He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 240

(240) Karl’s Trump Card: Breech-Loading Rifle Infantry

It’s almost the 19th century, but soldiers still load and fire their rifles while standing.

“Bonaparte certainly has a bold approach to military operations. To advance so aggressively here in this situation…”

In early July 1799, the Austrian army, led by Karl, successfully reached the outskirts of Verona.

From the Austrian army’s perspective, it was a tremendous forced march.

They needed to arrive before the Venetian revolt failed.

However, only about 50,000 troops out of the 100,000-strong army had arrived.

Generals Hiller, Bellegarde, and Rosenberg, who had served since the Rhine Corps days, reported:

“Enemy pickets have been spotted near Verona and are being repelled.”

“According to prisoners, they are moving hastily, and their entire army has not yet assembled.”

“The unit mainly conducting raids is the cavalry led by a man named Lannes. They can be defeated.”

In the headquarters tent, Karl stared at a map of the Verona area and asked,

“Is Bonaparte coming himself?”

The only person Archduke Karl cared about was Napoleon.

In fact, he had no choice.

He was the one who dismantled the thousand-year-old Holy Roman Empire.

Chief of Staff Leiberich glanced sideways, and Adjutant Johann Heinrich von Schmidt of the General Staff bowed his head.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“The enemy commander-in-chief is coming to Italy himself? Has he abandoned the Rhine?”

“Aren’t we doing the same? The last campaign showed that Italy is the key to the war against France.”

Schmidt was a staff officer mainly in charge of logistics during the last Rhine campaign.

Born in 1743, he was an older veteran than Leiberich, who was born in 1752.

However, due to his relatively lower rank, he mainly served as Leiberich’s assistant.

Archduke Karl personally selected Schmidt and brought him to the Italian front.

Schmidt had a strength that no one else in the Austrian army could match.

A master of terrain analysis.

It was Schmidt who insisted that Verona should be the battlefield.

Karl listened to Schmidt and nodded, turning to Leiberich.

“Where is Marshal Melas’ army moving?”

“Yes? The Munich route. I believe the main objective is to confuse the French forces stationed in Italy with a feint attack.”

“That operation is meaningless if Bonaparte comes. Chief of Staff Leiberich.”

Michael von Melas, born in 1729, was an old general of 70 years old.

However, even during the previous War of the First Coalition, he silently defended the Rhine and fulfilled his role.

He didn’t have flashy achievements, but his thoroughness in carrying out his mission was top-notch.

No one knew that he was the general who drove Napoleon into crisis at Marengo in the original history.

Archduke Karl thought of Melas’ army of 30,000 coming relatively eastward and instructed Schmidt.

“Call them here. Let’s try an encirclement instead.”

Schmidt’s eyes widened, and he moved his head up and down.

It was a very ambiguous timing.

Melas would be diligently moving his army along the Munich route.

However, there was a maxim that Austrian military personnel cherished like gold.

It was none other than the supply line problem.

Austrian soldiers do not move their troops when supply lines are cut off.

This was due to the nature of an army composed of multi-ethnic conscripts.

If looting was allowed when food ran out, the army could collapse due to desertion.

So, no matter how hard they tried to move quickly, there was a limit.

Leiberich seemed to notice Schmidt’s anxiety and hurriedly asked,

“Then, do you intend to confront them head-on here?”

“That’s right, Chief of Staff Leiberich. It’s the hammer and anvil tactic. However, we will be the anvil here.”

“Melas needs to come as soon as possible. Is that possible?”

However, Karl confidently looked out of the tent, towards the front, and said,

“20 days. That’s enough time to hold out. Besides.”

Karl’s tactical strength had been revealed in the Rhine campaign.

Expanding the front, striking the flanks, and defending key points.

Combining these three, Karl defeated the relatively passive Moreau in Bavaria.

He also had an advantage that Austrian generals could not find.

“Don’t we have the [new weapon] that the enemy used in the previous war?”

It was the flexible absorption of new tactics.

A weapon that Austria had already developed, but the generals had hardly introduced.

