Struggle in Russia

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 108,000 miles away from the Duke of Wellington. It was his series of hesitant decisions on the battlefield that caused the British to suffer heavy losses.

For example, seeing his troops being slaughtered, ten people would immediately make changes, but this one-armed baron, like the wooden man, ignored the situation on the battlefield and just watched and waited stupidly.

So what is Raglan waiting for?

He was actually waiting for the French army to break through the cliff line of defense of the Russian army, but this was a bit inexplicable, because as long as the eyes were not blind, it could be seen that the French army was completely 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 bombard the Russian army violently and cover the French army to conquer the cliff line.

The bad 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 defensive positions of the Russian army. The Russian army had no way to take the other side because of the lack of heavy artillery.

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

It's just that the Russian army is not without problems. To be honest, the biggest problem of the Russian army is the commander. Even if the influence of Menshkov is excluded, there are not a few unqualified commanders at the level of brigade and division commanders.

For example, Lieutenant General Kiriakov, this guy is the most prominent representative among them, as a patient of deep alcoholism and alcohol addiction. This guy is drunk all day long, even when the battle starts.

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

As a result, this guy didn't know whether he had drunk too much or was a messenger. He was confused and took the wrong direction. He even mistook the Kyiv Hussars for the French.

Kornilov and Peter Gorchakov were stunned by this scene. The furious Kornilov immediately ordered the gendarmerie to dismiss Kiriakov, but it was a bit late, because Taking advantage of the chaos of the Russian army, Prince Napoleon (Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte, the youngest son of Jerome Bonaparte) and Canrobert took the opportunity to cross the Alma River and began 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 the Telegraph Hill to bombard the French army, Prince Napoleon and Conrobel were under great pressure for a while!

In the face of heavy casualties, Prince Napoleon hurriedly passed an order to the British Army General Dressy 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.

It's just funny that when Evans conveyed Prince Napoleon's request to Raglan, Raglan told him: "Don't worry about the French, do your own thing, and wait until the French break through the defense before you can take action. action!"

This order made General Evans's eyes go to pieces, because his subordinates were suffering huge casualties every minute and every second because of their immobility. What's the matter?

It's just that Raglan's order was very clear, and Evans couldn't resist it. He could only watch his soldiers wailing in the rain of bullets. After another quarter of an hour, the British army on the front line almost drowned the Alma River. When it was dyed red, Evans couldn't bear it any longer. He rushed to Raglan's headquarters and asked sharply, demanding to either advance or retreat immediately!

In the face of Evans' strong protest, Raglan was also a little numb. Hesitating again and again, he finally agreed to Evans' request and ordered the British Light Infantry Division and the 1st and 2nd Divisions to move forward.

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

In order to maximize the power of the Minet rifle, the British soldiers formed a narrow horizontal line to move forward, which showed the combat quality of the British army.

Because such a formation is a test of the soldiers' discipline and the grass-roots officers' control over the troops, especially in areas with complex terrain, if playing this formation is wrong, the troops will become a mess of sand.

And the British army really has nothing to say in this regard, even as a rival Russian army officer, it is full of admiration.

"It's extraordinary for us! We've never seen soldiers fighting in two lines, and we've never imagined that they would be so disciplined that they would be able to fight against our massive army in such apparently weak formations. The group attacked!"

However, the formation of the British army could not be maintained when they reached the village of Burlyuk at the foot of the Telegraph Mountain, because the violent artillery fire of the Russian army ignited many houses and bushes in the village, and it was natural to maintain the formation under the smoke. not easy.

However, this unexpected smoke also caused some trouble for the Russian artillery. Because the smoke blocked their sight, they had to stop shooting.

There were only a small number of Russian chasers and Cossacks in the village of Burlyuk. They were driven away not long after the exchange of fire with the British, and then the British began to march towards Telegraph Hill in chaos. The head-on attack of the Russian artillery!

Lieutenant General Brown, the commander of the British Light Infantry Division, recalled after the war: "The most amazing sight to me was that death came quietly. No sign was seen or heard, and a soldier suddenly fell, overturned. On one side, or fall on the dust in the line. A bullet finds its target, but it all seems to happen in a mysterious silence - these people are gone, abandoned, and we are still with them Walk by."

Compared with the British army at the foot of the telegraph mountain, the situation of the follow-up main force of the British army crossing the river was also very bad. Because the depth of the river was unclear, the soldiers gathered in groups of three and five to unload their equipment. Some soldiers held the Minet rifles and bullets above their heads, but not everyone was lucky enough to cross the river.

A small number of British soldiers just stepped into the deep water area, and the rapids directly drowned these poor fellows, while Kornilov ordered the only 20-pounder guns to blast the British troops crossing the river, and nearly 30 heavy artillery opened fire together. , so that the Alma River is almost full of British corpses, and even the river is dyed crimson...