On December 15, 1792, Anning launched a battle to forcibly cross the Mincio River.
He handed over all the battle command to Davout and rode his horse by the river to enjoy the scenery.
A large amount of white smoke created by the rumbling cannons lingers on the Mincio River, echoing the snow-capped river banks.
In An Ning's impression, it seems that he learned in high school geography class that Northern Italy has a Mediterranean climate, and the Mediterranean climate should be above zero all year round. I don't know if I have misremembered it or if this era is colder than the future.
Anyway, both sides of the Mincio River are now covered with snow, but the water is not frozen and is still flowing.
The French soldiers could only wade through the icy river water and board the other side.
Fortunately, the morale of the French army was high and mere cold water was not enough to resist them.
There was only one Austrian regiment on the other side of the river. Seeing the huge French army crossing the river, this regiment seemed to be wavering.
An Ning was observing the front line when Lassalle beside him suddenly said: "Look! Is that reflective thing Davout's head?"
An Ning laughed.
Napoleon: "Don't be embarrassed, Davout still has a lot of hair, which makes him look like a priest."
In this era, many priests liked to shave their heads, which was a bald crown surrounded by a ring of hair that looked like kappa hair.
Generally in this era, if you see this type of head, nine times out of ten, the person opposite you will see a priest.
This is similar to how when you saw the Tsukiyo Head in Japan's Warring States Period, you knew you were probably meeting a samurai.
Napoleon and La Salle had a heated discussion about Davout's head shape, and no one cared about the ongoing battle across the river.
There is really no need to worry about it. The first wave of people brought by Davout included two brigades. It shouldn't be too easy to fight a group.
One of the two brigades brought by Davout was the brigade that attacked Lafayette to guard the ridge a year ago, and was considered a direct descendant of Davout. Afterwards, An Ning awarded them a flag of "Windmill Knights", also called "Don Quixote".
Virtue's Sigh" flag.
The morale of this brigade can be regarded as the top echelon even in the generally high morale French army. Previously in Diego, this brigade roared all the way, trying to grab as many military flags as possible, but was
La Salle's cavalry took the credit, and the soldiers were all holding back their anger.
This was the perfect time to vent his anger on the defending Austrians.
Behind Davout, there were still numerous French troops crossing the river with their trousers rolled up.
From the Austrian's point of view, seeing the vast number of blue-shirted troops rushing towards them, their fighting spirit should have suddenly disappeared.
The fact that the Austrians were not defeated immediately shows that they are indeed a well-trained and elite division.
However, they were completely defeated the moment they came into contact with the French army holding the flag of the Windmill Knights.
An Ning watched this scene with satisfaction.
Napoleon cursed: "I thought they would fight with their bayonets for a while, but I didn't expect them to run away like that."
Berthier curled his lips: "Colonel Bonaparte, perhaps fighting side by side with His Excellency the General gave you some illusions. Your Excellency the General's troops often engage in resolute hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, and Your Excellency even draws his sword to join the battle himself. So.
You think this is the norm.
"But in fact, based on my military experience, this is unusual! Whether it is the North American War of Independence or the Seven Years' War, a bayonet charge usually determines the winner at the moment of contact between the two sides, or even before the contact.
"Before contact, there will be a party whose morale is not enough to sustain their courage, and it will turn into a rout, like what you are seeing now."
An Ning raised his eyebrows. He vaguely remembered that it was mentioned in the battlefield memoirs of Archduke Karl or some famous general. He said that he had been in the army for so long, and he had only seen one real hand-to-hand combat between the two sides. Other times, they basically started to charge.
Sometimes one side will be defeated.
An Ning still remembers that in the Soviet version of "War and Peace", Bagration's charge at Austerlitz was depicted as the French army starting to run as soon as the Russian army pulled the trigger.
The Soviet version of War and Peace is very sophisticated and has done a lot of research. The director team should have really studied the wars of that era and tried to match the facts as much as possible.