In one corner of the military camp, there was a unit led by two young soldiers.

General Karl Philipp von Schwarzenberg and Radetzky, a survivor of the Italian front.

Only then did the cautious Leiberich nod.

“Indeed, that’s right, Your Highness.”

If the archduke, who was still in his 20s, had guaranteed victory, Leiberich would have stopped him.

However, Archduke Karl only boasted of a tactic to tie down the enemy.

This was well within the capabilities of the current Austrian army.

The Archduke issued orders to the generals of the headquarters.

“All troops, prepare! We will capture the demon of the revolution who dismantled the empire!”

So, this battle was truly a battle of revenge for the Austrian Empire.

***

Napoleon finally arrived in front of Verona.

“To be waiting so obediently, it’s definitely a trap.”

Massena stared at the front and declared.

His troops numbered 30,000.

The generals were nothing short of spectacular.

There were Massena and Lannes, who had been active in the Italian campaign, Chief of Staff Berthier, and Davout and Soult, who had been active in the Rhine.

However, the remaining half of the Italian garrison had not yet arrived.

Augereau was hastily advancing from the south, in the direction of Tuscany, but it was too late to wait.

The enemy arrived first in this situation.

Napoleon also examined the situation with a telescope and asked Berthier,

“Has Augereau not arrived yet?”

“Yes, it’s far away. He’s just passing Bologna now.”

“He’ll arrive after the battle is over. Besides, the enemy came first and is openly setting up camp and waiting?”

Suddenly, Berthier added as if reminding him of something.

“This place is a plain, so it’s difficult to attack from the side. We have to confront them head-on, Commander-in-Chief.”

In short, Napoleon’s [magic] shown in the Italian campaign was not easy.

Flanking maneuvers, luring the enemy, and annihilation warfare.

It was Napoleon’s tactics that dismantled the Holy Roman Empire.

Karl, who knew that fact best, set up camp first on a battlefield where flanking maneuvers were difficult.

Napoleon stared intently at the enemy camp and opened his mouth again.

“The number of enemy troops doesn’t seem to be 100,000 at first glance.”

“The Austrian army is famous for its slow marching speed, isn’t it? They probably haven’t all gathered.”

“Sérurier, do you want to be told you’re already old? Didn’t you hear what Massena said earlier?”

Napoleon rebuked Sérurier, the commander of the Milan garrison, and gritted his teeth.

“This is a trap. The enemy is trying to hold out until their forces are assembled. They probably have superior firepower to us.”

Clearly, this battle should be a defensive one.

For more than three years, Italy had been virtually a French territory.

However, most of the land, including Milan and Venice, was also a satellite republic.

Even though puppets ruled, Italian influential figures were also active as political leaders.

Even though it had been treated as a French territory at will, thorough preparations had not been made in terms of defense.

The number of cannons was proof of that.

At first glance, the enemy had at least 50 cannons.

They were superior to Napoleon, who had only brought 24 cannons from the horse artillery unit because he had come in a hurry.

“Then, how are you going to fight?”

At Berthier’s cold question, Napoleon came to his senses and sighed.

“It’s a pity Eugene isn’t here. At times like this, he was truly top-notch at shaking up the ranks, if nothing else.”

“When is he coming? From Constantinople.”

“It’ll take a month. He said he’s coming with the women.”

Instantly, Napoleon gritted his teeth again.

“Along with my damn sister.”

Then, Bessières, Massena, and Lannes looked at each other and whispered.

“Could she have done something suspicious?”

“Pauline is famous, isn’t she? She dated all the handsome officers at the Italian Expeditionary Force headquarters.”

“Isn’t she also famous for not sleeping with them?”

At that moment, Napoleon burst into anger.

“Hey, idle generals! Should I make you into grenadier regiments and send you on a charge!”

Even so, the incident of his sister Pauline stowing away on the Egyptian expedition fleet was a major scandal.

Everyone in Parisian society was laughing.

It was only covered up because the conquest of Egypt was really successful.

But when he returned, Napoleon intended to interrogate her thoroughly.

