Chapter 326: Terrifying French Artillery
Just as Hilld was confidently planning how to annihilate those detestable French artillerymen, he was astonished to discover that the cannons had begun to move!
He instinctively glanced back, realizing he had only covered about 300 meters in what must have been less than two minutes.
This meant the French artillery had hitched their cannons and begun to maneuver in just that short amount of time!
How was that possible?!
He watched as the French cannons retreated, his eyes nearly bulging with bloodshot fury, and immediately gritted his teeth, shouting, "Faster! We must stop those cannons!"
The French horse artillery had just fired at least nine volleys, inflicting hundreds of casualties on the Southern Netherlands army. If they were allowed to escape, it would severely damage their own morale.
In an instant, six squadrons of cavalry began to gallop with abandon. While not yet at a full charge, it was the maximum speed their horses could sustain over that distance.
However, the French cannons slipped away with remarkable speed. Hilld estimated they were moving at close to a cavalry trot.
Especially those wagons that resembled long, peaked roofs—they were practically disappearing into the French infantry line formation.
Hilld's deputy panted, "Those fellows run faster than foxes..."
Listening to the heavy breathing of the warhorses and cavalry beside him, Hilld's brows furrowed. Something was definitely off about how quickly the French hitched their horses—no, they had barely gone through a hitching process before the cannons began to retreat.
Naturally, he had no idea that this was the new horse artillery equipment and combat method Joseph had introduced for the Guards Corps.
The cannons had never been unhitched. When the Prussian cavalry attacked, the gunners simply drove the horses away immediately. Soldiers on the cannons used a winch to reduce the distance between the cannon and the horses, finally securing the trail of the gun carriage behind the driver's seat with a simple push-on latch.
As for the ammunition caissons, they were even faster. The powder chests and ammunition racks were pushed into the carriage, and they were off. The caissons were positioned behind the cannons, very close to the horses, so there was hardly any hitching problem.
The well-designed ammunition caissons moved almost as quickly as public horse-drawn carriages in the city.
This was also what gave the Guards Corps horse artillery the audacity to fire right in the enemy's face. In Napoleon's era, this tactic even had a name: close-range massed artillery fire, colloquially known as "cannons with bayonets fixed."
However, the Guards Corps hadn't fully employed the close-range firing tactic just now; otherwise, they would have used grapeshot to bombard the Prussian cavalry head-on. After all, this battle didn't require them to fight with such desperation.
In fact, if Joseph hadn't instructed them to deal with the Southern Netherlands infantry line formation effectively, Berthier wouldn't have even deployed the horse artillery to demonstrate such a maneuver.
Just as Hilld was seething with vexation, an aide standing nearby suddenly gazed into the distance. "Sir, it appears to be French cavalry."
Hilld quickly listened intently, and indeed, indistinct hoofbeats drifted from the east.
His heart clenched. He had nearly exhausted his horses chasing those swift French cannons. If they were suddenly ambushed by French cavalry now, his men would be nothing more than sitting ducks.
He frantically ordered two squadrons to stay and cover their retreat, while the rest immediately withdrew to their own positions.
However, his warhorse merely trod slowly, nostrils flaring, while the sound of hoofbeats behind him grew steadily closer.
Finally, the cavalry Hilld had left to cover their retreat clashed with the Guards Corps.
To be honest, the quality of the Guards Corps cavalry was indeed inferior to the Prussian Junker cavalrymen. Half of them had only learned horsemanship after entering the Paris Police Academy, and only the cavalrymen absorbed from the former French Guards had any real experience.
But now, they faced immobile "sitting ducks." After a flanking charge, the Prussian cavalry lost the will to resist and dismounted en masse to surrender.
Hilld looked back at the scene, cursing the French artillerymen even more viciously under his breath. Then he saw them: those damned horse artillerymen had circled behind the French infantry, charged back around from the west, and positioned themselves less than 150 meters in front of the Southern Netherlands infantry line formation, beginning to set up their cannons...
Meanwhile, the Guards Corps infantry line formation was also rapidly advancing.
No matter how fanatical the Southern Netherlands soldiers were, or how well their accompanying clerics could steady their morale, facing cannons spitting grapeshot directly in their faces without any effective means of retaliation, no one could maintain their morale from collapsing.
After nearly a thousand of their soldiers were slaughtered by the French horse artillery, the Southern Netherlands' first infantry line formation began to break. In truth, their ability to withstand nearly twenty volleys of grapeshot before falling into disorder was an astonishing feat.
General Wit, seeing the state of his infantry line formation through his telescope, hastily ordered the second line formation to advance. At the same time, the rhythmic drumbeat of the French infantry now echoed across the main battlefield.
Berthier had timed it perfectly, just as the Southern Netherlands' two infantry line formations were rotating, he ordered the Guards Corps to launch a column assault.
From the slopes on either side, the roar of Prussian cannons immediately sounded. Although the distance forced them to use only solid shot, it still posed a significant threat to the Guards Corps.
But soon, the Guards Corps horse artillery had maneuvered to the flank of the Prussian artillery positions on the eastern side, beginning to lay down suppressive fire.
Having no choice, the Prussian artillerymen had to turn their cannons to return fire, and the pressure on the Guards Corps infantry suddenly eased.
More than a dozen infantry columns swiftly advanced to within about 20 meters of the Southern Netherlands defensive line—the enemy was retreating in disarray, so this distance presented no danger—then skillfully deployed into a line formation and delivered a close-range volley against the Southern Netherlands army.
General Wit's second infantry line formation hadn't even advanced when he heard dense gunfire from the front, followed immediately by his own fleeing soldiers rushing towards them.
The Southern Netherlands soldiers had very little training; those retreating didn't know to go to the flanks, and those advancing didn't know to open gaps to let the fleeing soldiers pass, causing both sides to immediately crush together.
Meanwhile, the Guards Corps infantry line formation was already visible a little over 75 meters away.
...
Blücher was still discussing with his staff how to perfectly execute a pincer movement against the French army when a messenger quickly entered the tent and handed him a battle report.
Blücher saw Major Christel's seal on the wax and couldn't help but smile. It seemed Diekirch must have been captured. This way, while he crushed the French army, Luxembourg might already have fallen into Christel's hands.
He calmly unrolled the paper, but his face stiffened—it stated that Diekirch was heavily garrisoned by French troops, making any attack impossible. Christel was requesting to return and rejoin the main force.
"The French still have troops left in Diekirch?" Blücher frowned, handing the note to an aide.
Before he finished speaking, the tent flap was flung open again. This time, it was a messenger covered in gunpowder and bloodstains.
As the latter handed the battle report to Blücher, he said in a hoarse voice, "General, General Wit's defensive line has been shattered..."
"What?!" Blücher turned pale with alarm at the news, unfolding the battle report in a few swift motions. Indeed, it detailed the rout of the Southern Netherlands army, signed by Hilld.
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