were horses with broken legs as well.

People will always be carried down for treatment, even the artilleryman with a broken arm, because officers always have some basic knowledge and soldiers also have some knowledge. They are all useful talents and their priority in treatment is much higher than that of ordinary soldiers.

As for Ma, he will probably have a snack tonight and will drink it down with some vodka.

However, it is hard to say how many shrapnel are contained in the horse meat.

Moreover, the French artillery was also very strange today. In previous exchanges of fire, the two sides often fired back and forth.

But today on Gallows Hill, in the position arranged by Drouot, there was almost no loss of artillery.

The artillery suffered relatively few casualties, with the main losses concentrated on horses and some reserve personnel behind the positions.

The Russian army was in bad luck. First, the ammunition truck was hit in the bombardment, and then the French shells seemed to have eyes and exploded in the artillery of the Russian and Prussian army.

Seeing this situation, the artillery commander on the coalition side had to withdraw the artillery.

If they continued fighting like this, they would lose 24 cannons. Even if they made cannons from iron, an arsenal probably wouldn't be able to keep up with the speed at which the French were destroying them.

The next to be unlucky were Eugen's Russian infantry.

He was glad that he found shelter behind a tree stump after his horse was killed.

At least the grenade didn't hurt him much, and he could use the cover to observe the situation of the French on the opposite side.

The two divisions of his 2nd Army are being beaten now.

The Empress Dowager's nephew and the Tsar's cousin also complained about this formation in his heart.

With Wittgenstein's level, he would only be beaten by Napoleon. He would probably only be able to bully the Turks in the future.

Drouot was still commanding the artillery, continuously pouring shells at the Russian army.

Although Eugen initially encouraged the soldiers not to retreat, even the toughest Russian soldiers could hardly withstand the bombardment.

After fighting for so many years, there are many veterans in the Russian army who have served since before Austerlitz. The oldest veteran now also joined the army at the end of the Empress's period.

They had never seen such intensive artillery fire from anyone, whether it was the enemy or their own people.

Now the Russian cavalry saw that the situation was not good, and the Cossack cavalry had retreated to find a safe area.

The cavalry led by Count Palen had to retreat as their infantry was constantly being beaten and the Cossacks beside them were also retreating.

In the end, even Eugen couldn't hold on any longer. Although he changed his mount and tried to stop the soldiers from retreating, Drouot's artillery fire was too fierce.

Napoleon was still standing on the mountain, and when the artillery fire began, Drouot was still trying to dissuade the emperor from being in such a dangerous place.

As the war situation changes, there is no more dissuasion.

He just focused on firing cannons, giving the coalition forces a taste of their power.

Under such circumstances, the Allied forces in front of Wachau suffered heavy losses. Many positions did not even require infantry attacks. The French artillery fire from Gallows Hill alone had begun to force them to abandon their positions on the edge of the woods and station in safer places.

By the time the French infantry came up, if Eugene had not mobilized some troops from Shakhovsky's division to organize some rear guard troops, and if the Prussians had not come to fill the gap, the French army would probably only need a bayonet charge to drive the Allied forces out of the outskirts of Wachau.

The situation is now very critical. The Allied Forces have withdrawn a division from the Russian Army and two brigades from the Prussian Army to resist the French counterattack.

In this dangerous situation, Alexander was already a little anxious.

But he had no choice. The commander-in-chief was Austrian. Apart from the Russian-Prussian troops that Barclay was mobilizing, the rest of the mobile forces had to be called from Austria.

Then, more troubles came.

"For God's sake, in the name of the Tsar, I beg you to abandon your plan and send us the Austrian reserve!"

This is what Schwarzenberg saw on the note. The last time they were beaten in Dresden, if the Russian-Prussian army had not been able to hold out, the French probably would have reproduced the ancient Gaul method of catching wild boars and chased the fleeing Austrian soldiers all over the mountains and plains.

This time, we certainly cannot just stand by and watch them die. If the Russian troops in the middle are forced to break out of their positions, then the Austrian troops on both sides and those confronting MacDonald in the east will be fine.

As for those in the west, the French could probably just turn around and drive them all into the river.

So Schwarzenberg gave the order anyway.

But with his approach, Radetzky is now getting anxious.

It was not because of the commander-in-chief's poor art of war, but because of the bureaucratic style that Archduke Karl hated when he was still in the army.

This also fulfilled Suvorov's joke with the Austrian veterans: "Hannibal was able to win the battle in this place because there was no interference from the Military Committee."

Even Schwarzenberg's reaction speed today was much faster than before. At least he did not do too much research and gave the order after looking at the battle situation.

However, many of the elite Austrian cavalry were at the rear of the team because of their battle formation, and they obviously needed reinforcements, which had to be arranged as quickly as possible. By the time the French army began to attack the Prussian army at the rear, the Austrian army would have been able to travel half the distance.

Even Drouot's cannons were still firing at this time.

As for his artillery efficiency, it was already very high at this time in 1813.

Even large-scale coalition forces would encounter intensive artillery fire as long as they were in his bombardment area.

By this time, Murat's cavalry had already begun to prepare.

It seemed that everything was going according to Napoleon's plan. He even had a sly smile on his face when he looked at the battle situation ahead through a telescope.

(End of this chapter)