To see if Pauline and Eugene had done anything suspicious.

But he was furious that even his subordinates were gossiping about the scandal.

Suddenly, Berthier coldly asked Napoleon again.

“Your Excellency, calm down. What are you going to do?”

“What am I going to do! Charge, charge! If they all go and die, I think we’ll win anyway!”

“Do you have a secret plan to shake them up?”

At Berthier’s expressionless words, Napoleon took a deep breath.

“We can’t fight here. We have to drag the enemies to Caldiero no matter what. That’s the only way we have a chance of winning.”

Caldiero was the place where Napoleon used as a camp when he advanced to Venice in the previous Italian campaign.

It was located southwest of Verona, a place intertwined with rivers and wetlands.

Unlike the completely flat area near Verona, it was a place where flanking maneuvers were possible.

Then Lannes grinned and stepped forward.

“Then, I’ll shake them up.”

“Lannes? How? Are you really going to lead the grenadiers on a charge?”

“No. It’s enough if Murat and Bessières go with me.”

Suddenly, Lannes flashed his eyes and boasted.

“I’ll give them a cavalry charge in front of the line infantry.”

Everyone was surprised and opened their mouths wide.

Of course, Eugene had carried out the so-called charge of the horse grenadiers.

But that was only possible because he used the [Eugene Grenade], a [new weapon], when the opponent didn’t expect it.

Would the same method work on the Austrian army, which had already experienced it so terribly?

However, Napoleon eventually burst into laughter after hearing Lannes’ plan.

“You’re crazy, Lannes. Good! Give it a try!”

Napoleon really loved this kind of gambling adventure.

***

A tactic where the cavalry decorates the initial battle is a method from 200 years ago.

-Doo-doo-doo!

Since Frederick the Great showed off the firing battle of the line infantry, there has been an absolute proposition on the European battlefield.

Cavalry cannot charge and win against line infantry.

Of course, Eugene broke this proposition several times.

However, none of the Austrian generals thought that the proposition had been broken.

They only regarded it as an exceptional combat accident.

But now there was a cavalry recklessly challenging the proposition.

“The cavalry is coming!”

Radetzky, a survivor of the previous battlefield, said as he looked at the cavalry charging from the front.

“In the past, the French army’s specialty was [grenades].”

“You said the cavalry throws grenades? Prepare!”

“Yes, no matter how many grenades the cavalry throws, they can’t have a longer range than artillery fire.”

Schwarzenberg, Radetzky’s superior, nodded and raised his hand.

“Fire!”

In an instant, the prepared artillery fired cannons.

-Bang! Bang! Bang!

Even though only 20 of the 50 cannons fired, the front was covered in smoke.

“As expected! Murat, Bessières! Can you avoid it well!”

Lannes shouted as he ran in front, not afraid of the cannons.

Murat and Bessières were following behind, leading their respective units.

Murat shouted with a dissatisfied face.

“Damn it, burying cavalry in front of cannons. I don’t want such an incompetent division commander!”

“Murat, please refrain from saying such things when you only know how to charge.”

“Shut up, Bessières! I don’t charge in front of cannonballs either! Hey, you slowpokes! Scatter and run!”

In an instant, the cavalry scattered as if dispersing.

This formation appears in two cases.

When the cavalry’s morale is shattered and the army cannot be maintained, or when the cavalry has become capable of skirmish tactics through harsh training.

Lannes’ cavalry was naturally the latter.

“Now, prepare for cavalry fire! Huh?”

It was the moment Murat was about to prepare the firing.

“Vindbüchse [air rifle], start firing!”

The line infantry changed their guns the moment Radetzky ordered.

Murat had seen that gun somewhere before.

Was it a weapon that Eugene’s Horse Grenadier Brigade occasionally used?

-Tang! Tang! Tang! Tang! Tang!

At that moment, Lannes shouted.

“Damn it, it’s an air rifle volley! Scatter again!”

It was Austria’s invention that could fire in volleys.

The Vindbüchse air rifle unit was on the front line.