Descending On France 1780-Chapter 356 - 349 Brunswick’s Resolution

Napoleon was exhausted by the time he ran to the bridge.

When he saw Lasalle, he was too busy catching his breath to speak for a long time.

The French Army, who had been rushing down the road screaming, saw their Commander like this and didn’t hold back, beginning to lean on various objects to catch their breath.

Lasalle looked at them catching their breath and after considering for a moment spoke up: "Are you...here to reinforce us? It doesn’t look like it to me."

Napoleon straightened up, trying to speak to Lasalle but couldn’t catch his breath, and just pointed at him for a long time.

Lasalle: "If I wasn’t injured, I’d definitely perform a Tatar war dance for you."

Napoleon finally recovered: "You, Frost is definitely going to scold you. He’d tell you that the main duty of the Cavalry is reconnaissance, not to clash head-on with the enemy. You’ve ruined a whole brigade’s reconnaissance capability with your actions, he’s definitely going to slam the table at you!"

Lasalle: "Then I can only hope that you fight brilliantly, if you achieve great success, I’ll also benefit from it. I can’t talk anymore, I’m injured. Look how much I’m bleeding."

Lasalle pointed to his completely red left sleeve: "I’m going down now, find some wine in the city and bring it to me first, I’ll drink half and use half to wash my wounds."

Napoleon: "Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get your share. You guys just retreat safely, leave the rest to us."

At this point, the Austrians who had just retreated reorganized in the distance and formed a charge formation.

Seeing this, Napoleon urged Lasalle to hurry and run.

The Cavalry supported each other, limping away, then Napoleon raised his voice, ordering his own troops: "Come, let’s line up too!"

At this time, the French Army was not the same as it was when first organized in 1793, after a year of training they reacted very quickly.

Very quickly, Napoleon’s troops were arranged in three rows on each side.

Napoleon: "Now, I ask you to fire your weapons as fast as possible! Show them the results of your training!"

By this time, the French officers had generally identified the weaknesses of volley fire, and tended to favor independent firing.

Thus, Anning led the revision of the Kingdom Era infantry manual, changing the standard firing method from volley to independent firing.

He also borrowed a new term created by Suvorov from history: combat firing.

Napoleon raised his right hand: "Combat firing, ready!"

At this moment, the Austrian Army started to advance.

Napoleon’s hand chopped downward: "Begin!"

The French troops on his sides fired from right to left in sequence, then reloaded as fast as possible, opening fire on their own once reloaded.

Due to people instinctively trying to keep up with those around them, the firing speed of the French lines fast increased.

The Austrians, who had never seen the new manual-trained French tactics, were puzzled as to why the French weren’t volley firing.

As the French discontinued volley firing, the Austrians no longer experienced the massive psychological impact of a wave of simultaneous falls from volley fire and managed to advance under French fire for a few minutes!

But as the French fire increased in rapidity, so did the Austrian casualties.

Especially as the distance closed, the accuracy of the French guns improved, and the relentless gunfire resulted in continuous casualties.

Finally, the already shaky morale of the Austrian troops collapsed.

With the disintegration of their formation, soon all Austrian troops, both soldiers and officers, were running back.

Napoleon was very pleased: "Excellent! Just like that! We are no longer just an army that can only rush forward with bayonets! We are just as formidable in a shootout!"

A sergeant commented, "It’s still more exhilarating to charge with bayonets drawn; filling cartridges has made my hands sore and it’s really dull."

Immediately, a soldier echoed, "Yeah, charging with bayonets and seeing blood is exhilarating, let’s charge!"

"General, lead us in a charge!"

Napoleon gestured grandly: "No, don’t rush, there will be a time for you to charge, but not now. Hold the line!"

Another sergeant asked, "We didn’t bring any dry food, what do we do if we get hungry?"

"Yeah, let’s charge and scatter the enemy and then seize their supplies for food!"

Napoleon replied, "...That makes sense, but now is not the time. Let’s first hold the bridge until the rest of the troops arrive."

Napoleon was very sober now, aware that he only had a bit over a thousand men at the forefront. Although their fighting prowess of the French Army could secure a temporary advantage in a charge, it was not sustainable.

Moreover, with so few men, if they charged and neglected other concerns, losing the bridge would spell big trouble.

However, he was still full of confidence, as his twenty thousand men were hastening towards this location. According to Napoleon’s estimate, in about an hour, the main force of the First Army should have almost arrived.

Then, it would not be too late to crush the Austrian forces using the French’s skill in close combat.

**

At this moment, Alvizi was in shock: "The French Army didn’t engage in hand-to-hand combat but defeated us with sustained shooting! It seems the French Army’s training has caught up... Such a French Army, it has no weaknesses anymore, does it?"

Yes, indeed.

At least until the armies of Europe undergo reforms, then European forces might stand a chance against such a French Army.

Brunswick looked at Alvizi, "What should we do? The French Army has already made advances on the southern bank; the river’s barrier is gone."

Alvizi took a deep breath: "The enemy appears to be just over a thousand, immediately organize more troops for a counterattack, to retake the bridgehead!"

The officers under Alvizi looked at each other.

They all hoped Alvizi would come up with an effective strategy to handle the situation, but it seemed this old marshal had no other ideas besides "attack."

In truth, the officers had their own doubts about retaking the French-held bridgehead: just now, a small number of Cavalry charged several times and couldn’t succeed; now it was French infantry, how could they possibly overcome them?

Though they didn’t voice it, the officers and staff present already felt the battle had no suspense left.

On the surface, they still appeared spirited, but in fact, they had already embraced a defeatist attitude, crying out, "Our forces are defeated."

Alvizi asked, "Who dares to undertake the crucial task of recapturing the bridgehead?"

The officers looked at each other.

In the end, it was Brunswick who sighed, "Let’s have the Prussian Army give it a try."

At this moment, the Prussian forces at Ulm were far fewer than the Austrian forces.

But Prussia still had the military cadre left by Frederick the Great, theoretically speaking, their combat effectiveness should be not a little higher than that of the Austrian forces.

Alvizi appeared relieved, grasping Brunswick’s hand, "That would be excellent, may I ask who you plan to send, my old friend?"

"I will personally supervise the battle," Brunswick answered, "The French Army likes it when the highest commander leads the charge, I think we should adopt this practice. Wish me luck."