An Ning recalled the performance of the Austrian army during Diego's time, and it seemed that once Davout and La Salle attacked, the Austrian army west of Diego collapsed.
In addition, while the Austrian army was in defeat, the French troops on the front were engaging in bloody hand-to-hand combat with the Austrian army.
While An Ning was thinking about it, Dawu rode a horse across the river and came to An Ning.
"Your Majesty General, I have captured the bridgehead, and the rest will be left to La Salle's cavalry."
Lasalle blew out a big puff of smoke: "Leave it to me, I will definitely kill all the collapsed regiment."
An Ning: "No no! Your mission is to immediately launch a flank attack on the Austrian troops scattered on the east bank of the Mincio River! Who asked you to chase the defeated enemy?"
LaSalle: "I was just kidding."
"Instead of joking, you should think more about how to capture Beaulieu alive." An Ning replied.
La Salle suddenly became serious: "Capture Beaulieu alive, right? I accept this task! If you didn't ask me to block the bridge last time, I would have captured him alive!"
An Ning wanted to change his words, but it was too late. Lasalle had already turned his horse and ran towards his cavalry unit.
He might really raid Beaulieu's headquarters and capture the old commander alive.
Seeing that he couldn't stop it, An Ning let out a long sigh: "It doesn't matter."
Anyway, the Austrian cavalry troops were basically all lost in the first two battles. Now the Austrian troops are arranged like snakes on the mountain, and they may really break out of Lazarus.
It was Davout's direct infantry brigade that was about to be scolded. After a long day of work, it was the cavalry unit that took the lead.
Davout looked at the cavalry troops that started to advance, and muttered worriedly: "Is it okay to just let him charge blindly?"
An Ning: "You can rest assured, La Salle is very capable of commanding brigade-level cavalry troops."
Davout: "I've seen it before, in Diego."
At this time, Napoleon suddenly poked An Ning on the shoulder: "Hey, look over there, you seem to have a little Italian fan."
An Ning turned around and looked in the direction Napoleon was pointing, and found that the Italian Sequoia Army was driving from Milan.
Originally, An Ning planned to use all the Italian troops to defend the supply lines and use them as baggage trains, but the gentlemen in Milan strongly requested that the Sequoia Army play some role on the battlefield, so An Ning had to bring a brigade of Sequoia Army with him.
In addition to the red uniforms of this brigade, another distinctive feature is that their officers wear iron helmets from the Spanish Grand Square era with long feathers on them.
It is said that this is the tradition of Italian mercenary commanders.
Yes, Italy had a martial tradition in the Middle Ages, and Italian mercenary captains even monopolized European war affairs to a certain extent. Therefore, there is a special chapter in "War Guidance" written by British Major General Fuller about Italian mercenary captains.
However, for an Italian mercenary captain's iron helmet to appear in an army during the Revolution, it can only be said to be a bit nondescript.
An Ning looked over and over at the Italian team. He didn't see the person Napoleon mentioned, so he asked: "What are my supporters?"
Napoleon had to get closer to An Ning and pointed at a child in the team: "Look, that one! Ever since that child entered my field of vision, his eyes have never left your body."
An Ning: "Are you mistaken?"
"Absolutely not! I said, how about you bring an Italian boy to be your orderly? It can also deepen the relationship between the two parties. The gentlemen in Milan will be very happy to see an Italian by your side."
"I have Julian." An Ning replied.
Napoleon: "No one says you can only have one orderly...wait, isn't Julian a stable boy?"
An Ning: "I also asked him to do some work as an orderly."
At this time, a messenger galloped over on horseback. After approaching An Ning, he loudly reported: "This is the report from the division commander Lanadi!"
An Ning took the note and looked at it, speechless.
Napoleon and Berthier asked in unison: "What's wrong?"
An Ning: "Wumser has moved. The spies reported that Wumser's troops came down from both sides of Lake Garda in two groups."