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Volume 8 From the Mediterranean to... Chapter 97 Battle in the direction of Moscow (4...

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    Soon the Russian army launched a counterattack, and Marshal Murat was unfortunately in such a prominent position that was vulnerable to attack.  In an instant, the French cavalry marshal was surrounded by a large number of Russian cavalry. Judging from Murat's gorgeous clothes, the barbaric East Slavs thought that this man must be an important figure and decided to capture the beautiful French officer.  Murat drew his saber, galvanized his horse, fought hard with the Russians who were trying to capture him, and galloped towards the bastion in the north.  At this time, the fortification was defended by a W¨¹rttemberg infantry battalion. When they saw the Russians rushing directly towards them, they were ready to give up the battle and began to fall back.  At the critical moment when the fortress garrison was about to collapse, Murat appeared.  He got rid of the entanglement and pursuit of the Russian cavalry, rode into the bastion fortifications, and obtained a flintlock and a cartridge from a fallen soldier.  "Damn bastards, you have to give up your position when a King of Naples still insists on killing the enemy. If you admit that you are a coward, then I, as the Marshal of France, allow you to retreat on your own; if not, please join the greatest cavalry in Europe.  , fight side by side!" Murat's words and deeds are always so rude, arrogant and conceited, but they are very effective on the battlefield.  So, the stimulated W¨¹rttemberg infantry battalion regrouped and they returned to their positions in accordance with the officer's orders.  At this time, Murat also became an infantry soldier. He led the entire battalion of officers and soldiers to repulse the Russian attacks many times in fierce hand-to-hand encounters.  In the central battlefield at this time, the Russian counterattack still achieved results.  The two bastions in the south were broken through and occupied again, and Marshal Ney's main infantry division was fiercely attacked by a large number of Russian cuirassiers.  At the critical moment, Ney threw a hussars regiment of his Third Army cavalry into the charge line of the Russian heavy cavalry, but the fierce enemy cavalry dispersed the French hussars without any effort.  of blocking.  However, the sacrifice of the hussars was valuable and greatly slowed down the Russian offensive momentum.  As the Russian cuirassiers continued to advance, General Nasuti threw in the Polish Lancers to attack the exhausted Russian heavy cavalry on both flanks.  The Russian army was withdrawing its scattered troops from the layers of siege and returning to its previous position.  The Russian counterattack came to an end, and it was the French army's turn to attack again.  Less than a kilometer away, countless French soldiers held guns and advanced toward the Russian position with firm steps.  Rows of bullets came, many people fell, but the formation became denser.  Twenty or thirty snake-shaped teams, depending on the width of the terrain, either 8 people, 6 people, or 4 people in a row, marching forward bravely.  On the left-wing position held by the Russian army, their commander-in-chief Bagration was observing the enemy's situation surrounded by a group of senior Russian generals.  The stocky Russian prince wore a black military uniform and solemnly took off his feathered hat. He was paying respect to the attacking French army.  Soon, the noble generals around Bagration followed suit.  "While the Russian nobles completed these polite and gentlemanly actions, the French infantry continued to advance on the death battlefield calmly.  It should be admitted that the momentum of the neat and orderly formation is more impressive than any crazy attack.  By the time the vanguard of the French column had stepped on the bodies of their comrades and was approaching the muzzle of the Russian guns, it was the Russians' turn to counterattack again.  Bagration took the lead, and the entire Russian defense line rushed down from the mountains, bayonets and bodies colliding together.  At this time, General Mauble's troops also mobilized to fully support Marshal Ney.  The two French forces fought hand in hand and launched another fierce attack, retaking the central and southern bastions, connecting the bastions held by the Murat and W¨¹rttemberg infantry battalions, and firmly controlling these important defensive positions.  After that, the French no longer surrendered them to the Russian army.  The battle for the bastion has lasted for more than two hours. At this time, it has become a big melee involving various arms.  The artillery on both sides continued to kill thousands of people; the cavalry on both sides fought each other, drowning in the melee of flying horseshoes and whizzing bullets; the infantry on both sides faced each other with bayonets, their faces covered with sweat, and their bodies covered in blood and mud.  The senior commanders of the Russian army suffered the most heavy casualties.  The most unfortunate thing is that Prince Bagration, the heroic and capable commander of the Second Western Army, was also seriously injured in the battle and died two weeks later.  In this way, Ney and Murat finally broke through the Russian central defense line on the line that Davout had attacked earlier.  