Descending On France 1780
Chapter 180 - 173 Total Retreat

Chapter 180: 173 Total Retreat

Anning was extremely excited: "Fantastic, Davout and Lasalle have crushed the enemy’s flank, we have won!"

With a "pop" sound, Vanni opened another bottle of champagne, startling everyone who was focused on the battlefield.

Faced with everyone’s gaze, Vanni asked in confusion, "Oh, isn’t it time to open the champagne yet?"

Anning: "You can open it!"

After saying that, he continued to focus on the battlefield.

On the left flank, Davout and Lasalle had already completely taken control. The enemy was thoroughly routed under Lasalle’s sweeping attacks, while Davout’s troops were advancing steadily, leaving the enemy no possibility to regroup.

In just another half hour, Davout’s troops should be able to encircle the side of the Diego highlands.

Anning saw that Davout had already ordered the artillery, originally positioned on the west bank of the Bomida River, to start moving, presumably to get closer to the enemy in front.

Unfortunately, Diego is a highland, making it difficult for artillery to reach.

On the right flank, after an initial battalion was broken through by the cavalry, Laharpe’s troops quickly formed hollow formations to counter the enemy cavalry’s assaults.

Several formations were set up on the road, completely blocking it.

That meant Laharpe had also accomplished his mission.

The enemy was now trapped in a sealed environment, though they could still escape through the mountainous area north of Diego, but the terrain there was difficult and their organization would undoubtedly be disrupted.

It could be approximated that Anning had already annihilated Boliue’s main force in the Battle of Diego.

Of course, this kind of annihilation differs from that of later times; in later times annihilation meant truly capturing, and the prisoners of war would be locked up. Currently, there was no capacity to manage so many prisoners of war, and most likely, the majority would be released.

During the later period of the French Revolution, there indeed was a practice of not releasing captured prisoners, sending them to the rear to build fortresses as forced labor, but that was much later and the organizational capability was not on the same level as now.

The enemy could possibly reform and come back after a period of reorganization.

But this reorganization wouldn’t be brief.

While Anning was thinking about this, Bertier said, "Why hasn’t Marshal Boliue surrendered yet? The situation is already ripe for surrender."

Anning: "Perhaps he still wants to make a final stand. His reserve force probably hasn’t been used yet."

No sooner had he spoken than Marshal Boliue’s reserve force appeared in the direction of Laharpe.

Anning clicked his tongue: "He wants to break through the road defended by Laharpe, to open a retreat path for his troops! Lana!"

"I’m here." Lana stood up, "Please give your orders, General!"

"Immediately take the teaching corps on a forced march—no, run to the flank, block that gap! And the twilight knights will reinforce you! Go quickly!"

Lana saluted and ran off!

Anning: "Messenger Soldier!"

"Present!"

"Tell Davout to speed up!"

The messenger soldier saluted and turned away.

Bertier: "It will take the messenger soldier almost ten minutes to reach Davout. By that time, Davout should already be near the highlands, so this message isn’t really significant."

Anning cursed under his breath and continued to focus his attention on Laharpe’s side.

With the support of the newly joined infantry, Laharpe’s first formation had already been shattered.

Anning cursed angrily, "I don’t believe it, I can’t have this meal today! Julian, bring me my horse!"

Bertier exclaimed in shock, "What are you going to do?"

Anning replied, "I’m going to do what a commander should do! To win the splendid victory that’s right within our grasp, I must be where I’m needed most!"

Bertier: "This..."

At this moment, Beethoven and David, who had been documenting everything by his side, each held one of Bertier’s shoulders.

"Chief of Staff," Beethoven said, "let the hero do what he needs to do!"

David: "The brave commander will stand with his soldiers!"

Bertier moved his mouth but eventually said nothing.

He watched as Anning mounted his horse and galloped straight toward the front line on the right flank.

The flag bearer carrying the general’s flag and the bugler followed behind Anning. Even Beethoven and David mounted and followed the commander’s steps.

Bertier was to take command of the central hub here; he could not leave this place.

After Anning and his group had left, the maid Vanni asked Bertier, "Champagne, do you want some?"

Bertier sighed, "I could use a drink, having such a commander really exhausts me."

Vanni: "You’ll get used to it."

**

Marshal Boliue suddenly gasped.

Because he saw the largest and most decorated flag opposite the French Army moving toward the flank.

"The enemy commander is personally rushing to the front line? This courage is admirable, but not advisable," Boliue sighed, "It’s over, looks like we’re going to be annihilated here."

Condore had not given up yet: "Perhaps we can let the snipers shoot that leatherworker!"

"It’s no use. Even if the enemy commander is killed here, they will still complete the encirclement. From the moment the right flank collapsed, we were doomed."

Condore: "Maybe we shouldn’t have committed the reserves to the left flank, but should have used them on the right flank to resist the encircling enemy forces..."

"Where can we form? On the high ground? How can we cram so many people on that hill! If we don’t form on the high ground, we’ll be bombarded by the enemy’s artillery on the front," Boliue shook his head, "We have lost, accept the reality. That leatherworker you all underestimated, along with his civilian officers, did very well, extremely well!"

At that moment, a Cavalry Lieutenant approached the marshal and reported loudly, "Report! Marshal, we’ve found a small path. You can retreat from here!"

Boliue was overjoyed and asked, "How many troops can that small path accommodate?"

"Uh, it’s just a small path a shepherd pointed out to us; your command post should have no problem, as for the rest..."

Boliue pondered for a moment, his expression becoming resolute again: "Even though we are being annihilated here, there are still Vukcevic’s divisions, and if we move some troops from Milan and the Mantua Fortress, we might still be able to deploy 20,000 troops on the Po River!

"It’s not time to despair yet! Just hold on at the Po River for a while, and the reinforcements from Vienna should arrive! His Majesty Franz II will surely not ignore this!"

The Marshal, as if rejuvenated, energetically commanded, "Order all the core military officers to gather, let’s leave together! Quick! And, collect the Imperial Eagle Flags as much as possible, do not let them fall into enemy hands!"

Following the Marshal’s orders, the Austrian staff immediately got busy.

The Marshal’s orderly brought him a horse, and then helped him mount.

At that moment, the Marshal suddenly remembered something and said to the orderly, "You, find a road sign, and write with lime on it, Holy Roman Empire Marshal Boliue, extends his highest respects to the French commander Andy Frost, you are the finest officer I have ever seen!"