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Volume 8 From the Mediterranean to... Chapter 90 The Mission of the Baltic Naval Regiment (...

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    According to the agreement reached by the two imperial marshals in the city of Klaipeda at the mouth of the Nieman River, in late July, Marshal MacDonald's 10th Army (Prussian Army) set out again from Gargezhde, along the dense forests and large swamps.  The winding road in between leads to the northeast, starting from the Riga Fortress 168 kilometers away, passing through Tershiai, Siauliai, Jelgava and other places along the way.  The 10th Army composed of Prussians had a very obvious combat goal. It was to completely occupy the Riga Fortress in September, seize an outpost for the attack on St. Petersburg, and cooperate with the main force on the right wing of the southern front: the 2nd Army (Marshal Oudinot) and the 10th Army.  The 6th Army (Marshal Saint-Cyr) encircled the Russian capital St. Petersburg along the Baltic Sea.  At the same time, in addition to ensuring the safety of sea supply along the Danzig-K?nigsberg-Klaipeda line, the Baltic Naval Corps (Eastern Expedition Corps) under Desai's naval fleet will also have a squadron along the Danzig-K?nigsberg-Klaipeda line.  Headed north to the Baltic Sea, broke through the Irbe Strait, invaded the Gulf of Riga, and assisted the 10th Army in capturing the Riga Fortress guarded by 18,000 Russian troops.  In addition, the ground forces (Second Army, Third Army and Guards Division) commanded by Desai, in addition to serving as the general reserve of the 10th Army, must also ensure the safety of the supply line from the Neman River to the Riga front line.  Send troops to eliminate armed rebels hiding in the countryside, jungles, lake waves, swamps, and rivers, and this is also a combat method that Desai is very good at.  After successfully conquering Giruna, Catalonia and a series of wars with Portugal, Desaix was known as the most adept at appeasing local commanders among French marshals.  In addition, in view of the advanced and complete equipment of the field hospital attached to the Desai Army, the large number of military doctors and their high skills, the envious Marshal MacDonald simply handed over the field hospital of the 10th Army to the Chief Military Medical Officer Count Cava to manage it on his behalf.  In terms of the division of labor between the two legions, Desai seems to suffer a lot. He has to serve as the local maintenance president, and is responsible for the safety of supply and logistics. He also has to dispatch naval fleets to assist friendly forces on the ground, and he has to bear the burden of frontline casualties.  In addition to the medical care of the soldiers, Macdonald's field intelligence sources also required the strong support of Military Intelligence agents.  For the 10th Army, with a superior strength of 32,000 men (the elite of the Prussian army), they massively besieged the 18,000 Riga defenders composed of miscellaneous troops and Russian militia. The Japanese army led by General Esian,  Winning is a piece of cake.  Of course, Marshal MacDonald also needs intelligence and supply support, as well as strong cooperation from the Baltic Fleet.  As compensation for the Baltic Naval Group, Macdonald made a promise to Desai: provided that the spoils of the 10th Army would be divided into three parts for free to friendly forces, and would allow Polish or Catalan merchants to conduct various trades in areas controlled by the French army.  He also allowed the munitions liaison officer sent by Desai to be stationed in K?nigsberg to coordinate the distribution of weapons, ammunition and military supplies between the two corps.  Desai readily accepted these arrangements.  It should be noted that the Polish king was not interested in the spoils of the 10th Army, nor the trade rights in the occupied areas, but that the Polish army could legally enter K?nigsberg and prepare in advance for the annexation of East Prussia.  This obviously violated Napoleon's previous instructions, but MacDonald, who was on the front line of the battle, could not control so much.  Without Desai's full cooperation, even if his 10th Army successfully came to Riga, it would be unable to fight again due to various battle losses.  Long before the 10th Army crossed the Nieman River, General Barbanegger's Second Army had already swept through towns such as Palanga, Pulengey, and Gargezhde, and forced the weak Russian troops to abandon their defenses one after another.  There are three important cities: Tersia, Siauliai and Panevez.  