Chapter 1475: The Battle Against the Frigid Cold, Part Four
Inside the city of Vyazma.
In the operations room of the Russian General Headquarters, a staff officer drew several lines on the map pointing toward Kaluga. "General, this is the battle report we just received. The Polish Madalinski Legion has not retreated to the west; instead, they show signs of intending to attack Kaluga."
Barclay de Tolly frowned. "Are they on a suicide mission? General Wittgenstein will catch them shortly."
Without supplies, even if Madalinski captured Kaluga, his forces would be annihilated eventually due to a lack of ammunition.
Kutuzov replied calmly, "It is because they are about to run out of grain. Kaluga is the nearest place where they can obtain food."
He turned to a herald. "Transfer the garrison from Obninsk to Kaluga. Order Wittgenstein's Corps to accelerate their pursuit."
"Yes, General!"
Kutuzov looked back at the area around Smolensk on the map. "Is there any news from Prince Bagration?"
"Not yet, General," the staff officer replied. "After the Poles launched a single attack on Smolens Town, they have become very quiet."
After sensing the Polish rearguard's intention to move north, Kutuzov had ordered the Bagration Corps to defend the Toropets line. Simultaneously, he mobilized the Samoylov Legion, which had been part of the encirclement to the south, to move north and pressure the Polish forces.
"Yes, General!"
As the herald was recording the orders, the door was suddenly flung open with a loud bang. A lieutenant colonel rushed in, looking toward Kutuzov with a face full of anxiety. "General, the Salayilov Legion was ambushed the day before yesterday at noon. The situation is... not optimistic."
"Currently, Salayilov has retreated toward Glinka."
"Furthermore, Kosciuszko's rearguard of over thirty thousand men is fleeing south—"
The officers in the meeting room were stunned for a moment before they began whispering among themselves in low, urgent voices.
Kutuzov's strategy had been to constantly harass and pin down the Polish army during their westward retreat, ultimately relying on the harsh winter to grind them down.
But now that the Poles were no longer heading west, the extensive deployments stretching from Smolensk to Minsk had been rendered completely useless.
Kutuzov's eyelid twitched, but his expression quickly returned to its usual composure. He gestured for silence. "Kosciuszko must have realized he was being surrounded. I must admit, he is a very clever opponent."
He rose and walked to the map, staring intently at it for a long while before suddenly tapping the area south of Dorogobuzh. "Therefore, the Polish vanguard certainly didn't go to Kaluga. They are moving south to rendezvous with Kosciuszko."
General Barclay nodded. "Fortunately, they still haven't solved their logistical issues."
Kutuzov turned around and issued new commands. "Order Wittgenstein to find the Poles as quickly as possible and find a way to delay them."
"The Samoylov Legion, after resting and reorganizing, will move to the left bank of the Dnieper River to set up defenses and prevent the Poles from escaping back to their country."
"All other corps are to assemble immediately and pursue them to the south!"
Although the situation on the battlefield had changed, it had not slipped entirely out of his control.
With the reinforcements of new recruits from Moscow, his total strength had reached 115,000 men. This did not even include the troops arriving from Transcaucasia.
As for the Polish army, after diverting troops to garrison the cities they had occupied along the way, Kosciuszko's main force consisted of only about 70,000 men, and their supply lines were severed.
As long as they could catch up with the Polish army, they could still be swiftly annihilated.
Early the next morning, the 30,000 Russian troops stationed in Vyazma also began their march south.
Sitting in his carriage, Kutuzov was busy writing a report to the Tsar, claiming that he had already recaptured several major towns, including Dorogobuzh, Smolensk, and Orsha.
South of the city of Muregino.
A lieutenant colonel struggled through the heavy snow until he found Kosciuszko's flag. He urged his horse forward, shielding his face from the wind and snow with his hand before he could finally speak. "Marshal, I believe we should let the men rest in this weather! My soldiers are falling every minute! They need tents and hot soup!"
Saint-Cyr interrupted him. "Lieutenant Colonel Kohn, the heavy snow hides our movements. This is a necessary risk; otherwise, we will suffer even greater casualties."
Kosciuszko added, "The situation for the 16th and 22nd Infantry Regiments must be even worse. We cannot waste the opportunity they have created for us!"
"But—"
Saint-Cyr sighed and pointed toward the distant hills. "Once we reach the pass where we can find shelter from the wind, let everyone rest for two hours."
To shake off the Russian pursuit, he had frequently utilized the cover of dusk or heavy blizzards to march, gaining at least 20 kilometers of distance.
However, this also resulted in many soldiers falling behind. In an era without communication devices, it was easy to get lost when the regimental flags were obscured by the snow. In such extreme weather, separating from the main body was practically a death sentence.
A few hours later, a modest hill finally shielded the Polish soldiers from the howling gale. The snow, which had been flying horizontally, became much gentler in the lee of the slope.
A tall military doctor walked through the ranks, shouting in a thick Lyon accent, "Each company is to detail ten men to cut wood! Start boiling water immediately. Drinking snow water is strictly forbidden!"
Freshly fallen snow was relatively clean, but as soon as it hit the ground, it was quickly contaminated. This was a conclusion drawn by the French Medical Service through extensive experiments on rabbits.
Moreover, drinking snow directly would lead to hypothermia. Even if one didn't freeze to death, it would severely lower the immune system.
Several Polish officers immediately translated the doctor's words into Polish and Lithuanian, assigning personnel to supervise the process.
Indeed, Saint-Cyr had brought more than just his guards to Yartsevo; he was accompanied by fifteen French military doctors.
Though the medicine they carried was limited, they relied on advanced epidemic prevention concepts to help the Polish soldiers significantly reduce their infection rates.
One must understand that in such freezing weather, those who actually froze to death were not the majority; most lost their lives to disease.
Simply by mandating that soldiers drink boiled water, use designated latrines, and treat wounds with phenol, the French doctors had reduced the rates of dysentery, wound infections, and paratyphoid fever by more than half.
Even so, the Polish army's daily non-combat casualties still numbered in the hundreds.
At the same time, in the city of Pochinok, about 50 kilometers north of the Polish position, the Russian Bagration Corps was also suffering.
The city had long been deserted, and after the Polish army passed through, every scrap of wood had been stripped away and burned for fuel.
Currently, Russian soldiers were huddled together in groups of three or five, piling blankets layer upon layer to stay warm.
Every so often, someone would go limp and collapse to the ground, only to be dragged away later by a body-collection detail.
However, even this brief respite lasted less than two hours before the drums for assembly sounded like a curse.
Bagration had received orders to 'catch up with the Poles at the greatest possible speed,' forcing him to conduct a continuous forced march in this hellish weather.
As he dragged his exhausted body onto his horse, a staff officer ran up to him and whispered, "General, there were 210 non-combat deaths today. Another 130 men have contracted relapsing fever. We need more uniforms."
Relapsing fever was caused by lice bites. To eliminate this disease in the army, it was necessary to enter an infection zone, uniformly change clothes, and then wash and bake the infested garments.
However, the Russian army was currently in the 'no-man's land' created by Kutuzov.
Originally, they could have obtained supplies from the rear nearby, but they had followed the Poles over 100 kilometers to the south, making logistical transportation significantly more difficult.
Adding to the problem, the Poles had left small detachments to repeatedly harass the supply wagons. This forced the Russian army to focus all their logistical capacity on transporting food and fodder. Even the supply of ammunition had been drastically reduced, and other items like medicine and clothing had effectively dwindled to zero.
Comments