readx;? In the headquarters of the 1st Division, it didn't take long for a mid-level officer in a blue colonel uniform to stand in front of Bernadotte. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

The lieutenant colonel did not slack off, stood upright, raised his hand and saluted a beautiful and standardized French military salute and said: "Division commander, Lieutenant Colonel Lampard, commander of the first regiment, salutes you." “

Lampard Brought, born in 1766 in the southern French city of Périgueux, joined the army in 1784 and was transferred to the Rhine Legion, where he was promoted to the rank of captain and commander of an infantry company. In 1786, he was selected by Brion because of his outstanding military qualities and became a middle-ranking officer of the Iron Guard. In the same year, he participated in the bloodbath of the 1st Division, and was appreciated by Brion for his vigorous and resolute style and clean and decisive methods.

Later, when the Baden War broke out in 1788, he followed Briand's Iron Guards into the Baden region to fight against tens of thousands of Austrian and Saxon troops, but was unfortunately wounded by a stray bullet during the battle, but was promoted to the rank of major. After two months in the hospital to recuperate from his wounds, he was reassigned to the Rhine Corps as an infantry regiment commander of the 1st Division. After Bernadotte became the commander of the 1st Division, he was favored by Bernadotte and transferred to the position of commander of the 1st Regiment, and undoubtedly became Bernadotte's most important confidant officer.

Although Frank Lampard was only a regimental commander, he was slightly higher in status than many of the mid-level officers in the Rhine Army. According to the general structure of Brion after the integration of the Rhine Corps, a division had three infantry brigades and one cavalry brigade, plus an artillery regiment. An infantry brigade has jurisdiction over three infantry regiments, each of which is only more than 2,000 people. As for the Baden division under the command of Nala and Rubel, the establishment is even smaller, and there are more than 1,600 people in one regiment.

However, the situation of the establishment of the first regiment was also very special, with four infantry battalions, two cavalry battalions, and a cannon artillery battalion, plus more than 4,400 non-combatants. To put it bluntly, the comprehensive combat capability of the 1st Regiment is absolutely unmatched in the Rhine armies except for the reserve brigade of Desai, and even the Baden infantry brigade of more than 5,000 people can be defeated in a short period of time.

It is no surprise, then, that Frank Lampard has reached the rank of lieutenant colonel as a regimental commander. Clear-eyed people can naturally see that Bernadotte intends to cultivate, as long as Lampard makes a meritorious service, sooner or later he will be promoted to the commander of the first brigade, and the rank of major general may not be known.

Bernadotte looked at Lampard's slightly delicate face, briefly explained Briand's instructions, and then continued: "The difficulty of this battle is not to be reduced, according to our intelligence agencies, there are more than 6,000 Austrian troops stationed in Elchingen and the Danube. Preparations are already underway for the crossing of the river, and it is estimated that they will be ready by 2 May. ”

Lieutenant Colonel Lampard nodded and said without hesitation: "Don't worry, division commander, we will cross the river while it is dark on May 3, and we will immediately rush to Elsingen as soon as it is dawn, and we will never fail to live up to the trust of the division commander." ”

That evening, Frank Lampard convened a military meeting of the 1st Regiment and above to discuss and finalize a detailed operational plan for the river crossing.

Although the corps headquarters had drawn up a more detailed plan for the first regiment to cross the river, it was at most a strategic battle plan. The actual action plan has to be drawn up by the regiment headquarters itself. It didn't take long for the combat program to be completed. Due to the difficulty of crossing the river with artillery and cavalry, in addition to carrying a small number of cannons, the combat mission this time basically fell on the four infantry battalions.

If a large number of cavalry and artillery units in the rear, or a large number of subsequent troops, want to keep up with the vanguard troops, it must be seen whether the 3,000 infantry of the first regiment can hold the position until the sappers have finished erecting the pontoon bridge. In addition, building a pontoon bridge on the Danube, which is nearly 10 kilometers wide, is not only extremely difficult and risky, but also takes at least a day. Frank Lampard couldn't even imagine what the first regiment would be like when it faced more and more Austrian troops.

Early in the morning of May 3, the entire Rhine Corps began to make full preparations for the upcoming river crossing. In addition to transporting large quantities of supplies from the corps to the Danube, Bernadotte, Davout, Nara, and Rubel divisions were all assembled along the Danube, and they crossed the river as soon as the pontoon bridge was built. This time, of course, Bernadotte's 1st Division, as reinforcements for the 1st Regiment, was the first to start crossing the river.

