The coalition did not pursue the 18th Division after the breakout. Although the coalition had captured Bayreuth, Bayreuth, who had ruled as the Hohenzollern family for nearly a hundred years, was not so masterful. Therefore, after capturing Bayreuth, Ian did not immediately send troops to pursue the Prussian army, but spent a lot of energy to purify the Bayreuth area.
Although this gave the 18th Division a breath, it also caused great shame to Buschmann. Since the war between Pu'ao, no Prussian general has fled under the enemy like a broken dog. Buschmann can be regarded as the first general of the Pu's army.
In the Bamberg area, the remnants of the 18th Division and the 3rd Division and the 17th Division met. After the three divisions met, the total force reached 17,000.
After the Prussian army joined forces, the coalition forces rushed to the Bamberg area under the command of Ian. The coalition forces had only 15,000 troops left after World War I. After leaving two thousand people to defend Bayreuth, the coalition forces still had more than 13,000 troops.
However, these two armies were not the only ones on the battlefield. After the defeat of the Imperial Army, Czecher was very frightened. Under his strong plea, the five thousand Hesse troops under the Duke of Hesse accelerated their march. That is, when the coalition forces arrived in the Bamberg area, signs of the activities of the Hesse troops were also found in the rear of the Prussian army.
Among the 17,000 general army this time, the Third Division had 6,000 people, the 17th Division had 9,000 people, and the 18th Division had 2,000 people.
"His Excellency Buschmann, this time my 3rd Division is the vanguard mission, the 17th Division is the central army, and your army is the task of defenders. Remember that our scouts have found traces of the Hesse army in the rear, which means that the Hesse army is likely to launch an attack on the rear of our army while we are fighting with the Austrians. Therefore, although the 18th Division is the task of defenders, it is also very dangerous. I hope you can be cautious!"
As a veteran division, after the three divisions met, Sharnhorst was naturally elected by Buschman and Ultraland as the commander of the army.
After Sharnhorst's words, neither Buschman nor Alteran raised any objections. In terms of the distribution of troops, Schanehorst's move was very reasonable. Although the Third Division suffered a lot in the Battle of Karstadt, its morale was improved due to the victory of the war.
The vanguard of the Third Division can not only offset the troubles caused by the defeat of the 18th Division, but also serve as an example for the 17th Division.
Although the 17th Division had almost no decent opponents on the north bank of the Main River, it had never experienced several major battles, which was also the shortcomings of the 17th Division. After all, the 17th Division is a newly established division. In terms of individual combat, it is still not as good as an experienced division like the 3rd Division.
The 18th Division serves as the rear guard of the army also gives Buschman a chance to perform. Although the Hesse army is famous, the Hesse army has only 5,000 people. Although the 18th Division was almost completely annihilated due to continuous battles, the 2,000 troops were enough to hold the Hesse army for a period of time, which would win a precious time for the entire army.
After the order from Schánhorst was issued, the Prussian army began to act quickly. At present, the Austrian army had just arrived in the Bamberg area and was unlikely to launch an attack on the Prussian army as soon as it came up. Therefore, the Prussian army needed to use this time to restore the adverse effects caused by the defeat of the 18th Division.
In early April 1791, while the Austrian coalition was preparing to launch a large-scale attack on the Prussian army, the commander of the Bavarian army, Earl Victor, received an urgent complaint from Munich.
In the emergency case, Itans informed Victor that the army was approaching Munich, and that under such circumstances, Victor must immediately lead the army back to Bavaria. After reading Itans' letter, Victor was in a mess. You should know that under normal circumstances, Itans would never ask the Bavarian army to return to aid, because this would mean that all the previous efforts were in vain.
As a senior executive in Bavaria, Victor is familiar with the situation in Bavaria.
The entire Bavaria has less than 20,000 well-equipped regular troops, and most of these 20,000 people are deployed in various parts of Bavaria, except for the 10,000 people under Victor's command, which means that the 10,000 troops under Victor's command are the most important mobile military force in the entire Bavaria.
After thinking for a long time, Victor decided to withdraw his troops, but he was not ready to make an announcement with Ian.
The situation on the battlefield is very obvious. The coalition forces are preparing to fight with the Prussian army on the opposite side. Although the Prussian army has more troops than the coalition forces, the day before yesterday, the coalition forces received news that the 5,000 Hessian army was on their way to the Bamberg area urgently.
This means that once the Hesse army arrives on the battlefield, not only will the comparison between the coalition forces and the Pu army change, but the Hesse army is located right behind the Pu army, under the attack on both sides of the coalition forces. No one thinks that the Pu army can win.
