Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

The artillery attack has made it difficult for the Russian army to withstand it. Such a tough army is generally quite numb when facing artillery fire.

But, brothers, times have changed.

In the past, during volleys and bayonet fights, those who could hold their own were naturally heroes.

Cannons were probably just a higher level than just making a noise. Some generals were even unlucky enough to be hit by cannons and die, probably because they were just too unlucky.

Perhaps the closest Napoleon had ever been to death was when he was serving as an artillery commander for the first time in Toulon. When he encountered the British army on the artillery platform, he was stabbed in the thigh by a short-sighted British during a fierce hand-to-hand combat.

If this kind of thing happened to a Russian general, even Solovyov, who was the opposite of Oudinot, was hit by shrapnel and bullets several times and almost became a cripple.

In ordinary Russian troops, the generals always rush to the front. When pressed to the limit, they even ride horses and carry military flags, making them quite conspicuous targets on the battlefield.

If he wasn't a master, he would have been shot by the other side long ago.

It's not because you can't snipe the other side's officers, but because the other side's generals always mean higher bounties, rewards, and medals.
In the past, captured coalition generals or French generals have raised the KPIs of many people. Even some soldiers who were born as serfs have been specially promoted to second lieutenants, becoming masters themselves, and have the opportunity to retire early, go home, marry a woman, and have several sons of commoner origin.
In France, he will probably be hooked up with some young girls in the future. Think about what the cavalry officer Mr. Rambert said to Pierre. The story he told was even about a young mother and daughter.

Now that the Russian army has retreated, it is the French turn to take action.

So Napoleon gave the order that after the artillery had successfully cleared the area in front of the Wachau village, it would be Murat's cavalry's turn to launch the attack.

This time it was a big deal. The artillery kept firing, and some of the artillery even used the bayonet tactics on the Drouot cannon under the cover of the front-line infantry, bombarding the Russian infantry who dared not retreat from a closer distance, and drove Mesentsov away.

Although Mesentsov wanted to complain, in every battle, his division suffered the most severe blow, and the French artillery fire always hit his troops.

But now that the situation is like this, I can’t care about these things anymore.

The last Russian infantrymen who dared to expose themselves to the artillery fire were no longer there.

Murat had already received the order and arranged for the commanders of each cavalry corps to receive it.

But there were some surprises, that was Pajol, the commander of the 5th Cavalry Army who led the veterans from Spain.

As he was not too far away from Murat, he rode over, but unfortunately, he was wounded by a grenade fired by nearby Russian artillery.

When Murat saw him like this, he thought it was a good sign.

Although his brain wasn't very good, he roughly knew that artillery shells probably wouldn't appear in the same area repeatedly. If a cannon could hit the same location repeatedly, then there must be something fishy going on.

This conspicuous monster, dressed in gorgeous clothes, was riding on his horse at this time, with his sword drawn, waiting for the final order to launch the attack.

However, some accidents occurred. The veterans of the "Spanish Dragoons" were actually making excuses to wait for new orders because their commander was injured.

Although it may be because they are veterans, it may also be the French people's self-disciplined and casual nature.

If it were cavalry from another country, they might have launched a continuous mechanical charge towards a certain place.

The 5th Cavalry Corps has a considerable force, with at least 40 squadrons, which is considered a very powerful cavalry force. Many of the veterans have been operating nearby recently and are relatively familiar with the terrain.

Speaking of being familiar with the terrain, Solovyov might be one of them, as he had hunted in the nearby woods before. But precisely because he was familiar with the terrain in some areas, he ran into Bertrand and by two o'clock in the afternoon he had not yet passed through there.

Although Bertrand has only more than 10,000 people, they are not just 10,000 pigs. They are even well organized. Even if they are sure to win, it will take some time.

Therefore, he would probably miss the most intense part of the Battle of Leipzig, but he should still be able to catch up, after all, this battle would not end in one day.

Murat was still waiting for the final order, until the adjutant sent by Napoleon arrived, and now he raised his sword.

"Charge! Long live the Emperor!"

Whenever the French shout this, it has a funny effect when they lose a battle.
Now Murat's first line was 80 cavalry squadrons, with Polish lancers covering the flanks and Parol's 40 squadrons behind.

"Your Majesty, look over there!"

Napoleon saw the cavalry charge and used similar methods in some other places. Although the cavalry charge might not be effective, it was very impressive and could have a huge psychological impact on the enemy.

This time was no exception. The cavalry units on the front line alone were already the largest cavalry units that could be assembled on the battlefield at this time.

First a slow walk, then a quick walk, and finally a charge.

When these cavalrymen rushed over, they were like rolling waves, but whether they would hit the reefs or destroy the poor sampan was another issue.

On the side of the monarchs of the coalition forces, they also saw the movements on the front line, heard the shouts and the sound of horses' hooves rolling in like waves. The effect of this impact looked very terrifying.

So the Allied artillery in the front now began to use shotgun shells to deal with the French cavalry rushing over.

Among them were not only French cavalry, but also Italian and Saxon cavalry. Among the cavalry of other German princes, except for Bavaria which defected before the war, some of the other cavalry in the Rhine Confederation also joined.

These cavalrymen, coming like a raging wave, were also the targets that their opponents tried to avoid along the way.

At times like this, the hunters would act in dispersed positions, and they would at least find some cover for themselves.

Some veterans in the Russian army still remembered the training content of Marshal Suvorov and his disciples. Although they still had some courage to shoot, they were outnumbered and outnumbered. This was just like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

Some of the Prussian infantry simply hid in the woods or in the bomb craters that the French would bypass.

Of course, they did not dare to open fire. If there were any cavalrymen who had lost their mounts and had managed to escape the hooves of their comrades, they would probably hold their pistols and wave their cavalry swords to call them to a fight.

