Chapter 648 010 When Facing a Bad Chess Player, You Don’t Have to Change Your Tactics

The Russian army moved very quickly, and Musa Pasha was now taking the blame here. For the Ottoman Empire, whoever came to Thrace to face the two "plague gods" of Kamensky and Soloviev would be defeated.

But if they wanted to fight, they still had to bite the bullet.

In Soloviev's mind, although he had time to communicate with the veterans of the Russian army over the years, his command and combat characteristics were after all free-range. When Suvorov was there, he only took him with him as an adjutant and guard. He learned more by self-study. Even the meeting and communication between the Duke of Brunswick and Archduke Karl may have learned more.

Then, he couldn't remember what to pay attention to when fighting the Turks.

When the fight really started, he also found that when fighting the Turks, there might be less to do on the battlefield. As long as the commander was not too bad, with Russian infantry above the passing line, he could defeat the Turks repeatedly.

It should be noted that in a defensive battle, you should always face an enemy with superior numbers but low combat effectiveness, and in strategic maneuvers, you should always ensure your local advantage.

Solovyov recalled how Suvorov did it in Italy, and actually had a rough idea.

However, in the Russian army, he was probably one of the few generals who liked to deploy deceptive troops to attract the attention of the enemy.

Kutuzov was in Bucharest at this time, drinking coffee at the same table with Langgeron.

"Count Kutuzov, in your opinion, who is a better general, Nikolai Kamensky or Soloviev?"

"If I were to say, Nikolai has determination, while Misha has strategy. They both have their own strengths. Both of them have a problem, which is lack of patience."

"When Michel was my chief of staff, I could feel that he liked to take the initiative and was somewhat impatient on the battlefield. But after the Battle of Eylau, his personality was much more restrained, and his performance in Sweden was also very good."

"It seems that both of them lack patience, but Misha can do better in this regard. After all, his lack of patience always wants to take the initiative, while Nikolai's is because of his impatient temper. It's okay to lack patience for a purpose, but if you can't restrain your temper, it may be a bad thing."

"You seem to be more optimistic about Michel?"

"It can be said that this child can stand on his own now and will still have a bright future."

After all, he is the only one who "came up" by relying on his father-in-law's family, which always depends on his ability.

The Macedonian Legion on the front line, although it has this title, is in Thrace.

Soloviev was indeed in a hurry to get going during the war, so he came up with this strategy.

He took the initiative to collide with Musa Pasha's main force, and he was eager to fight. However, according to convention, he had to squat first, line up in the west of the river, and wait for the Turks to come.

This was calculated accurately. He had been paying attention to the movements of the Turkish army for a long time, and had a good grasp of the marching speed of both sides. He could also wait for the Turks to come here.

It seemed that dealing with the Turks was also easy, even though he still had less than 40,000 people, but the opponent should not be as many as in Lom this time.

When he thought of this, people had already stopped on the front high ground to watch the marching column of the Turkish army.

Although sparse, there were really a lot of people.

"That's good. We don't have such a narrow plot to restrict them. We can let them play freely."

"What are you going to do?"

"If they attack, we will arrive first this time, but our right-wing cavalry will be released to flank the Turkish cavalry first. It seems that they don't have many heavy cavalry this time."

Although Clausewitz will do it, he is also a little worried.

"Isn't it too early to release the cavalry now?"

"If we want to attack, our cavalry will go around to the flank, or follow the previous method to outflank the enemy's flank."

As for the Turks, they are not so proficient in countering cavalry, and prefer to use cavalry to counterattack.

However, they attacked like this, which made Kunev, who was in charge of commanding the cavalry, feel a little insulted to his IQ.

The Russian hussars and dragoons did not engage the Turkish cavalry on the spot, but chose to retreat.

If the Turks pursued, it would be what Solovyov hoped to see.

He always liked to copy the classic battle examples of famous European generals, so he always kept some infantry in his hands and whipped them out like a whip, instead of keeping the reserve troops behind for sightseeing like Napoleon.

