Chapter 385 The First Snow in 1828

After the two sides reached an agreement, Yefim quietly came to the command center of Mike and Otis on the evening of September 20 to discuss with them the French army's entry into Podolsk. After the top leaders of the Russian army had all agreed to surrender to the French army, in principle, the French army would not encounter too much difficulties in taking over Podolsk. But this is inevitable that the lower-level soldiers would take the opportunity to cause riots due to dissatisfaction. Although even this would not have too much impact on the French army, this would be bad. It would be the best to be able to defeat Podolsk without bloodshed.

After three people's discussion, the time for the French army to take over Podolsk was set on September 22. On that day, the French army would attack Podolsk as usual, but the artillery preparation before the attack was unnecessary. Now, Podolsk's army already belonged to the Russian Revolutionary Army, and it can be regarded as one of the allies of the French army, so they naturally cannot make them lose unnecessary losses. After the French attack began, Yefim would ask their confidant troops not to resist and allow the French to occupy the entire Podolsk. When the French army had already controlled the entire Podolsk, they could control everything well. However, the only thing to note now is that before the French army took over Podolsk, the news should not be leaked, so as not to cause unnecessary riots.

After reaching a consensus, Ye Feim left. Time was tight, so he had to go back and deploy as soon as possible. Mike and the others had to deploy well, so as not to get busy.

On September 22, the French army launched an attack on Podolisk as usual. However, before the attack began, the soldiers heard the officer's speech, asking them not to attack the Russian troops who did not fire at them after entering Podolisk. Everyone was puzzled at first, why did the shelling that had been planned for at least half an hour stopped today, and now that they heard this order again, it made them even more confused. Then, the officers explained the reason to them, and then everyone suddenly realized that Podolisk had changed hands so quietly, and they were just taking over. Almost everyone was very happy after hearing this news, because it was unexpected that they did not have to worry about losing their lives in the attack. Before, every attack, there were more or less casualties.

At 9 a.m., the French army's "offensive" began, and Yefim's direct troops were also responsible for defending the Podolsk frontline positions. They also received the order in the morning not to prevent the French army from entering the city. Basically, no one opposed it, after all, this meant they could survive. In this case, the French army entered Podolsk directly, and under the leadership of Yefim's direct troops, they quickly controlled Podolsk. Only two were passed.

When I was a child, this strong city that blocked the French army's footsteps for a week fell into the hands of the French army. Faced with the sudden change, many Russian soldiers did not understand what was going on, but under the general trend, they had to follow the order and withdraw from Podolsk. According to the previous discussion, the nearly 100,000 Russian troops in Podolsk will form the Russian Revolutionary Army. They will go to Belarus for rest and recuperation before participating in future battles.

After Podolsk was occupied by the French army, the French army directly came to the city of Moscow, changing the situation of both sides and making breakthrough progress. After that, the 4th French Army also joined in. The French army gathered the forces of three legions and launched an attack from the southwest of Moscow.

The rebellion of Anatoli, Yefim and others caught Kutuzov and others off guard. Losing Podolsk's blockage made Moscow directly exposed to the iron hooves of the French army.

"Damn it. I'm going to hang Anatoly, Ye Feim and others all." Nicholas roared angrily.

Kutuzov also had a pale face. He wanted to send Yefim to lead his troops to Podolsk to strengthen Podolsk's strength in order to block the French army for a longer time, but unexpectedly, Yefim directly led his men to join the French army, causing him to lose his wife and his troops.

"Your Majesty, let's consider how we stop the French attack first. The French army has now concentrated three legions in Podolsk and may launch an attack on Moscow at any time. Its most powerful 88th Legion may also be invested in the attack on Moscow. The current situation is very unfavorable to us." Kutuzov said with a cold face. This incident undoubtedly slapped him hard. You must know that the 50,000 people he sent were all elite troops left by the Russian army. Now there are only 200,000 troops left in Moscow. It is basically impossible to resist the French attack.

"Marson, what should we do now?" Nicholas said. Now he has no choice. In his opinion, unless a miracle happens, Russia will definitely lose this time.

