Chapter 360: Divide, Outflank, Decisive Battle!
'Shouldn't the French be in the Ghent direction? How did they suddenly appear from the eastern suburbs of Brussels?' Charles II almost snapped his riding crop. He reluctantly dispatched another regiment to reinforce the ambushed troops and sent out numerous Hussars to scout ahead, to prevent the main force from being ambushed as well.
After Masson's surprise attack on the Dutch, he received Crown Prince Joseph's order to return north to Antwerp. So he circled west of Waterloo, maneuvering to the north of the Dutch forces.
Since Bronckhorst was on edge after the previous attack, he ordered his troops to maintain an alert formation and advance cautiously after leaving the town. Masson's forces had already completed their large circuit and begun sending out cavalry to scout the Dutch position, yet the Dutch army had only marched less than 8 kilometers.
Northwest of Brussels, by a small village more than 20 kilometers from Antwerp, the Guards Corps was resting.
They had been force-marching for two consecutive days, covering nearly 60 kilometers. At Charles II's marching speed, it would take him about another day and a half to reach this point.
In reality, if Joseph had truly intended to storm Antwerp, given the city's defensive strength, it would likely have been taken by the French before the Hanoverian army arrived.
But in that case, it would have amounted to helping Austria quell a rebellion, which was absolutely not the outcome he desired.
Inside the officers' tent in the middle of the Guards Corps camp, Berthier drew the final circle on the map, added a line of notes beside it, put down his pencil, and let out a long breath.
The intelligence reports from the various Hussar detachments were finally compiled. Joseph, standing nearby, looked at the long, serpentine formation of circles of varying sizes on the map, and couldn't help but smile in satisfaction.
Given 18th-century communication methods, scattered legions would essentially be left to their commanders' discretion. But with the current depth of the Guards Corps' senior officer pool, Joseph truly could not feel at ease.
"Yes, Your Highness." Berthier nodded, and after a brief thought, pointed southeast of Antwerp, where Charles II's main force was positioned. "The Hanoverians' artillery and infantry are already clearly disconnected. Approximately three regiments are also dispersed northeast of Brussels.
"Perhaps we can cut in between their rear guard and this scattered legion, while simultaneously detaching assault units to block their main force to the northwest.
"This way, the distance between our two outflanking legions won't be too great, allowing for easier command and mutual support."
Joseph carefully studied the enemy positions on the map and nodded in deep agreement.
Although he possessed advanced tactical ideas from a later era, when it came to specific operational deployment, it was still officers like Berthier, with their formal training and immersion in the military for over a decade, who were more professional.
He immediately summoned all the General Staff officers, as well as officers of colonel rank. Based on Berthier's ideas, they quickly formulated a detailed battle plan.
The Guards Corps, having rested for only half a day, resumed their forced march. However, this was nothing to them. During their time at the military academy, they often conducted continuous training exercises for a week, and their year-end final drills sometimes lasted for more than half a month, during which high-intensity marching was almost constant.
Speed was the fundamental principle of the Outflanking and Interpenetration Tactic!
Therefore, even if a commander of another army on the European continent had systematically studied the Outflanking and Interpenetration Tactic, he would still despair to find that he simply could not implement it. Their armies, from assembly to reaction, from physical endurance to morale, could not sustain such high-intensity maneuver warfare.
And if you aren't faster than the enemy, it would be impossible to disrupt their deployments and find opportunities.
By noon the next day, the Guards Corps had force-marched 30 kilometers, arriving southeast of Antwerp.
At this time, Charles II was still blindly pressing forward, preparing to garrison Antwerp and resist the French siege.
After resting for two hours on the spot, the Guards Corps launched a general assault against the scattered Hanoverian army.
First, the main French force rapidly cut in from the northwest, separating the legion Charles II had previously sent to reinforce the Dutch from the main Hanoverian army.
It was only then that Charles II was startled to realize that over 10,000 French soldiers were now less than 6 kilometers away from him.
And the distance between the head and tail of his own forces already exceeded 5 kilometers...
"Did these Frenchmen just sprout from the ground?!"
He wiped the sweat from his brow with the lace trim of his cuff, struggling to compose himself. He pointed at a tall officer and declared loudly, "Lieutenant Colonel Schmidt, immediately lead the dragoons to set up a defensive line in Orxennes village. You are not to retreat a single step without my orders!"
"Yes, Marshal!"
Lieutenant Colonel Schmidt turned away, his face instantly fell. With less than two regiments of dragoons in total, how could they possibly contend with the main French force in such haste? This was clearly an order for him to delay the French with the lives of his soldiers.
Immediately after, Charles II ordered two infantry regiments to rendezvous with the baggage trains and cannons of the rear guard, while the remaining troops were to quickly consolidate around him.
At this point, he still commanded approximately 16,000 troops. If he could just complete his line formation, he might still stand a chance against the French.
And the 6,000 Southern Netherlands troops from Brussels would arrive to reinforce them by tomorrow afternoon. At which point, they could even launch a counterattack against the French.
However, the battle situation developed entirely differently from what he had imagined.
The Guards Corps' horse artillery and the dragoon regiment assigned to cover them took just over an hour to cut through the nearly two-kilometer gap between the Hanoverian main force and their rear artillery.
Subsequently, on Napoleon's advice, the Artillery Battalion quickly set up positions on the northern hills, while the dragoon regiment formed an infantry line formation beside the thickets below the hills.
Simultaneously, the main force of the Guards Corps launched a fierce assault on the three dispersed Hanoverian regiments.
Leveraging their overwhelming numerical superiority, four infantry regiments spearheaded the attack in column formation, with cavalry outflanking them from both sides.
This Hanoverian detachment had been on the march just an hour earlier, and only learned of the impending decisive battle with the French from a messenger sent by Charles II.
Charles II's order to them was to try to consolidate with the main force and to disregard the Dutch.
However, before they could even fully re-form their ranks, the French formations appeared in their sight.
The battle outcome was never in doubt. The Guards Corps cavalry performed a feint to pin the enemy, while the frontal infantry were already charging directly into the Hanoverian lines.
The columns swiftly deployed into line formations. Before they could even deliver a volley, the Hanoverian army, stunned by the terrifying momentum, began to break and scatter.
Comments