He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 137

(137) Napoleon Defeats Karl Right Before Vienna

Let’s rewind to just before the first shot was fired.

“Seriously, who uses tactics like this? Have you ever seen anything like it, Leiberich?”

Archduke Karl was no novice.

As of December 1795, he was 24 years old, two years younger than Napoleon.

He had participated in the war since the early days of the French Revolutionary War.

For five years, Karl didn’t remain in the rear or avoid combat; he went to the front and commanded directly.

In Flanders, he defeated Jourdan at Neerwinden.

On the Rhine, he repelled Moreau’s full-scale offensive and captured Desaix, who was in the rear.

In the original timeline, around this time, Marceau, the commander of the Paris National Guard, died in battle with Archduke Karl.

Karl personally commanded all these battles.

His method of spreading out the formation widely and then attacking the enemy’s weak points from the side was particularly effective.

Such an excellent commander, Archduke Karl, had two weaknesses.

One was that he had never fought Napoleon.

For example, he didn’t understand the seemingly absurd tactic of launching a preemptive cavalry charge.

His experienced chief of staff, Leiberich, was equally perplexed.

“I… I don’t understand. Why a cavalry charge?”

“First, order General Hiller! Tell him to have the line infantry ready. Tell Count Bellegarde on the left wing to strengthen his defenses! And send out the cavalry!”

“Yes, Your Highness. I will call Rosenberg’s cuirassiers [heavy cavalry wearing armor]!”

Johann von Hiller, Heinrich von Bellegarde, Franz Seraph von Rosenberg.

All of them were generals who had served under Archduke Karl on the Rhine front.

Hiller (41), Bellegarde (40), and Rosenberg (34) were all relatively young for Austrian generals.

Karl’s young and energetic officers quickly lined up their troops.

The cavalry led by Rosenberg were heavy cavalry wearing cuirasses.

In a cavalry-to-cavalry fight, they would likely defeat the light cavalry rushing in.

“Prepare to aim! Shoot when the enemies rush in! Then Brigadier General Rosenberg will take care of it!”

General Hiller shouted, reviewing his white-uniformed infantry.

Once the infantry formed a line and fired, it was difficult for even a cavalry to win, no matter how fiercely they charged.

At that moment, a bullet pierced Hiller’s arm.

This was the moment when Lannes ordered the first shot to be fired.

-Bang!

Hiller grabbed his arm and collapsed.

“Ugh, those… those guys? It’s not a pistol?”

Cavalry usually shoots with pistols and then charges.

But Lannes was firing from horseback with a breech-loading rifle [an early type of rifle that could be loaded from the rear].

The range was almost as long as that of the infantry.

They were just about to enter each other’s effective range.

However, a bullet that maintained its lethality sniped the commander’s arm.

General Hiller shouted, spraying blood.

“Open fire! Retaliate, now!”

Hiller’s line infantry hurriedly raised their muskets.

At the same time, Bellegarde’s line infantry, who had received orders, ran to support.

Rosenberg’s cuirassiers, who were in the rear, also began to gallop, detouring.

If things continued like this, they would be able to repel the enemy gun cavalry smoothly.

At that moment, a cannon roared.

-Whoosh, bang!

Archduke Karl, who was anxiously watching the front, widened his eyes.

“What is it?”

He clearly heard a sound.

But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t see the cannonball falling.

Then where was the cannonball being fired from?

Suddenly, Colli, the defeated general of Sardinia, who had been holding his breath at the end of the command post, shouted.

“Commander! It’s behind us!”

Karl turned his head.

The small town of Pressbaum, right in front of Vienna, wasn’t completely flat.

It was surrounded by highlands due to the influence of the Alps.

The highlands to the south were covered with forests, obscuring the view.

From there, the horse artillery was detouring and shelling.

The shelling was falling on Rosenberg’s cuirassiers, who were just setting out.

Karl staggered as he stared blankly at the scene.

“Surely, this is our territory and capital, Vienna! How is an ambush possible!”

The situation hadn’t been completely reversed yet.

Karl’s generals were maintaining their strength, and the line infantry and artillery were intact.

They had just been hit by a surprise attack from behind.

However, Karl had another weakness.

His body was extremely weak.

Archduke Karl, who had always suffered from mild epilepsy, was shocked.

In an instant, Archduke Karl staggered and collapsed due to a seizure.

“Your Highness!”

Leiberich, Colli, and Kerpen rushed to support Karl.

-Neighhhhh!

The sound of horses neighing resounded loudly in Pressbaum.

***

This was the emperor’s mistake, who had never fought a war himself.

-Bang! Click, bang! Click, bang!

The sound of gunfire echoed, and the smoke of flames rose.

The militiamen who had come up to the walls of Vienna for the defense watched the scene in amazement.

Beethoven was among them, though not as a soldier.

“Amazing. It’s terrible, but truly beautiful.”

Of course, Beethoven didn’t know anything about tactics.

However, the way Napoleon moved his troops was dynamic, stimulating the sharp aesthetic sense of an artist.

After fixing the enemy’s gaze on the front, he sent unexpected troops to the rear.

After disrupting the enemy’s lines through the attack, he engaged in combat by pressuring the infantry from the flanks of the left and right wings.

Finally, he divided the enemy and annihilated them separately.

Even though this process was still in its early stages, it seemed as if it was being drawn in Beethoven’s head.

Just like when composing a song, the inspiration came from beginning to end.

At that time, a young man sighed next to Beethoven.

“His Majesty should have stationed troops on the Schoenbrunn Mountain, not the walls!”

