Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Chapter 1345: Chapter 1250: Eastern Front Campaign

The dense woods in southern Saxon concealed the French Army’s presence, and coincidentally, the Austrian cavalry also disliked scouting in such terrain.

Moro’s original plan was that if any insertion unit was discovered, they would immediately open fire to create a commotion to draw the enemy’s attention, aiding the other side to complete the insertion.

However, this time, luck was on the French Army’s side; both divisions successfully maneuvered to the north side of the Vilmze Corps, directly behind them.

An hour and a half later, a hussar excitedly reported to Moro, “General, there has been no engagement along the Wilmze defense line.”

This indicated that the insertion units had continuously avoided detection by the enemy.

“Very good. Keep monitoring the enemy’s movements closely.” Moro nodded with a smile, then turned to Ney and said, “Let everyone prepare to attack.”

That afternoon, after confirming that Archduke Karl’s main forces had left Bamberg, Wilmze was about to order his corps to follow south when his staff hurried over, anxiously saying, “General, news has come from Kronach Town, that tens of thousands of French troops are besieging it.”

Wilmze was instantly stunned.

Kronach is over 20 kilometers north of Bayreuth, how did the French bypass us to get there?

He didn’t dare to delay and quickly ordered Baron Joseph von Ochico to lead 30,000 soldiers to Kronach Town for reinforcement, while also sending someone to report to Archduke Karl.

Shortly after Ochico left, Moro’s main forces launched a fierce attack on Prince Heixinggen.

Upon receiving the news, Wilmze immediately commanded the entire army to lean towards the left flank and ordered the Heixinggen Corps to hold their ground firmly.

He did not panic, but rather felt a bit pleased. He had previously been unable to ascertain the location of the French Army’s main force and had been forced to set up passive defenses.

Now that the French Army had revealed themselves, he only needed to hold them off for two days, and Archduke Karl’s main forces would arrive.

However, early the next morning, Prince Heixinggen reported to him that the French had already retreated.

Wilmze did not dare to be careless, still ordering the entire army to tighten their vigilance and sending a significant amount of cavalry towards Weiden to search for the French—according to his speculation, Moro’s corps likely used the attack to compress his defensive line and then took the opportunity to sneak north along the east of Schuma Mountain.

But his hussars repeatedly reported back, saying they had not discovered any French forces.

Yes, after launching a feint attack on Wilmze’s left flank, Moro immediately led his army to circle westward via Pegnitz south of Bayreuth.

This was already the territory of Bavaria, so he did not have to worry about anyone reporting his movements to the Allied Forces.

By eleven o’clock the next morning, he had arrived at Kunshofen Village—located between Bamberg and Bayreuth, 45 kilometers from the Heixinggen Corps.

Under the command of the high-altitude reconnaissance battalion officer, the hot air balloon release vehicle quickly extended two very long poles and spread out the hot air balloon.

Soon, a flame over half a meter long shot out from the top of the kerosene tank, and the steam-engine-driven inflator kept blowing the flame continuously towards the bottom of the hot air balloon.

Currently, the refinement technology for kerosene in France was still primitive, making it very expensive, with a single tank costing hundreds of francs.

But in wartime, as long as time consumption could be reduced, no expense was spared. Hence, the high-altitude reconnaissance battalions of the main corps were almost all outfitted with kerosene for heating.

In just 42 minutes, a light blue hot air balloon began to ascend into the sky.

A moment later, the reconnaissance battalion officer in the balloon’s basket operated a lever similar to the Sharp Signal Tower, sending a series of signals to the ground.

The aide on the ground received the translations and turned to Moro, saying, “General, exactly as you predicted, 3 kilometers northeast, we discovered an enemy force of about 26,000.”

Moro judged that after Wilmze encountered the surprise attack, he would most likely seek assistance from the Allied main forces, and he aimed right for this reinforcements.

However, Archduke Karl had no idea that the French, who had attacked Wilmze’s left wing over 40 kilometers away yesterday, would suddenly appear between him and the Vilmze Corps this morning.

Moro immediately turned his horse and led his army toward the target.

A special cavalry unit broke away from the main force per the battle plan, charging at high speed towards the Austrian reinforcements.

This cavalry unit consisted of around 4,000 men but rode only 2,000 horses. To lessen the burden on the horses, all the soldiers were of short stature, with strict control of weight under 60 kilograms.

Yes, these were the leaping soldiers newly added by the French in their second military reform.

They needed only a small number of warhorses to achieve near-cavalry mobility, suitable for quick interception and flanking assaults.

Three leaping soldier battalions circled to 1 kilometer east of the Austrian reinforcements before dismounting to form their ranks. By this time, their mounts were almost too exhausted to stand, but the leaping soldiers didn’t depend on the horses in combat, so they could maximize horsepower exploitation.

The Austrian commander responsible for reinforcing Wilmze, Baron Dennifield, was still urging the soldiers to speed up when a hussar returned to report, “General, enemy defense lines were discovered ahead, about four to five thousand strong.”

Baron Dennifield suddenly felt a headache.

During the Allied Forces’ combat meeting a few days ago, he had heard Chief of Staff Verossi mention that the French had been spotted all over central Germany recently, but he hadn’t expected them to show up here.

Fortunately, there were only a few thousand of them, they could be swiftly defeated.

But this would delay their arrival in Bayreuth. He exhaled and ordered the vanguard to attack the French defense line immediately and then sent the hussars to circle their left flank.

Half an hour later, the Austrian artillery began to thunder.

While fretting over not reaching Bayreuth before nightfall, Baron Dennifield noticed that something seemed off with the artillery’s sound.

He turned his head, frowning. Why were there cannon sounds from the rear side?

Suddenly alert, he shouted to the aide beside him, “Enemy attack!”

On the French side, the hot air balloon rose again, ready to coordinate artillery targeting.

The Austrian rear guard was caught off guard by the artillery shells whistling over from behind, within just five or six minutes, two to three hundred corpses already littered the ground.

By the time Baron Dennifield’s order to turn and defend was delivered, the Austrian officers could no longer control their soldiers, who were fleeing in all directions.

Moro gave the Austrian forces no time to react; Ney and Nansuti promptly commanded two assault columns, quickly attacking from the west and south along with the artillery barrage.

The Austrians were already far inferior in combat strength compared to the French, and facing Moro’s superior forces with a surprise attack, they began to collapse almost immediately upon engagement.