Chapter 451: Duke Brunswick's Opportunity
Two days later, on the main battlefield of Silesia, at the Liegnitz front, Austrian Infantry Captain Heine was lounging comfortably in a soft chair. He listened to the continuous booming of cannons while lazily watching his dog, "Mast," gnaw on a tree root beside him. Over the past few months, both the Prussians and Austrians had been hunkered down behind their lines, firing cannons blindly at each other. Heine had long since grown accustomed to the noise.
Suddenly, the cannon fire from the northwest fell silent, and soon after, the cannons on Heine's side also went quiet. Heine immediately frowned and stood up, and his dog began barking frantically towards the artillery positions.
Before he could send a servant to inquire about the situation, a major hurried over and saluted. "Captain, the gunpowder shipment hasn't arrived, and nearly half of our cannons are out of ammunition."
Heine, who hadn't been paying much attention to his regiment's affairs lately—since there was hardly anything to manage, with the routine cannon fire every morning and the routine ceasefire every afternoon—now asked in confusion, "Wasn't it supposed to arrive yesterday morning?"
"It was supposed to, but the supply officer said yesterday that it would definitely arrive today. But as you can see…" the major trailed off.
Heine quickly mounted his horse and rode to the tent of Colonel Marcus, who was responsible for the logistics of his regiment.
When he arrived, the tent was already crowded with officers, and Colonel Marcus was sweating profusely as he explained to them, "The supplies coming from Vienna were intercepted by the French Chief of Staff, General Berthier, last week. He said that the French had a shipment of ammunition that would arrive yesterday afternoon and urgently needed to swap it with ours to support General Reynaud in Ratibor. But the French supplies still haven't arrived…"
Of course, Marcus wasn't about to mention that he had received a bribe of 10,000 florins from Berthier to agree to the swap. Otherwise, who would be willing to go through all this trouble?
"But the artillery on the front line has already stopped firing!" Heine shouted in frustration. The daily cannon bombardments might not have much practical effect, but they were a symbol of the empire's fierce resistance in Silesia and couldn't be allowed to cease.
"Please be patient. I've already sent someone to the French camp to expedite the delivery," Colonel Marcus said, grimacing. "Tomorrow—tomorrow, the ammunition will definitely arrive. In the meantime, you can borrow some from other regiments to tide you over."
There were over 200 cannons on the entire Liegnitz front, and only about 30 cannons across eight regiments were affected by the shortage. The other cannons mostly still had some reserves.
After dismissing the officers who had come to request ammunition, Marcus cursed under his breath, "Damn French!" He grabbed his cane and personally set off for the French camp.
Meanwhile, at the Prussian command post, a staff officer stood at attention and reported to Duke Brunswick, "Your Grace, it has been confirmed that the Austrian Davydov Corps, along with more than 30,000 troops, has left Liegnitz, likely heading towards Ratibor."
An officer nearby immediately suggested, "In that case, we can safely send more troops to crush Reynaud."
Duke Brunswick was about to agree but suddenly paused, turning to another staff officer. "Has Derisson's corps returned safely?"
"Yes, Your Grace. General August's troops arrived at their camp this morning, and the rest are no more than two days away."
Hearing this, Duke Brunswick narrowed his eyes. That old fool Laessig had pulled so many troops away to reinforce Ratibor just for Reynaud.
He quickly calculated in his mind. Reynaud's corps had over 10,000 men, then Wilmser brought another 10,000, the French sent 45,000 in two waves, and now Davydov had taken another 30,000…
Including the Bavarian forces, the Austro-French coalition had committed nearly 100,000 troops to Ratibor. In the Silesian front, Austria had less than 150,000 troops, and with the French and Bavarians, the total was less than 190,000.
This meant that only half of the Austrian forces were defending the Liegnitz front.
On his side, Brunswick had only sent about 20,000 troops to Ratibor, including the Saxons who acted on their own. Derisson's 30,000 men had encountered the French by accident and were now returning.
So, currently, Brunswick had about 100,000 of his own troops, 27,000 Hanoverians, and over 20,000 Saxons, bringing his total to around 150,000.
In other words, on the Liegnitz front, he now had a force that outnumbered the Austrians by more than 50%!
"It seems Laessig has made a serious mistake," Duke Brunswick said with a smile. "He's so focused on Ratibor that he's forgotten this is the main battlefield. Even if we lose at Ratibor, all we stand to lose is Reynaud."
He suddenly clasped his hands together, silently praying: This must be the Lord's will. Although Derisson suffered a defeat, it ended up strengthening our position at Liegnitz.
With that thought, he made up his mind and ordered his aide to summon all senior officers for a meeting to plan a full-scale attack on the main front.
That afternoon, after Duke Brunswick had confidently assigned tasks to the various corps for the upcoming offensive, he suddenly noticed something unusual around him.
He listened carefully and then turned to a nearby staff officer, puzzled. "It seems the enemy's cannon fire has quieted down significantly?"
Soon, an officer arrived to report that a long stretch of the Austrian line on the western side had stopped firing its cannons.
Duke Brunswick quickly looked at the map and realized that this was the section of the front that had been under the command of Davydov's corps, which had been sent to Ratibor by Laessig.
It was clear that the absence of the commanding officer had led to problems in that section of the line!
Overjoyed, Duke Brunswick clasped his hands together again and exclaimed, "Thank the Lord for this blessing! Now, those damned Austrians will be driven out of Silesia!"
He turned to the assembled officers, tapping his cane on Davydov's section of the map, and said in a firm voice, "By tomorrow afternoon, all preparations must be complete. Our plan has changed—we will launch our main attack from here!"
The next day, Captain Heine was casually playing with his dog, yawning as he mentally noted that it was almost lunchtime.
The ammunition still hadn't arrived, but he had borrowed a small amount from a neighboring regiment to keep the cannons firing for another day or two. While the cannon fire on his section of the line was much sparser than usual, he didn't think much of it.
After all, the monotonous routine of the past few months had dulled his sense of urgency and responsibility.
Suddenly, his dog stopped playing and stared intently to the north, baring its teeth and growling.
"Relax, old buddy," Heine said, patting the dog on the head as he followed its gaze. "Did you spot a squirrel? Or a fox?"
But then he too froze, because faintly in the distance, he could hear the sound of drums—many drums, beating in unison.
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