However, the 1st Regiment, as the main attacker, was less nervous than the rest of the Rhine Corps, except for the indispensable work of transporting ammunition, and began to recharge at twelve o'clock in the afternoon when the troops finished lunch, and ate early at about five o'clock in the evening. It wasn't until 11 a.m. that the nearly 3,000 soldiers in charge of the battle boarded the wooden boats or rafts moored along the river and began to move towards the east bank of the Danube, but Frank Lampard, as the regimental commander, personally commanded the front line with the army, of course, to boost morale.

The battlefield is dangerous, but Lampard understands that sometimes a commander's adventure can also mean that his army has some chance of victory.

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Sailing at night, in order to avoid the Austrians on the other side of the river from being noticed, Lampard ordered the whole regiment not to light torches for lighting, and could only rely on the faint starlight and the route obtained from reconnaissance. Fortunately, however, the situation was still going well, and the French army spent about six hours on the river, and it was not until dawn that they reached the opposite bank and quickly launched a landing operation.

With a little light from the dawn, the telescope could still get a glimpse of the approximate location of the city of Elchengen ahead, even though there was an early morning fog everywhere. "Thanks to the fog that obscured our whereabouts and did not let the Austrian scouts know where we were. Do you say yes? Lampard slowly lowered his binoculars and his expression was no longer as tense as it had been.

Lampard's adjutant, Colonel Victor, took the telescope and nodded: "According to the previous report of our scouts, the number of Austrian soldiers along the Danube has increased to more than 7,000. Most of them were stationed along the Danube, with more than 3,000 Austrians stationed in the city of Erchingen. You see..... ”

"Don't hesitate, immediately order the troops to take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness and attack Ersingen with all their might, and be sure to crush the enemy within two hours. If Elchingen cannot be captured in a short time, then once the Austrian garrison is combined, the consequences will be unimaginable. Lampard consciously looked up at the gradually clear sky: "The fog is about to dissipate, we really don't have much time left, attack now!"

At about six o'clock in the morning, the fog cleared, and on the low hill in the Austrian position in front of Erchingen, a soldier in a white second lieutenant uniform looked hundreds of meters ahead with wide eyes, but the next second he seemed to can't believe his eyes, and muttered to himself: "What is that?"

At the same time, however, the expression of a soldier next to him was extremely frightened, as if he had seen death, and he shouted in an extremely sharp voice: "It's the French, those French have crossed the Danube, and they are about to attack!"

Immediately afterward, several Austrian soldiers in the rear noticed the situation ahead, and in the next moment, a sharp scream spread throughout the entire position.

Soon, a herald hurriedly mounted his horse and ran towards the temporary headquarters of Archduke Charles in the rear. Several other heralds were also urgently ordered to call for help from the garrisons along the Danube.

Meanwhile, Lampard waved his hand at the battalion commanders in the French infantry phalanx, then drew his saber and arced through the air. The soldiers were signaled to march slowly and then launch a tidal burst of charge.

As the distance was further narrowed, the Austrian army's reaction was still extremely rapid, and they immediately fired fierce fire at the French troops who charged over the position, and even brought in several cannons to bombard the French army, in order to cause massive casualties to the French army at a certain distance. The French army did not care about returning fire, but continued to advance on the corpses of the soldiers.

Although the distance between the other side is getting closer and closer, it has to be said that the hit rate of bullets in this era is extremely low. Generally speaking, the average range of ordinary smoothbore guns equipped by European ** teams is about 228 meters, but in this case, shooting is a complete waste of bullets, and the actual effective range is only about 80 meters, but this does not take into account the hit rate, just whether it can kill people.

In comparison, even the effective firing range of the first-generation Ferguson rifle reached about one hundred and eighty meters, and the superiority is naturally self-evident.

Needless to say, the cannon is an absolute deterrent in lethality, but the hit rate is also a hard wound in this weapon of mass destruction. Therefore, the destructive power of firearms in this era can only be based on the density of the ammunition fired.

Due to the extremely fast speed of the French charge, coupled with the low hit rate and extremely slow firing speed of the Austrian fire, the French army did not suffer many casualties during the offensive at all. Moreover, under the continuous training of the martial spirit, the soldiers of the Brion faction have one characteristic, that is, they are not afraid of death. Even sometimes in battle, regiment commanders, brigade commanders and other middle and upper-level officers took the lead in the charge, of course, there were still a few who died on the battlefield.

The French charge the Austrian positions for no other purpose than to fight to the death, often by hand-to-hand combat, which was the quickest way to settle the battle. Brion's soldiers were not afraid of death, but the Austrian soldiers, who were frightened by the French army, did not know whether they were afraid of death or not.