Therefore, when Marshal Macdonald led his troops into the Riga Fortress on July 29, there was no obstruction along the way.  On August 2, the 10th Army Corps arrived in the city of Jelgava, which is only 30 kilometers away from Riga.  The Russian regular army, which had only one regiment here, and with the cooperation of more than 2,000 militiamen, established a weak defensive position in the highlands of the southern outskirts of Jelgava, carried out extremely heroic resistance, and successfully blocked Macdonald's Prussia.  Legion, it actually lasted 15 hours.  The troops carrying out the interception battle on the southern outskirts of Jelgava belong to the most elite Lithuanian Guards in Russia. The main commanders are the commander of the infantry regiment, Colonel Udom; and his deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Timofeye.  After receiving information about the deployment of the Russian army from Lieutenant Colonel Koror, a liaison officer sent from Desai, Macdonald disapprovingly ordered a Prussian light cavalry to break through the highland defense line in the southern outskirts of Jelgava and encircle and annihilate the Russian troops stationed there.  people, but suffered a disastrous defeat.  When faced with the rapid attack of the "French cavalry" (Russian official documents have regarded the European coalition forces under Napoleon's command as French forces), Colonel Udom had already arranged his troops in the highlands in a square to fight against  Attack of the Prussian cavalry.  Despite facing a large number of enemies, the Russian soldiers holding on to the high ground still showed great courage and confidence. They did not start firing volleys until the Prussian cavalry got close enough, shouting "Ula" loudly to disturb them.The formation of the Prussian cavalry was broken and the enemy was successfully driven off the high ground, causing them to suffer huge casualties.  Twice in a row, the Russians repelled Prussian cavalry attacks in this quick way.  In the evening, Marshal Macdonald, who was insulted by the failure of the attack, then sent elite cuirassiers to join the highland battlefield.  At this time, Lieutenant Colonel Timofeye had replaced the seriously injured Colonel Udom as the commander of the Jelgava Defense Line.  Lieutenant Colonel Timofeye, who was on the front line in person, gave an order to the soldiers forming a square formation: "Get ready, no one is allowed to fire without my order!" The Russian commander immediately told his soldiers, "The French cattle  They will not attack a wall made of gleaming bayonets, so if the cuirassiers rush towards you, I will order bayonets to stab the horses in the face!" Before the sun set, the cuirassiers of the 10th Legion surrounded them from all directions!  After breaking the Russian infantry phalanx, the mighty Prussian cavalry spread out like waves. At this time, the Russian infantry phalanx was like an island floating in the steel waves composed of cuirassiers.  However, the attacking forces were never able to disintegrate the Russian army and break through its held positions.  After the failure of the first charge, the Prussian cuirassiers quickly reorganized 30 steps away from the Russian infantry phalanx, preparing to gather for another attack.  In order to prevent this situation from happening, Lieutenant Colonel Timofeye used each rider to find a gap in his position, shouted "Ula", and personally led the Russian soldiers to wait for an opportunity to counterattack.  The Russian infantry raised their bayonets to attack, and the cuirassiers in front were attacked by bayonets before they realized what was happening.  After suffering heavy casualties, the attacking party's morale was severely frustrated and it was difficult to maintain their formation, so they had to retreat. Before dark, the Prussian cuirassiers, with the cooperation of light cavalry, launched another attack.  However, it continued the same pattern and was quickly defeated by the Russians.  When the attacking Prussian cavalry was forced to retreat, some comrades were still trapped in the highland positions. Most of them became prisoners of war of the Russian infantry. After being disarmed, these prisoners were escorted to the Riga Fortress 30 kilometers away.  Late at night, under the cover of darkness, Lieutenant Colonel Timofeye took the initiative to abandon the high ground and evacuate the city of Riga northward with the remaining Russian troops.  