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The Fox of France - Chapter 482
🕑 Added 2024-04-12 22:33:26 +0000 UTCChapter 482: Return Like Lightning
Recently, France's military industrial production has also reached a peak, but there is no synthetic ammonia available, and Napoleon stubbornly refuses to adjust the distribution ratio of saltpeter between agriculture and the military. As a result, although France has invested a lot of money to increase the production of Chilean saltpeter, the production of gunpowder and explosives is still limited, especially given the current consumption in the war, leading to an ever-growing shortfall.
This shortage, of course, has driven up the price of saltpeter. On the international market, saltpeter is practically priceless now. Even if you have the money, you can't buy saltpeter anymore.
Since saltpeter is so rare, the French's various types of artillery shells and hand grenades, being deep-processed products of saltpeter, have naturally also increased in price. This has begun to make the situation difficult for the Russians. The Turks have their own source of saltpeter and can also purchase it from nearby Indians (although the British have ordered a ban on saltpeter sales, the price increase has turned this ban into a joke. Initially, the fellows from the British East India Company would catch smugglers of saltpeter and then log a small portion of the confiscated smuggled saltpeter into their warehouses, selling the majority to the Turks and pocketing the money. Then their saltpeter warehouses would always suffer from fires due to various reasons like dragon fire, espionage sabotage, or mishandling by the Indians, and as a flammable material, the saltpeter would naturally be burned off. Of course, after each such warehouse fire, the Turks would always be able to buy a batch of saltpeter.)
The Turks transported this saltpeter to France and then paid a hefty processing fee to have it turned into ammunition to take back. Although in this "processing on delivery" arrangement, some of the Turkish ships always ended up losing a portion of the saltpeter, and naturally, the French during processing would also have a certain loss, followed by more loss during the shipping back, more than half of the saltpeter was lost in these processes. But at least, the Turkish ammunition was still being replenished.
However, the situation for the Russians was much worse. Russia is vast and rich in resources, but not in saltpeter. Saltpeter is mostly found in dry deserts and semi-desert areas, and despite Russia's vastness, deserts are not plentiful. For the Russians to purchase saltpeter, they could only look to the Far East, but at that time, without the Siberian railway, transportation was inconvenient, making it very late to bring back saltpeter from there.
Thus, after launching round after round of attacks on the Turkish defensive positions, consuming a large amount of ammunition and lives, the Russian offensive had stalled. In these series of offensive operations, the Russian army suffered around forty thousand casualties. This number, in this era, is absolutely terrifying. Meanwhile, the Turks, despite having a defensive bonus and an army trained by the French, theoretically should have suffered fewer losses. But due to various internal issues, such as suddenly having only a little over a thousand men at a position that should have had ten thousand according to records; or a sudden warehouse fire— (the warehouse manager received an order that by tomorrow, a certain tonnage of certain materials must be sent to a certain place, and then the warehouse would suddenly catch fire due to lightning, meteorites, sabotage by Armenian Christians, or other reasons.)
As a result, the Turks, even though they were relying on the Joseph-style defense to hold their position, ended up suffering even higher casualties than the Russians, losing sixty thousand men, including some cannon fodder troops, but also thirty thousand of their most elite troops, fully equipped and trained in the French style.
But it didn't matter, in Turkey, people were the least valuable; Turkey had plenty of people. As such, in a battle of attrition, the Russians couldn't outlast them. Besides, for some, having more of the Sultan's elite troops die wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
So, you see, now, they've managed to hold off the Russians and also drained the direct forces of the Turkish Sultan, killing two birds with one stone. How great is that!
Overall, the Russians, after such significant expenditure and casualties, made very limited progress and thus had to prepare to retreat. Even the resilient Kutuzov and the fierce Bagration had to admit that the Russian army now had little ability to overcome the Turkish defensive positions.
“If we had a third more of our shells and 'little melons,' I could definitely shred the Turkish defenses,” General Bagration is said to have remarked.
However, there were not a third more of these items, in fact, there were far fewer. So the Russian army now had to consider retreating.
Retreating in front of the enemy is a tricky business, mishand
led, it could lead to a devastating counterattack. Especially now, with massive casualties and nothing to show for it, the troops worn and morale low, it was even more so.
