He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 515

(515) Marmont Perishes with the Grand Battery

There is a man who was always by Napoleon’s side, but never gave him his complete loyalty.

“I want to avoid it, damn it. Even this moment!”

Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont, a general who is 36 years old this year.

A man who followed Napoleon from his days as a junior officer and played an active role in the Siege of Toulon.

Napoleon, who was from the artillery, highly valued Marmont’s artillery skills and always took him on expeditions.

However, he lacked the military talent, achievements, and the support of the troops to be appointed as a Marshal of France.

In the original timeline, when he was forcibly appointed as a Marshal, there were sarcastic remarks from the army.

The Marshals who were appointed with him at the time were the old veteran MacDonald and the brave Oudinot.

The army had a saying:

“MacDonald is France’s choice, Oudinot is the legion’s choice, but Marmont is the choice of friendship!”

It was a mocking remark that he became a Marshal without merit.

Currently, there are only 9 Marshals appointed instead of the usual 26.

So, Marmont’s turn to become a Marshal did not come.

Instead, Marmont was given the opportunity to become a son-in-law of the imperial family.

After a long courtship, he succeeded in marrying Caroline Bonaparte.

Originally, in the original timeline, the womanizer Murat would have taken the gem of the Bonaparte family.

Even so, the Duke, Marmont, who had not yet obtained the throne of Naples, trembled.

“I barely made it here!”

Marmont is confused as to whether that refers to his position or the situation of rushing to the battlefield with a forced march.

After Napoleon left without even securing the battlefield, the Grande Armée [the main army of Napoleon] marched in chaos.

Then, a few days ago, an urgent report was delivered to Berthier’s general staff, who were crossing the Flanders border.

The Imperial Guard had encountered the enemy.

Why did he step forward then?

Marmont regrets it now.

However, the judgment itself was correct.

In any case, the enemy strangely doesn’t fire cannons, but the allies don’t have artillery.

“General, shouldn’t we wait until the main force arrives?”

“General Clausel, would you be able to stand still in this situation? Unless you didn’t see it at all.”

“How on earth did it become such a mess? It doesn’t seem to have been this bad even in Russia.”

Marmont glanced at his aide, Bertrand Clausel, and spat out.

“It means the opponent is that formidable. Even with the King of Spain present, it’s like this!”

He has always been conscious of Eugène de Beauharnais, who is not a Bonaparte, but has entered the Bonaparte’s inner circle.

However, Eugene was so dazzling that he couldn’t even dare to be jealous.

If he ascends to the throne, will he be able to follow Eugene even a little?

Perhaps that is why Duke Marmont of Naples rushed here.

Clausel asked Marmont again, who was caught up in complicated thoughts.

“Then, shall we prepare to fire?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Where is the target? It’s difficult to find a shelling point because there are skirmishes everywhere now.”

Marmont frowned and pointed to one place with his baton.

“That place.”

It is a place that is off to the right in the middle of the battlefield.

In fact, although Waterloo is a battlefield, it is not an uninhabited area.

There are villages nearby, and there are also farms that use the grassland.

Originally, in the original timeline, Wellington’s hidden troops would appear in various places on the farm and launch a surprise attack on the French army.

However, at this moment when the battle broke out accidentally due to heavy rain and a surprise attack, no French soldiers are paying attention to the farm.

But strangely, Marmont pointed to the farm.

General Clausel blinked and asked again.

“That’s a farm, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know what it’s called, but one thing is certain, the enemies have left defensive forces there.”

“If it’s the name of the village, it’s probably Mont-Saint-Jean. I’ve been on a trip around here. But how do you predict the defensive forces?”

Marmont was at a loss as to how to explain.

The village of Mont-Saint-Jean is far from here and not easily visible.

However, if it were Napoleon, he would use that village to carry out a detour tactic.

However, it feels like it hurts his pride to explain it this way.

Marmont suddenly clenched his fist.

Would he have reacted the same way even if Eugene had ordered it?

That can’t be.

“Shut up and shoot the cannon there. Concentrate all firepower!”

No matter how irrational it may seem, Marmont is the commander of the Grande Batterie, the Grand Artillery Battery.

Besides, the mounted artillery that rushed here is Marmont’s direct unit.

Therefore, although he was not convinced, artillery officers, including Clausel, quickly began to move.

“Now, it’s the Grande Batterie’s time!”

“Warm up!”

“No need to worry about the amount of ammunition! We’ll bring it from the main unit anyway!”

Clausel, a truly thorough soldier, shouted.

“Pour out all the shells we have!”

The mounted artillery that rushed here is also veteran, like most of the Grande Armée.

At the very least, it means that it is composed of soldiers and non-commissioned officers who have experienced the artillery battle of the Russian Grand Expedition.

So, even though they had just rushed in and were in a hurry, the shelling preparations were proceeding smoothly.

Soon the bombardment was fired.

-Cheee, Kwang!

The target is a large farm on the outskirts of Mont-Saint-Jean.

Shells flew towards the farm, not the British army lines, nor the French main camp where the Gurkhas and Guards were fighting.

It seemed like a crazy sight, but Marmont was confident.

“I will show all of Europe that Marmont is here in France!”

Believing that this shelling will change history.

***

The British staff officer, who was surprised by the artillery and was just watching blankly, is also at Waterloo.

“Why the hell is that crazy bastard shooting cannons at the farm?”

Clinton thought he was doomed when the artillery appeared.

