#873 - Napoleon's Raid on Mantua
Chapter 8: Napoleon's Raid
It's no wonder Napoleon had such sighs. Before, the most elite troops under his command were the Lyon Legion, which couldn't be considered top-notch in the old army.
There were even several thousand new recruits with less than half a year of training.
Even so, he swept through most of Northern Italy.
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Now that he had the Royal Third Infantry Division in his hands, it was like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, winning easily.
By the time he finished his cup of coffee, Kostanovych's command flag in the distance had already fallen.
On the Austrian right wing, which was the first to be attacked, large numbers of soldiers began to kneel and beg for surrender.
Napoleon looked at his pocket watch and said to his staff officer:
"You see, I told Mr. Augereau that half a day at most would be enough. Well, in fact, we only used a little over 5 hours."
"By the way, is there any new news from Victor's side?"
"Not yet, General. But according to the time estimate, Colonel Victor should have retreated to Idro by now."
Napoleon nodded: "Order the soldiers to rest in Limone for half a day, and tomorrow morning we will teach Wurmser a lesson. Oh, get in touch with Marmont's Legion and see where they are now."
"Also, have the cavalry strictly block the road to the south."
"Yes, General."
Napoleon still had a lot of confidence in Victor. The latter led the Corsican Legion and the Lyon Legion. After nearly half a year of fighting in Italy, these troops had gained rich combat experience, and it was no problem to resist the Austrians for a day or two.
Moreover, he had also had a defensive line set up in Idro in advance.
In addition, it would take some time for Marmont's Legion to arrive from Cremona in the south.
Yes, from the moment he lifted the siege of the Mantua fortress and went to intercept Kostanovych, he had expected that the Austrians would send a large army to pursue him.
And he had made targeted deployments.
At the same time, the Desaix Legion, which had been staying in Verona, had also begun to move south.
According to the established battle plan, he would bypass the Po River and besiege the Mantua fortress again.
Noon the next day.
Wurmser received another report that the French army in Idro was still resisting, and was immediately so angry that he cursed.
If this continued, Napoleon's main force might realize that something was wrong and escape back to Milan!
And not just one or two cannons, but very dense rumbling.
Wurmser was immediately a little dazed.
Yesterday afternoon, the cavalry had scouted the north, and there were no enemy troops within at least two miles, so who was firing the cannons?
Before long, the commander of the Austrian right-wing army sent cavalry to answer his doubts.
The man ran to him in a panic, and said loudly:
"General, several thousand French troops suddenly attacked us..."
Wurmser's heart tightened. Where did these Frenchmen come from?
He did conduct a careful reconnaissance of the north side, because Napoleon's main force was there, but he never thought that Napoleon had left Marmont near Cremona, south of Lake Garda, a week ago.
At this time, more than 5,000 men from Marmont's Legion had arrived. By the time the Austrian cavalry discovered them, they were less than 3 kilometers away from the Austrian right wing.
At this time, Wurmser's main force was concentrated on the left wing, besieging Victor. After the right wing was suddenly attacked by Marmont, it immediately fell into a bitter battle.
Wurmser had even used his reserves before, and now he didn't even have the troops to transfer to the right wing, so he had to hurriedly recall the 3,000 men sent to Idro, and then worried that it was not safe enough, so he simply let Ranieri's Legion come back to help defend.
However, before the adjutant sent to Idro had even seen Ranieri, another bad news came from the Austrian right wing.
The cavalryman who came this time was covered in blood. After seeing Wurmser, he almost collapsed and handed over the letter from Commander Alvinczy:
"General, French troops have appeared behind us, as many as tens of thousands. General Alvinczy said that he can't hold on any longer."
Napoleon's main force had also arrived from Limone in the north.
Wurmser did not dare to hesitate any longer and immediately ordered the central army to move closer to the east to meet Alvinczy's Legion.
As for whether this would disconnect the left and right wings of the army, he couldn't care about it for the time being.
When he led the 15,000 men of the central army less than 4 kilometers to the east, he had already met Alvinczy's rout.
Wurmser had people stop several fleeing officers, and only after questioning them did he learn that his right-wing army had been defeated.
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Yes, Alvinczy only had more than 6,000 men in his hands, and he could not withstand Napoleon's two-pronged attack with nearly three times the strength.
Wurmser was shocked and hurriedly ordered the troops to turn around and rush to Idro to join his left-wing army and counterattack.
But Napoleon didn't give him a chance at all.
He left Junot to lead two thousand soldiers to continue to entangle Alvinczy's remnants, while he rushed straight to Wurmser's central army.
At the same time, the French Victor Legion in Idro discovered that the enemy had begun to retreat, and knew that General Napoleon had launched the attack according to plan, so they immediately ordered a counterattack against the Austrian army in front of them.
The Austrian army that had been besieging him was now unsure whether to leave or fight, and was constantly shrinking back under Victor's attack.
Napoleon's main force encountered Wurmser at about 4 pm.
The French soldiers, who had been fighting for most of the day, were not tired at all. They immediately took the lead with the cavalry artillery and launched an attack on the Austrian army from the north and south.
These soldiers of the direct army corps had been training for 5 kilometers of cross-country running with heavy loads all year round. In terms of physical strength, no army in the entire Europe could touch their heels.
Wurmser was calm and composed, and built a defensive position as quickly as possible, and personally led the guard to the front line to supervise the battle, which barely lasted until dark.
Under the moonlight, Wurmser first inspected the wounded soldiers and confirmed that he still had more than 19,000 soldiers who could be put into battle, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.
There were only about 20,000 French troops nearby. As long as he steadily retreated, he should have a chance to retreat back to the Mantua fortress.
He came to the tent and was about to discuss tomorrow's battle plan with the officers, when he saw several guards bringing a farmer-dressed man to the outside of the tent.
Wurmser looked at the "farmer's" credentials and immediately asked:
"Does Marshal Beaulieu have anything to say?"
Yes, that person had come from the Mantua fortress.
The "farmer" said in a hoarse voice: "General, the Ulm Legion was intercepted by the enemy yesterday afternoon and is currently blocked on the east bank of the Adige River."
"Another tens of thousands of French troops have surrounded Mantua..."
(I'll add the battle map tomorrow morning, it's really too late today!)
