Just let the artillery fire and not let the infantry attack?
That's right!
Such were the tactics of the Austrian army, for the Sultan's orders had to be carried out.
But once there are a large number of casualties, someone has to be responsible.
Jamal, Saleh, Raheem and Okur all did not want to be responsible for this and wanted to faithfully carry out their orders.
Fighting like this is a good way to get the best of both worlds, and there is almost no second move.
Create the illusion of an all-out attack, record it with a camera, and send people to Istanbul.
His Majesty the Sultan saw that the enemy's position opposite was being battered by artillery fire, so he should be able to fool him...
Everyone is happy, isn’t it a great result?
As for Leopold on the opposite side being unhappy, these four people have nothing to do with it.
If you are wise, you should choose to retreat early when the war is not conducive to you.
Our own side did not attack Vienna, but Leopold dared to attack Budapest. This was already a very excessive act.
Hungary is the northern barrier of the Balkans and must not be lost.
Budapest is the heart of Hungary and its top priority.
Without Hussein's troops being defeated, the four of them would certainly not dare to retreat on their own initiative.
If you can't make progress and can't defend enough, but the superiors still allow you to attack, this strange situation occurs.
Fortunately, the quality of the Austrian artillery was much higher than that of the improvised infantry, so the huge early investment was not in vain.
All the coalition artillery positions that were able to fight back were named one after another, and were eventually uprooted, and no more fire could be sprayed out.
After more than two hours of fierce fighting, the coalition forces lost nearly 70% of their heavy artillery and more than half of their light artillery.
The remaining parts had to be withdrawn to the rear by the artillery to avoid being completely wiped out by the opponent.
Leopold, who was annoyed, wanted to let the infantry take the initiative to attack, but he was afraid that yesterday would happen again.
The two sides met about a mile away, which was not far, but it would take a while for the infantry to rush over.
During this period, they will inevitably be blocked by guns and artillery, and it is very likely that there will be heavy casualties.
After paying such a high price, if the tactical purpose is not achieved, it will definitely be more than worth the gain, and it will make your own military strength even weaker.
With the enemy on the west bank of the Danube taking advantage of the dual advantages of firepower and troops, it would be unwise to take the initiative.
Although the coalition forces still control the Danube, the Austrian army, relying on the powerful advantages of its new heavy artillery, has begun to clean up targets on the river.
Eleven ships have been severely damaged and six have been sunk. The remaining coalition ships had to temporarily retreat to avoid being hit again.
The tonnage of a ship that can travel on the Danube River is bound to not be too large, which is very different from an ocean-going warship.
The heavy artillery imported by the Austrian army from the Ming Empire can cause fatal damage to allied ships as long as it can fire at the target in company units.
It is rare that there are so many high-value moving targets for the Austrian artillerymen to practice their skills. Of course, no one will miss such a good opportunity.
Looking at the injured ships appearing in the telescope, Leopold was very annoyed and could only choose to endure it temporarily.
He did not expect that the two-year-long Battle of Budapest would develop to this point.
Both sides gathered around Budapest, with a total of millions of troops.
Measuring only in terms of scale, in essence this is already a strategic decisive battle.
This time last year, the initiative on the battlefield was in our own hands.
Unexpectedly, after a year, the initiative changed hands...
If we retreat now, the opponent will definitely use the cavalry to pursue and intercept them.
One's own retreat is very likely to turn into a rout, which will seriously damage our vitality.
When the possibility of active attack is gradually eliminated, the only choice is to use defensive counterattack tactics.
At this time, Leopold placed more than half of his hopes on God's blessing, hoping to win the final victory.
However, being bombarded every day will definitely severely damage our own morale.
So Leopold decided to send 50,000 infantry for a night attack on the night of the bombardment!
Even if all were lost, with the remaining 200,000 men, Leopold was confident that he could hold on.
It would be best if these 50,000 people could be used to destroy the Austrian artillery positions and even seize the opponent's forward defense line.
At one o'clock in the morning on August 16, the 50,000 soldiers who carried out the night attack crept out of their own positions and quietly pounced on the opposite side.
In the first half mile, it seemed that the enemy was not aware of it at all, which greatly increased the confidence of the divine army infantry, so that the success of the night attack was very high.
