Chapter 1347: 1252: The Strongest Prussian Corps

Chapter 1347: Chapter 1252: The Strongest Prussian Corps

At dawn the next day, France’s cannon suddenly appeared on the southwest side of the Prussian defense line in Weimar, and the intense artillery fire quickly blasted a gap several tens of meters wide in the right flank of the Prussian Army.

Immediately, Oreal personally commanded the scattered soldier cluster to launch a fierce attack on the enemy from the front.

On a battlefield over three kilometers wide, more than 5,000 French soldiers advanced quickly in a loose yet very orderly formation.

Soon, the Prussian infantry line fired the first volley from 90 paces away, but most bullets flew between the loosely positioned French soldiers, and the few who were hit were often unharmed due to bullet-proof inserts.

The war drums suddenly paused between the French scattered soldier clusters, and the soldiers immediately sought cover behind nearby bushes or rocks, then peeked out to aim and fire.

They did not engage in volleys—the method used by smoothbore guns to increase hit probability—as the rifled gun’s accuracy supported individual precision shooting. Especially these veteran French soldiers, who basically had shooting experience with thousands of bullets, boasting exceptional marksmanship.

Blood mist arose instantly on the Prussian defense line, with at least nearly two hundred hit and falling.

The Prussian Army also received bullet-proof inserts provided by the British, and these elite of the Brandenburg Guard Corps were all equipped with this armor.

However, the Minie Bullet fired by France expanded due to the cavity effect at the base, providing excellent gas seal with high-velocity spin, thus achieving over 30% greater penetration power than ordinary bullets.

Moreover, England had not yet developed superior alloy steel, and was unwilling to use silk as the insert’s interlayer, resulting in their bullet-proof inserts being of much poorer quality compared to French products.

This led to at least 70% of the bullet-proof inserts worn by Prussians being pierced, and the confidence soldiers derived from this advanced armor dissipated immediately.

In fact, this was still at a longer distance since at 60 paces or less, the Minie Bullet could nearly penetrate British-made bullet-proof inserts completely.

The war drums in the French scattered soldier cluster resumed abruptly, and the soldiers stood up, quickly reloading their ammunition—faster than the Prussians opposite them—and then advanced 5 paces rapidly in unison, taking cover again.

The Prussian soldiers on the defense line felt extremely uncomfortable, feeling like foolishly standing straight to be shot at, while when it was their turn to shoot, formidable targets were hard to find.

As the French scattered soldier cluster approached within just 50 paces of the enemy, Austria’s position began to show signs of chaos.

Oreal was about to order the long-prepared columns at the back to charge, when suddenly the sound of a roar came from the high ground to the east of Weimar.

In fact, Marshal Mellen Dorf had noticed yesterday that this high ground was well-suited for cannon placement, but with nightfall, he felt France couldn’t arrive so quickly and thus arranged for the artillery to set up the position the next day.

Unexpectedly, Oreal launched an attack early in the morning, causing the Austrian artillery to hastily drag the cannons up the high ground.

Five twelve-pound iron balls zipped through the French scatter, still managing to instantaneously smash several despite their distribution.

Oreal gritted his teeth and commanded the scattered soldier cluster to press further, then instructed Mula to lead the hussars in a surprise attack on the enemy’s artillery position—such a maneuver would likely result in huge casualties if executed as a direct assault amid cannon fire.

However, at this moment, the already shaky Prussian defense line stabilized for some reason. Those who trembled and dared not lift their heads, even preparing to turn around, stood up straight again and erupted in cheers.

When the French scattered soldier cluster advanced to within a little over 30 paces of the enemy, Oreal witnessed a round of their firing killing at least 300, but Prussian soldiers immediately retaliated with a volley.

Their morale was unbelievably high.

At such a close distance, the bullet-proof inserts of France couldn’t withstand the bullets from caplock guns either, and dozens of soldiers were struck down at once.

The Prussian artillery on the eastern high grounds was still roaring ceaselessly, and seeing no way to break through the Prussian lines, Oreal, realizing prolonged fighting would only increase casualties, ordered the scattered soldier cluster to retreat first.

He turned his head towards the regrouping hussars, silently praying for Mula to scatter the enemy’s artillery position.

At this time, a light blue hot air balloon slowly rose from his rear flank. Due to the steam engine air pump carried by the Ogero Army malfunctioning en route from carriage overturning, the high-altitude reconnaissance camp took more than an hour to prepare for lift-off.

Oreal just finished coordinating the heavily lost companies with reserves, quickly noticing Mula’s cavalry camp circling east and disappearing behind a grove.

On the other side, the hot air balloon gradually rose to over 600 meters above, with officers in the basket seeming to have spotted something significant, suddenly signaling desperately to the ground.

Shortly, a staff officer ran to Oreal with a freshly translated report, breathless, saying: “General, the high-altitude reconnaissance camp spotted the black eagle flag south of Weimar!”

Oreal grabbed the report in surprise, seeing the words “black eagle flag” and “deep blue military uniform, bearskin hat guards,” his heart pounded violently.

The black single-headed eagle is the so-called “Prussian Eagle,” customarily associating with Prussia, while “Prussian Blue” refers to the Royal Guard’s uniform. All this suggested that William III might very well be in Weimar!

No wonder the combat spirit of Prussians here was so high. Oreal quickly grasped the earlier unusual scene.

He then frowned deeply, understanding it wouldn’t be easy to break Weimar’s defense line in a short time.

He suddenly focused his gaze, turning to the staff officer: “Have Mula forget about the artillery position for now, standby on the enemy’s left wing.

“Order the eleventh and fifteenth scattered soldier regiments to assemble on the east side, preparing for column charge.

“Colonel Marson to command other units, including reserves, to launch a frontal attack.

“Quick!”

The Prussian Army had just reached Weimar yesterday, and the lines were still incomplete; he had to seize this opportunity to resolve the battle here.

Although William III in Weimar could boost Prussian morale, he was also Prussian’s vulnerability!

40 minutes later, the nearly rested French Army charged headlong into Prussia’s cannon once again in a direct assault.

The Prussian side quickly compensated for fallen soldiers on the defense line. The Brandenburg Guard Corps, born of Frederick the Great’s illustrious legacy, maintained extremely high fighting spirit.

A more brutal battle erupted at once.

Marson soon sent the scheduled signal to Ogero via the Sharp Signal Car, indicating he had successfully completed the containment task.

Ogero immediately led nearly 3,000 soldiers, organized into dozens of columns, in a charge against the left flank of the Prussian defense line.