The advantage of this style of play is that it is always cruel to weak opponents.

The cavalry spread out and killed the opponent's cavalry, and naturally they can be used to assist the cavalry in the battle.

If the cavalry withdraws, they can also set an ambush, and the opponent will also have a good look.

However, Solovyov did not expect that when Kunev went out this time, the Turkish army dared to rush directly with light cavalry.

"The Turks really have no memory. When they want to lure the enemy, they will be fooled nine out of ten times."

Kunev is a good commander of light cavalry. Many cavalry regiments among the Russian dragoons are still relatively poor in combat effectiveness. There are relatively few qualified ones like the Kazan Dragoon Regiment, and the combat effectiveness of the cuirassiers who can be relied on in the heavy cavalry is also very limited.

Therefore, when Soloviev used cavalry commanders, he liked to find familiar light cavalry commanders, whose actions were always more flexible, especially the hussars.

Heavy cavalry and Cossacks, after fighting too much, are prone to get carried away.

Kunev also discovered this when he retreated. He tried his best to bring the hussars back, which was also considered to lure the enemy deep into the depths.

However, the Turks were so hot in pursuit that they had to let some cavalrymen with their own carbines and pistols use shooting to interfere with the pursuit of the Turkish army.

In this way, they finally opened up some safety distance and brought the Turkish cavalry to the front of the ambush sent by Soloviev.

The two combined grenadier battalions had been waiting here for a long time. After most of Kunev's cavalry withdrew from the battlefield, they immediately opened fire on the pursuing Turkish cavalry.

Once, they were beaten to the ground. Although this was already a daily routine, the Russian army was still very excited from top to bottom.

"Well done, but now is not the time to counterattack."

Kunev had no intention of making a comeback. He led the hussars to move on the flanks so that the horses could get enough rest. At the same time, he was in a position with advantageous terrain, so that he could rush down at any time.

Then, he saw on the high ground that the Turkish army had reinforcements.

"Damn it, Stavrovich, send a messenger to the commander quickly. The enemy may be more than we expected."

The commander of the Belarusian Hussar Regiment also sent an adjutant to find Solovyov. In the initial cavalry confrontation, the Russian army took a small advantage.

But he didn't even have time to be happy, and he knew that there were Turkish troops following.

"This is good. We have a banquet here. There are many guests. Although we can still entertain them, it seems that we can't eat them all in one bite."

Soloviev looked at the people around him. If they were to set up a battle formation, the Turkish army would have a large number of people. Although there were some rivers blocking the way, the terrain was relatively flat.

For our side, it is a terrain that is conducive to exerting firepower. For the enemy, they are numerous, but the exact number is impossible to estimate now.

However, if Solovyov wants to annihilate the enemy in a battle on the plain, it will definitely not work like Lom did.

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Moreover, he did not want to adjust the deployment before the battle, because the enemy seemed to be pouring into the battlefield continuously.

There are many towns near the place he chose, because the farmland is in a relatively flat area, and it is unlikely to split the Turkish army. However, if he makes good use of the terrain in front of his formation, he can still make the opponent drink a pot.

Musa Pasha was very happy that he could get a reinforcement. This was a fresh force sent by Sultan Mahmud, drawn from Ahmed Pasha.

It is true that the Turkish cavalry lost part of it, but this time the Sultan also supplemented it with cavalry, and it was a relatively flexible light cavalry.

For the Turkish army, they also need light cavalry. The previous Sipahi cavalry, which was very powerful, suffered heavy losses. Although the shortage of personnel can be supplemented, they still need to recruit soldiers from the Asian part of the Ottoman Empire.

If there is a war, light cavalry is still easier to supplement. The more cannon fodder there are in the cavalry, the better.

As for the situation that Kunev saw from his side, there was also smoke and dust.

