169 Quicklime and women, this is the reason for the defeat of the Austrian army
The Austrian army's offensive began.
Although Austria has a tradition of using light infantry, Austria's light infantry are the elite troops of the Austrian army and are now mainly deployed on the Rhine front.
Beaulieu did not have many light infantry troops, let alone elite air rifle hunters.
But no one thinks this is a problem.
The Austrian line infantry lined up in neat formation, beating the drums and approaching the French line at the foot of the mountain.
At this time, someone in the first row of Austrian troops suddenly shouted: "Look, what is that?"
The soldiers, who had a mother-like face at first, were alarmed by the shouting, and soon they started to make a fuss: "That seems to be a woman?"
"Wear a skirt!"
"It doesn't have to be a woman. It is said that the Scottish Highlanders in the UK also wear skirts, and they are thicker than you!"
"Hell, do the Scottish Highlanders have such big breasts?"
The officers roared angrily: "Shut up, shut up! Don't be deceived by the French army's conspiracy!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the ladies scattered among the bushes opened fire.
Immediately, several people fell down in the queue.
However, due to the poor accuracy of the muskets, the amount of casualties caused by the girls' shooting was like scratching an itch for well-trained line infantry.
The officers were shouting to maintain order: "Come to the front row from the back row, maintain the formation, and follow the drumbeat!"
While they were talking, someone from the ladies in the bush opened fire again.
Suddenly, the drumbeat stopped.
It turned out that the drummer who was with the platoon was shot.
Suddenly the marching pace of the entire platoon was disrupted.
The officer shouted: "Don't panic! Follow the drumbeat of the next row!"
Then the officer fell down holding his neck.
The warrant officer in the team shouted: "The second lieutenant has been shot! Evacuate him quickly! Follow my orders!"
Someone shouted: "The enemy is targeting drummers and officers!"
Warrant Officer: "Don't panic! You all know the accuracy of the guns in your hands! Keep moving forward!"
A sergeant shouted: "Let's stop and shoot the enemy!"
Warrant Officer: "No orders! Our duty is to keep moving forward! It's just harassment by skirmishers. Our target is the enemy's line infantry arrayed in front!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the drummer in the next row was shot again.
Fortunately, the drums played by the military musicians at the battalion headquarters are louder, and the military musicians at the battalion headquarters are all lined up at the back of the thick queue, so they should not be sniped by skirmishers.
Unlike the drummer in the platoon, there is only one person in the front row to cover him. If you are unlucky enough, you will still get shot.
At this time, all the platoons of the Austrian army that were shot by female soldiers were trying hard to maintain their marching posture.
Continuous casualties are like mosquito bites. Although not fatal, they are very annoying.
The number of key enemy skirmishers is very large. It seems that the bushes in front and on the sides are full of skirmishers wearing skirts and big breasts. There are flashes and smoke of fire everywhere.
This scene is like a person without anti-insect equipment standing in the field and being besieged by hundreds of mosquitoes.
It is not fatal, but it has a great impact on the mentality.
Moreover, with so many people shooting, aiming at officers and military musicians, there will always be a few who are blindsided.
Each wave of shooting could always hit several officers.
It was the female soldiers who carried out the key harassment. General Frost did not expect that this would intensify the attack on the enemy's mentality.
The distance from the slope to the front of the French line was not long, only about 400 meters. As a result, the well-trained Austrian army made the formation go crookedly.
By the time they reached the French line, the Austrian army was already very annoyed.
At this moment, the French line private opened fire.
The neat rows of guns formed a wall of white smoke. The first column of the Austrian army fell down in one fell swoop, and the morale of the army immediately collapsed.
Marshal Beaulieu on the high ground saw this scene and cursed: "It seems that the French skirmishers are very effective in harassing our first line. But then the second line will be the fully-organized troops!"
Beaulieu was right. After the first column collapsed, the second column stopped in front of the French army. Even from Beaulieu's position, one could hear the shouts of the row of officers: "Raise the gun! Fire!"
The smoke from the volley formed a wall of smoke in front of the Austrian army.
Beaulieu: "Okay, charge forward, bayonet charge!"
The order to charge was given, and the second column of the Austrian army rushed towards the French army.
Then it was like a wave crashing onto a rock, and the tide receded quickly.
Beaulieu cursed: "How come even the first column of the French army cannot break through!"
Compaore: "Should we fire a few more rounds of gunfire right in front of the French army's line? We should cause enough damage to the French army before charging..."
Beaulieu: "Are you going to let our troops shoot at the enemy troops who have occupied the bunker on the open ground?"
An Ning, on his side, was also satisfied as he watched his "tactics" work wonders.
He said to Berthier: "Did you see! Because of the girls' harassment of the enemy, the enemy's first wave of offensive was defused! The enemy did not even rush to our second line of defense!"
Berthier: "It's not certain that it's the effect of female soldiers... Maybe the Austrian army is just weaker..."
An Ning shook his head.
Although the first wave of enemy attacks was neutralized, there were still more than a dozen enemy lines lined up on the hillside.
Not when he was happy, An Ning looked at the enemies lined up on the hillside and suddenly had an excellent idea.
He ran to his artillery unit and ordered to the artillery: "Prepare lime bombs!"
The artillery warrant officer asked doubtfully: "Lime bombs? Didn't you and Captain Napoleon say that the killing effect of lime bombs is not good because the timing of the fuse is difficult to determine?"
"Yes, but the situation is different now."
An Ning raised his hand and grabbed the army flag next to the artillery position: "Look, the wind direction is like this now! It's a slight north wind, do you understand?"
Warrant Officer: "I don't understand."
"You don't need to understand. Follow my orders and load lime bombs! Keep the fuse as long as possible!"
His orders were quickly carried out.
"All artillery, aim at the hillside!" An Ning ordered while personally operating an artillery to aim, then took the torch and lit the breech block.
The cannon roared, and the shells flew towards the hillside where the enemy was rushing down.
The hillside in front of Diego's highland is very steep, and enemy formations are densely lined up on the hillside.
An Ning's shells hit the mud directly on the front of the hillside.
Then as the fuse burned to the end, the shell exploded and turned into a lime cloud on the hillside.
An Ning pointed at the lime cloud and said: "Look! It's north wind now. Because of the steep slope, the lime cloud will be entrenched on the hillside! If the enemy's troops want to charge, they have to pass through this lime cloud!"
As soon as An Ning finished speaking, other cannons opened fire.
Soon, a whole cloud of lime dust appeared on the hillside.
One after another, the Austrian troops crashed into the quicklime.
An Ning: "Keep firing! Keep the entire hillside covered with quicklime clouds to delay the enemy's attack!"