(Chapter 1 arrives! There will be chapter 1 later)
On March 25, after waiting for 5 days, Kutuzov and Clausewitz finally lost their patience. On the morning of that day, the coalition forces, with two Cossack cavalry divisions as the main force, launched a violent attack on Napoleon's troops. attack. But Napoleon also focused his defense on the Russian-Prussian coalition forces. Napoleon concentrated 70,000 people, and 80% of the artillery and heavy machine guns deployed two lines of defense to resist the Russian-Prussian coalition forces. attack. On the other side, 30,000 people were deployed. If Duke Charles came to attack with all his strength, the 30,000 people would not be able to withstand the Austrian army's attack anyway. But fortunately, there were 90,000 French troops stationed in Erfurt to contain Duke Charles, which made Napoleon dare to make such a bold deployment. In other words, Napoleon was completely gambling. His bet was that before the Austrian army launched an attack, his army could firmly hold its position and inflict heavy damage on the Russian-Prussian coalition forces. In that case, he would have a great chance Get the last victory. But it's really hard to do that.
Napoleon's first line of defense was deployed 10 kilometers northeast of Leipzig, where Napoleon deployed a large number of cannons and heavy machine guns, and appointed Marshal Davout as the commander of the first line of defense. But his large number is only relative. Since the start of the war, advanced weapons have indeed brought huge advantages to the French army, otherwise the French army would not have achieved such a big victory in the early stages of the war. However, with the development of the war, the heavy weapons of the French army also suffered a very serious loss, either malfunctioning or being discarded during the retreat. Now Napoleon has less than 300 75mm field guns and 100 heavy machine guns, and due to excessive logistical pressure, ammunition is also very insufficient. For this reason, Chief of Staff Clark has been reprimanded many times by him, but the situation has not improved at all.
The 50-kilometer distance only takes more than an hour for the Gossack cavalry who are rushing at full speed. At 10 o'clock in the morning, two Cossack cavalry divisions appeared 4 kilometers beyond Napoleon's first line of defense. Behind them, more than 100,000 infantry are struggling to come. But how can a man's two legs compare with a horse's four? The infantry was left far behind by the cavalry.
At 10 o'clock in the morning, as the frontline commander of the Russian army, Lieutenant General Kleinsky, who led the two cavalry divisions, had no patience. In his opinion, this was already the last battle against France, and he decided that Napoleon was doomed. If his troops could break through the French defense line and even capture Napoleon, it would be an unimaginable honor for him, and his career in the future would be bright because of this. But if the infantry arrives, it will be difficult to say. Even if the French army can be defeated by then, the credit will not belong to him alone. Moreover, he decided that his two Cossack cavalry divisions were sufficient to defeat the French. Therefore, Kleinski decided to leave the infantry alone and attack alone.
Kleinsky's decision was supported by the vast majority of people. After discussing with those warlike generals, Kleinski decisively launched an attack. This time, he decided to strike with one blow, and threw all two Cossack cavalry divisions into battle, leaving no reserves.
The group charge of 30,000 cavalry was undoubtedly quite shocking, and the huge hoofbeats made the ground tremble. Many French soldiers huddled and shivered in the trenches in fright, but most of them still took up the weapons in their hands firmly. The reason is very simple, the Cossack cavalry has long been famous, if they lose this war, then these robbers will definitely rush into France to burn, kill and loot. In order to prevent their relatives from being killed and their wives and daughters from being raped, they must take up arms and resist to the end.
After the Cossack cavalry entered the firing range, the artillerymen spoke first. Nearly two hundred 75mm field guns let out a death roar, and the shells flew out of the muzzles with a hot red light, and slammed into those who were standing. Among the fast-moving Cossack cavalry. The sound of explosions was endless. Under the charge of the Cossack cavalry, basically there would be no shells missing. Almost every shell fell could kill one or several Cossack cavalrymen. There were absolutely no injuries, because even if they Even if they were injured and fell off the horse, they would not be able to survive, and the comrades who were following behind and advancing quickly would trample him into a pulp.
