Chapter 316 The Fourth Silesian War

Chapter 317 The Fourth Silesian War

"Yes, the war has just begun." William II slammed the table beside him.

"The Austrians have attacked Silesia many times before, but they have always been defeated. This time will be no exception!

"Even, they will taste the bitter fruit of Leuthen again!"

He was talking about the Battle of Leuthen, which was a fierce battle between Austria and Frederick the Great's Prussian army during the Seven Years' War when Austria tried to retake Silesia.

That time, Frederick used all his military talents, using only a little more than half of Austria's troops, and through wonderful tactical command, he defeated the Austrians miserably - 22,000 of the 90,000 Austrian troops were directly killed and 14,000 were captured. Later, the Austrian defenders in Breslau were affected and surrendered almost without a fight, and gave Frederick another 17,000 prisoners.

After this battle, Prussia completely confirmed its ownership of Silesia, which can be regarded as the peak of Frederick the Great. Battle of the Battle of Leuthen.

However, William II overlooked that Prussia no longer had a military warrior like Frederick the Great.

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Moreover, after Frederick's death, Prussia's military was slack, and the Junker nobles began to become lax, and the overall combat effectiveness dropped by more than one level compared to Frederick the Great.

Although Prince Heinrich knew that it would be difficult for Prussia to replicate the glory of the Battle of Leuthen, he could not affect the morale of His Majesty the King at this time, so he also clenched his fists: "Yes, Your Majesty, we will teach the weak Austrians a lesson again!"

After saying words to encourage the army, he immediately mentioned the specific plan: "Your Majesty, we must use this time before the Austrians attack to make full preparations.

"I suggest that we should immediately form an alliance with Saxony to deal with the Austrians."

"And Hanover," William II added, "as well as Hesse-Kassel and Mecklenburg. We need to gather an army that will shock Austria."

Prince Heinrich was startled when he heard this. Saxony is adjacent to the Silesia region, so it is not surprising that it participated in this war, but His Majesty the King wants to bring in the British.

In fact, William II was able to say this with some confidence.

Hanover is actually a British enclave in the German region, and King George III of the United Kingdom is the Elector of Hanover. Britain has always been committed to weakening the power of Austria and France with the help of Prussia, so it is very likely that Hanover can be persuaded to join the war.

Hesse-Kassel is different from Hesse-Darmstadt, which joined the Seine-Rhine trade agreement. It belongs to Lower Hesse and is politically pro-Prussia. Mecklenburg is right next to Prussia and dares not disobey Prussia's demands. As long as these two countries give some benefits, they should be able to join the coalition.

"Your strategy is very good, Your Majesty." Prince Heinrich praised and continued, "Before we use diplomatic means, we should do two things.

"First, immediately send General Driesen and General Krokoff to lead the Guards to Liegnitz and Ratibor to garrison, and try to delay the Austrians' offensive in the early stages of the war and wait for our main forces to complete the assembly.

"Second, recall the Duke of Brunswick as soon as possible. His command will be the key to our victory."

William II was not very good at war. He just pretended to think seriously when he heard it, and then handed over the military affairs to Prince Heinrich for specific implementation.

However, when the latter was about to salute and leave, he saw William II's manservant walking quickly, bowing his head and handing an urgent report to the king.

William II opened the letter and quickly scanned it, frowning and said to his uncle: "It was sent by the Duke of Brunswick. He found that the Austrians had transferred the troops from the South Netherlands back to their homeland. Luxembourg currently has less than 5,000 troops, so he is preparing to launch a general attack on the Austrian army in the next few days.

"But you just said that you need him to return to Silesia, so..."

Prince Heinrich pondered for a moment, then nodded and said: "Your Majesty, perhaps the Duke of Brunswick is right.

"The achievements that his 20,000 soldiers can achieve in the South Netherlands will be far greater than the role of him rushing back to Silesia.

"He will be able to completely cut off Austria's control over the wealthy South Netherlands, and at the same time, he will win a beautiful victory before the battle in Silesia breaks out. This will be a great encouragement for our soldiers in Silesia.