"Now I have no way to save the situation. I can only stand up and resist the French attack. It is late September now, and as long as we can hold on for a month, there may be a turning point." Kutuzov said helplessly.

Nikola nodded, there was no way to do it. Now he could only pray to God, praying that Moscow could withstand the French attack.

Moscow is a very strong city. With no danger to defend, Moscow was built into one of the most solid cities in Europe with the efforts of Russian tsars. But the so-called sturdiness is also for cold weapons. In the era of hot weapons, solid city walls are no longer the biggest obstacle for attackers, especially for countries like France with huge artillery power. Even if the city walls of Moscow are 10 times stronger, they will definitely not withstand the bombardment of French artillery fire.

Starting from September 24, the three French legions launched fierce attacks on Moscow from the west and south. A large amount of artillery fire was concentrated on the front line, and the shells consumed every day were astronomical. In order to strengthen their firepower, Xiao Jie even transferred the artillery brigade of the 88th Legion.

In just two days, under the fierce attack of the French army, the Russian army lost tens of thousands of people, and the Moscow city walls were also mottled, as if they were about to collapse at any time. The casualties of civilians in the city were even greater. The French shells had no eyes, and a large number of civilian houses were also destroyed. There were casualties in war, which was inevitable. Especially these unarmed civilians were the most direct victims of the war.

On September 27, under the fierce artillery fire of the French army, the city wall to the west of Moscow finally collapsed. A large number of French troops immediately poured into the city from there. Although the Russian army tried every means to block the gap, under the powerful firepower of the French army, the Russian army's continuous attacks were only a spike in casualties. After several hours of fierce fighting, the French army finally firmly grasped the area in western Moscow, a region that was almost 4 kilometers long and two kilometers wide. With the help of this area, it extended to the surroundings.

The cruel street fighting was staged on the streets of Moscow, and street fighting has always been a focus of the French military's training subjects. Therefore, in the face of the experienced and well-equipped French army, the Russian army had to retreat step by step during the street fighting.

Moscow is a very large city after all, and it would take a lot of time for the French army to slowly drive out the Russian army and occupy the entire city. In order to increase the attack speed of the troops, Xiao Jie ordered again to draw a combat engineer regiment from the 88th Army and devote it to the street fighting in Moscow. With their joining, the French army's attack has indeed increased a lot. One week later, half of Moscow's area had fallen into the hands of the French army. The Russian army had only more than 100,000 people left to continue to survive.

"Your Majesty, if we fail, we should listen to me and evacuate from Moscow first. We will fight back when we have the chance." Kutuzov persuaded. At this time, he had to admit defeat. If he persisted, he would only defeat Russia's last little strength.

"Do we still have a chance?" Nicholas said with unconscious eyes.

"Yes, we just need to wait until winter comes, and that is the time for us to fight back." Kutuzov encouraged. If we think of the forces to fight back against the French army in winter, then now he must choose to retreat and preserve his strength.

In the end, Nikola accepted Kutuzov's suggestion and ordered the entire army to temporarily evacuate Moscow.

After Nikolai's order was issued, the remaining troops of Moscow, the Russian troops stationed in Zelyognograd and Electrostali, left the defense line and retreated to the eastern part of Russia. The total number of these troops was about 300,000. In order to eliminate Russia's last strength, Xiao Jie ordered the troops to launch fierce pursuit, leaving less than 200,000 Russian troops who finally escaped.

On October 10, the French army was chasing the Russian army on various fronts. Without warning, a powerful cold current attacked the entire Eastern European region, and the temperature quickly dropped to around zero degrees. The unprepared French army immediately suffered heavy losses, with more than 100,000 people frozen to death. The Russian army also suffered great losses, but they took this opportunity to escape the pursuit of the French army.

In order to reduce losses, Xiao Jie had to order all troops to stop pursuing and return all to pre-planned cities such as Moscow. On the one hand, he asked the country to transport winter supplies immediately, and on the other hand, he forcibly collected winter supplies in the Russian region. In order to reduce the casualties of the troops, he did not care about the Russian civilians at this moment.
Chapter completed!