When they were still six or seven hundred feet away from the enemy's trench, a bunch of white fireworks suddenly flew up from the opposite side and burst into the dark night sky.
Now the infantry of the Divine Army all showed their true colors under the light of the fireworks.
What followed was a storm of artillery fire, and rows of people were knocked to the ground, and some were even blown into the air.
Based on the experience provided by Jamal, the Austrian army was naturally prepared to defend against night attacks.
What's more, the positions of both sides are so close, it's difficult not to be attacked!
However, the Austrian army has trenches this time. As long as the enemy is found at a suitable distance, it can disrupt the opponent's night attack.
Artillery bombardments, small cannons, and all kinds of muskets were firing non-stop, and the ferocious fire snakes were harvesting the lives of the divine soldiers at all times.
Seeing that the sneak attack was hopeless, the divine army launched a fearless and desperate charge.
He ran towards the opponent's position with all his strength, hoping to succeed in one fell swoop.
This trick was relatively effective at the beginning. No matter how fierce the Austrian artillery fire was, it could not withstand the human sea tactics on the opposite side.
But when the sound of machine guns rang out, many of the divine officers and soldiers who had experienced the demonic scene last year immediately became confused.
This is a weapon specially designed to harvest the lives of soldiers. Not to mention infantry, even the lightning-fast cavalry cannot escape the killing force of this weapon.
In front of the machine guns on the tanks, the infantry of the Divine Army fell like wheat, leaving no room for suspense or resistance.
At this time, the soldiers of the Divine Army can only gamble that they are lucky enough and will not be "taken care of" by this weapon.
If you want to go head-to-head, the distance is not enough, and the opponent also has a small cannon.
If you hit him with one shot, whether you can leave a whole corpse depends on the other party's mood...
After finally getting close enough, before the divine army infantry started dropping bombs, the opponent's grenades rained down on them.
In terms of courage and discipline, the soldiers of the Divine Army were better than their Austrian counterparts.
But in other aspects, such as this kind of casual killing tactics, the Austrian soldiers learned very quickly.
Everyone was willing to do anything as long as they didn't have to break out of the trenches to fight back.
The trenches are everyone's shelter. There is no doubt that in a night battle, weapons and weapons are blind, and whoever goes out is likely to be killed first.
You may also not know which direction the bullet or shell that killed you came from...
In order to continue to stay in the trenches and prevent the opponent from seizing their own trenches, the Austrian soldiers threw grenades out desperately.
This way of blocking enemy attacks was almost the safest they had ever experienced.
If you can beat or blow up the enemy to death, you can go out and touch the corpse before dawn!
Because the Austrian army was prepared and its firepower was only higher than last year, the 50,000 divine troops who participated in the night attack only managed to return less than 20,000.
After daybreak, Oku sent people to record the battlefield situation, especially the scenes of enemy corpses strewn in the fields, and sent people to Istanbul. This was considered a great victory.
With so many results achieved, it is reasonable to pursue the tactics of obscurity.
Even if the Sultan's confidants in the army reported him, the four generals still had room for explanation.
The failure of the night attack made Leopold very depressed, but the urgent report he received later made him very angry.
The Qing army invaded Moravia and Bohemia again. Like last time, they adopted the strategy of burning, killing and looting wherever they went.
Because there were so many enemy troops, the defenders in towns and cities did not dare to engage in field battles with the Qing army.
If you leave the city, you will be wiped out. Few people are crazy enough to go out and die.
According to the estimates of the defenders, there should be 700,000 to 800,000 enemies.
Leopold didn't think there were that many, but there should be 300,000. The enemy that invaded last year was of this size.
How to stop 300,000 Qing cavalry?
This is a very difficult problem!
So much so that it would be impossible to solve the problem without returning from Budapest.
If the entire army retreats at this time, the Austrian army on the opposite side will definitely attack.
Leopold thought of asking Sobieski to send troops to help, but this ally had been severely damaged by the Qing army last year.
Sobieski should still be able to muster 150,000 to 200,000 troops, but the combat effectiveness cannot be the same as last year's 100,000 cavalry.
Another point is that even if Sobieski sends troops to help, the battlefields will still be in Bohemia and Moravia.
Regardless of whether our side can win or not, both places will not be defeated. This is beyond doubt.
Last year, these two places barely survived the winter relying on food shipped from the mainland.
