As for the trap set by the Austrians, Lawrence was completely unaware, and in a desperate mood, Lawrence led the entire forward cavalry of more than 1,000 men to rush directly to the center of the Austrian army station, where there was a very obvious large military tent, which was obviously the center of the Austrian army.
But when Lawrence impulsively galloped into the tent less than a hundred paces away from the Austrian army, he saw that the cavalry in front of Lawrence fell like wheat that had been cut down, and with the fall of the cavalry in front, Lawrence finally saw that all the tripwires and traps within a hundred paces around the tent were covered by the Austrians.
And just when Lawrence found out that something was wrong and ordered the whole army to retreat, only to suddenly burst into flames around the forward cavalry, that is, among the seemingly chaotic camps, and then spread in a very short period of time, and the forward cavalry under Lawrence was instantly in flames.
"Damn, it's a trap, retreat immediately!"
Lawrence was furious and gave the order to retreat, but before he could give the order, the entire formation of the forward cavalry was disorganized, and the horses that were frightened by the sudden fire rushed as if they had seen the most terrible thing in the world, and the Prussian cavalry in the back began to retreat immediately without waiting for Lawrence's order.
Fire and water are merciless, and the fire will not think that you are Prussian and will let you go.
The Prussian cavalry near the perimeter of the Austrian camp were lucky, because compared to the Prussian cavalry such as Lawrence, they were closer to the gate of the Austrian garrison, and the more successful they were.
But Lawrence and the others were undoubtedly very unfortunate, because they were in the middle of the Austrian camp at the moment.
Even if there were no obstacles, it would take ten minutes to escape from the Austrians.
What's more, as the fire spreads, the uneasiness of the war horse also intensifies, and even the most well-trained war horse becomes crazy when it feels the temperature of the flames, regardless of how the owner on the horse can urge.
These war horses will not be executed according to the wishes of their owners, on the contrary, these war horses are advancing according to their own survival at the moment.
At this moment, Lawrence no longer has the same vigor as before, he knows that he is finished, even if he can lead most of the cavalry to withdraw safely from here this time, his future is also played.
Scharnhorst has always been quite cautious in war, so those generals who can always be vigilant are naturally more popular with Scharnhorst, and this time Scharnhorst asked Lawrence to lead the forward cavalry to hold back the Austrian army.
Now that Lawrence has stepped unawarely into the trap laid by the Austrians, one can imagine how angry Scharnhorst will be when he learns about it.
"Captain, quick, there's a gap here, come with us!"
Just when Lawrence was a little stunned, his guards grabbed Lawrence and burrowed down the path next to the tents that had not yet burned.
But just when Lawrence had not yet rushed out of the Austrian barracks.
I only heard the sound of shouting and killing all around.
It turned out that although the front half of the barracks was sprinkled with flammable materials, there was a path on both sides of the barracks, that is, inside the fence outside the barracks, that could be walked side by side.
It has to be said that Ian did have a hand, and was able to arrange all this in just three hours before the arrival of the Prussian striker, which is enough to prove that Ian is indeed worthy of the high hopes that Leopold II placed on him.
The Austrian army fought along the inside of the fence to the surprise of the Prussian cavalry, who were frantically fleeing from the fire, and at this time the Prussian cavalry was completely discrete, and the command system of the forward cavalry was completely disorganized.
As mentioned earlier, the two thousand cavalry of the Prussian forward cavalry were pieced together by three divisions.
This also meant that the humble 2,000 cavalry belonged to six cavalry regiments, and even though Maninstein was left behind, the Prussian cavalry that broke into the Austrian camp was divided into five cavalry regiments.
With the exception of Lawrence, who was personally appointed by Scharnhorst, it was impossible for the commanders of the other cavalry regiments to take over the command of the five cavalry regiments, which also meant that the Prussian cavalry was a scattered mess.
Caught between the flames and the Austrian army, the Prussian advance suffered heavy losses, and it was at this moment that Maninstein and his men arrived.
