Chapter 326 The Terrible French Artillery

Chapter 327 Terrible French Artillery

Just when Hilde was confidently planning how to kill those hateful French artillery, he was shocked to find that the cannons began to move!

He subconsciously looked back and saw that he had only run about 400 steps, which should have taken less than 2 minutes.

In other words, the French artillery only took such a short time to complete the harness and start maneuvering!

How is this possible? !

Seeing the French cannons retreating, his eyes almost bulged with bloodshot, and he immediately gritted his teeth and shouted: "Speed ​​up! We must stop those cannons!"

Just now, the French cavalry artillery fired at least 9 rounds, causing hundreds of casualties to the Dutch army. If they were allowed to escape, their morale would be severely hit.

In an instant, the cavalry of the six squadrons began to gallop at full speed. Although it was not as fast as the charge, it was already the limit that the horses could bear at this distance.

However, the French cannons slipped away very fast. Hilde estimated that it was almost as fast as the cavalry trotting.

Especially the long, pointed-roofed carriages, which were almost running into the French infantry lines.

When his cavalry finally arrived at the firing position of the French cavalry artillery, the cannons had already disappeared.

Hilde's deputy panted and said, "These guys are running faster than foxes..."

Hilde listened to the heavy breathing of the warhorses and cavalry beside him, and his brows were twisted into a ball. There was definitely something wrong with the speed of the French harnessing horses just now. No, they almost didn't harness horses, and the cannons began to retreat.

He naturally didn't know that this was the new cavalry artillery equipment and combat mode that Joseph brought to the Guards Corps.

Those cannons had never been untied. When they found that the Prussian cavalry was attacking, the gunners immediately drove the horses away. The soldiers on the cannons relied on the capstan to close the distance between the cannons and the horses, and finally relied on a buckle that could be hung with a push to fix the tail of the gun carriage behind the driver's seat.

As for the ammunition cart, the speed is even faster. Push the gunpowder box and ammunition rack into the carriage and turn around and leave. The ammunition cart is located behind the cannon, very close to the horse, and there is almost no problem with the cart.

And the speed of a well-designed ammunition cart is almost the same as that of the city's public carriage.

This is also the confidence of the Guards Corps Cavalry Artillery to bombard the enemy's face. In the Napoleonic era, this tactic also had a name, called artillery group close shooting, commonly known as cannons on the bayonet.

However, the Guards Corps did not fully implement the close shooting tactics just now, otherwise they would use shotgun shells to bombard the Prussian cavalry head-on. After all, this battle does not require them to fight so hard.

In fact, if Joseph had not ordered to take the Dutch infantry line seriously, Berthier would not have let the cavalry artillery come out to show such a hand.

Just when Hilde was full of annoyance, the guard next to him suddenly looked into the distance: "Sir, it seems to be French cavalry."

Hilde hurriedly listened carefully, and indeed found that there was a faint sound of horse hooves coming from the east.

His heart suddenly tightened. He had almost exhausted his horsepower just now in order to chase those fast-moving French artillerymen. If they were attacked by the French cavalry at this time, they would definitely be no different from fixed targets.

He hurriedly ordered two squadrons to stay behind, and the others immediately withdrew to their own positions.

However, his warhorse just walked slowly with its nostrils wide open, and the sound of horse hooves behind him was getting closer and closer.

Finally, Hilde left the cavalry behind to fight with the Guards.

To be honest, the quality of the cavalry of the Guards was really not as good as that of the Prussian Junker nobles. Half of them learned riding skills after entering the Paris Police Academy, and the cavalry absorbed from the French Guards at that time had some experience.

But at this time, they were facing some "fixed targets" that could not run. After a flank charge, the Prussian cavalry lost their will to resist and dismounted and surrendered.

Hilde looked back and saw this scene, cursing the French artillery even more viciously. Then he saw that those damned cavalry artillery actually circled behind the French infantry and rushed to the front of the Dutch infantry line from the west, less than 200 steps, and began to set up artillery...

At the same time, the infantry line of the Guards Corps was also approaching quickly.

No matter how fanatical the Southern Netherlands soldiers were, no matter how the priests in the team could stabilize the morale of the army, facing the cannons that kept spitting grapeshot in their faces and could not effectively fight back, no one could keep their morale from collapsing.

After nearly a thousand soldiers were killed by the French cavalry artillery, the first Dutch infantry line began to get chaotic. In fact, they were able to withstand nearly 20 rounds of grapeshot before they started to get chaotic, which was a very remarkable achievement.

General Witte saw the situation of his own infantry line in the telescope and hurriedly ordered the second line to go up, and at this time the rhythmic drums of the French infantry were heard on the front battlefield.

Berthier had a very accurate grasp of the rhythm, and just when the two Dutch infantry lines were rotating, he ordered the Guards Corps to attack in columns.

The roar of Prussian artillery came from the hillsides on both sides. Although only solid bullets could be used due to the long distance, it still posed a considerable threat to the Guards Corps.

But soon, the Guards Corps cavalry artillery moved to the side of the Prussian artillery position on the east side and began to suppress the attack.

The Prussian artillery had no choice but to turn the guns to fight back, and the pressure on the Guards infantry suddenly eased.

More than a dozen infantry columns quickly attacked 30 steps in front of the Dutch defense line - the enemy was retreating in panic, and there was no danger at this distance - and then they deployed in a line formation very skillfully and fired a round of close-range volleys at the Dutch army.

Before General Witte's second infantry line pressed forward, he heard dense gunfire from the front, and then his own fleeing soldiers ran towards him.

The Dutch had very little training time. At this time, those who retreated did not know how to go from the two sides, and those who advanced did not know how to open a gap to let the fleeing soldiers pass, and the two sides immediately squeezed together.

The infantry line of the Guards had already appeared more than a hundred steps away.

...

Blücher was still discussing with his staff how to perfectly encircle the French army when he saw a signalman quickly walk into the tent and hand him a roll of battle reports.

Blücher couldn't help but smile when he saw the seal of Major Christel on the wax. It seemed that the town of Diekirch should have been captured. In this way, while he defeated the French army, Luxembourg might have fallen into Christel's hands.

He calmly opened the paper roll, but his face froze - it said that there were a large number of French troops stationed in the town of Diekirch, and there was no way to start. Christel applied to return to join the main force.

"The French still have troops left in Diekirch?" Blücher frowned and handed the note to the staff officer beside him.

Before he finished speaking, the tent was opened again. This time it was a signalman with a face full of gunpowder and blood.

When the latter handed the battle report to Blücher, he said in a hoarse voice: "General, General Witte's defense line was defeated..."

"What?!" Blücher was shocked when he heard this, and unfolded the battle report several times. Sure enough, he saw the news of the defeat of the Dutch army, and Hilde's signature was below.