"Before that, we only need to defend the two fortresses in the west and south of Silesia and wait for the Duke of Brunswick to return in triumph. His 20,000 troops plus the Dutch army will not take too much time to deal with the 5,000 defenders of Luxembourg."

"But..." William II was still a little hesitant.

Prince Heinrich took two steps forward and whispered, "Your Majesty, if we can drive the Austrians out of the Southern Netherlands, if our army is in a bad situation in Silesia, we can use the Southern Netherlands as a bargaining chip."

The Southern Netherlands is Austria's only outlet to the Atlantic Ocean. In terms of economy, it is also relatively developed due to overseas trade. Its area is comparable to that of Silesia, and at least half of Silesia can be exchanged.

William II also fell into thought: "If we can influence the Southern Netherlands, Britain will also do more to support our battle in Silesia."

Britain regards the Low Countries as a springboard for the European countries to advance to the Atlantic Ocean, and also a strategic location that can threaten Britain, so it has always regarded this place as a strategic focus [Note 1]. If Prussia has a military presence in the Southern Netherlands, then Britain will definitely be willing to exchange lucrative interests, such as sending troops to participate in the Silesia War.

But he immediately became a little worried and said: "But who will command the Silesia battlefield? Or, dear uncle, you can show your former glory again."

Prince Heinrich once followed Frederick the Great to fight north and south, participated in the Silesian War and the Seven Years' War, and was also a fierce general.

Prince Heinrich thought for a moment, but shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, I am really not young anymore. Perhaps we can transfer the Duke of Brunswick back to Silesia and let Marquis Wahlstadt lead the army of the Southern Netherlands. There are very few Austrians there, and he is enough to deal with it."

The Marquis Wahlstadt he mentioned is Blücher, who is currently the deputy of the Duke of Brunswick and the Prussian marshal who will emerge in the anti-French alliance in the future.

…

Kregnitz, northwest Austria.

This is the only way to the Gnitz Fortress on the southwest side of Silesia.

Beside the goat trail, General Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmtz, the commander of the Austrian front army, put down his telescope and signaled his staff to speed up the march.

A moment later, dense drumbeats sounded in the several-kilometer-long queue beside him, and the soldiers' pace suddenly accelerated a bit.

General Wurmtz knew very well that the marching speed of the Austrian army was almost equivalent to the outcome of the battle. If they could reach Silesia one day earlier, they could capture more land before the Prussians were prepared.

Then, he turned his head and looked at the hazy white "thin line" behind the queue.

That was the French reinforcements.

Not only did the French march slowly, but they were also very impressive, as if they were here to save Austria.

"Only 30,000 soldiers." General Wurmtz sighed in dissatisfaction, "This will reduce our original force advantage by half."

According to the original agreement, the French would send at least 50,000 troops to support Austria, and until the Austrian army began to march towards Silesia, only 30,000 French troops arrived.

General Nauendorf, the cavalry commander, also shook his head: "France's financial situation is very bad. It is said that they have not even been able to gather the logistical supplies for 50,000 soldiers, so they can only send troops in batches.

"I heard from Vienna that in order to urge the French, His Majesty the Emperor has allocated 400,000 florins of military funds for them to purchase supplies. If nothing unexpected happens, the rest of the French army will be able to join the battle in half a month."

"Half a month?" General Wurmtz curled his lips slightly, "In half a month, we may have broken through Breslau, and those French people can just be used as an embellishment for our entry ceremony. "

Breslau is the capital of Silesia. It is located in the heart of Silesia and is also a strategic location that controls the north-south passage of Silesia. It can be said that if this place is captured, the victory of the entire Silesia can basically be established.

Of course, the Austrians also occupied Breslau in history, and then they were beaten up by the military genius Frederick the Great and drove back to Bohemia.

But now the Austrians all tacitly believe that without Frederick, Prussia will no longer be able to stop themselves from avenging the shame of the failure of the previous three Silesian Wars.

As the two were talking, they saw two cavalrymen galloping from the northeast. They pulled the reins not far from them and reported loudly: "General, our vanguard has crossed the Liegnitz border and no Prussian army has been found yet. "

General Wurmtz was secretly delighted. It seemed that as predicted before the war, this would be a surprise attack that would catch the Prussians off guard.