As soon as the flames were rising, Manstein knew that this must be an ambush by the Austrian army, so after ordering his seventy-five men to mount, Manstein did not rush to the Austrian camp.
Now that the Austrians have laid an ambush.
Obviously, even if the seventy-five men under his command joined the battle, they would not be able to turn the tide of the battle.
So Manstein split the thirty-three people from the group, and his order to them was simple: immediately go to a nearby grove to cut down more trees, and then keep spinning in place to create a lot of smoke.
At the same time, Manstein ordered the two men to immediately ride their horses and report to the army behind them, asking the army to immediately speed up to help the vanguard.
The forty men led by Manstein himself rushed directly to the periphery of the Austrian camp to collect the Prussian cavalry who had just escaped and were in shock, just when Manstein gathered these cavalry.
The Austrian army came out of the inside of the fence.
"Quick, everyone is concentrated on me, the soldiers who still have guns in their hands immediately dismount and assemble at the camp gate, be sure to block the Austrian attack for me, and the rest of those who have weapons in their hands will gather at me immediately!"
Although Manstein roared loudly in the open space outside the camp, not many soldiers obeyed his orders after he gave them, which made Maninstein's heart suddenly burn.
"Varik, take twenty men to gather the routs, and if they don't do what I order, allow you to execute!
The rest of me go!
” After saying it to himself, Maninstein raised his riding gun and shot it into the sky.
A bang of gunfire made Manstein instantly the focus of the attention of the more than 300 Prussian cavalry outside the camp, and then Manstein urged the war horses under his crotch to turn around these routs and shouted loudly: "I am the commander of the 35th Cavalry Regiment, and I don't care which unit you belong to, but now according to Prussian military regulations, I can immediately take over your command.
Now everyone who has a gun in his hand is going with me to stop those Austrians, if anyone doesn't listen to orders, don't blame Lao Tzu for the bullets in the gun don't have eyes!
” With a bang, Maninstein fired another shot into the sky.
Finally.
Maninstein's orders worked, and out of the rout came more than a hundred men, all with guns hanging from their horses, while others stopped where they were, because their guns had been lost.
"This is my staff officer, Varik, and now I appoint him as your commander.
If there are any objections, let's talk about it after the war, if it is because of the greed for life and fear of death of some people that our army has suffered a crushing defeat, then everyone knows the military law of the Kingdom of Prussia!
” As he spoke, Manstein pointed to Varik behind him, and after saying this, he led the hundred or so men to rush to the camp gate.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
Maninstein and the others came very timely, so to speak, if he came one step late.
Then the camp gate will definitely be seized by the Austrians immediately, and the Prussian cavalry still in the Austrian barracks will be completely turned into turtles in the urn and will be slaughtered by others.
Maninstein and his party, who rushed to the camp gate, happened to bump into a group of Austrian soldiers, and after the two sides met, Maninstein did not hesitate to order his soldiers to raise their guns and shoot, and this group of Austrian soldiers was obviously confused by the sudden appearance of this small group of Prussian cavalry.
It was only after the Austrian soldiers had endured a round of Prussian fire that the Austrian commander reacted and immediately ordered the soldiers to line up and shoot.
And the Prussian cavalry after a round of preemptive shooting.
Manstein ordered the soldiers who were still on their horses to immediately dismount and reload at the same time, because most of the guns of the Prussian army have been updated, especially the Friedrich 1790 rifle has been equipped with a large number of troops, and as a sharp weapon in the army, these cavalry are naturally the first group of people to realize the weapon replacement after the royal guard, so the Prussian army with better performance rifles finally rushed to the Austrian army and fired another round of bullets.
More than 100 cavalrymen temporarily played the role of infantry, lined up in four small phalanxes and firmly guarded the camp gate.
The number of Austrians who rushed to fight for the camp gate was not large, only two or three hundred, and because the space inside the fence was not very large, under the attack of Maninstein's department, this group of Austrian troops gradually showed its strength.
That's when it happened.
