Chapter 259 France requires you to fulfill your duties
Austrian Brigadier General Ferdinand observed the enemy's formation with a telescope.
"What the hell? They actually disbanded all the troops into skirmishers?"
Chief of Staff Colonel Bacon shook his head and said: "Is this just a sudden thought, or did they really find so many criminals and drive them to the battlefield?"
Ferdinand: "Even so, if there are no private soldiers holding the formation from behind, the skirmishers will quickly disperse. This is the limitation of the skirmishers."
He paused, shook his head and said: "These French idiots will make our victory less glorious. Such a victory cannot be glorious, no!"
Colonel Bacon flattered: "When you defeat the cobbler, you will naturally get the honor you need."
Ferdinand burst out laughing.
After laughing, he waved his hand: "Attack!"
**
Kleber arrived at his position anxiously, and then found the enemy slowly forming up.
After all, it will take a lot of time for more than 20,000 people to expand into a wide enough offensive formation.
What Kleber had to do was actually relatively simple. After all, there was no need to line up, he just had to disperse the soldiers like girls.
He rode his horse back and forth among the skirmishers scattered into the fields, shouting: "The Republic needs us to do our duty!
"Think of your families!
"France is huge, but we have no way to retreat, because behind us is Paris!"
It is somewhat inappropriate to say this now, because Paris is still far away from here, and this battle is not to defend Paris.
But no matter what, as long as it can boost morale, anything is fine!
If Kleber could be asked to dance to boost morale, he would definitely dance.
The enemy's attack begins.
White lines began to move in line with the French lines scattered in the fields, and the enemy's military music even drifted to the French side.
Each country likes to use different military music. For example, the Russians like to use drums with a serious rhythm, which sounds like the footsteps of General Winter.
The Austrian military music has a taste of court music.
Kleber shouted: "The Austrians' music is really ugly. Come on, let's sing Ode to Rome!"
Kleber has heard many rumors on the battlefield. It is said that when General Frost's troops sing the Ode to Rome, their morale and courage will be greatly improved.
At this point, Kleber can’t care whether it’s true or not, let’s use it first.
The French soldiers began to sing, a little unevenly at first, but soon everyone was singing in unison.
The enemy was approaching, and the skirmishers fired their first volley.
Kleber: "Aim at the officer! Hit the officer!"
Because the formation was very spread out, the smoke from the shooting did not completely block Kleber's sight. He could see that many in the Austrian line had fallen.
He suddenly laughed: "Hahaha, that's it, the enemy is going downhill!"
Because on the downhill slope, the projection of the enemies lined up in three horizontal lines on the French side became wider, and the hit area doubled out of thin air.
Kleber: "Quick, reload and launch! Kill the enemy as much as possible before they finish going downhill!"
The French army was firing bullets, and people kept falling in the Austrian line.
Suddenly, some of the Austrian troops walking in the first column couldn't stand it anymore and began to quietly leave the group and run back.
Kleber was stunned when he saw this scene: "What the hell? The enemy just ran away?"
The last time he participated in a battle was on the Marne River. That time he actually didn't win any battles. He just held his position and fired at the enemy. The enemy didn't even come across the river.
This time, Kleber was surprised: "The enemy collapsed so quickly? Is fighting... such a simple thing?"
This is actually not to blame Kleber. After joining the army, all he heard about was the battlefield experience of the French army led by Frost. Frost's French army had high morale, often fought hand-to-hand, and often suffered extremely high casualties without being defeated.
So Frost thought all armies were like this.
As a result, the Austrians suffered so few casualties and their morale collapsed.
Kleber had already thought about it. After the hand-to-hand combat began, he would personally rush into the battle like the general to save morale that was on the verge of collapse. This time, he saw, what the hell?
**
Dumas was not as relaxed as Kleber.
He knew that such a large number of skirmishers could indeed disrupt some line infantry offensives, but after disrupting the first line, the enemy would still have a second and third line.
The fact that the enemy is approaching has not changed.
The real test will come after the enemy enters charging range.
Based on Dumas' past experience, let alone loose formations of skirmishers, even well-trained line infantry in a dense formation may collapse after the enemy charges.
Dumas had a solemn expression. After he directed the artillery to concentrate fire and destroyed the enemy's second line, the enemy's third horizontal line was already at a distance where they could launch a charge.
Dumas took a deep breath.
The Austrians stopped.
After a drum beat, they raised their guns.
The effect of the volley was not satisfactory, because the French troops formed a skirmish formation and hid behind various bunkers.
The Austrian volleys did not cause much attrition.
But Dumas knew that the real test would come next.
The Austrian officer raised his saber and gave the order to charge.
The enemy's line immediately turned into waves and rolled towards the French line.
**
Kleber knows, now.
He drew his long knife and shouted: "For France!"
When the surrounding French troops saw this, they also roared: "For France!"
The soldiers of the 68th Brigade rushed out from behind various bunkers and faced the oncoming Austrians head-on.
**
Ferdinand burst out laughing: "Hahaha! They actually used a skirmish formation to launch a hedging attack against us! These idiots will be completely crushed by our bayonets like waves hitting the rocks on the shore!"
Colonel Bacon: "Congratulations on your victory."
"At times like this, you need some wine..." Ferdinand turned back to his orderly, "Robert, hurry up and get some wine."
"Here it is, General."
Ferdinand: "It is said that the cobbler likes to drink on the battlefield. Hmm, he is a cobbler and he certainly cannot appreciate the beauty of wine. He is just arty."
Suddenly, Ferdinand noticed a change in the chief of staff's expression.
"What's wrong with you? It's like you saw God appearing." He joked.
Colonel Bacon raised his hand and pointed in the direction of the battlefield: "General, general, look!"
Ferdinand turned back in confusion, and then saw his troops disintegrating from the front line.
Ferdinand rubbed his eyes hard, suspecting that he had seen wrongly.
**
Moreau's mood was unusually high.
General Frost is right, the troops of the Republic are different from the troops of the old aristocrats! They have inexhaustible courage, and they can crush all the armies of the old aristocrats!
Moreau shouted: "Brothers! For France, for the Republic!"