Meanwhile, on the left, Prince Eugene's Fourth Army occupied the village of Borodino, crossed the Moskva River, and began a tug-of-war for control of a huge earthen fortress.  The fortress soon became known as the "Grand Fortress" to the French and to the Russians as Raevsky Castle.  Because its success or failure will directly determine the final outcome of the Battle of Borodino.  Ney, Murat and others have always concluded that the Russian army is in chaos and the decisive moment is just around the corner.??, they were waiting for news about the Polish Army Corps commanded by Poniatowski, but the two marshals were disappointed.  According to the plan, Poniatowski's 5th Army flanked the Russian left wing along the Old Smolensk Avenue, but was blocked by the Russians and unable to move.  Marshal Ney ridiculed angrily: "I knew that this playboy was not worthy of being a field commander at all. Didn't he say in front of the emperor that he would launch his amazing pincer offensive on my right wing? Damn it,  These Poles must be hiding in the woods picking flowers! If little Desai comes here, the Russians will be in a panic. "That's enough, Duke of Elchingen!" interrupted Murat with an unhappy expression.  Ney's complaint was actually that he didn't want to hear Desai's name.  The King of Poland was as disgraceful as the Jew, and was abhorrent.  "Well, my King, what do you think we should do now?" Ney asked.  "Well, send someone to persuade the emperor to dispatch his Guards Corps!" Murat suggested helplessly.  Soon, Marshal Ney called for his deputy, and he told General Belliard: "Go and tell the emperor, your great majesty, if he sends the reserve team over and lets the Guards go into battle, then half an hour  Within a few seconds, we will blind Kutuzov's other eye. The battle has reached a critical moment. What is the purpose of letting 30,000 troops stand idle and do nothing? Well, what if he meets Prince Eugene's adjutant?  , ask the Italians if they like the cold river water in Moscow" After the Battle of Borodino broke out, Napoleon who stayed at the headquarters was either sitting or pacing back and forth.  He set up the headquarters of the Grand Army on a high ground in the center of the battlefield, which the French army had just occupied yesterday.  When General Belliard went to the emperor's headquarters as a senior herald, he urgently requested that all the Imperial Guards be thrown into battle to win the final victory.  Of course, the last words dictated by Marshal Ney were deliberately forgotten by General Belliard, who repeatedly emphasized to the emperor: "The Russian army's brave counterattack failed. They can no longer consolidate their positions. It is time to invest their final reserves."  It has arrived The two marshals agreed that the Russians would be completely destroyed!" However, Napoleon's poor condition and hesitation ruined the best opportunity to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Russian army.  At this time, Napoleon was suffering from a high fever and suffering from typhoid fever. His spirit seemed quite depressed and a little listless.  Even after hearing that the frontline troops had broken through the Russian central position, the emperor was extremely surprised, but he still hesitated and made no decision.  At the beginning of the period, Napoleon ordered the Guards to advance, but when the various Guards divisions were ready, the emperor suddenly canceled the attack order.  After drinking a large glass of opium, which could slow down the pain, he immediately told Belliard: "This great battle has just begun. We still need to be patient enough. It is not the time to commit the Guards yet."  "General, please convey my true words to the frontline commanders!" When Belliard returned to the forward position and repeated the emperor's instructions, Marshal Ney became furious. He immediately realized that Davout and Murat  And all his efforts in capturing the Russians' central defensive position will be in vain.  "Did we come all the way here just to fight a battle?" Ney said angrily: "What is the emperor doing at the rear of the army? Since he is unwilling to start a war, since he no longer leads troops to fight  "He just wants to be the emperor of all the countries in the world, so let him go back to the Tuileries Palace and let us lead the troops to fight for him!" The irritable marshal's loud complaints were still to no avail, and Ney had to get the same order.  Together with Murat, they stayed on the position doing nothing, watching helplessly the swinging battlefield situation.  Within the French High Command, after Belliard left, Napoleon began to think about his next course of action.  Soon, Napoleon received reports that a powerful Russian cavalry force had detoured back to the left wing of the Grand Army (the side of Prince Eugene's Italian Army) and was quickly attacking the supply convoy, and was even preparing to attack the emperor's headquarters.  Napoleon was shocked by this and immediately ordered General Grouchy to send cavalry troops to investigate north.  Soon, the news brought back by the scouts confirmed the above report, and several French light cavalry regiments covering the left flank of the army encountered fierce attacks.  Napoleon believed that the Russian army was planning a major counterattack.  Therefore, he ordered Ney and others' troops to withdraw from the vulnerable central position of the Russian front to defend his threatened left wing, and ordered Grouchy to try his best to fight the Russian cavalry.  ¡­¡­
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