Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2453 Observers

On June 1702, 6, in the Southern Netherlands, Eugene, Prince of Savoy Carignan, was inspecting the battlefield.

He is still under 39 years old this year, which is the best age for a military commander.Born in Paris, he came from a distinguished family. His great-grandfather was Charles Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy, his grandfather was the Prince of Savoy, his father was the Count of Soissons, then Governor of Champagne, France, and his mother was the powerful red-clothed Bishop Mazarin's niece Olympia Mancini.

A person like Prince Eugen who was not born as a direct son of an aristocratic family usually has two ways out.One was to join the church, and the other was to join the army. These were both noble professions at the time, and they were more prestigious than serving as a government civil servant.Prince Eugen did exactly that in his early years. He served as the dean of the Savoy Monastery when he was just an adult—a young boy who became the dean immediately, how embarrassing is it for a group of priests who have practiced for many years in the monastery—— At the age of 20, feeling bored, he applied to serve in the French Army.

It stands to reason that his application is not difficult to get through.But considering that most of Mazaran's political opponents existed in the military system at that time-remember Prince Condé who rebelled against Louis XIV-Prince Eugen's expression was rejected.Not only that, but the officials in charge of this matter also taunted and reprimanded him, which made him so angry that he almost drew his sword to fight him.This is really not something that a decent nobleman should encounter!

The 20-year-old Prince Eugen was very depressed. At this time, when the Turkish army was approaching the city of Vienna, young nobles from various European countries joined the Austrian army with crusader-style religious fanaticism. Join Austria in large numbers to fight for Leopold.Because Louis XIV was an informal ally with Turkey, he once privately banned the young French nobles from going east to Vienna, but the effect was not very great.After all, in the eyes of these noble children, competing with Austria for hegemony is one thing, but they still have a consensus on such big things as dealing with aliens and heretics. Not too many, this court should take it as a warning.

One by one of Prince Eugen's elder brothers went to Austria to join the war and became the commander of the cavalry, but was later killed in a battle.His brother's history greatly inspired the young Prince Eugene, so he secretly escaped from France with a few close friends without telling Louis XIV, and joined the Imperial Army under the leadership of Leopold I.

Now 20 years have passed, and the inconspicuous little noble in the past has grown into an experienced commander.He was a man of integrity, courage, and a reputation for being a brother to his soldiers.As early as 1693, after a series of battles with the Turks to prove himself, he had already obtained the scepter of the Imperial Field Marshal and became one of the few giants of the Austrian army.And still so young, it looks like he can serve Leopold for many years, which is not what the French want to see.

Prince Eugen has not been in the Netherlands for a long time, only about two months.He brought more than 3 infantry and 1 cavalry, basically old troops who had followed him for many years, and had rich combat experience.In addition, his close friend John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, also brought more than 6 English troops to help.Counting the scattered reinforcements of some other small German princes, the total strength of this batch of foreign aid from the Dutch has exceeded [-], which is very impressive.

The Dutch's own strength is probably in the early 5s, of which 3 are regular troops, 1 are militias in the two southern provinces and one area, and 1 are mercenaries.In other words, the total strength of the anti-French alliance is about 11, but what about their opponent, the French army? 8 people up and down!

Commanding the French army was Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme.This gentleman is also of noble birth and has rich experience. Although he is not as good as the previous generations of famous generals such as Prince Conte, Prince Condé, and Duke of Luxembourg, he is already considered very good among the generals of various countries who are active in the front line today.

This gentleman is usually unkempt and sloppy, and often sleeps until four o'clock in the afternoon before getting up.However, the dissolute life did not affect him to fight bravely and think calmly on the battlefield.He has a gentle personality and is willing to do good deeds. He often rewards subordinate officers or soldiers who are in difficulty with his own money, and he is also very kind at ordinary times.Therefore, such a quality gave rise to a very contradictory characteristic of the army he led: Usually they are idle and have loose military discipline, but in key tough and bitter battles, they can always fight to the last moment. magic.

