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Volume 8 From the Mediterranean to... Chapter 89 The Mission of the Baltic Naval Regiment (...

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    Haha, I am asking for votes again, thank you for your support!  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In late July 1812, due to the hot and humid uncomfortable climate and mosquito-induced  The terrible diseases, as well as the lack of food caused by poor supplies and other factors, caused the combat effectiveness of the French soldiers to continue to decline. Discipline was loose, wanton robbery became common, and the army's offensive speed began to slow down.  In view of this, Napoleon had to order the frontline troops to stop advancing on July 29 and rest for a week in the area from Velizh to Mogilev.  Due to the serious incompetence of the French army's intelligence department, the French commanders did not have a detailed map of Russia and were unable to keep up with the enemy's retreat. This directly resulted in the two main Russian armies, namely Barclay's First Army and Bagration's  The Second Army calmly jumped out of the encirclement set up by the French army, and then successfully retreated to the solid Smolensk Fortress.  The Marquis de Caulaincourt described in his memoirs: "That day, we spent intense marches, fierce shelling, and fierce attacks. This attack was designed to test and adjust our various positions in order to launch  A bigger offensive. The emperor and most of the French people hope that the general offensive will begin at dawn tomorrow. The emperor is full of confidence and is smiling proudly.  It must have added luster to the expedition which he had penetrated so far into, that he spent the whole day on horseback reconnoitring the high ground in every direction, and even into great distances.  He returned to his tent that day. That day, he personally inspected all the work. I can't describe the general disappointment in the army, especially the emperor's disappointment. On July 28, it was about to dawn.  Suddenly we found that the Russians on the opposite side had disappeared. They had abandoned Vitebsk. We could not find a single person, not even a farmer. The enemy was worried that the farmers would reveal the direction of Barclay's retreat.  They did not pass through the town, and for a few hours after daybreak our marshal-general had to search for traces of the enemy's troops in all directions.  From which route the troops and artillery were withdrawn? No one knew, and no one could answer this question for several hours, because there were a lot of traces of vehicles and horses on all roads. At first, the emperor only said.  Sent his vanguard. He rode rapidly through the streets and roads outside the town, joining his Guards, who now set out on the road to Smolensk.  All the troops encountered many difficulties, and many horses could no longer carry the military supplies left by the advance troops. As a result, the soldiers on horseback had to dismount and walk, and changed their horses to pack horses.  We spent the night together in Lochesna. The next day (July 29), he still stayed there, waiting for reports of battles from various places. A week later, we still couldn't find any local residents, and we couldn't even capture any prisoners.  One, let alone a fight with the Russians, the spies and scouts sent did not know where they were heading, and whether they knew the exact location of the army. Instead, the liaison officer sent by Desai could accurately find the emperor's base camp.  They also sent some urgently needed medicine and a small amount of food to the Guards. However, these are just a drop in the bucket and cannot satisfy the supply of hundreds of thousands of troops. Now, if I give an analogy, we have arrived in the heart of Russia.  We were like a ship drifting on the vast sea without a compass. We had no idea what was happening around us. Later, with the help of envoy Desai, the Guards finally captured two Russian farmers.  , they learned from their mouths that the main force of the Russian army had already gone far ahead. They had left here four days ago, and their destination was Smolensk!  "  At the same time, the Russian army's striding retreat also aroused dissatisfaction in Russia. Whether in St. Petersburg or Moscow, aristocratic officials and ordinary citizens were dissatisfied with the scorched earth plan implemented by the Russian commanders to retreat without a fight.  This strategy seemed to be full of complaints, especially among the people who had to destroy their homes and take refuge in the direction of Moscow because of the French invasion. Soon, some Moscow nobles with ulterior motives began to point their anger directly at Alexander's head, instigating that it was.  The cowardly Tsar deliberately refused to engage in a head-on battle with Napoleon in order to lure the French into the heart of Russia and eliminate dissidents. As a last resort, in order to calm the growing political turmoil in the country, Alexander immediately instructed General Bennigsen to act as the plenipotentiary envoy of the Tsar himself.  Rushed to Smolensk and strongly demanded that the two main forces of the Russian army must be gathered together, and thenTake positive action to confront the French on the frontal battlefield, and teach Napoleon a lesson for his arrogance in order to save the face of the Russian Czar.  At the end of July, after the two main armies of the Russian army reunited, Barclay was made the commander-in-chief of the Grand Army, and Bennigsen served as the chief of general staff.  