General Nauendorf came over and said, "Should we report the situation here to Marshal Lacy? The main force he leads should be one day away from here."

General Wurmtz glanced at his mighty vanguard troops - including 25,000 Austrian troops, 10,000 French troops and 3,000 Bavarian troops.

A powerful army of nearly 40,000 people broke into the undefended Silesia. Perhaps the battle would have been basically over before Marshal Lacy's main force arrived.

He immediately shook his head: "You see, there are no Prussians here at all, but the fighter planes never wait for us.

"While we were waiting for the marshal, the enemy might have already discovered something was wrong."

General Nauendorf frowned: "What is your plan?"

"Speed ​​up the march and deploy troops on both sides of the Liegnitz Fortress." General Wurmtz said confidently, "On one side, cut off their connection with Breslau, and on the other side, beware of the Saxons."

The west side of Liegnitz is Görlitz in Saxony, and the east side is close to Breslau. It is not only a bridgehead for attacking Silesia, but also a threat to Saxony after occupying it.

General Nauendorf hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded: "Your deployment is reasonable, but I think it is still necessary to report to Marshal Lacy."

"Yes, reporting military intelligence is necessary. And we should speed up the pace of capturing Liegnitz."

At noon the next day, the vanguard of the Austrian coalition forces, which had been marching all the way, could already see the Liegnitz Fortress from a distance.

When the French at the end of the team finally arrived at the front line, General Wumtz barely allowed the troops to rest. He immediately followed his pre-planned plan and sent the Bavarian Army and 5,000 Austrian troops to the west to defend Saxony, while he led the main Austrian force and the French. The army stormed Lignitz from the east.

Although the French like to show off and their movements are a bit slow, Wumuzi knows that their combat effectiveness is still very good. At least not worse than the Austrian army.

In the evening, the surveying and mapping team sent the topographic map near Lignitz Fortress to General Wumtz's tent.

Yes, although Austria has controlled Silesia for more than a hundred years, it did not even conduct detailed topographic mapping. It was not until after being beaten by Frederick the Great that it realized that it was not as familiar with Silesia as the Prussians.

In front of the battlefield map, Wumtz pointed to a high ground northeast of Lignitz and said to the French commander General Kellerman: "Your Majesty General, I will ask you to lead your troops to garrison here early tomorrow morning."

He pointed to a gentle slope next to the fortress: "I will lead the main force to deploy here and set up artillery positions here.

“You can directly bombard the fortress from here.

"When the Prussian defenders are driven out by artillery, I will hold them in front, and General, you will rush out from behind them from a high position. You will definitely defeat the Prussians in one fell swoop."

He turned to ask the staff officer beside him: "How many soldiers are there defending Lignitz?"

"According to our previous intelligence, there should be no more than 8,000 people, General."

"Very good." Wumuzi nodded, "Victory will definitely belong to us."

Before dawn the next day, the French army put away their tents and took advantage of the first ray of morning light to rush northeast of Lignitz.

However, as soon as they walked less than 3 kilometers, the cavalry in charge of reconnaissance in front hurriedly returned and reported to Kellerman: "General, a large number of enemy troops were found on the high ground directly ahead, numbering at least seven or eight thousand people, and they have completed their formation. ”

General Kellerman's heart tightened. He was still in marching formation. To fight against the Prussians who were close in number and complete the formation was almost the same as risking death.

He still remembered the scene when his army was attacked head-on by Frederick in Westphalia more than ten years ago.

"This is probably the main force of the Prussian army in Lignitz."

He made a judgment and immediately ordered one regiment to be left to defend on the spot, while the others retreated in an orderly manner. At the same time, he sent someone to notify Wumuzi to come for reinforcements.

However, what he did not expect was that the Austrian forward troops encountered greater trouble than he did and were already in a bitter battle. Wumuzi also sent cavalry and asked the French to support him immediately.

[Note 1] Low Countries: The Low Countries are the name given to the countries along the northwest coast of Europe. They got their name because the altitude here is very low. Including the Netherlands, Belgium (called Southern Netherlands in the 18th century), and Luxembourg.