Chapter 798: The Battle of Brussels II

No. 72

The lieutenants of the Royal Artillery Battalion studied university mathematics courses in the military academy. If they don’t have the ability to calculate the trajectory in half a minute, they can’t even think about getting a diploma.

The artillery conducted live-fire training at all costs, and one month of practice was equivalent to one year of practice for the British army.

The extra cost was exchanged for a superhuman shooting level.

The French army’s previous battle in the Southern Netherlands was too smooth, and the artillery had almost no room to play, and the team won.

Now they finally have a chance to show their strength.

Generally speaking, even a 12-pound cannon must be fired within 800 steps, that is, more than 400 meters, to ensure the killing effect.

But this time it was a defensive battle, and the Royal Artillery Battalion could calmly choose the position and measure the shooting parameters in advance, which was even simpler than the military academy exam content.

This led to them being able to maintain a very high hit rate when firing at the extreme range of 1.3 kilometers - the artillery positions were all located on high ground, and this range was not exaggerated. Howitzers can even fire up to 1.8 kilometers away, but at such a long distance, and with indirect fire, there is almost no practical significance.

After being bombarded, the British officers even thought they were ambushed, and hurriedly ordered the infantry line to stop advancing, sent skirmishers to search nearby, and only after confirming that the shells were fired from the French positions did they continue to attack.

With their delay, the Prussians who were flanking were left out.

The French artillery immediately turned the muzzle, allowing the Prussian army to enjoy a precise and intensive bombardment.

The Prussian army was suddenly in a state of confusion, and the commander had to order a retreat.

In this way, the first day of the coalition's attack ended hastily. They didn't even see the French soldiers, and nearly 400 people were taken away by the artillery.

The next day, the Duke of York adjusted his tactics and ordered his own artillery to go up first, using the advantage of numbers to suppress the French army - he had confirmed yesterday that the French army had only 37 guns, a little less than his own.

However, the level of the British artillery was already inferior, and the artillery shells could not reach the edge of the French artillery position.

They had to take the risk of approaching until they were about 900 steps away from the French army, and finally a shell barely landed near the opposite cannon.

But in the process of advancing, they had already become the focus of the French artillery.

After several rounds of accurate volleys, the British artillery had suffered heavy casualties and had to retreat in embarrassment, leaving 4 guns behind.

However, they did not gain nothing. The "tactics" of attracting firepower objectively covered the infantry.

The British infantry line came all the way to the bottom of the slope, and the French artillery was pointed at them again.

The Duke of York decided to seize this opportunity and sent his confidant General Harris to supervise the battle in person on the front line, asking him to seize the high ground occupied by the French before dark.

More than 12,000 British infantry, with the cooperation of 3,000 Austrian skirmishers, approached the French defense line at the top of the slope step by step under the continuous flying shells.

The Prussian infantry brigade on the right also rushed up quickly.

They were 1.2 kilometers away from the British army in the middle, which was definitely beyond the coverage of the French defense line.

As long as the British could delay the French army for 20 minutes, they could complete the flanking.

Soon, gunshots began to appear in the middle of the battlefield, indicating that the infantry on both sides of Britain and France had begun to exchange fire.

To be honest, the discipline of the Duke of York's Red Shirts was really good. Even when they were constantly bombarded by artillery, they still did not collapse and advanced more than 800 steps, successfully entering the distance of infantry fighting.

The French line array on the opposite side did not seem to be dense, which greatly boosted Harris's confidence. He kept urging the troops in the back row to press forward, while looking to the west.

But soon, the French Royal Infantry Division used percussion cap guns to teach the British what the generation gap in weapons was.

The loading speed and bullet power were much higher than the British flintlock rifles, and the British soldiers kept falling down one after another, with corpses rolling down the slope at any time.

On the French side, once a soldier was injured, he would retreat to the back of the slope, and someone would immediately come up there.

The British soldiers felt that there seemed to be countless enemies hiding on the back of the invisible slope.

Finally, the severe casualties made the extremely resilient Red Shirts unable to bear it. Harris used up his reserve troops, and the entire infantry line kept retreating under his scolding, and it was about to collapse.

At this moment, the sound of trumpets came from the west. Harris was immediately excited. The Prussians arrived at the designated position. That was the sound of their attack!

He immediately waved his sword and shouted: "Hold on a little longer! General Karl Kreut will soon defeat the French left wing!"

1.2 kilometers away, Count Karl Kreut's vanguard was close to the top of the slope.

Major Georg, who commanded the vanguard, excitedly pointed to the top of the slope and shouted: "Occupy there! Then turn to the east immediately, we have exceeded the French defense line..."

Before he finished speaking, he heard the sound of military drums from the slope, and then a flag with a dolphin and a golden iris appeared in his sight.

No mistake, one shot, one content, one look!

Georg was stunned.

How could this be possible?

More than 16,000 people were deployed in the middle, plus 6,000 soldiers on his side, a total of 22,000 people, and they barely pulled out a 1.2-kilometer-long battle line.

Even with so many people, the gap between the center and the right wing was already dangerous, so he had to be on guard at any time against the French cavalry cutting in from the junction and cutting himself and Harris's troops into two sections.

You know, both sides also deployed a large number of defensive forces on the left wing. Excluding cavalry, artillery and reserve troops, the French could not deploy more than 15,000 troops on the front.

But they were able to maintain a battle line of 1.2 kilometers!

How is this possible?

However, the dense gunfire from the top of the slope told him that all this was true.

Georg pulled the reins hard and loudly ordered the troops to form a line on the spot and prepare to fight the enemy in a line formation.

But the Prussian army had to run up the top of the slope quickly before. At this time, some people stopped according to the order, but more than one-third of the soldiers were still walking up, and the whole queue suddenly became a mess.

Opposite them, the French infantry line began to fire in an orderly manner.

Dense bullets flew into the Prussian crowd, and the already messy formation became even more chaotic in the blood and screams.

Count Karl Kreut in the distance was shocked and was about to order the reserve army to press forward, when he saw that the Georg Regiment in front of him had already fled like a frightened flock of sheep.

He looked up the slope with a telescope in confusion and saw that there were only two sparse rows of infantry on the French defense line, and the distance between the soldiers was also very large.

He immediately understood that the French used this sparse battle line to cover the 1.2-kilometer-wide battlefield.