Beethoven turned his head at the sudden words.

The young man was handsome, but a cunning look stood out in his eyes.

Noticing Beethoven’s sharp gaze, the young man glanced back and smiled warmly.

“Oh, aren’t you the pianist Herr Beethoven?”

“Do you know me?”

“Of course. Aren’t you famous as a master of improvisation? There is probably no one in Vienna who doesn’t know Mr. Beethoven. You are currently the best in Vienna!”

Beethoven, who was somehow in a good mood, smiled contentedly and asked back.

“But what do you mean by saying that troops should have been stationed on the Schoenbrunn Mountain?”

“Ah, that’s a simple story. You can see that the French are mobilizing artillery from behind. It seems to be horse artillery, and they are not sparing gunpowder.”

“Is that so? Well, the cannon is loud.”

Indeed, it was loud enough to shake the walls of Vienna.

-Bang!

Marmont’s horse artillery was pouring out all its power.

Although it wasn’t possible to know that far from Vienna, it could be seen that Karl’s army was in chaos due to the shelling.

In front, the cavalry was charging while shooting.

The sight of the lines of infantry bravely holding out but being unable to withstand and being pierced came into Beethoven’s view.

The young man with cunning eyes clicked his tongue.

“If the militiamen had been waiting on Schoenbrunn Mountain! By now, those artillerymen would have been turned into bullet fodder in an instant. That’s a pity.”

“Can the militia face the regular army?”

“It’s a matter of unit match-ups. Artillery has difficulty dealing with infantry, especially if distance is not given.”

Schoenbrunn Mountain, where the imperial family’s summer palace was located, was on the outskirts of Vienna.

From this mountain, the battlefield, Pressbaum, could be seen at a glance.

The horse artillery’s attack could have been immediately identified and attacked.

Beethoven shrugged his shoulders as he listened to the story.

“It’s not very artistic, but it’s an effective tactic.”

“Hehe, war is not art, Herr Beethoven.”

“You don’t seem like an artist either; how do you know me? Are you perhaps a noble?”

The young man still wore a friendly smile with cunning eyes.

“I’m not a very great noble. I’m someone who works for the great nobles.”

“Your name?”

“Please call me Clemens.”

The young man, Clemens, smiled brightly.

“My name is Clemens von Metternich.”

It was the day when the musician and diplomat representing the 19th century first met on the walls of Vienna.

Along with the sound of the cannon of the army commanded by Napoleon.

***

In the end, it is the infantry that ends the war.

-Bang! Click, cock, bang! Click, cock, bang!

The noise resounded strongly as if it were a burst.

However, the sound of gunfire being fired now was clearly a musket with rifling [a musket with grooves inside the barrel to make the bullet spin and fly straighter].

Here, the sound of horseshoes scattering like cavalry spread out followed.

-Doo doo doo!

The Pyrenees light infantry scattered under the command of Lannes and Bessières, and behind them, the infantry was advancing.

Shooting, changing formation, and advancing again while reloading.

It was a slow but ironclad formation.

The Augereau Division, which had spread out in a horizontal line, covered the Austrian army from the left wing.

The Masséna Division ran to support from the right wing.

“Now, advance the line in a column!”

Taking advantage of the enemy’s confusion, they rushed in a column even if there was damage.

Just as the enemies were about to start firing in a hurry, almost right in front of them.

Langpon, Masséna’s assault leader, aimed his gun at the front.

“Shoot, bury the Austrian bastards in the pit!”

Greetings of bullets were exchanged.

However, the vanguard of the Masséna Division was the first to shoot.

In various places, Austrian line infantry fell, staining their white uniforms with blood.

“Damage! No, run! No. First, scatter and disperse!”

Commander Karl had collapsed, and Leiberich, who took over the command, raised his voice instead.

However, in the absence of a commander, the command system was in a mess.

The Karl Corps, which had been winning on the Rhine, was being driven into a corner.

The fact that the lines had not yet collapsed showed that they were the elite of Austria.

However, the opponent was Napoleon.

“Now, the time has come to annihilate them.”

Napoleon, who was watching the battle situation with a telescope from the headquarters command post, ordered.

“Cavalry, all mount up!”

There were two types of cavalry left in the command post now.

One was the Dalmagne Cavalry, the commander’s direct guard.

The other was Eugene’s Horse Grenadier Brigade.

Among the cavalry who mounted all at once, Ippolito suddenly asked Eugene.

“Aren’t we originally grenadiers? We should have decorated the opening battle.”

“He said let’s blow up a splendid bombing at the end. Commander.”

“Isn’t the bombing more splendid?”

Eugene grabbed the reins, ignoring Ippolito’s grumbling.

“Our flying grenades will be the first. Now, let’s go!”

The 1,000-strong Horse Grenadier Brigade charged forward.

The cavalry ran through the lines where the Augereau Division on the left wing and the Masséna Division on the right wing were engaged in a firefight.

Lannes and Bessières’ light infantry, who had scattered far away, could also be seen returning to their respective armies.

The Karl Corps was now completely surrounded.

At the front of the encirclement, Eugene’s Grenadier Brigade held grenades.

-Whoosh, bang!

In the explosions where 1,000 flying grenades exploded in succession, the soldiers of the French Revolutionary Army shouted.

“Viva la Revolution, Viva France, Viva Napoleon!”

December 1, 1795.

With Karl’s corps as an instrument, Napoleon played the best performance.

In front of Pressbaum, the imperial capital of Vienna.

It was the day the War of the First Coalition effectively ended.