If the artillery is properly positioned and strikes the British main camp again, it will be difficult to handle.

Because the British army is now unable to use cannons.

But strangely, the enemy is shooting cannons at the farm.

Then, a completely unexpected word popped out of the commander-in-chief’s mouth.

“I was wrong.”

“Huh? Commander-in-chief, why are you suddenly like that?”

“No, actually, I had a surprise attack unit hidden in that farm, [Hougoumont].”

Wellington smacked his lips with a very regretful expression.

“I was going to launch a surprise attack when all the enemies came out, but I couldn’t.”

Originally, it is a surprise tactic used by Wellington in the original timeline.

Wellington thought that the farm in the middle of the battlefield, called Hougoumont, would be an important factor.

So, he puts defensive forces in Hougoumont and deploys the lines.

On the other hand, France receives an unexpected surprise attack and faces a major obstacle to its advance.

It was not a situation that would determine the victory or defeat of the war, but the Battle of Hougoumont, where the British army gained an advantageous position.

However, because of Marmont’s stubbornness, all the troops hidden in Hougoumont were annihilated.

Without even having time to escape.

Of course, there is a more important problem than the troops that could not be used anyway.

That is that the enemy has artillery.

Suddenly, Deputy Commander Graham said urgently.

“We need a countermeasure. If we continue like this, the morale of all our troops will collapse.”

“It’s only natural that the enemy has artillery and we don’t, right?”

“There’s no time to joke around!”

Wellington nodded perfunctorily and shouted to the rear.

“Paget!”

When Paget, the cavalry commander who had been under Wellington’s command since the Peninsular War [the conflict in which the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal fought against the invading Napoleonic French Empire for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars], ran up, Wellington asked.

“Is a charge possible? Up to that place!”

The place Wellington pointed to was the place where Marmont had brought the mounted artillery.

You have to go beyond the entire Waterloo, bypass Napoleon’s camp, and run to reach it.

The problem is that a charge is possible, but a retreat is very difficult.

You can see this from the fact that Eugene broke through the British army lines, but could not return and was wandering around the outskirts.

Paget gritted his teeth and asked Wellington.

“Will the government be able to pay the survivor’s pension to my family?”

“If they don’t go bankrupt this time, they will.”

“Ha! Then we must never lose!”

Suddenly, Paget, a cavalryman reeking of sweat, got on his horse and shouted.

“I leave the rest to you. Duke Wellington!”

Soon, all the remaining British cavalry followed Paget.

-Doo doo doo!

Clinton’s mouth dropped open.

The cavalry charge itself is too reckless, but a bigger challenge awaits.

There are no cavalry left in the British army.

“If Paget takes the Hanoverian cavalry regiment, we won’t have any cavalry left.”

“That’s right.”

“Do you have any countermeasures?”

Wellington twisted his lips and raised his baton.

“Napoleon doesn’t have the strength to use cavalry anymore. Only if that artillery is removed. Maybe the main unit won’t have cannons either. Not today, anyway.”

The place the baton is pointing to is the place where Napoleon temporarily retreated.

Only to execute Napoleon.

The only strategic goal Wellington is aiming for in the Battle of Waterloo.

But there are no cavalry?

But Wellington has the elite troops who led him to victory in India.

“So it’s an infantry versus infantry fight. From now on!”

The sound of the Hanoverian cavalry regiment, which has become a distant discarded card, is heard.

-Ihihihing!

Like the Balaclava Brigade [a disastrous British cavalry charge during the Battle of Balaclava in 1854, during the Crimean War] of Waterloo, running according to orders, risking death.

***

Artillery is truly powerless without the support of infantry.

“We have to avoid it, Commander!”

If it were a normal situation, the enemy would never be able to reach the place where the mounted artillery was located.

Also, the Imperial Guard was moving to stop the cavalry, even though they were fighting with the Gurkha soldiers.

But Paget ran without looking back and finally reached the hill behind Waterloo.

Marmont shook his head at Clausel’s scream.

“Those guys are really out of their minds. Are they going to wipe out the entire cavalry? Why are they running through the infantry lines?”

“It seems like our cavalry ran similarly.”

“This battlefield is crazy!”

Clausel grabbed Marmont and desperately pulled him.

“Instead of blaming it for being crazy, we have to avoid it. Duke!”

But Marmont smiled and shook off Clausel.

“Tell Caroline I love her. If you live.”

“Duke!”

“This artillery was given to me by the Emperor. No, everything I have was given to me by the Emperor.”

Marmont straightened his epaulettes as a senior general and pulled out his pistol.

“So, if the Emperor does not retreat from the battlefield, I will not retreat either!”

In fact, it is difficult to survive even if you retreat.

Because the opponent is a cavalry, and Marmont’s horse is just a transport horse.

So Marmont decided to use another method.

-Cheee.

Marmont took out his last cigarette, put it in his pipe, and looked at the approaching cavalry in the distance.

“Hoo, I wanted to be ahead of Freischütz [likely a reference to Carl Maria von Weber’s opera Der Freischütz, which features a marksman who makes a deal with the devil], just once.”

I thought from the moment I first saw him in Toulon.

That boy can never be surpassed.

Still, people tend to dream impossible dreams at least once.

Marmont suddenly threw the cigarette lighter on the gunpowder of the artillery.

-Kwang!

The explosion burned the hill of Waterloo with flames.

Along with the Grand Battery and the Hanoverian cavalry regiment.

Or Marmont’s unfulfilled dream.