MTL - Napoleon II Reborn-Chapter 55 Battle of Austerlitz (Part 2)

On the eve of the war, Napoleon rode his horse along the entire line to inspect the troops in the camp, and Xiao Jie followed him silently. The soldiers were full of enthusiasm, holding pine torches, and shouted "Long live the emperor!" over and over again in unison Knowing that tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of Napoleon's coronation.) The sound traveled several hundred yards between the French army and the enemy camp (all concentrated on the Platzen Heights and in the Litava Valley). Napoleon didn't go back to rest until early in the morning, when thick fog had filled the ground.

The sky was bright, and the position of the French army was covered by thick fog. 600 Russian-Austrian cannons suddenly opened fire on the French army. The artillery shells hit the French army's position overwhelmingly, but fortunately the French army withdrew from the position first, so no casualties were caused. Theoretically speaking, the coalition forces were jointly commanded by the general headquarters of Tsar Alexander and Emperor Francis of Austria in the village of Krzenowitz; At one o'clock in the morning on the same day, the battle plan was handed over to the senior commander. At that time, at the military meeting, the Russian-Austrian joint command had a disagreement: Kutuzov advocated that the Russian army should continue to retreat, while Tsar Alexander and the Austrian army advocated an offensive, Kutuzov's suggestion was rejected, so he simply went back to sleep went.

At around 8:00, the thick fog covering the valley had just dissipated, and a round of red sun burst out. It could be seen that the Russian-Austrian coalition forces on the Pratzen Heights began to leave the high ground and move towards the seemingly weak right flank of the French army. Napoleon saw that the Pratzen Heights was almost undefended by the Russian army, and he immediately ordered the Soult Army to occupy the high ground.

It was when Kutuzov and Miloradovich led the coalition forces in the south to encircle the French right flank and launch a general attack on Sokolnitz and Dirnitz that they realized that the Russian army had made a mistake in abandoning the central highlands. Big mistake - but it's too late.

Bernadotte, who was responsible for assisting Sirte, encountered strong firepower from the Russian Guards, but they still managed to repel the attack of Bagration's 40,000 troops in the northern section of Lana. By noon, Lana, with the cooperation of Murat's cavalry corps, had succeeded in separating the entire Bagration corps from the rest of the coalition forces, which began to retreat towards Olomouc along the Brno-Olomouc road. At this time, the Soult Army had already controlled the initiative on the battlefield, especially the heroic Vendam Division firmly guarded the Pratzen Heights, which was crucial to the French army. As for Marshal Soult himself, he was not seen in a day's fighting, and because of "eye disease" (he can always find an excuse for his cowardice), he found a safe place to hide.

By 2 p.m., the Lannes Corps and Murat's Cavalry Corps began to pursue Bagration's Division, which was fleeing towards Hausnitz, and Bernadotte's 1st Corps pursued across the Pratzen Heights, which had been occupied by the French. Lichtersten's Legion and the army of the Archduke Constantine.

Meanwhile, on Napoleon's right flank, the tide of battle changed. This is a swamp, but the Russians mistakenly placed their most powerful Cossack cavalry here. This is definitely a disaster for those fierce Cossack cavalry. Many people fell into the mud with their beloved horses. In the swamp, I can no longer climb up. "The Russians no longer fight for victory, but for survival," General Thibaud said. The Soult army has controlled the entire line from the center to the south of Kobenitz, and its forces are concentrated in the Sokolnitz area to fight against the Buxgevden Army, while Davout's Guards and Bessières The Imperial Guard formed a huge crescent around Bux Gavedon's corps, Bux Gaveden was flanked by Soult and Davout's forces, Doctorov's infantry regiment and Keen General Meyer's cavalry fled south and was soon compressed onto the frozen lake between Dirnitz and Tsatkani. Although the brave Vandamme Army was almost overwhelmed by the elite Russian Guards, he still persisted until the arrival of Bessières Cavalry and Drouet Army, and launched a crescent attack on the coalition forces. Napoleon, headquartered in the center of the field, sent his reliable Lappian army, several cavalry battalions, and Mamluk cavalry to crush the elite Russian cavalry regiments. At 2:30 in the afternoon, the Russian-Austrian coalition forces had been completely divided into three scattered camps by the French army, each fleeing for their lives in a panic: Bagration's army was located in the middle of Olomouc Avenue; The Archduke Ding's army was surrounded in the village of Austerlitz; Buxgaveden's army was compressed in frozen lakes and marshes along Napoleon's right flank (southern sector). The battle was extremely fierce, and the French army was ordered: no prisoners of war, no matter whether they surrendered or not, no enemy who could stand still; it was not until the end of the battle that Napoleon moved his heart. But Davout shouted: "Don't let an enemy run away!" At 3 o'clock, the defeat of the Russian-Austrian coalition was set, and the entire corps of the coalition threw their weapons into the sky. The few thousand remaining tried to escape across the frozen lake. Upon seeing this, Napoleon immediately ordered 25 cannons to shoot at the lake. The ice of the lake was shattered by the French artillery fire, and whole groups of enemy cavalry fell into the lake—the Russian army in winter clothes and thick military boots drowned up to 2 , 000 people, 38 cannon and at least 130 horses fell into the lake at the same time - Napoleon was rarely so vicious. Results of the Battle of Austerlitz: 65,000 Russian and Austrian soldiers killed, 82,000 captured, including 270 junior officers, 10 field officers and 8 generals; 50 battle flags and 180 cannons (cannon Immediately sent to Paris to be cast into a monument "Vendam's Column").

Napoleon won a complete victory at the Battle of Austerlitz. Seeing that the entire army was wiped out, the Russian and Austrian emperors fled in a hurry. The attendants of the Russian Emperor Alexander fled for their lives, leaving the Tsar almost captured. The Battle of Austerlitz, known in history as the "Battle of the Three Emperors", ended with a brilliant victory for the French army. The French killed only 15,000 and wounded 34,520.

The Battle of Austerlitz, which took place on the first anniversary of Napoleon's coronation at Notre-Dame de Paris, ended with a sweeping victory for Napoleon, exactly what he could have dreamed of: he not only knocked the allies to their knees and begged for mercy (Russian-Austrian coalition forces practically ceased to exist), and reversed the economic crisis that threatened the survival of France. (Because the French army won a great victory, the stock market that was already about to collapse has stabilized again) "I defeated the Russian-Austrian coalition led by the two emperors," Napoleon proudly informed those who were anxiously waiting for the battle report. Josephine, "Austerlitz was the most beautiful battle I ever fought."

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