Chapter 1574 - 1480: The Quagmire of Jura Mountain
Chapter 1574: Chapter 1480: The Quagmire of Jura Mountain
Kosciuszko immediately shook his head, "The Russians are advancing fiercely, we must quickly deploy defenses along the border line."
Saint-Cyr also glanced in the direction of the Dnieper River, "If I’m not mistaken, Kutuzov will prepare on the left bank for at least a month before launching an attack. Until then, there will be at most some minor harassment."
Kosciuszko was about to refute but remembered Saint-Cyr’s brilliant command in counter-attacking the Bagration Army, so he humbly asked, "Can you tell me your reasoning?"
"Logistics," Saint-Cyr said, "The Russians themselves have emptied all the villages and towns hundreds of kilometers west of Dorogobuzh, while we have ’cleared’ large areas from the Seversky Duchy to Lubny.
"This means that currently only a few cities like Kursk and Bryansk can provide supplies to Kutuzov nearby, and this is far from enough for his force of hundreds of thousands.
"If he wants to launch a large-scale attack, he must first transport supplies from Moscow, 700 kilometers away, or from northern locations like Novgorod and Pskov.
"Such a large amount of transportation would require a month even in summer, let alone winter."
Actually, he guessed wrong about one thing: Kutuzov’s main force was far from having tens of thousands.
In pursuit of Kosciuszko, the Russian Army ran over 400 kilometers in the no-man’s land through the bitter cold, with logistics not much better than the Polish Army, and even worse medical conditions.
This caused more Russian soldiers to freeze to death or die of illness than the Polish Army. Kutuzov currently had less than 80,000 battle-ready troops, including 9,000 brought by Good維奇 from Transcaucasia.
Kosciuszko, due to the desperate retreat before, had developed a psychological inertia, but now, reminded by the French, started nodding repeatedly, "You’re absolutely right. We should indeed use this month to retake Kyiv."
Kyiv, being Russia’s last stronghold on the right bank of the Dnieper River, once captured, the Polish Army could defend along the Dnieper River, greatly reducing the difficulty of defense.
Kosciuszko mentioned this, suddenly recalling that the French Regent King had suggested capturing Kyiv first long ago, while he and most officers believed waiting until capturing Smolensk or even Moscow to then solve Kyiv was not too late.
Now, Kyiv, embedded on the right bank of the Dnieper River, had become the best breakthrough point for the Russian attack.
He felt a surge of shame.
If Saint-Cyr had not been sent by the Regent King to help him command, most likely he would be besieged by Kutuzov in the icy wilderness of Smolensk.
Even if they fought their way out, the soldiers who would return home might not be half of what he had now...
Yes, the Marshal had underestimated the power of the "General Winter."
Even a powerful Napoleon back then barely managed to retreat from the cold and barren Russia, losing almost 90% of the army.
Ignoring the combat strength gap between the Polish Army and the French Army at that time, just calculating on the same loss ratio, with Joseph not providing him a ’complete map’ in advance, the Polish soldiers surviving would be a mere seven or eight thousand, which would be considered a miracle for Poland.
Kosciuszko, in a consultative tone, said to Saint-Cyr, "Colonel, then let’s deploy 5,000 soldiers to reinforce Mozhili while the others attack Kyiv."
Saint-Cyr shook his head, "Don’t worry about Mozhili, concentrate all your forces on taking Kyiv.
"Most likely, Kyiv hasn’t received news of our main force returning to the right bank yet; otherwise, they would have certainly strengthened their defense. We need to quickly finish the battle before they realize!"
"But Mozhili has less than 1,000 defenders, while there are over 6,000 enemy troops surrounding it."
"You don’t need to worry. Once we control Kyiv, the Russians attacking Mozhili will immediately surrender."
...
Northwestern Switzerland.
At the foot of the Jura Mountain, more than 30 kilometers from Solothurn, Austrian intervention army’s chief commander General Mikhailovich looked at the rolling gray-yellow mountains before him, his face gloomy, as he said to the nearby Order Officer, "Order Major Dressler to cease pursuit."
Those damned Basel rebels numbered only around 400, while he had sent a full 3,000 troops to annihilate them, but after a wave of ambush, the rebels immediately fled into the Jura Mountain.
He hadn’t forgotten that last month, Presburg’s scattered soldier camp, unwilling to give up the nearly defeated rebels, chased into the Jura Mountain.
As a result, they quickly got lost, coupled with the rebels’ continual harassment and sneak attacks, resulting in over 1,300 soldiers with only less than 400 returning to the base in embarrassment ten days later.
"These damn cowards!" Mikhailovich snapped a whip, as if it was the rebels’ neck.
Nearby, Lieutenant Colonel Lazar Ilyich stepped forward to suggest, "General, I had someone count the paths, and from Olten to Solothurn, there are over 60 mountain passes that can enter the Jura Mountain.
"As long as we block these mountain passes, we can seal the rebels within the mountain!"
Mikhailovich glared at him irritably.
Over 60 mountain passes, even with 500 soldiers guarding each pass, would require more than 30,000 people.
Additionally, he needed a mobile force, otherwise, if the rebels slipped out, nearby cities could all be in danger of occupation.
It would need at least 35,000 troops. Yet he currently had only 17,000 soldiers.
Indeed, ever since entering Switzerland, they hadn’t eliminated many Basel rebels, but the Austrian Army had already lost nearly 3,000 soldiers.
Just as Mikhailovich returned to the city of Solothurn, a staff officer solemnly handed him a letter, "General, this just arrived from Vienna."
Mikhailovich opened the letter and saw it was from Marshal Ussum; it stated, His Majesty the Emperor stressed the importance of the Basel situation, and if he could resolve the rebels within three months, he would have the chance to earn a very important position on the military committee.
Mikhailovich exhaled and put away the letter, then turned to his attendant, "Bring Lieutenant Colonel Ilyich to see me."
The next noon, at the Austrian Army command post, several staff officers placed the battle plan to besiege Jura Mountain before Mikhailovich.
After detailed planning, the required force was determined to be 37,000 troops.
Mikhailovich signed the document, then returned to the office to write a letter to Marshal Ussum.
To get Vienna to send an additional 20,000 troops, he estimated he needed to utilize all his connections and spend at least 100,000 florins to grease the wheels.
But as long as promotion was possible, 100,000 florins were worth it!
As he handed the letter to his attendant, a staff officer knocked on the door and entered, with a constipated expression on his face, "General, regarding the more than 20 rebels captured last week, among them are 7 Parmans. Uh, there might be some issues..."
"Weren’t they meant to be hanged directly?"
The staff officer hurriedly said, "Yes, General. During identity verification today, it was discovered that one of them is the nephew of the Marquis Busto, and four others are from well-known families in Parma."