Chapter 53: Arrival and occupy Vienna

On October 20, Napoleon, who won the great victory in Munich, ordered the army to advance towards Vienna. There are no more troops left in Austria now, only the 50,000 Royal Guards guarding Vienna, and the 22,000 people who are fighting against Grand Duke John and 80,000 people who are now in Italy and Italy Governor Eugen Boarne. Although they have achieved great success and occupied northern Italian cities such as Venice. Eugen's Italian Front also suffered heavy losses. However, since Napoleon achieved a decisive victory in southern Germany, more than 250,000 Austrian troops were shot or captured, Eugen, who still controls most parts of Italy, has achieved very good results under the oppression of the Austrian army. At least his Italian Front still has nearly 50,000 main forces.

After learning that the main force of the Austrian army was basically wiped out in Bavaria, Grand Duke John and Grand Duke Charles quickly led their troops to retreat, leaving the land they had to spend a lot of hardships to occupy. They had to go back to participate in the life-and-death battle in Austria. If Austria is gone, what use is the occupied land? So after the Austrian army retreated, Eugen's army then regained these places and actively advanced northward, threatening the southern region of Austria.

Although the French army achieved great victory, the current situation is still unclear. Although the main force of the Austrian army has been eliminated, including the troops of Grand Duke John and Grand Duke Charles who were rushing back quickly, they can still make up more than 100,000 yuan, and it will take some effort to eat it. And there is also a very bad news for the French army that Kutuzov's 38,000 Russian troops have now arrived 20 miles away from Vienna, and behind him is the entire Russian army of a total of about 226,000. This is a very serious problem.

Napoleon's most worried about the Russian army. He ordered Murah, Sirte, Davu, Motier (the commander of the Fourth Legion) and Rana to track Kutuzov and the remaining Austrian army to prevent them from rendezvous and the army of Tsar Alexander. At the same time, if the Tsarist army joins the Prussian army of 200,000, the French army will be besieged by the Russian and Pu'an army. After a series of wars, the French army now has only 250,000. Fortunately, the Fourth Legion and the Ninth Legion have arrived at the battlefield, otherwise Napoleon's troops will be even more powerful.

The situation was too tight. Napoleon calmly judged the situation: even if the Prussian army fought with the Russian army, it would not be possible to mobilize a huge army every day; that is to say, the Russian army could be eaten before the Russian army and the Austrian army or the Prussian army met. Napoleon was preparing to eat the Russian, Austrian and Prussian army one by one, so he made a quick decision and tried to occupy Vienna before Prussia joined the war and cut off the Russian army's retreat - before Grand Duke Charles, he surrounded and eliminated the Russian army in the area south of the Danube before he led the Austrian army back to Austria.

Augsburg, located in Bavaria, has now become the main rear supply site of the French army. Napoleon ordered Berthier to turn Munich into a war command center. Another serious problem surrounds Napoleon, that is, the snowstorm and severe cold in early winter have arrived, but the French still wore clothes when they moved from the English Channel in August. Due to insufficient logistics transportation, if the enemy cannot be defeated before the cold winter comes, the French army will likely lose the war.

In order to quickly occupy Vienna and seize various Austrian supplies, on October 22, Napoleon ordered the legions that had been resting for two days to quickly advance towards Vienna, and asked Eugen's Italian front to attack southern Austria and restrain as many Austrian troops as possible to reduce the pressure on the French army.

The Russian commander Kutuzov's legion was the closest legion to Charles Grand Duke and Vienna. To Napoleon's expectation, when the French army approached Vienna in large numbers, he refused to defend the Austrian capital Vienna with his Austrian allies. Before the French army had time to start operations, Kutuzov commanded the Russian army to quickly evacuate, crossed the Danube River in Krems and retreated northward. When the Russian army retreated, almost blew up all the bridges on the Danube River to stop the French army's pursuit. Napoleon ordered Murah, Rana and Dawu troops to pursue Kutuzov's army.

After the Russian retreat northward, the Austrian army in the southern bank of the Danube River became even thinner, so the French army was able to march straight into the sky and encountered almost no resistance. On October 28, Dawu severely damaged the Russian defender army (composed of the Austrian detachment), and Kutuzov still did not turn back to provide rescue. However, Mura did not pursue Kutuzov with Dawu to pursue Kutuzov, but decided to attack and seize the treasure of victory rewards - Vienna. Napoleon learned of Mura's serious mistake in Linz - in fact, this mistake led to Kutuzov's retreat along the Danube River to Moravia, where the Russian main force was. Napoleon was furious and could not believe the matter. He immediately sent a stern letter to his brother-in-law, scolding Mura for being reckless.

He had to be like a madman. His unauthorized actions caused the French army to lose two days of precious time in the pursuit of Kutuzov. Murah did not understand that the French army's strategic goal was to destroy the enemy's livelihood, rather than capture the city. Because he did not implement Napoleon's order to "closely cooperate" with Dawu, the battle that could have won a great victory became suspicious - if the coalition forces returned to the horseback, it might also defeat the French army. However, after all, Napoleon was dissatisfied with Murah, and the deep reason was undoubtedly that Murah had slept with Josephine; in addition, he repeatedly violated Napoleon's intentions in this battle and let Kutuzov go away, which delayed the opportunity for the fight, so Napoleon was naturally even more dissatisfied with him.

In order to seize the first prize, Murah and the Rana army crossed the Vienna Bridge across the wide Danube River and attacked the city of Vienna. In this and later battles, one of the weaknesses exposed by the French army that influenced combat effectiveness was: the jealousy and hostility between the senior commanders of the French emperor. This naturally hindered the successful implementation of Napoleon's strategy and tactics.

A few days later, the French army approached the army of Tsar Alexander, and Rei pursued Kutuzov with all his might; Prince Bagragian stubbornly defended Oboholabrun and covered Kutuzov's retreat. Russian General Vytsgrod made a request for a truce to Mura, and Mura foolishly agreed; this not only allowed Kutuzov to escape smoothly, but also met with Tsar Alexander's troops, which was exactly what Napoleon tried his best to avoid. "I have nothing to say!" On November 10, Napoleon shouted to Mura, "Tear up the truce agreement immediately and attack the enemy! Go forward! Destroy the Russian army!" But it was too late at this time. Mura violated Napoleon's strategic goals and orders, and allowed the Russian army to occupy a defensive position near Olomouc.
Chapter completed!