On the morning of October 20, after learning that Wellington had conquered The Hague, Bill did not wait for all the soldiers on board to disembark, and directly led the more than 5,000 people who had already landed to march towards Amsterdam. Although Bill was appointed as the chief of staff of the Expeditionary Corps in this expeditionary battle, he was still very unconvinced by Wellington. Why did he go to India to fight the aborigines for a few years and was promoted to general? He was appointed as the head of the expeditionary corps, and Bill thought that his resources and talents were not inferior to Wellington's, so he has always been worried about this appointment. So after learning that Wellington had conquered The Hague, he desperately needed a victory to prove himself.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, after a rapid march of 5 hours, Bill and his army finally arrived in Amsterdam. But the French defenders stationed in Amsterdam had already received news that the British army was going to attack, and gathered all the surrounding French troops in Amsterdam. By the time Bill led the army to resist, Amsterdam had gathered two regiments of 5,000 people. Compared with the British army who came to attack in terms of numbers, they are no longer at a disadvantage. Although the quality of individual soldiers may be a little worse than that of the British army, the fortifications they built with the tall city walls of Amsterdam as the main body, if they want to defend Amsterdam is not difficult.
And it was Colonel Sain, the leader of the 4th regiment among the 8 regiments stationed in the Netherlands, who decisively completed these pre-war preparations. He was an old regiment leader in his forties. The regiment would definitely not be the opponent of the British army, so they contacted the 5th regiment stationed around Amsterdam overnight and asked them to gather all their troops in Amsterdam to deal with possible British attacks.
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, after an hour's rest, Bill ordered the British army to start the first attack. However, due to their rapid march all the way, the artillery was only transported to 4 due to transportation problems, and the firepower was seriously insufficient. It is simply impossible to provide fire support for the infantry's attack. But in this case, Bill forced the soldiers to start the attack.
The French army defending the city used the cannons on the top of the city to bombard the British army who attacked fiercely. Although they were all old-fashioned cannons, they fired condescendingly, and the effect was quite good. The only 4 artillery pieces of the British army could not suppress the shelling of the French army at all, causing the British army to suffer heavy losses during the offensive. And when they got to the bottom of the city wall, they had to face the high city wall, and they couldn't go up at all. Instead, they were shot and killed countless by the French army on the top of the city wall. As a last resort, he had to give up the attack.
In the first attack, the British army lost more than 500 people. After the heavy loss, Bill finally woke up. He was able to become a lieutenant general and was appointed as the chief of staff of the expeditionary corps, obviously he still has some real talents. Once he calmed down, he began to analyze his own disadvantages. The lack of heavy weapons was the biggest problem he faced. Attacking a fortified city with low population and heavy troops without the cover of powerful artillery was simply courting death. Before finding a solution, Bill had to station all his troops 10 kilometers away from Amsterdam, and he no longer dared to attack rashly.
Bill ordered the troops remaining in North Wake to quickly advance to Amsterdam, and transported all the artillery to Amsterdam, preparing to attack the city with all its strength. But the army staying at North Wake didn't know what to do, because they received Bill's order and Wellington's order at the same time. The two orders arrived almost at the same time, and even the content was exactly the same. , all asked the troops staying at North Wake to bring all the artillery and advance towards them. It turned out that on the 20th, Wellington also launched an attack on Rotterdam, but at this time Rotterdam, under the personal leadership of General Sarn, had already gathered three French regiments. Factors make Rotterdam like an iron barrel. After losing more than two thousand people, Wellington had to stop and call for help.
The officers who stayed at North Wake received two orders and didn't know what to do, so they had to ask the two officers separately. And Wellington and Bill, of course, demanded that the North Wake army advance like themselves. In the end, Wellington and Bill had to return to North Wake again to settle their disputes.
"General Bill, I heard that your attack in Amsterdam is not going well." Wellington teased.
"General Wellington, I heard that your attack in Rotterdam was also very unsuccessful. Not only did you fail to occupy Rotterdam, but you lost more than 2,000 elite soldiers from the empire." Bill immediately responded.
"But I managed to win The Hague anyway, it's better than some people who didn't make any progress." Wellington laughed.
"But you lost nearly 3,000 soldiers. If I were in command, you would never lose so many soldiers." Bill said affirmatively.
The two of them talked more and more fiercely, and they couldn't help arguing fiercely, and even brought out some old sesame seeds and rotten millet to attack each other.
