Chapter 723: Siege (Please Read On!)

Chapter 724 Siege

The importance of formation to cavalry is beyond doubt. A neat formation against a messy formation is like a father beating his son.

Dombrovsky led the winged cavalry like a hot knife cutting butter, cutting through the messy Cossack cavalry without any hindrance, and "cutting" a large piece of the Russian cavalry.

Under the threat of sharp lances, the Cossacks began to flee in panic.

Seeing this, Dombrovsky immediately ordered 300 rangers to chase the Cossacks with the largest number of people - once the cavalry collapsed, even two dogs behind them could chase them around.

He gathered the winged cavalry, pointed his saber at the infantry in the middle of the Russian army again, and ordered in a deep voice: "Shoot through them!"

The Russian army in the middle was exhausted under the fearless pressure of the King's Third Division, but relying on the advantage in numbers, the infantry line was very thick, and they could still grit their teeth and keep shooting at the Polish army.

However, the red winged cavalry appeared.

The soft wings swaying behind them were like heavy hammers, hitting the hearts of the Russian infantry back and forth.

The Russian infantry on the left wing hurriedly adjusted their formation and pulled out a three-row horizontal plane facing east to resist the cavalry attack.

However, the Russian army's training level was not high to begin with, and they were extremely tired after continuous rapid marches. Until Dombrovsky had rushed in front of them, the formation was still crooked.

The wing cavalry put away their lances and drew their sabers.

The red torrent swept past the Russian infantry on the left wing, and the sabers were like brushes, painting large areas of bright red on the canvas of the battlefield.

Behind the Russian army, Kakhovsky soon received the news that the Cossacks were defeated, and his face turned pale.

He was very experienced and ordered the corps that were outflanking on both wings to withdraw immediately without hesitation, and at the same time sent the only two remaining Royal Plonsk cavalry squadrons, about 300 cavalry, to delay the attack of the Polish cavalry.

He originally used these two cavalry squadrons as guards, but seeing that the central army was in danger, he didn't care about that.

Finally, when Dombrovsky rushed to the Russian defense line for the third time, he caught a rare gap.

More than a dozen winged cavalry quickly cut in from the gap, and the teammates behind immediately followed, tearing the Russian left wing into two pieces of varying sizes.

The panic caused by the collapse of the flank quickly spread to the entire infantry line.

The soldiers of Wang Ling's Third Division suddenly felt that the enemy's firepower continued to weaken, and immediately stepped up the offensive, and even launched a bayonet charge on a small section on the east side.

Dombrovsky led his team to complete the penetration of the Russian left wing. In front of them, there was only one Russian infantry regiment that hurried over, about 1,300 people.

He looked at the slightly exhausted winged cavalry behind him, and then turned his head to look at the vaguely visible Russian command post on the high ground in the distance. He hesitated for a moment, and finally sighed heavily.

The soldiers were running out of energy, and the horses were tired, so it was unlikely that they could break through the infantry's defense line.

At this moment, the sound of a trombone came faintly from behind him. That was the signal to retreat.

Dombrovsky shook his head. If he had 300 more cavalrymen, if everyone had enough energy, perhaps the war would end today.

He turned his horse's head with regret and ordered a retreat.

In the temporary command post of the Polish army, Kosciuszko was relieved to see that his troops had successfully evacuated the battlefield before the enemy withdrew.

It was almost 4 p.m., and it was impossible for the Russian army to launch another attack in the chaos at this time.

Tomorrow, there is still one day.

Two hours later, the staff reported the casualties to Kosciuszko.

His soldiers were very brave and made the enemy, who was three times their number, miserable, but they also paid a huge price.

More than 1,300 infantrymen were killed or wounded, 97 cavalrymen were killed or wounded, and 2 cannons were lost - he only brought 3 cannons on his side.

That is to say, he only has more than 8,600 soldiers available for tomorrow's battle.

The casualties on the Russian side are not clear, but it is estimated that there should be at least 26,000 soldiers available.

And tomorrow, Kakhovsky will definitely not split his troops to attack again, leaving himself a chance.

Kosciuszko frowned and looked at the map. After a while, he said to the messenger:

"Order the entire army to move to the Sargil River. The Pasbitsky Battalion is responsible for cover."

The Sargil River is just 1 mile east of Simferopol. Fortunately, the winter in Crimea is relatively warm and it is still not frozen.

While Kosciuszko was fighting with the enemy, Shvihecic also began to launch a fierce attack on Bakhchisarai.

The city defense of Bakhchisarai was built by the Ottomans in the past. It looks quite gorgeous, but not very strong.

In the early morning, the Russian army guarding the city saw thousands of Polish soldiers approaching from the east.

They didn't care too much.

The Poles had previously launched attacks with several times more troops than this, and they had easily held on.

However, the Russian army soon discovered that the Polish firepower this time was not as sparse as before, but extremely fierce.

More than a thousand Polish soldiers approached 80 steps away from the city in a skirmish formation, and continued to shoot at the Russian infantry lines under the city.

The Russians were soon confused by the dense firepower, and only relied on the cannons on the top of the city to barely stabilize the situation.

At this time, Shvihecic personally led the artillery battalion, dragging 5 cannons until they were 150 steps away from the city, and then stopped.

For the cannon, this was almost a blow to the face.

The Russians were horrified and hurriedly aimed the cannons on the city walls at this side.

Shvyechets loudly ordered the soldiers to fix the gun carriages and carry the ammunition.

A few minutes later, three Russian shells landed not far from their side, creating two deep pits, and then bounced back.

The Polish artillery also began to load ammunition.

Russian commander Trunikov was frightened by this desperate posture and broke into a cold sweat. He wanted to send infantry to drive the cannons away, but the dense gunfire in his ears made him give up this idea.

Soon, the Polish cannons also roared.

Five shells slammed into the city wall, and the debris flew everywhere.

In particular, there was a 24-pound cannon - it was moved from the Kursk Fortress - leaving a large pit on the city wall as deep as an adult's arm.

The Russian artillery also tried their best to increase the firepower of the counterattack.

The shells fired from the top of the city wall were extremely powerful due to the momentum of falling. Even if they landed on the ground five or six meters away from the Polish artillerymen, the broken stones could seriously injure people.

The two Polish artillerymen immediately groaned in pain and fell in a pool of blood.

Immediately, two people ran up from behind and took over their work without saying a word.

The Polish artillery spewed flames again.

This time, the 24-pound artillery directly blew away the top of the city wall, leaving a huge gap.

The Russian commander reacted and waved to the artillerymen and shouted:

"Idiot, change to grapeshot!"