Chapter 766 Battle of the Alma River (3)

Here I have to talk about the commander-in-chief of the British army, Baron Raglan. To be honest, this marshal is really not a famous general, at least he is far behind the Duke of Wellington. It was his series of hesitant decisions on the battlefield that led to the heavy losses of the British army.

For example, seeing their troops being slaughtered, ten people would immediately make changes, but this one-armed baron was like a wooden man, indifferent to the situation on the battlefield, just watching and waiting stupidly.

So what is Raglan waiting for?

He was actually waiting for the French army to break through the Russian army's cliff defense line, but this was a bit baffling, because as long as you were not blind you could see that the French army was unable to break through the cliff.

But Raglan just wanted to wait. Even if the generals around him repeatedly urged him to make changes quickly, he still stubbornly insisted on waiting.

Of course, he didn't do nothing. He just gave an order to the navy, asking the navy to violently bombard the Russian army and cover the French army to conquer the cliff defense line.

The worst thing about the Alma River is that it is close to the sea. The heavy artillery on the British and French naval battleships can easily hit the Russian defensive positions. The Russian army had no way to defeat the opponent due to the lack of heavy artillery.

The only good news for the Russian army is that Kornilov has built a relatively strong fortress. In the face of the indiscriminate bombing by the British and French navies, the Russian army can generally withstand it.

But the Russian army is not without its problems. To be honest, the biggest problem of the Russian army is its commander. Even if Menshikov's influence is excluded, there are many unqualified commanders at the brigade and division commander levels.

For example, Lieutenant General Kiriakov is the most prominent representative, a patient with severe alcoholism and alcohol addiction. This guy was drunk all day long, even when the battle started.

At this moment, Kiriakov was holding a bottle of champagne and drinking happily. At this time, Kornilov ordered his Minsk regiment to go forward to support the Moscow regiment and jointly attack the main force of the French army's center line that was crossing the river.

As a result, this guy didn't know whether he was drunk or a page boy. He got confused and went in the wrong direction. He mistook the Kiev Hussars for the French army. After a volley of shots, the Kiev Hussars were in disarray and had to retreat early.

Kornilov and Peter Gorchakov were stunned by this scene. Kornilov was furious and immediately ordered the military police to remove Kiriakov from his post. However, this was somewhat late, because Taking advantage of the chaos in the Russian army's position, Prince Napoleon (Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte, Jérôme Bonaparte's youngest son) and Canrobert on the center line took the opportunity to cross the Alma River and begin to storm Telegraph Hill.

Of course, the French also paid a heavy price. When Kornilov reorganized the defense line and ordered the mortar troops hidden behind Telegraph Hill to bombard the French army, Prince Napoleon and Canrobert were under great pressure for a while!

Faced with heavy casualties, Prince Napoleon quickly conveyed an order to the British General Delessy Evans on the left, asking the British army to move forward immediately to disperse the Russian army's firepower and help the French army reduce the pressure.

But the funny thing is that when Evans conveyed Prince Napoleon's request to Raglan, Raglan told him: "Don't worry about the French, do your own thing, and you can only take action after the French break through the defense line." action!"

This order made General Evans' eyes wide open, because his subordinates were suffering huge casualties every minute and every second because they were unable to move forward. What's going on with them always squatting in place and being beaten like this!

However, Raglan's order was very clear, and Evans could not resist. He could only watch his soldiers wailing in the rain of bullets. After nearly a quarter of an hour, the British troops on the front line almost reached the Alma River. When it turned red, Evans couldn't bear it any longer. He rushed to Raglan's headquarters in a rage and fiercely questioned him, demanding that he either advance immediately or retreat immediately!

Facing Evans's strong protest, Raglan was a little numb. After much hesitation, he finally agreed to Evans' request and ordered the British Light Infantry Division, the First Division and the Second Division to move forward.

It's just that this order is very vague and doesn't say what to do forward. It can only be said that this order is very consistent with Raglan's style. It can only be said that this guy's military thinking is still stuck in the Napoleonic era.

In order to maximize the power of the Migne rifle, the British soldiers lined up in narrow horizontal lines and moved forward. This aspect actually showed the combat qualities of the British army.

Because such a formation tests the discipline of the soldiers and the control of the troops by the grassroots officers, especially in areas with complex terrain, if this formation is not played correctly, the troops will become a mess.

The British army really has nothing to say in this regard, even the rival Russian officers were amazed by it.

"This is something unusual for us! We have never seen soldiers fighting in two lines. We never thought that they were so disciplined that they could attack our huge army with such an obviously weak formation. The swarm attacks!"

However, the British army's formation could not be maintained when it arrived at the village of Burliuk at the foot of Telegraph Mountain, because the Russian army's fierce artillery fire ignited many houses and bushes in the village. It was naturally more difficult to maintain the formation under the smoke. not easy.

However, this unexpected smoke also caused some trouble for the Russian artillery, because the smoke obscured their vision and forced them to stop shooting.

There were only a small number of Russian chasseurs and Cossack cavalry in the village of Burliuk. They were driven away not long after the exchange of fire with the British army. Then the British army began to march towards Telegraph Hill in chaos. As soon as they broke out of the shelter of the smoke, they were in trouble. Received a head-on attack from the Russian artillery!

Lieutenant General Brown, commander of the British Light Infantry Division, recalled after the war: "In my opinion, the most shocking sight was that death came quietly. No sign could be seen or heard. A soldier suddenly fell and fell over. Off to the side, or in the ranks dropped to the dust. A bullet found its target, but it all seemed to happen in a mysterious silence - these people disappeared, abandoned aside, and we were still there They walked by.”

Compared with the British army at the foot of Telegraph Hill, the situation of the main follow-up British army crossing the river was also very bad. Because they could not tell the depth of the river, the soldiers gathered in groups and unloaded their equipment. Some soldiers raised their Minie rifles and bullets above their heads. However, not everyone was lucky enough to cross the river.

A small number of British soldiers happened to step into the deep water area, and the rapids directly submerged these poor guys. Kornilov ordered the only 20-pounder cannon to bombard the British troops crossing the river, and nearly thirty heavy artillery opened fire at once. , the Alma River was almost covered with the corpses of British soldiers, and even the river water was dyed crimson...