In the end, it was Admiral Bork who persuaded the two of them to calm down and discuss what to do next. Since Admiral Bock's naval fleet is going to cooperate with this expeditionary force, except for the transport fleet returning to the country under the **** of some ships to transfer materials, all other warships have stayed behind and blocked the entire sea area north of France.
You must know that the fighters on the battlefield are fleeting, and the infighting between Wellington and Bill caused the British Expeditionary Corps to lose many offensive opportunities.
On the morning of the 22nd, Bork called Wellington and Bill together, and said, "Have the two of you discussed where the Expeditionary Corps is going to attack?"
Bock sighed, took out a piece of information and said: "I don't think you need to hesitate anymore, this is the latest information just received, the French Seventh Army has already begun to march towards the Netherlands, and it is estimated that it will reach the Netherlands in 6 days. Rotterdam." In fact, Bock was also very depressed. He is an admiral of the navy, but now he wants to mediate between two army officers. What do you think is going on?
"So fast?" Wellington was surprised after hearing Bock's words, and quickly took the information from Bock's hand to look at it. He didn't expect the French army to respond so quickly, and sent troops into the Netherlands so quickly. join the war.
Bill was also a little surprised, but didn't say much.
After the powerful enemy appeared, Wellington and Bill finally let go of their conflicts, came together again, and discussed how to deal with it. In the end, Bill compromised and agreed to send all the troops south to attack Rotterdam, leaving only a few diversionary troops in the north.
On the 23rd, after Wellington and Bill led more than 40,000 French troops to launch a fierce attack on Rotterdam, and almost all of the nearly 250 cannons were concentrated here. Although General Sann's line of defense was well-arranged, it still seemed crumbling under the strong attack of the British army. A large number of British soldiers, accompanied by the sound of Scottish bagpipes, launched a desperate attack on the French positions.
Finally on the afternoon of the 24th, Rotterdam's northern position fell, which finally shook the entire defense line. In order to preserve its strength, General Sarn finally had to order the army to retreat. The British army also lost more than 4,000 people in the attack, and the French army almost lost a regiment. After this battle, Wellington no longer dared to underestimate the French army, and ordered his troops to pursue the retreating French army fiercely.
However, General Sarn's retreat did not stabilize the front until Antwerp. On the 28th, Soult's Seventh Army rushed to Antwerp, together with Saarn's remnants and soldiers, blocked the British attack, and launched a counterattack in a timely manner, completely repelling the British attack on Antwerp. At this point, the British and French fronts in the Netherlands began to stalemate.
On the 23rd, the atmosphere in the temporary headquarters of the French Army in Berlin seemed a bit depressing. Because a piece of information about the movement of the Russian army was sent here this morning.
The vanguard of the Russian army - 50,000 Cossack cavalry, led by the Russian commander Kutuzov, arrived in Poznan, an important town in western Poland, on the evening of the 21st. But what is strange is that they did not continue to march to Prussia, but stationed there, making it unclear what they wanted to do.
"Gentlemen, the Russians are coming in September. Let's talk about what we should do?" Napoleon asked at the pre-war meeting held by the High Command.
Since many legions were performing combat missions outside, not many people attended the meeting, only Berthier~www.mtlnovel.com~ Davout, Xiao Jie, Besières and Lana.
As the chief of staff of the French army, Bessières first spoke: "Your Majesty, marshals and generals. I think the Russian army must be stationed in Poznan because we will be in the Battle of Jena and Auerstadt. The main force of Prussia has been completely wiped out, making them think that their Prussian allies have been completely defeated by us, and now they can only hide in the north and linger. It is also difficult for us to compete with them based on their own strength, besides Only 50,000 Cossack cavalry have reached Poznan now, and their infantry will take at least a week to arrive. That’s why they dare not attack us rashly.”
Everyone agreed with Berthier's analysis, and the Russian army's intentions were almost the same. For the first time, Xiao Jie felt that too large a territory in this era is not a good thing. Just like Russia now, it would take almost a month to cross the European continent before going to war with France.
"Andrési, what do you think?" asked Napoleon.
After thinking for a while, Xiao Jie said: "I think this situation is also temporary, because Kutuzov is not clear about our current situation, so he chose to stay in Poznan for the time being, and he will not report to us until all the troops are gathered. Launch an attack. But sooner or later he will know that we don't have many remaining troops. I think he will seize this opportunity to attack us. As for how long it will take, it depends on the Russian spies. It's time to send back the information that our troops are empty."
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