Chapter 959 Street Fight

"Damn academic waste!"

Although Lamosilier cursed, he knew in his heart that Bonnot de Couron was not a useless waste. ơɱ

The hard bone of Alsace was deliberately thrown to Bonnot de Couron by Lamosilier, but the hard bone in Alsace was not Celesta, but Strasbourg.

In Lamosilier's original plan, the two armies should drive straight into Strasbourg like two sharp swords, and then surround and attack the reinforcements.

However, the Alsace region was like an iron barrel and could not be penetrated at all.

The reason for this situation is closely related to the narrow and long geographical location of the Alsace region, with the Rhine River on the east and the Vosges Mountains on the west.

If the French army wants to enter Alsace, it must pass through Sarrebourg in the northwest and Celesta in the south. As a result, these two strategic locations are like fish bones that tightly clamp the upper and lower jaws of the French beast, making it unable to close.

Ramosilier immediately realized the seriousness of the problem. If the German coalition forces could not be stopped from crossing the river, the originally planned siege would turn into a large-scale battle.

How many troops would the angry German coalition forces send? 300,000? 400,000? Or 500,000?

In short, it was impossible to resist with less than 150,000 troops in his three legions at this time.

By that time, let alone his future career, he might be dragged out to take the blame at an old age, and even end up like Oudinot and Grouchy.

Thinking of this, Ramosilier was struck by lightning. He finally understood why Bellevue asked him to take the lead and why he launched the attack in advance.

Under this overwhelming wealth, there was such a sinister intention, even at the expense of the interests of France and the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers.

Ramosilier couldn't help but take a breath and cursed angrily.

"Belvey, this damn guy! These damn guys will destroy France sooner or later!"

Belvey would definitely cry out for injustice if he knew about this. In all conscience, he really didn't have that idea. However, once doubts arise, everything else will slowly become "reasonable".

However, at this time, Lamosilier had no time to fight. He immediately decided to ask Paris for help and was ready to conquer Sarrebourg and Celesta at all costs.

Lamosilier turned to the messenger and said.

"Tell General Couron that if he can't conquer Celesta, then even if I die, I must send him to the military court!"

On the other hand, Bonnot de Couron did not wait for Lamosilier's order to start the fierce attack, because he also knew that time was everything.

If it is impossible to reach the Rhine before the arrival of the German coalition, then Lamosilier can retreat to Metz, at least he can recover Lorraine.

And he must face the main force of the German coalition and fight a large-scale battle on the front. If the war fails, he will have to take all the responsibility.

That kind of result may be more terrible than death. Not only will he suffer from the torture of living a life worse than death, but even after death he will bear an eternal infamy or his family will be disgraced (to put it bluntly, he may be excluded from the upper class).

Bono de Couron tried various methods to conquer Celesta, but in the end the most effective method was still digging and attacking the city.

The defenders in the city did not have any effective countermeasures and could only watch the trenches approaching little by little, but the progress of this siege method was too slow.

Bono de Couron prepared to capture some strong men to speed up the progress, but he did not expect that the nearby villages were deserted.

As the casualties continued to increase, the blood of both sides was aroused, and the battlefield turned into purgatory in an instant. Both sides first began to slaughter the prisoners in public, and then did not even allow the other side to take back their own bodies.

The high temperature in summer made the corpses that were not collected quickly swell and stink, adding a bit of purgatory to this place.

Urban street fighting has always been a tough hand for the academic school, and the same is true for Bono de Couron. Most of the tactics learned in the academy were invalid at this time, and the usual drills were completely useless.

For the soldiers, such a war was also a nightmare. Both sides would do anything to kill each other. Their usual training was completely meaningless. The enemy would not form a square formation. The enemy might hide in any corner and use any possible weapon to attack.

Not only muskets and bayonets, but also sticks, stones, and even kettles filled with boiling water could become deadly weapons.

Bonnot de Couronne did not find that the war was turning into ethnic hatred, and he became almost crazy.

"Attack! Attack! No retreat! Attack! Deserters will be punished by military law!"

Waves of French troops were filled into the battlefield.

Benoit Valentin was a veteran who had participated in many battles. He was a standard mid-nineteenth century line infantryman.

Benoit Valentin was surrounded by people like him. They habitually formed dense formations to advance.

The collective gave them a sense of security, and the neat queues could also deter the enemy.

However, the team that made them proud actually harmed them. The narrow streets restricted their movements, and the enemies that emerged from various places from time to time eliminated the firepower advantage of the team, making them sitting ducks.

Under the guidance of mercenaries, the local militias in Alsace used the walls of houses and ruins as bunkers to attack the French army. They even planted explosives on the roads and among the ruins and lit fuses when the French army passed by.

Benoit Valentin's team experienced such a battle firsthand, and they had to deal with attacks from all directions.

Those Celesta militiamen were hiding behind bunkers and would only emerge to shoot when they had loaded their bullets.

"Stay in formation! Don't mess up!"

Captain Pierre shouted, but the soldiers fell one after another, and panic continued to spread among the ranks.

"Shoot! Shoot!"

The entire platoon of soldiers raised their guns at the same time, but before Captain Pierre could give the order, Celesta's militiamen retreated after firing once.

At the same time, the captain's order came, and Benoit Valentin maintained his past muscle memory to raise his gun and fire. After all, if he didn't fire, he would be whipped in normal training.

But he knew very well that he could not hit the militiamen behind the wall.

After a round of meaningless shooting, the smoke made Captain Pierre cough repeatedly. The militiaman behind the wall poked his head out and threw a stone, which directly hit a French soldier.

Captain Pierre watched another soldier fall in front of him and couldn't bear the curse anymore.

"You damn bastard, you have the ability to come out and fight! Whoever hides is a rat in the gutter!"

The militiamen behind the wall responded also in French.

"Only an idiot would stand there and get beaten! Come over if you can!"

"Fix bayonets! Hand-to-hand combat! Catch that bastard! I'll pay you ten francs!"

In fact, soldiers like Benoit Valentin had long been holding back their anger. At this time, when the commander ordered them, they were naturally willing to vent their anger and get some money for drinks.

However, just after they rushed to the ruins, they heard a loud "bang" and Benoit Valentin felt himself flying up, and then fell heavily to the ground together with a pile of masonry debris and broken limbs. .