Chapter 1248: The Death Line, Part Four
More than half an hour later, the French Hussars finally confirmed that the main body of the opposing Russian army was moving south.
Seydoux, commander of the 31st Brigade, immediately sensed that something was amiss.
The entire Offenburg defense line was over ten kilometers wide—the terrain in Baden was flat, so defenses had to rely on towns and villages—and almost every section of the line was under attack from the Coalition Forces.
With several thousand Russian soldiers at Oracle Village suddenly departing, it meant that the enemy forces facing another section of the defense line would immediately swell.
Seydoux quickly made a decision, leaving one infantry battalion to continue defending Oracle Village, while he led the main body of the brigade south to reinforce. At the same time, he dispatched messengers to the Offenburg command post to report the enemy's movements.
After a quick reorganization, the 31st Brigade began marching towards Schnait Town in the south at 9:30 AM.
Fortunately, the French soldiers had recovered well overnight. They jogged almost the entire way, and in just over an hour, they could see the town's clock tower.
At that moment, the cavalry scouts ahead returned and reported to Seydoux, "Lieutenant Colonel, the Russian forces arrived east of the town more than ten minutes ago and appear to be preparing to launch an attack."
Seydoux turned to look at the disorderly soldiers beside him, his brows knitting in a frown. After the forced march, his raw recruits had completely lost their formation, but if they didn't engage quickly, Schnait Town would likely be swiftly overrun by the Coalition Forces, who had concentrated their superior numbers.
These French recruits, mobilized only two or three months ago, were bound to fall into disarray between marching and lining up. This was precisely the moment he needed.
Seydoux loudly ordered the entire army to shift into battle formation and moved the most disorganized battalions to the rear to prevent them from interfering with the others.
Just then, a liaison officer from Schnait Town arrived, calling out to him, "Lieutenant Colonel, please reinforce the left flank as quickly as possible. Over twenty thousand enemy troops are attacking our defensive line."
Seydoux was startled. "That many?!" he exclaimed.
Schnait Town was just a small town; though its position was relatively important, only a little over three thousand French soldiers were assigned to defend it.
The liaison officer wiped sweat from his brow, urgently saying, "Since this morning, enemy forces from both the north and south of the town have been concentrating here. The enemy from Irhic Heath Town and Leiratz Village must have arrived..."
Seydoux personally hurried back and forth with several staff officers to organize the formations. Once the southernmost battalions were roughly assembled, he immediately ordered a counterattack against the nearest Russian forces.
On the French defensive line northeast of Schnait Town, Gaizka and his comrades were just breathing a sigh of relief after narrowly repelling a British attack when they suddenly heard the military drums pound rapidly once more.
It was a signal of an approaching enemy.
Gaizka looked up and saw a long gray line appearing from the north.
Unlike the British, this gray line appeared somewhat loose, yet its advance speed was considerably faster. Their own cannons had only fired fifteen or sixteen times before he could already discern the silhouettes of the enemy soldiers.
"It's the Russians," Sergeant Perpard beside him said in a low voice. "We're in trouble."
Gaizka's hand began to tremble again. He instinctively squeezed the button from Naseli in his pocket, thinking, 'Perhaps soon, someone will carry my button or something similar, and occasionally recall my name.'
"Prepare—"
The company's Second Lieutenant's shout echoed.
Gaizka raised his rifle, but the dense mass of Russians before him enveloped him in a palpable despair.
However, the Russian Line Formation suddenly paused, then began to turn north. Simultaneously, a British Line Formation advanced to fill its place from behind.
Someone in the distance shouted, "It's reinforcements. Our reinforcements have arrived."
Gaizka's heart immediately settled, and he began to aim carefully at the enemy.
However, Lieutenant Colonel Dumas, standing atop a granary outside Schnait Town, had his brows tightly furrowed.
Through his Telescope, he clearly saw over four thousand Russian soldiers outflanking his left wing, while the 31st Brigade, arriving as reinforcements, had committed fewer than three thousand soldiers.
Even worse, their own reinforcements' Line Formation was broken into four sections, and their marching speed was inconsistent, with the eastern flank clearly lagging behind the others by nearly a hundred meters.
If they were to engage the well-prepared Russian forces like this, they would certainly be quickly routed.
He had initially intended to send someone to warn the 31st Brigade, but then he noticed the thin forces on his own defensive line and the Russian troops approaching from the right flank.
He let out a heavy sigh, simply telling his staff officer, "Have the reserves prepare for battle. I hope we still see the sunset today..."
To the left of the Schnait Town defensive line.
Yefremov, too, saw the disorganized French formation. He chuckled dismissively, then turned to his orderly and gestured, "Tell my lads to fix their Bayonets. We'll end this fight as quickly as possible, then be the first to charge into town."
He was a staunch admirer of Suvorov, firmly believing in the latter's theory that "a bullet is a fool, a Bayonet is a hero."
Certainly, in the warfare of that era, a Bayonet Charge was indeed far more potent than musket fire. According to Suvorov, a single Bayonet could wound three men in a short time, whereas hundreds of bullets might simply fly aimlessly through the air.
Therefore, once a Bayonet Charge was launched, as long as the enemy's morale could be crushed, they could be routed almost instantly.
And this was precisely the Russian army's forte; historically, they had often relied on close-quarters combat to break through opponents stronger than themselves.
Facing a French force that was outnumbered and disorganized, Yefremov was certain the battle here would be over in mere minutes.
Soon, urgent bugle calls resounded from the north side of the town.
Immediately afterward, the long-standing monotonous drumbeat from the Russian front lines abruptly accelerated, becoming rapid and furious, like hail cascading onto a rooftop.
A hoarse, suppressed roar burst from the throats of the Russian soldiers, "Ura—"
The shouts quickly converged into a torrent, like a dam bursting.
A gray "wave" surged wildly towards the meager white Line Formation opposite, seemingly capable of crushing it to dust with a single collision.
The French soldiers of the 31st Brigade instantly halted, startled by the sheer force of this momentum.
However, just a few seconds later, a French glory representative turned and waved to the soldiers, shouting, "See? Those beasts are charging, but we are fearless!
"For the Homeland!"
Immediately, someone else loudly chimed in, "Right! Let them see who truly owns this battlefield!"
"It is the great France!"
"For the Homeland! Citizens of France, advance!"
"Long live France! Fix bayonets!"
"Annihilate all enemies!"
The charging Russian soldiers were astonished to find that the Frenchmen opposite them showed none of the fear usually seen in their past enemies; in fact, their faces were alight with excitement and fanaticism!
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