If they fell behind, they would inevitably be hacked to death by the French cavalry.

At this time, the three monarchs were already a little panicked, but Schwarzenberg was probably the most panicked.

After the previous artillery bombardment, he had not yet dispatched the Austrian cuirassiers and the elite Hungarian hussars, all of which were wasted on one side of the river, and they did not even use their strength in the battle with the French for the school.

Then, the first target to be hit was the unlucky Eugen. Now the infantry regiment under his command often only had one infantry battalion, and even each battalion was not fully staffed. At this time, when they formed a battle array to fight, they could hardly even provide a hollow space for the wounded to hide.

Not to mention leaving a position for the superiors to command, probably only the military flag can fly there, leaving the flag bearer alone in a relatively safe position.

Although these Russian infantrymen were still frightened by the previous artillery bombardment during the French cavalry's charge, they still fought tenaciously.

Even the French cavalry found it difficult to break through these phalanxes. Murat's fierce attack with more than 10,000 cavalrymen only suppressed these infantrymen, making them dare not launch a counterattack against the lone French cavalry with bayonets as they had done in the past, but instead they held their ground.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Eugen went to find Major General Duca, hoping that the 2nd Cuirassier Division under his command could join the battle.

Although the major general spent most of his time in the 1812nd Army in 2, he was not the kind of person who would rather die than sacrifice his friends, so he personally led several cuirassiers regiments to attack the French flanks.

But there were so many enemies that after breaking through Eugen's line of defense, the Saxon cavalry turned to attack the artillery positions.

Now that they have arrived on the battlefield, some cavalrymen will inevitably steal cannons.

However, this also made a lot of space. The charge of the French cavalry had defeated the Russian infantry in front. Although only one strategy was broken, 61 unlucky people from the Kremenchug Regiment were taken prisoners.

It's 61 again. Solovyov is not here either, otherwise he would have complained about the shipyards of the 61 communard members of Nikolayev.

And the French cavalry was now getting closer and closer to the three monarchs.

Even if Alexander was calmer than those around him, it would not be of much use. Anyone facing more than 10,000 cavalrymen rushing towards them would probably panic.

He showed great courage not to run away like Darius III did.

An artillery position was completely destroyed, and a large gap had now been opened in the center of the Allied forces.

Napoleon was even more excited than before. Under normal circumstances, such a charge would probably lead the French army to victory very quickly.

Once the main force of the Allied Forces in the south is defeated, he can turn back to deal with Blücher in the north. Now that he is on the battlefield, this annoying old man should not even think about escaping.

But in desperation, the Tsar pulled up the cannons of the Guards Artillery and fired shotgun shells at the cuirassiers.

Even a cuirassier probably couldn't achieve "the cannonball passes through the body but the emperor remains in the heart". If he was unlucky, his torso would probably be shattered.

Therefore, the cavalry that was charging fiercely should calm down. At this time, they should try not to cause trouble for the artillery and find ways to circumvent them.

Now the charge of these cavalrymen has dissipated a lot of their strength, but if they are organized and charge again, there will always be a chance for them to rush forward.

But the artillery fire had passed, and the brave cavalry had to calm down for a while before launching a new charge.

In addition, the coalition forces need to deploy troops and send follow-up troops to plug this hole.

The troops sent out were the 3rd Grenadier Corps led by Rajevsky.

Although Solovyov got the opportunity to command an independent small corps with the rank of lieutenant general, he envied Raevsky more because he was here and could go into battle with the grenadiers.

Because of the failure of previous operations, the grenadiers suffered heavy losses in several battles. Now the Pavlovsk Regiment and the Guards Grenadier Regiment have been transferred to the Guards, so the troop strength is no longer as good as before.

But many of these grenadiers had also experienced battles in the past, from the Italian expedition, the plains of Poland and East Prussia, the mountains of the Balkans, the Danube and its shallows, and the meat-grinder fort at Borodino.

It can be said that even the Guards did not have such rich experience.

After all, the front-line grenadiers are always deployed to the most dangerous battlefields.

Now they lined up again and joined the battlefield, waiting for the French cavalry to charge.

But before that, Rajevsky ordered the infantry to form a square formation.

Even his head was wrapped in a bandage and he was not wearing a hat.

“Brothers”

However, these Russian generals always have some unlucky constitutions.

Just as Rajevsky was shouting, a shell exploded near him, and a piece of shrapnel even embedded in his shoulder.

"Sir, you are injured and should receive treatment."

"It's just the shoulder, I look fine!"

He simply asked his adjutant to do a simple bandage, then got back on his horse and shouted to the soldiers around him.

"Brothers, this is nothing. We must continue to fight. For the Emperor, for the motherland, Ura!"

Every general, faced with such a situation, would probably shout something similar.

The morale of the grenadiers was high. Now they were lined up on the plain. When the French cavalry rushed over, they were holding breech-loading rifles in their hands. However, no one was in a hurry to fire, but silently formed a square formation.

At least the grenadiers were able to form a huge square formation, and two grenadier divisions were used here to block the attack of the French cuirassiers.

After seeing the Russian grenadiers appear on the battlefield, the French cavalry also became cautious.

These guys are considered the most difficult type of infantry encountered on the battlefield. For the French cavalry, every encounter with Russian grenadiers would cause considerable losses.

Even last year at Borodino the trenches in front of the Raevsky battery and the bastion were filled with the corpses of cuirassiers.

There are still some survivors of the battle among the French army, and it is obvious that they do not want to encounter these dangerous guys again.

But we have to continue the attack here, otherwise we have to drive these guys away from here, and a nail appears in the core area of ​​the battlefield. (End of this chapter)