When entering the city, with the sound of military drums and bugles, the Lithuanian Guards were warmly welcomed by Commander Esian. They successfully fought against the cuirassiers with bayonets and repelled the "Iron Man" countless times with lead bullets.  It severely dampened the enemy's morale.  In this battle, the Russians lost a total of more than 1,200 soldiers (mostly militiamen), but they won a local battle and successfully boosted the morale of the fortress defenders; at the same time, the Prussian Army's combat losses were  800 men (including cuirassiers and light cavalry).  It wasn't until dawn the next day that the 10th Army entered an empty city that had long been abandoned.  Lieutenant Colonel Koror, who witnessed the entire offensive and defensive battle in the southern suburban highlands, wrote a report to Desai afterwards about the hard-working and tenacious fighting spirit of the Russian soldiers and the military qualities of the two field commanders.  , all gave high praise, saying that "Russian soldiers are monsters forged from special materials such as steel. They are not afraid of the enemy or death!" As for the performance of the Prussians in this battle, Lieutenant Colonel Koror insisted on becoming  The Prussian army was still weak, and after five years, it still failed to regain its former self-confidence.  "Although the Prussians were brave, they lacked tenacity; although they were obedient, they lacked a sense of cooperation. The commanders of the Prussian army were rigid and conservative, had no battlefield adaptability, and often fell into a bad situation of being passively beaten In the short term, Prussia  The army's combat capabilities were unable to pose an effective threat to Poland. "On August 4, after a day of short rest, the main force of the 10th Army left Jelgava, continued to advance north, and arrived at the city of Riga the next day.  Excluding the garrison of military stations along the way and the casualties caused by the battle, Marshal MacDonald's Prussian Army had less than 30,000 troops. However, compared with the 17,000 Russian troops in Riga, the attacking side still had an absolute advantage in strength.  Among the garrison of Riga Fortress, most of them are soldiers of the Russian militia who have recently been recruited. There are only 4 elite infantry regiments like the Lithuanian Guards. After the Jelgava blockade, the number has been less than 3,000.  .  On the afternoon of August 6, the 10th Army completed the ground siege of the Riga Fortress.  At the same time, the Riga Squadron of the Baltic Fleet, composed of 4 battleships and 12 frigates, also under the command of Colonel Mayar, sailed to the intersection of the Irbe Strait and the Baltic Sea on August 7, preparing to enter Riga  Bay, participating in the siege of Riga Fortress.  At dawn, Colonel Mayar dispatched two regiments of marines, and under the cover of naval and heavy artillery, they captured the Russian-military coastal defense bases guarding both ends of the Irbe Strait before noon: Fortress Sary and Kol.  Card fortress.  After evening, the Riga Squadron, which received the news, stood ready in the sea area on the side of Kolka Fortress.??Attacked the Russian naval fleet that was trying to sneak attack on itself.  After sinking two and capturing one Russian warship, this Baltic squadron drove all the remaining Russian navy back to the anchorage in Riga Port for refuge, thus cutting off the sea passage between Riga and St. Petersburg.  In the early morning of August 9, the Baltic Riga Squadron commanded by Colonel Mayar sailed into the waters near the Riga Fortress.  On this day, under heavy siege by the naval fleet and the 10th Army, the land and sea areas of the city of Riga were effectively controlled by the French army. The defenders lost contact with St. Petersburg, and the entire city of Riga was completely reduced to an isolated city.  .  At noon on August 10, Marshal Macdonald sent his adjutant into the city of Riga under a white flag. He demanded that the defenders surrender to him immediately, but he was sternly refused by the fortress commander, General Aesian.  Two hours later, the offensive and defensive battle for the fortress broke out as scheduled.  The Riga Squadron in the Baltic Sea launched the attack first. Colonel Mayar ordered four battleships to continuously bombard the remaining Russian navy at the anchorage with long-range heavy artillery with a range of more than 3,500 meters. Before dark, the five old Russian warships were either captured by Catalan  The Romanian navy was ruthlessly destroyed; or it was scuttled at the entrance of the harbor to prevent the enemy from raiding from the sea
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