If this is still the case this year, the pressure on the local area will be too great.
Leopold needed no reminder, but Sobieski had already mobilized, gathering two hundred thousand men by August.
However, the field strength was only 120,000, and the remaining troops were concentrated in the four cities of Warsaw, Lodz, Lublin, and Krakow.
It is obviously unwise to use 120,000 people to fight the Qing army in field battles.
Sobieski's strategy was that as long as the Qing army did not invade his own territory, there was no need for him to cause trouble.
Although this group of yellow-skinned monkeys from the east have just arrived, their military strength is already close to that of the Polish Army and the Divine Army combined.
In addition to its cooperation with the Austrian army, Sobieski suspected that the Qing army had formed an alliance with the Austrian army.
As a result, he becomes more passive.
It can be said responsibly that among the four parties including the Ottomans, the Holy Roman Empire, the Qing Dynasty, and the Bolivian Empire, our own strength is the weakest.
Because with the emergence of tanks, the time when the Hussars were invincible has become a thing of the past.
What's more, the defeats in two battles last year caused Sobieski to lose nearly 70% of his main cavalry force.
He can still recruit a large number of new soldiers, but their combat effectiveness cannot be compared with the soldiers of the previous main force.
In Sobieski's view, Moravia had been beaten to pieces and had temporarily lost the value of rescue, and it would be futile to lead his troops there.
As for Bohemia, it depends on Leopold's attitude and the development of the local war situation. We cannot attack blindly to avoid being attacked again.
Besides, if Leopold did not bring troops back to the division, he would not be able to repel the Qing army with three or four times his own mobile strength based on the strength of his own troops.
In general, Sobieski took a wait-and-see attitude towards the war in Bohemia and Moravia...
Having said that, so what if we don’t wait and see?
You can't bring hundreds of thousands of people there to die, right? ? ?
Once the mobile force is severely damaged, it means that half of Poland will be looted by the Qing army again!
With Leopold having no time to return and Sobieski watching from the sidelines, the situation of the 500,000 Qing troops was simply better than last year.
The second western expedition seemed extremely smooth. The army marched straight in and there were very few resisters along the way.
The livestock and Western barbarians that were not taken away last time can be packed up and taken back to the mainland with sufficient troops this time.
If given the chance, Dorgon would still be willing to compete head-on with the opponent's field corps.
At the very least, fighting in the field is much less difficult than attacking a city, and the Qing Dynasty King Division is also good at this.
But the other party didn't give him this chance, so the army of 500,000 people completely turned into a brave man who only eats but doesn't vomit!
This time was different from last time. Since he was fully prepared and Hussein's troops were still containing the enemy in Budapest, Dorgon planned to go to Prague and even Brandenburg to have a look.
The further you go, the more you gain!
This sentence does seem to make some sense!
Translated, it is better to travel thousands of miles than to read thousands of books.
Traveling thousands of miles is worse than robbing thousands of households...
This time, Dorgon wants half of Europe to know that the Qing Dynasty King is good at all kinds of tricks!
There is no shame in robbing, but there is shame in starvation!
This is the way of survival since ancient times!
However, Dorgon was unable to achieve his wish because the Vltava and Labei rivers in western and northern Bohemia had swollen.
For the Qing army, this was much more terrifying than Leopold's return with half a million troops.
Heavy rain continued for five days, causing Dorgon to directly cancel his order to continue westward.
Rainfall and flooding helped Leopold save a third of Bohemia.
In order to avoid the outbreak of the epidemic after the heavy rain, Dorgon was forced to lead his troops to retreat quickly and send the loot back to his hometown in batches.
Since there was no fierce resistance, there were very few battle losses except for some unlucky ones who were washed away by floods.
Overall, the Second Western Expedition was also very successful, plundering more than 20,000 livestock and 340,000 slaves.
It's just that there is still some distance from the ideal state in Dorgon's mind, but this is God's will and cannot be violated.
At least, the enemy's territory can be used to feed an army of 500,000 for two months, which is equivalent to reducing the local food consumption.
But in the next Western Expedition, we can no longer focus on Moravia, which has no oil and water. We must focus on Bohemia, Brandenburg-Prussia and Poland!
It doesn't matter whether these three families are willing or not, what matters is that wherever the King of the Qing Dynasty goes, there is a place to eat!