On the other side, Sultan Selim III was also full of anticipation for the battlefield situation. His reforms had yielded good results, and his troops had severely damaged the Russian army. Of course, he too had paid a huge price, his truly loyal troops also suffered heavy casualties. So, if this battle ended in a mere draw, because of the dual loss of troops and wealth, he might not be able to suppress those conservative factions opposing his reforms as before.
Thus, he needed a real, unquestionable, glorious victory.
Therefore, the Grand Vizier Arghandab Mustafa Pasha, who was commanding the front lines, soon received Sultan Selim III's order—to pursue the possibly retreating Russian army, crush them, and regain the territories lost in the previous war.
Grand Vizier Arghandab Mustafa Pasha knew his troops were in a tight spot, but also knew the significant meaning of victory for the Turks today, especially for the Sultan. Thus, he also made the decision to pursue the Russian army.
After Kutuzov's Russian forces began their slow retreat, Grand Vizier Arghandab Mustafa Pasha led his most elite forty thousand French-style troops, plus another thirty thousand other troops, in pursuit of the Russian army.
Kutuzov's retreat was well-organized; he fought and retreated, maintaining the organization of his troops. Although they suffered a bit due to morale and supply issues during the retreat, it wasn't significant. However, Arghandab Mustafa Pasha wasn't in a hurry; Kutuzov had a long way to go to reach a truly safe position. During this process, as long as Kutuzov showed a single flaw, all his previous efforts would be wasted.
Kutuzov moved towards the south bank of the Danube, appearing to prepare to cross northwards. The Turks followed, but another Russian force, always hidden nearby, led by General Bagration, came out from the flank, cutting off the Turkish army's supply line and retreat path.
The Russian force cutting off the Turkish supply line had only less than twenty thousand men and didn't have time to construct truly impregnable defenses. The Turkish army, numbering over seventy thousand, of which forty thousand were combat-capable, should have had no difficulty breaking through this more than ten thousand men blockade. But the battlefield isn't just about numbers. Remember, Kutuzov's thirty thousand troops were still there. If they turned around to attack Bagration, Kutuzov certainly wouldn't just stand by; he would launch a pincer attack on the Turks. So before turning around to clear the supply line, Arghandab Mustafa Pasha had to first prepare defenses against Kutuzov's side.
This defensive preparation, of course, would take quite some time. By the time the Turks were ready on this front, General Bagration had also prepared his defenses.
“When I was in France, I once had the opportunity to visit His Excellency First Consul Bonaparte. It just so happened that both Consul Bonaparte and Chancellor Bonaparte were there, and they were studying a military issue on a sand table. As you all know, the Bonaparte brothers are both great military strategists, one excels in offense, the other in defense. So, seeing their map work was a truly rare learning opportunity for me. Unfortunately, my visit was brief, and I didn’t see their entire operation or the final outcome. However, I did hear a concept from the Consul Bonaparte: the best offensive means is to create various situations that force the enemy to attack our defensive positions. A strategic offensive stance and a tactical defensive stance are not contradictory but can complement each other. Our last war against Turkey was a practice of this idea..." This was later what General Bagration told students at the Saint Petersburg Military Academy. Just as he said, this battle was conducted under the guidance of this idea.
The rest of the battle fully entered the rhythm of the Russians. Arghandab Mustafa Pasha’s troops first launched a fierce attack on Bagration’s position, but despite their few numbers, the Russians had good combat strength. Relying on fortifications, they held off the Turks’ initial rounds of attacks and inflicted significant casualties.
Later, Kutuzov’s containment attack also firmly held back the most elite part of Arghandab Mustafa Pasha’s forces, preventing these troops from being fully deployed in the attack on Bagration’s position.
Arghandab Mustafa Pasha naturally knew that if he couldn't clear the supply path in a short time, the large army would collapse completely without supplies. On the first day of the breakout operation, apart from a portion of the elite, more were those "other troops" with barely any combat capability. Arghandab Must
afa Pasha knew, just like he wasn’t getting supplies, Bagration wasn’t either, so his plan was to first use cannon fodder to wear down Bagration’s resources, then launch a total attack with the real elite on the second day.
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