Chapter 1202: The Initiative Is Mine
"It is clear the French have realized our main thrust is toward Northern Italy," Archduke Charles began, his gaze sweeping over the officers gathered in the briefing room. "Their Crown Prince is en route. His presence will undoubtedly bolster the morale of the French troops."
He turned and rapped his knuckles against the map, specifically on Mantua. "Thus, we must seize all territory north of Mantua before he arrives with reinforcements!"
The Austrian surprise attack had been highly effective, catching the French completely off guard. Now, the priority was to capitalize on that advantage.
Charles quickly began issuing orders for the subsequent phase of the operation:
"General Wurmser, lead the right wing along the Alps. Secure Trento and the regions to its west immediately.
"General Milius, command the left wing in the assault on Padua. There should be a French infantry division stationed there...
"Prince of Schwarzenberg, lead the 12th and 15th Guard Divisions. Cut in from the west of Verona..."
After a brief three-day respite, the Austrian army fanned out across the front, launching fierce assaults on several key towns north of the Mantua Fortress.
Much like the earlier Battle of Udine, the French Fifth Army defending Verona and other positions found themselves unable to withstand an enemy that outnumbered them several times over. They were further devastated by the torrential volleys from the Austrians' Wind Rifles. The French line began to crumble, retreating steadily from the Belluno line.
The French Crown Prince finally arrived in Mantua, supposedly bringing the garrison's strength up to approximately 100,000 men.
Of course, it was all smoke and mirrors.
In reality, Joseph had brought fewer than three thousand soldiers with him.
At that moment, the Mantua-Mincio-Lake Garda defense line was held by the French Fifth Army, the 12th Infantry Division, and roughly 14,000 soldiers from Milan and Modena.
Their total strength was only 65,000.
However, after Archduke Charles conducted a probing attack on the Mantua Fortress and was met with a ferocious wall of fire, he became convinced that the French Crown Prince had arrived with an entire army group in tow.
He lacked the confidence to storm a fortress defended by 100,000 Frenchmen with only 180,000 troops—even if he succeeded, the casualties would be catastrophic.
Yet, he felt no rush. His initial strategic objective had been achieved: Mantua was now pinned down by his massive force.
The current situation was exactly what he had anticipated before the Vienna planning conference, and he already had a countermeasure in place.
Reading the latest battle reports, a satisfied smile touched the Archduke's normally stern face.
Since the start of the campaign, the Prussian army had been conducting feints toward Baden. This had kept nearly 100,000 French elite troops pinned down near Karlsruhe, hesitant to leave their positions.
But by now, General Blücher should have led his main force south toward Stockach. In a few days, he would control Zurich.
The French would then be preoccupied with the 50,000 German mercenaries led by the British General Thomas Picton, who would be launching constant raids into the Rhineland.
By the time the French realized what was happening, Blücher’s 60,000 Prussians and over 20,000 Hanoverian troops would have swept through Switzerland. They would emerge from the Gotthard Pass directly into the heart of Italy—Lombardy.
Then, the 180,000-strong Austrian main force would coordinate with Blücher’s 80,000-man strike force to pin Mantua in a pincer movement. The strongest fortress in Italy would surely fall in short order.
From there, the Coalition could choose to strike directly into eastern Burgundy from Switzerland or launch an assault on Toulon from the south. The initiative of the war would be firmly in the hands of the Coalition!
...
As the Austrian army was celebrating its victory at Udine, the British commander, Sir John Moore, led twenty thousand troops out of Hanover. Using the pretext that "the Netherlands had betrayed the Anglo-Dutch alliance," they rapidly crossed the flat plains of the Heeren region and launched an attack on the Dutch heartland of Utrecht.
Simultaneously, the British North Sea Fleet implemented a blockade along the Dutch coast.
A few years ago, the Dutch Parliament would have likely surrendered immediately. However, following the crash of the Dutch East India Company’s stock and the British seizure of the Cape of Good Hope colony, Dutch sentiment toward the British had plummeted.
Driven by public outcry, the Dutch Parliament was forced to muster its limited military forces, relying on the dense network of waterways for defense.
But the Dutch Army could only scrape together 6,000 troops, and their combat effectiveness was poor. They were driven back steadily by the British.
Only a week later, Sir John Moore had advanced to Amersfoort, just twenty kilometers from Utrecht.
Inside the Dutch Parliament building, a grueling vote was underway.
Just the previous afternoon, the Dutch commander Daendels had proposed breaching several sections of the dikes between Lake Veluwe and the Lek River. The plan was to flood the Utrecht plains to halt the British advance.
After a heated debate, the Dutch Parliament passed Daendels' plan by a narrow margin of five votes.
The population around Utrecht was not particularly dense; with proper management, the flooding would not cause excessive casualties.
Meanwhile, the Dutch Parliament urgently dispatched envoys to French officials in Brussels, signaling their willingness to allow French troops into the Netherlands.
East of Amersfoort.
Sir John Moore watched as lake water gradually submerged the roads, his eyes flashing with anger.
The water level was actually less than thirty centimeters deep, but it was enough to make the roads impassable for his army. Even if the infantry waded through, they would not be in any condition to fight. Furthermore, the supply wagons and artillery could never make it through the water.
Soon, an aide brought him a report on the flooded areas of the nearby Utrecht plains.
A total of seven dams had been destroyed, and the floodwaters now perfectly encircled the city of Utrecht.
"General," the aide said from the side, "the engineering corps believes we would need to repair at least three of the dams before the army can pass with any degree of safety.
"And that project would take about four months to complete. Your orders...?"
Moore frowned. In four months, he should have reached the Namur region, not be wasting time here with the Dutch.
"Issue the order to retreat," he signaled to the aide.
"Pardon? I must have misheard..."
"No, you heard correctly. The entire army is to withdraw to Zwolle," Moore said with a cold sneer. "Since the Dutch are so fond of breaking dikes, why don't we give them a hand?"
Three days later, just as the citizens of Amsterdam were rejoicing over the British retreat, a piece of shocking news arrived.
"The damned British have blown up every single dam on Lake Veluwe!" an officer shouted, bursting into the Parliament building drenched in sweat. "Everything from Amersfoort to Harderwijk is now underwater!
"Currently, the British army is bypassing the floods via Cologne. They are likely heading toward Nijmegen..."
The Dutch parliamentarians were stunned.
Nijmegen was a town on the Waal River. The British were almost certainly planning to breach the dikes there!
The entire country was low-lying. If the Waal River dikes were destroyed, the torrents from the Rhine would submerge almost all the agricultural land in the southern Netherlands!
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