However, if the Turkish army wants to attack, they have to cross the river twice, and there are many pebbles on the riverbed here, which is more friendly to artillery.

The Turks launched an attack from their right wing, trying to attack the relatively weaker Trubetskoy Division.

However, on the battlefield, they did not get any advantage. They were driven back by the continuous shooting of the Russian army. The first attack was not successful, but turned into a shootout.

"It seems that the Turks are quite active. They started to attack with these reinforcements. Mick, what are you going to do?"

When Clausewitz asked him, Solovyov did not answer. He just looked at the smoke on Prince Trubetskoy's side with a telescope. Because of the frequent shooting of both sides and the Turks' inferior black powder, the smoke made it difficult for him to see the battlefield situation over there.

"Damn it, if only we had more people."

"That's impossible. You can't get so many reinforcements. The main force is still on the Danube."

"The Serbian cavalry has also been sent out. We only have these people now."

"If Trubetskoy wants reinforcements, let him hold on for a while. I will draw two regiments from the grenadiers."

He was glad that when the Danube Front was formed, the grenadier division was composed of six regiments, so he could always split the troops more easily.

Christian was in charge of the front of the battlefield. The six regiments of the Grenadier Division were right next to the Uvarov Division. To the south was Arkady's 9th Division. To the far right of the Russian Army, to the south was Kunev's cavalry.

The Turkish Army's formation was relatively solid, which meant that the current artillery range was generally insufficient. If the artillery fire could be extended, the Turkish Army's current formation could produce a very serious round of casualties.

But the artillery did not have this condition, so Solovyov could only let his artillery fire at the Turkish Army in the depths of the first and second lines, and the more garbage soldiers behind could not be hit.

This caused a lot of casualties to the Turks. It was obvious that the opponent had only accepted the modern weapons of this era, but the organization and training methods of the army were still the same.

The Turkish army, which was mainly composed of garbage soldiers, had relied on its large numbers since the Siege of Vienna, and it was still the same now. For the Russian army, it was just that the intensity of the battle was relatively high, but it did not threaten their core positions. That is, many Turkish soldiers were left in front, and there were also some casualties in their own army.

But there were too many Turks, which would more or less affect the judgment of the Russian front-line commanders.

The Turkish army's attack lasted the whole morning, and it seemed that the pressure was not small.

But they still failed to cross the river, and were divided into two pieces of land by some artificial lakes and ponds. The Turkish army that dared to cross the river would be repeatedly killed and injured by the Russian artillery fire, which made Musa Pasha give up the idea of ​​crossing the river immediately.

For both sides, the Turks performed better in this battle. Although the losses were huge and the Turkish army lost a lot of cavalry, the Russian army had no chance to counterattack because there were more Turks.

The plans of both sides failed. Solovyov originally planned to end the battle in one day, but after a morning, the number of enemies increased. He only used artillery fire to consume the garbage soldiers in front, and it was impossible to continue chasing after the battle.

On the Turkish side, Musa Pasha also saw that the Russian army was very strong. Although more and more troops arrived, it was impossible to enter Philippopolis directly.

The accuracy of his own artillery was relatively poor. This time, the artillery he brought out was not like the artillery trained by European officers drawn from Ahmed Pasha. At least it was standard.

In this way, the Russian army did not have to worry too much about being killed by enemy artillery fire, and its position was relatively stable.

If Musa Pasha wanted to bypass the Russian army, he had to see if he could open the right wing of the Russian army from his own left wing. The cavalry and infantry there were obviously not weak in combat effectiveness, and the cavalry that attacked lost one-third.

Because the Russian army's formation was always stuck in the terrain, it was very uncomfortable for the Turks to attack, and they often couldn't use their strength.

This time it was even considered good, after all, the Russian army did not find an extremely narrow front that would prevent them from deploying their troops.

However, the Turks' own commanders were so poor that all possible changes were meaningless, and the best outcome was probably that both sides would stop fighting and withdraw. (End of this chapter)