I saw another group of Prussian cavalry rushing to the camp gate from the fire, and Maninstein, who was afraid that these routs would disrupt the formation, shouted: "The soldiers with guns immediately gathered behind me, and the soldiers without guns immediately charged the Austrians on both sides, and those who dared to break into the army formation were killed!"
Maninstein's shouts made the Prussian cavalry hesitate a little, and they saw it.
Maninstein gritted his teeth, brandished the weapon in his hand, and shouted: "The men of the Prussians will only die on the way to the charge, those who are knocked down by bullets in the back are not worthy of being Prussian soldiers at all, the eyes of the king are looking at us, and the eyes of the fathers and villagers of the homeland are watching us!"
Finally, several squadron leaders of the Prussian cavalry gritted their teeth, and then divided a group of soldiers with guns still in hand to join the queue beside Maninstein, while the remaining thirty or so Prussian cavalry launched a charge against the Austrian front.
Maninstein immediately ordered a passage between the troops for the passage of the horses under the cavalry.
The commander of the Austrian army was helpless for a while, and at this moment, the face of the commander who suddenly commanded the hundreds of Austrian troops in front of him changed greatly, and he saw a large amount of smoke and dust suddenly rising not far from the camp.
"Quick, report to General Ian, the Prussian army has caught up, let him make a decision as soon as possible!"
In fact, there was no need for this commander to send someone to report, Ian, who was standing in the middle of the camp and also the highest part of the camp, saw it when a large amount of dust had just risen from the rear of the Prussian army.
Although the smoke from the camp fire dominated most of Ian's sight, how could Ian, who was always watching the Prussian army's approach, miss this important information.
"Your Excellency General, depending on the situation, the main force of the Prussian army is not far from here, and you can decide how our army will act next as soon as possible!"
Beside Ian, one of his staff officers also saw the situation in the distance, so he asked Ian for advice anxiously.
Hearing the staff officer's words, Ian's heart tightened, he didn't expect the main force of the Prussian army to come so quickly, you must know that it has only been less than an hour since the Prussian army forward arrived at the Austrian camp, but Ian will not and dare not take this risk.
You must know that the forward cavalry of the Prussian army has suffered a big loss in his hands, and obviously stimulated by this, the main force of the Prussian army will definitely not let go of the Austrian army, although the main force of the Prussian army must have consumed a lot of physical strength along the way, but Ian can not afford to bet that the Austrian army can block the attack of the main force of the Prussian army.
"If you give me another hour, no, even if it's half an hour, I can completely annihilate this Prussian cavalry!"
Ian lamented in his heart, and then he put down his binoculars and said to the staff officer beside him: "Order a retreat, since the main force of the Prussian army is coming, then we should take it when we see it, the soldiers of the province will consume a lot of physical strength here and be caught up by the Prussian army when the time comes!"
After the order was given, Ian walked to the back of the tent, that is, the back of the road where Lawrence had just come, and after stepping on the war horse, Ian looked west unwillingly, and then whipped the horse, and the war horse under his crotch immediately ran to the east.
In a short time, there was a desolate trumpet sound in the Austrian camp, and then I saw that the Austrian army, which had just been storming the Prussian cavalry, heard the trumpet and slowly retreated towards the way it came.
At this moment, Warrick, who had been collecting the rout outside the camp at the beginning, walked over "Your Excellency, Commander, we have gathered more than 300 brothers outside, and these brothers have recovered a lot now, I think they can participate in the battle again" Hearing Varik's words, Maninstein nodded and said: "The enemy has already begun to retreat, although we can't inflict heavy losses on the enemy, but it is still okay to cause some trouble for those Austrians, take the cavalry you have gathered to the east and immediately go around the camp to the east, and if you have the opportunity, you will tear a piece of meat off the Austrians fiercely!"
"Don't worry, head of the regiment, I'll do something, can you still believe it!"
With that, Varik waved his whip and turned back to the hundreds of Prussian cavalry outside the camp, and then with his shout, hundreds of Prussian cavalry shouted one after another, and then followed this Varik around the Austrian camp and rushed east.