Life of Being a Crown Prince in France-Chapter 954 - 862: Entering the Strategic Counter-Offensive Phase

Chapter 954: Chapter 862: Entering the Strategic Counter-Offensive Phase

The cannon closest to the southern entrance of the fortress suddenly fell silent.

The advancing French infantry, inspired, quickly unfolded into a skirmish formation—infantry of this corps had undergone extensive skirmish combat training.

As the French Army fired the first volley, the enemy forces near the fortress entrance began retreating eastward.

They then turned their fire towards the fortress gates to prevent the Austrian Army inside from coming out to reinforce.

But soon, the cannon and flintlock guns on the fortress started shooting wildly in this direction, immediately covering more than a dozen French soldiers in blood as they fell and died.

The French battalion commander loudly encouraged the soldiers, "Hold on, Major Waser’s reinforcements will arrive soon, and this will become our breakthrough point into the fortress!"

Gerard busily led the team to a heavy cannon at the corner, starting to shoot before entering the cannon’s blind spot.

In less than 20 minutes, the casualties of the two French infantry battalions exceeded 260 men, yet they stubbornly held onto the southern entrance of the fortress, preventing the Austrian defense line there from closing.

Just then, the sound of hooves could be heard from afar.

Gerard turned his head and saw the flag of the Royal Dragoon Regiment waving in the sunlight, and further back seemed to be the mounted artillery.

The dragoons dismounted in front of the fortress, quickly tidying up their formation, and then launched a fierce assault on the fortress.

Simultaneously, the mounted artillery set up the cannon and concentrated fire on the enemy at the breach.

Over 800 dragoons met with little resistance as they captured the outer bank on the southern side of the fortress, the outermost wall.

The garrison inside the fortress was stunned by the sudden attack, and with the loss of unified command, the reserve troops in the fortress barracks never came out to reinforce.

When Major Waser’s infantry regiment arrived, the battle had already become irreversible, with a large number of Austrian soldiers beginning to abandon the fortress and flee...

At three o’clock in the afternoon, Major Sult was inspecting the just-captured fortress when he heard thunderous cheers around him, "Look, the Austrians are retreating!"

"Haha, Cologne is ours!"

"Victory belongs to France!"

"Long live France! Long live His Majesty the King!"

Sult hurried to a tower in the fortress, without a telescope he could see a mass of Austrian soldiers leaving the last fortress to the east, moving toward a distant bridge on the river.

He merely smiled calmly, "Count Cléfart is a wise commander."

After Prussia withdrew from the war, Cologne was destined not to receive much reinforcement. One must know that Mantua fortress in Italy was likewise surrounded by Napoleon, nearer to Vienna, so Austria would certainly deploy its main forces there.

And with this last fortress losing support from other fortresses, its external supply link would soon be cut off—a single fortress could only cover a limited width of the river, and the French people could block supply ships from landing through strategic cannon positioning.

So Cologne could no longer hold out.

Before twilight, the rearguard of two thousand Austrian soldiers surrendered to Da Wu’s Army’s attack.

On the opposite bank, Cléfart ordered the pontoon bridge burned.

Three days later.

Sult was reviewing a newly delivered list of spoils when a courier trotted up, saluted him with a hat, and said, "Lieutenant Colonel, General Bertier asks you to proceed immediately to the war meeting room."

"Alright, I’ll be right there."

More than 20 minutes later, Sult arrived at the temporary command room of the army on the east side of Cologne Cathedral.

The meeting room was already full; almost every officer ranked major or above was present.

Bertier signaled him to take a seat; once all were present, he loudly declared, "His Majesty the King has sent an order of commendation to encourage our recent victory!"

Everyone immediately stood up, saluted toward Paris, "May Jesus bless our King."

Bertier then took a commission from the copper plate held by an attendant and loudly said, "The Crown Prince personally signed the promotion of Colonel Marsena to the rank of quasi-general..."

Amidst everyone’s congratulations, a routine conferment ceremony quickly concluded.

Bertier then picked up a second commission: "The Crown Prince personally signed the promotion of Lieutenant Colonel Saint Iler to the rank of colonel..."

Another conferment ceremony followed.

Bertier continued on.

"...promoting Lieutenant Colonel Jourdan to the rank of Colonel...

"...promoting Major Sult to the rank of Colonel...

"...promoting Major Davout to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel..."

Bertier spent more than four hours reading all the promotion orders, with nearly every officer involved in the campaigns from the Southern Netherlands to the Rhine receiving various degrees of promotion.

Meanwhile, in distant Italy, Napoleon and many other officers similarly received promotions.

It could be said that following this war, the grand spectacle of rising military stars in the era of warfare that France had not seen in a long time was beginning to emerge.

Bertier had attendants remove the celebratory wine from the meeting room, raised his hand to signal the cheerful officers to quiet down, then loudly declared:

"Now let us discuss the serious matters.

"The General Staff has decided to merge the Southern Netherlands Army and the Rhine Army into the Northern Line Army.

"The entire army will rest in Cologne for half a month.

"In mid-November, under the command of General Massena, the Royal First and Second Infantry Divisions, along with three Royal Cavalry Camps, and the Royal First and Second Cavalry Artillery Barracks, will proceed to Alsace.

"There, they will rendezvous with Moro’s Army, cross the Rhine River from Basel, and advance towards Freiburg..."

The troops led by Massena numbered only over 30,000; Joseph did not expect this force to achieve significant results.

But after Massena crossed the Rhine at Basel in the southern segment, seizing Freiburg alone could directly threaten Bavaria.

Bavaria to the west had no natural defenses, and nearly one-third of Bavaria’s army had been lost in the Luxembourg campaign.

A force of 30,000 led by Massena could make Bavaria feel as if on a sharp point.

Meanwhile, Massena could also obtain nearby supplies from Baden—now a member of the Mediterranean Security Organization, providing logistical supplies to the French Army as a matter of duty—allowing for extended operations in Bavaria.

This development would leave Theodore with no choice but to seek aid from Austria.

And that would be tantamount to putting Austria in a difficult position.

If Austria refused to provide reinforcements, Bavaria would have no option but to negotiate with France, causing the Anti-French Alliance to lose a crucial German state. Austria’s prestige as the "big brother" of the Holy Roman Empire would inevitably suffer a severe blow.

If Austria agreed to send reinforcements, it could only do so by redeploying troops from the Italian theater.

Now that Napoleon was excelling in Mantua, reducing Wilmze’s forces further could lead to the collapse of the Mantua fortress.