Despite the Tsar's highest instructions, the cautious Barclay still preferred the attrition strategy of fortifying the wall and clearing the country, so he pretended to be indecisive and spent five days in Smolensk until Bennigsen repeated it with Tsar Alexander's autographed letter.  After urging, Barclay finally decided to convene a military meeting to discuss a strategic counterattack in the Smolensk area.  Among the senior officers participating in the meeting, in addition to Commander-in-Chief Barclay of the Grand Army (who is also in charge of the First Army) and Chief of General Staff Bennigsen, there were also Commander-in-Chief of the Second Army, Prince Bagration;  Commander, Priest; Chief of General Staff of the First Army, Yermolov; and Chief Quartermaster of the First Army, Karl Thor.  In compliance with the Tsar's decree, these Russian military leaders decided to take advantage of the dispersion of the French army to attack Pudnia and Polechna.  On August 7, the 1st and 2nd armies of the Russian Western Front began to attack, but due to hasty preparations, indecisive actions, and differences of opinion between Bagration and Barclay, the attack failed to achieve results.  At this time, Napoleon suddenly transferred his troops to the left bank of the Dnieper River, threatening to occupy Smolensk and cut off the Russian army's connection with Moscow.  When Barclay discovered that his left flank was in great danger, he ordered all Russian troops to continue to retreat regardless of the cost.  However, the fast-moving French army bit Barclay's rearguard.  Then from August 16 to 18, the Russian and French armies fought fiercely on the outskirts of Smolensk and on the highlands to the east. As a result, the Russian army could not withstand the fierce attack of the French army and immediately abandoned Smolensk.  Both sides suffered heavy casualties.  However, this battle allowed Barclay to completely get rid of the exhausted French army and retreat along the road to Moscow.  Since the war broke out in June, 200,000 Russian troops (militia) and millions of people have been retreating continuously. The Smolensk counterattack, which the Tsar had given high hopes for, also ended in chaos.  While Barclay's escape tactics aroused strong dissatisfaction among the Russian people, it also forced the angry Tsar to order the dismissal of Barclay as commander-in-chief of the Russian Army on the Western Front.  On August 20, Alexander appointed Marshal Kutuzov, the former commander of the Moldavia Army, as the supreme commander of the anti-French and Russian armies.  At this time, the 67-year-old half-blind Kutuzov, who has loved wine, food, carriages and beauties all his life, is now old and has a bulging belly that cannot even be stepped on by a stirrup.  Soon, a French officer composed a song to make fun of the clumsy command and escape strategy of the Russian tsar and his generals. The poem goes like this: "There are Alexanders who command blindly; there are Bennigsen who are so self-indulgent."  There are those who are huge and like to come up with bad ideas; there are people like Barclay and Bagration who are hostile to each other and are unhappy with each other; there are people like Yermolov who gossip on both sides; there are people like Thor who do not do their job properly and like to run around everywhere.  "There is a man like Kutuzov who is old and feeble, but still loves to look for flowers and flowers" At the end of August, when this "Russian Song" came to Desai's ears from Smolensk, he smiled and picked up the pen.  The lyrics have been revised: "There is Alexander who is determined to fight to the end; there is Bennigsen who is proficient in tactics; there is Barclay who is selfless; there is Bagration who is brave and has a good sense of smell; there is Yermolov  There is someone who is so good at rescuing a crisis; there is someone like Thor who works tirelessly to personally survey the terrain; there is someone as respected as Kutuzov who can command the Russian army to victory" In fact, Barclay planned in Smolensk  A series of counterattacks and blockades were not a complete failure.  Since the main force of Napoleon's Grand Army was attracted to Smolensk, the commander of the Russian right wing, General Peter Wittgenstein (a German loyal to the Russian Czar), had time to recruit tens of thousands of Russian militiamen.  In the two battles of Polotsk, he successfully blocked the 42,000 men of Marshal Oudinot's 2nd Army and the 22,000 men of Marshal Saint-Cyr's 6th Army (the Bavarian Army).  On the gravel road leading from south to north to St. Petersburg.  These two battles subsequently changed the situation in St. Petersburg, allowing the Russian capital to lift the pincer offensive between the French Army in the Baltic and the French Army on the Southern Front.  As long as the Riga Fortress can continue to be held and Macdonald's 10th Army and Desai's Baltic Marine Corps can be blocked from the city wall, then the Russian war situation will seem to have undergone major changes, and at least St. Petersburg will have peace of mind.  At an officer meeting, Desai emphasized to his commanders: "I would rather you overestimate the enemy by three points than underestimate the opponent by one point. Please be sure to note that in addition to the vast territory, complex and changeable  In addition to the harsh climate that is our current natural enemy, Russia?The extraordinary spirit of hard work and hard work, as well as the tradition of extraordinary perseverance and tenacity, are also worthy of attention. This traditional spirit is the pillar of strength that successfully saved the East Slavic nation from crisis.  Therefore, for the Russian army, the so-called victory brought by defeating them will be meaningless, and they must be completely strangled without mercy!  ¡±¡­
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