Victor also thought so, and it was precisely because he thought so that he decided not to talk to Ian about retreating.
The war is imminent, and it can be foreseen that Ian will never agree to the retreat of the main force of the coalition forces such as the Bavarian army. Once the Bavarian army retreats, the coalition forces have almost no hope of victory.
Victor also thought of returning to Bavaria after fighting this battle, but considering the situation of the Bavarian army could not allow him to do this. In the Battle of Bayreuth, 10,000 Bavarian army surrendered to 8,000, and once the battle was over, how many Bavarian army would be left, Victor was pessimistic.
Therefore, without the Austrian army still knowing it, the eight thousand Bavarian troops suddenly retreated quietly one night. When Ian sent someone to invite Victor early the next morning, he found that the Bavarian military camp was empty.
This discovery made Ian furious. He immediately sent cavalry to chase the Bavarian army. One night, the Bavarian army did not go much far, but when the Austrian cavalry caught up with the Bavarian army, Victor only asked these Austrian cavalry to bring Ian a letter, and then led the army to retreat without hesitation.
The helpless cavalry had to turn around and hand Victor's letter to Ian.
In the letter, Victor confessed his helplessness to Ian, and at the same time he also told Ian the actual situation in Bavaria. After reading this letter, the angry Ian tore the whole letter to pieces.
The coalition's changes naturally attracted the attention of the Prussian army on the other side. When Sharnhorst discovered that the coalition forces, which were fully armed and prepared to attack, he immediately understood that some changes must have occurred in the coalition.
Then, when the Prussian cavalry returned to the news that the Bavarian army was missing, Scharnhorst was a little surprised. The momentum of the coalition forces was not bad, but the Bavarians retreated at this time, either the coalition forces were ready to lure the Prussian army, or the Bavarians had an accident and left the coalition forces.
After the Bavarian army withdrew, Ian immediately ordered the entire army to enter a garrison, and at the same time strictly blocked the information that there was an accident in Bavaria and then the troops were withdrawn. For ordinary Austrian soldiers, Ian claimed that the Bavarian army was sent to another direction to prepare to attack the Prussian army on three sides.
The scouts of the Prussian army soon learned the news from the captured Austrian soldiers, and then when Schánhorst learned the news, he changed his previous suspicion.
"No matter where the Bavarian army went, the vanguard of the Hesse army has arrived in Bamberg. It can be foreseen that the Hesse army will all arrive in Bamberg within a few days at the latest. We cannot wait any longer. No matter whether the Bavarian army is heading in another direction to try to attack our army, but now on the front, our army still has an advantage in military strength over the Austrian army. Therefore, I decided to draw 5,000 people from the 17th Division to cooperate with the 3rd Division to launch an attack on the opposite Austrian army immediately. The remaining 4,000 people from the 17th Division will join the 18th Division to stay here to closely monitor the surrounding movements, and at the same time let the scouts expand the scope of reconnaissance!"
After Sharnhorst ordered, he joined the 5,000th century of the 17th Division, the Prussian army, a total of 11,000 people, immediately launched an attack on the more than 6,000 Austrian troops opposite.
"Damn Prussians!"
When Ian learned of the Prussian attack, he could no longer remain calm.
The Hesse army has not arrived yet, but the Bavarian army has retreated, which means that the Austrians have to rely on their less than 7,000 troops to resist the attack of more than 10,000 Prussians, which completely put the Austrians at a disadvantage on the battlefield.
The more you attacked Sharnhorst, the more you became, the more you were scared, because although the Austrian army on the opposite side resisted tenaciously, there was still no news about the Bavarian army. If you think about it from the worst perspective, it was obvious that the commander of the coalition forces was very able to sit still. The Bavarian army was preparing to let the Prussian army's energy consumed and then devoted to the battlefield.
Thinking of this, Sharnhorst immediately ordered the former army to separate three thousand troops to maintain their strength, and the remaining eight thousand troops further increased their attack on the Austrian army!
But the day's battle was over, and the Austrian army was forced to retreat for more than ten miles without discovering the movements of the Bavarian army, which made Schánhorst keep thinking about the possible movements of the coalition forces in the military tent.
April 8, 1791
The Hesse troops arrived in the Bamberg area, but in front of them were the Prussian troops who had already prepared a long time ago. The 4,000 Prussian troops reinforced by the Third Division launched a tenacious attack on the Hesse troops with the help of fortifications.
Scharnhorst changed his previous deployment and ordered the remaining 3,000 troops of the Third Division to be stationed in the Central Army to prepare for defense, while the troops of the 17th Division chased the Austrian army.