However, the fact that the Cossack cavalry rushed out of the shelling area did not mean that they were safe. There were still very terrifying things in front of them. In a split second, the French defense line heard a low "sud, thu" sound, followed by countless cavalrymen being knocked off their horses, and then trampled to death by their companions who quickly followed. Kleinski's face immediately became very ugly, as if he had swallowed a dead fly. "Damn, how did I forget that the French army has this **** weapon?" He knew what those things that spewed out tongues of flame were. He had seen enough in so many years of war, and that thing definitely It can be called a cavalry nightmare. Even the brave Cossack cavalry can only be slaughtered in front of them. Now he can only hope that the French army does not have many such terrible weapons in their hands, and in that case he still has a good hope of victory. But he soon despaired, because he saw dozens of tongues of fire erupting from the French army's position. But he didn't want to give up at this point, but with a hoarse voice, he kept ordering his soldiers to charge forward.
The Cossack cavalry was very brave. Facing the powerful firepower of the French army, they did not choose to retreat, but chose to launch a fierce charge to death, even if they lost their lives. The battle lasted for 3 hours, and the corpses of the Cossack cavalry piled up in a thick layer in front of the French defense line. There were 30,000 Cossack cavalrymen, and by this time, there were less than 5,000 left. But the French army still paid the price of thousands of people, because there are still many Cossack cavalry who successfully broke through the fire blockade of the French army. The Cossack cavalry was wiped out. The most serious thing is that after this fierce battle, a large part of the ammunition of the French army has been consumed, especially the artillery shells and heavy machine gun bullets are not much left.
Kutuzov rushed to the battlefield, as did more than 100,000 infantrymen. Kutuzov had nothing to say about Kleisky, who launched an attack privately and lost troops, and directly ordered the guards to shoot him. Subsequently, the 140,000 Russian-Prussian allied forces launched an offensive again, and the **** battle started again.
The battle lasted for a whole week, until April 2, the Russian-Prussian coalition forces still failed to break through the first line of defense of the French army, and instead lost nearly 40,000 people. Of course, the losses of the French army were not small, and there were only more than 30,000 people left of the 50,000 people on the first line of defense. And they are almost out of ammunition and food now. As a last resort, on April 3, Davout ordered a retreat, abandoning the first line of defense and retreating to the second line of defense.
Due to the heavy losses in the offensive, and the 2nd and 12th armies of the French army also rushed to Leipzig, Kutuzov and Clausewitz strongly demanded that Prince Charles in Jena immediately launch an attack on Leipzig to cooperate with the French army. The actions of the Russian-Prussian coalition forces.
Under strong pressure from Russia and Prussia, Archduke Charles had to leave 100,000 people to defend Erfurt's 90,000 French army, and led 70,000 people to attack Leipzig from the southwest. The addition of the Austrian army caused Napoleon to suffer from the enemy. Although Erfurt's 90,000 French army launched a fierce attack on Jena, it was still unable to break through the defense line guarded by the 100,000 Austrian army and could not provide reinforcements to Leipzig.
Napoleon wanted to use 120,000 people to withstand the attack of the 170,000 coalition forces. UU Reading www.uukanshu.com If the ammunition is sufficient, it may not be difficult to complete this task, but in the case of lack of ammunition, Napoleon It is very difficult to hold Leipzig. What about the more desperate ones? Since the coalition forces were unable to win the war for a long time, on March 27, Russian Emperor Alexander, Austrian Emperor Francis I and Prince Friedrich William III met in Warsaw and unanimously decided to increase troops to the exhibition again. Among them, Russia once again invested 80,000 people, Austria invested 70,000 people, and Prussia also sent the last 50,000 people to the war, sending a total of 200,000 people again. When these armies appeared on the battlefield, they would deliver the final blow to Napoleon.
In the first ten days of April, in the battle of Leipzig, Napoleon had already gained a certain advantage, but on April 14, 200,000 coalition troops appeared on the battlefield, and the French army immediately suffered annihilation. Under the fierce attack of the coalition forces, Napoleon had to give an order to retreat, and retreated thousands of miles, directly retreating from Leipzig back to France. Only half of the 200,000 French troops returned to France.
After receiving Napoleon's defeat in the decisive battle of Leipzig, Xiao Jie felt that Napoleon was quite unlucky. If Russia, Austria, and Prussia did not increase their troops, Napoleon would definitely win, but everything is different now , The increase of the coalition forces directly shattered Napoleon's last hope. Xiao Jie also issued the final order. All legions should pay attention at any time, cancel all vacations, and must be able to set off within one hour of receiving the order. (To be continued, if you want to know the future, please log in to .QDAN., more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)