On October 20, Napoleon, who had won a great victory in Munich, ordered the army to march towards Vienna. There are not many troops left in Austria now, only the 50,000 Royal Guards guarding Vienna and the 22,000 people of Archduke John and 80 of Archduke Charles who are now fighting in Italy and Italian Governor Eugene • Beauharne. ,000 people. Although they have achieved great success, occupying important cities in northern Italy such as Venice. Eugene's Italian front also suffered heavy losses. However, due to Napoleon's decisive victory in southern Germany, more than 250,000 Austrian troops were killed or captured, so Eugene, who still controlled most of Italy, achieved a very good result under the oppression of the Austrian army. achievement. At least his Italian front army still has nearly 50,000 main forces.
After learning that the main force of the Austrian army was basically wiped out in Bavaria, Archduke Johann and Archduke Charles hurriedly led their troops to retreat. They were very unwilling to leave the land they had worked so hard to occupy. They had to go back to participate in the battle of life and death in Austria , if Austria is gone, what is the use of these occupied lands? So after the Austrian army retreated, Eugene's army then recovered these places and actively advanced northward, threatening the southern part of Austria.
Despite the great French victory, the current state of the battle remains uncertain. Although the main force of the Austrian army has been wiped out, counting the troops of Archduke John and Charles who are rushing back, they can still gather more than a hundred thousand, and it will take a lot of effort to eat them up. And there is also bad news for the French army that Kutuzov's 38,000 Russian troops are now 20 miles away from Vienna, and behind him is the entire Russian army totaling about 226,000 people. This is a very serious problem.
Napoleon was most worried about the Russian army. He ordered Murat, Soult, Davout, Motier (commander of the Fourth Army), and Lannes to track Kutuzov and the remaining Austrians in case they joined Tsar Alexander's army. At the same time, if the tsarist army joins the 200,000 Prussian army, the French army will be besieged by the Russian, Prussian and Austrian armies. After a series of battles, the French army now has only 250,000 people. Fortunately, the Fourth Army and the Ninth Army have rushed to the battlefield, otherwise Napoleon's troops will be even more stretched. Napoleon judged the situation calmly: even if the Prussian army would fight the Russian army, it would not be easy to mobilize a huge army; that is to say, the Russian army could be eaten before the Russian army joined the Austrian or Prussian army. Napoleon was going to eat up the Russian, Austrian, and Prussian armies one by one, so he made a decisive decision and tried to occupy Vienna before Prussia entered the war and cut off the Russian army's retreat. Surround and destroy the area south of the Danube.
Augsburg in Bavaria was now the main rear supply for the French army, and Napoleon ordered Berthier to turn Munich into a war command center. There was also a very serious problem that plagued Napoleon, that is, the snowstorm and severe cold of the early winter had fallen, but the French soldiers were still wearing the clothes they wore when they moved from the English Channel in August. Due to insufficient logistics and transportation, if the enemy cannot be defeated before the cold winter, then the French army is likely to lose the war.
The Russian commander Kutuzov's army was the closest to the Archduke Charles and Vienna. To Napoleon's surprise, he refused to defend Austria's capital Vienna with his Austrian allies when the French army approached Vienna. . Before the French army had time to start operations, Kutuzov commanded the Russian army to withdraw quickly, cross the Danube at Krems, and retreat northward. When the Russian army retreated, it almost blew up all the bridges on the Danube to prevent the French army from pursuing. Napoleon ordered Murat, Lannes and Davout's army to pursue Kutuzov's army.
After the Russian army retreated to the north, the Austrian army in the south bank of the Danube was even weaker, so the French army was able to drive straight in without encountering any resistance. On October 28, Davout severely damaged the Russian Guard Corps (composed of the Austrian detachment), and Kutuzov still did not turn around to rescue him. And Murat, instead of taking advantage of the victory to pursue Kutuzov with Davout, decided without authorization to attack Vienna, the treasure to seize the victory reward. In Linz, Napoleon learned of Murat's grave mistake - which in fact led to Kutuzov's retreat along the Danube to Moravia, where the main force of the Russian army was located. Furious, Napoleon could not believe it. Immediately sent a stern letter to the brother-in-law, scolding Murat as reckless as a madman, because of his unauthorized actions, the French army lost two precious days in the pursuit of Kutuzov. Murat did not understand that the strategic goal of the French army was to destroy the enemy's vital force, not to capture the city. Because he did not implement Napoleon's order to "closely cooperate" with Davout, the battle that could have been a complete victory became full of doubts-if the Allied forces returned to their carbine, they might also cause the French army to be completely defeated. However, in the final analysis, Napoleon was dissatisfied with Murat. The underlying reason was undoubtedly that Murat had slept with Josephine; Napoleon was naturally even more dissatisfied with him when he lost his fighter.
In order to seize the top spot, Murat and Lana's army crossed the Vienna Bridge spanning the wide Danube and entered the city of Vienna~www.mtlnovel.com~In this battle and subsequent battles, the French army exposed an impact on combat effectiveness Weaknesses: Jealousy and enmity among the senior commanders of the French Emperor. This naturally hindered the successful implementation of Napoleon's strategy and tactics.
A few days later, the French army approached Tsar Alexander's army, and Lie pursued Kutuzov with all his strength; Prince Bagration stubbornly defended Obhora Brunn, covering Kutuzov's retreat. The Russian general Witzgerod asked Murat for a truce, and Murat foolishly agreed; this not only allowed Kutuzov to escape smoothly, but also joined the forces of Tsar Alexander, which was exactly what Napoleon was trying to do. Things to avoid. "I have nothing to say!" Napoleon shouted to Murat on November 10, "tear up the truce at once and attack the enemy! Advance! Destroy the Russians!" But by this time it was too late. Murat violated Napoleon's strategic goals and orders, allowing the Russians to occupy a defensive position near Olomouc.
By this time, Napoleon still hadn't been able to confront the Russian army head-on, and the French army was already very tired. Napoleon didn't know what happened to Murat? In the past, he was always able to act according to Napoleon's orders, and often turned the battle around. Now, he seemed to be an obstacle, a drag on the French army. However, this was his first campaign since being made Marshal and having disputed the succession to the throne, and in this campaign he clearly showed his unreliability as a legionary commander.
(Xiaoyu is a little out of shape today, and in order to satisfy some friends to end the description of the war as soon as possible, so this chapter is relatively vague, please forgive me~www.mtlnovel.com~Welcome all book friends to visit and read, the latest and most The fastest and hottest serial works are all at ~www.mtlnovel.com~