576 Battle of Leipzig (6)
The Prussians, who had always been tenacious and warlike, were ridiculed, although the battle did not last long, and the Prussian side did not suffer much losses, only the four Prussian infantry regiments stationed in Magdeburg were eaten by the Germans, and the main force of the Prussian army led by Karl I was not greatly damaged. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ļ½ļ½ļ½Uļ½Eć info However, the Prussians tried many times, failed many times, and were disgraced, and were looked at by all of Europe. In particular, the Austrians, who were on the same front, although they had made peace with Prussia in recent years, saw that Prussia was deflated, and the Austrians were also a little gloating.
Even Leopold II, as Emperor of Austria, sent a telegram to King Frederick of Prussia? Wilhelm II said that since the Prussian army could not break through the Elbe defense line, then they should wait for the arrival of the Austrian army and create conditions for the Prussian army to cross the river.
Such a telegram, with its taunts and banter, directly ignited the emotional Frederick? Wilhelm II, the king, sent an envoy directly to Karl I's tent and told him that the crossing of the river must be successful before the Austrian army reached Leipzig, otherwise the field marshal would do it himself, and Prussia could not afford to lose this man.
Karl I was under a lot of pressure, he was not a man who liked to fight hard, but when it came to the honor of Prussia, he did not waste time looking for the best solution. As a result, Karl I forcibly crossed the Elbe River in three places on the 80-kilometer-long section of the Elbe.
In the vicinity of Magdeburg, the Germans had destroyed all the bridges over the river, but they did not have time to destroy some of the crossings and boats on the other side, and in Saxony, Karl I ordered ditches to be dug. Ship ships away from German artillery fire. It's also very effective.
Nov. 1 at 8 a.m. The Prussian army launched river crossing operations at three locations at the same time. The river crossings were at point A south of Fort Madgar, point B north of Dessau and point C north of Torgau.
Although the German army had grasped a certain amount of the movement of the Prussian army beforehand, such a large-scale operation of the Prussian army also brought great trouble to the German army, which was not well manned.
First of all, on the battlefield A, since the Germans were more busy clearing the Prussian army on the west bank, and there were more tributaries of the Elbe around Magdeburg, Karl I, upon his arrival, gathered a number of large and small ships. Although the number is not too much, it is enough for the operation of crossing the river.
The Germans also knew that it was impossible to prepare the means for the Prussian army to cross the river, so they were ready for battle, and the German army and the People's Guard began to build multiple fortifications on the river bank, and set up artillery positions, so that the artillery could quickly enter the position and prepare to fire after encountering the enemy.
The Prussian army did not assemble all the ferries, but divided them into different groups, and also launched river crossings at different points on the battlefield a. The benefits are also clear. Disperse the defensive firepower of the German army, and the Germans will always appear in areas with rarefier firepower. This naturally increases the success rate of crossing the river.
The German army on battlefield A has more than 100 artillery pieces, more than half of which are 105 mm howitzers, and the power is quite reliable. When the Prussian army launched a cross-river offensive, the German artillery began to fire a large number of fragmentation shrapnel shells into the river, and the shells exploded in the air, and a large number of fragments were splashed, even if the Prussian soldiers were lying on the boat, they would be beaten like a sieve.
However, the Prussian army scattered dozens of river-crossing clusters ranging from 100 people to the entire river-crossing battlefield, and the artillery positions set up by the German army at the beginning were relatively concentrated in order to pursue lethality and power, so although the Germans' artillery was fierce, they still could not stop all the Prussian troops crossing the river.
Naturally, the Germans guarded the river not only by their own artillery, although the Germans had only operated this section of the river for a few days, but they also built some fortifications along the river, and not only German soldiers, including armed People's Guards, were stationed in the fortifications. In particular, the Germans also had a certain number of heavy machine guns, and when the Prussian fleet approached, the heavy machine guns opened fire with a roar, and a large tongue of fire shot out, not to mention the bodies of Prussian soldiers, even the hulls of wooden ships could be shattered.
The Prussian army also tried to return fire on the boat, but the Germans relied on fortified bunkers and fire suppression, and the Prussian army's return fire would not have any effect, and more large small boats were destroyed, or even if they were not completely destroyed, the number of Prussian soldiers on the small boats was insufficient.
Under the double defensive firepower of the German army, the casualties of the Prussian army were quite heavy, and under the conditions of weapons warfare in the new era, the casualties have increased sharply compared with the seven-year war 30 years ago. Crazy cannons and machine guns become extremely effective killing weapons, turning the battlefield into a real hell.
Of course, the Prussian army's scattered river crossing tactics still played a certain role, about one-sixth of the Prussian soldiers successfully landed on the river bank, but what awaited them was still the fierce firepower of the German army and the People's Guard, and the German officers who commanded the defensive operations were systematically educated in the Tang military system, and set aside mobile troops to directly pounce on the landing and eliminate the Prussian troops who landed on the shore. The Prussian army, which had just landed on the shore, lacked heavy weapons and did not have effective cover, and was immediately wiped out by the Germans.
The battle on the battlefield lasted for about a morning, and by the afternoon it was basically stopped, and the onslaught launched by the Prussian army with thousands of men was finally destroyed, and what shocked Karl I even more was that the Prussian army suffered extremely heavy casualties, with a total of 1,125 casualties, which seemed to be a small number compared to the more than 20,000 Prussian troops he led, but in fact it was limited by the vehicles that crossed the river, which was almost all of the first soldiers he sent to cross the river, that is, the Elbe defense line like a meat grinder, Almost all the Prussian soldiers who participated in the river crossing operations were killed.
A The defeat on the battlefield also dealt a heavy blow to the Prussian army's fighting spirit, and the German army's terrifying firepower shocked the Prussian army, and the Prussian army never imagined fighting an enemy with such a level of firepower. Karl I also knew very well that the Germans used their numerical superiority in artillery and machine guns to form a network of firepower, and if the Prussian army did not have enough firepower to counteract, then it could only be filled by manpower. In fact, more than 200 Prussian troops had successfully landed in this battle, but due to the lack of fire support and cover, they were easily wiped out by the Germans. Now Karl I wanted to launch the battle of crossing the river in the A-battlefield again, but once again fell into the dilemma of lacking the means to cross the river. The Germans destroyed most of the Prussian ships that had crossed the river, and once again Karl I could only look at the river and sigh.
In addition to the A battlefield, the other two battlefields also took place in relatively fierce battles. (To be continued.) )