The 8 French army led by the Duke of Vendôme faced the 11 coalition army commanded by Prince Eugen. If one side can severely injure or even wipe out the opponent, it can basically determine the vast majority of the southern Netherlands, the southern United Provinces, and northeastern France. Some areas are owned now.It's a pity that in a battle of this scale, both sides should first do not make mistakes, and then expect others to make mistakes, so they played very conservatively and cautiously.

It had been a tough fight since the Dutch came out at dawn sometime in late May to attack the French garrison there.Because Louis XIV did not give the Duke of Vendôme any difficult tasks this time, he has always focused on defense and killing the opponent's vital forces-the attacking side will always pay a greater price than the defensive side What's more, this time the French army is taking over the Southern Netherlands peacefully. The local materials and fortifications are very complete, and there is more preparation time.

As of late June, the anti-French coalition forces had paid the price of more than 6 casualties. Except for a few not so stable strongholds on both sides of the Scheldt River, they had gained almost nothing. The battle situation can be said to be very anxious.

On June 6, Prince Eugen personally planned and organized a large-scale offensive.Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, led a feint attack on the southern line, which attracted the attention of the French army, while he himself led the main elite, and with the cooperation of naval ships, stormed Antwerp, an important stronghold of the French army in the southern Netherlands—here Once, the threat of the commercial center of Zeeland will be greatly reduced.

After more than two days of intense fighting, Prince Eugen almost achieved his goal.But at the critical moment, the Duke of Vendome personally commanded thousands of French cavalry to launch a surprise attack, accurately hitting the junction of the Dutch militia and the Austrian army.The sturdy French cavalry accurately tore through the gap, and the Dutch militiamen, who had never experienced such a brutal battle, were routed and crushed several regiments in a row until Prince Eugen rushed up the reserve team to block the gap.But at this time, the French army on the frontal battlefield also slowed down from the passive retreat at the beginning. Marshal Catina commanded the French army to start a counterattack and achieved certain results.

At this point in the battle, the campaign objective of the anti-French alliance can be said to be completely bankrupt, not to mention the huge casualties, and more than half of all kinds of supplies have been consumed, so they have to rest and reorganize.The same is true of the French army led by the Duke of Vendôme, who went to the army with more than [-] casualties, and all kinds of supplies in the southern Netherlands were squeezed out.

After Prince Eugen returned to his headquarters in Bergen op Zoom, he began to plan the next campaign.At this time, he also asked envoys and military officers from several friendly countries who came to the barracks to observe the battle, including the east coast military officers from the Viana do Castelo base in Portugal.

The concept of military observers was actually first introduced to Europe by people from the East Coast.Of course, this is not to say that Europeans did not have this before. In fact, when various European states went to war, nobles from other countries often came to watch the battle, but the people on the east coast were indeed the first to systematize and professionalize the role of observer.I watched the war between Russia and Poland before, then the Franco-Dutch war, and now I came to the Austrian barracks (through the relationship of the Dutch, of course). To be honest, I am still quite enthusiastic.

Yang Chengdong, head of the Army's Fourth Mixed Regiment, is the son of Yang Liang, a famous military strategist on the east coast and president of the Army University.This gentleman was promoted to major a few years ago. After the completion of the Wolf's Lair Fortress in Viana do Castelo at the beginning of this year, he was promoted to the commander of the fortress and was promoted to lieutenant colonel. In fact, if the [-]th Mixed Regiment and the [-]th Regiment fight together, the commander-in-chief will still be Bai Chuanping, because the East Coast Army has traditionally commanded higher ranks and lower ranks.

Yang Chengdong stayed at the Wolf's Cave base all day, except for training or training, which was really boring.Bai Chuanping on the Eagle's Nest is beating the Moroccans and interfering in the situation in northern Italy, making Yang Chengdong, a militant—yes, army officers are all militants at heart—drool with envy, wishing he could lead his troops away Go to Italy and live the addiction of killing the Quartet.It's a pity that Sheng Dehong is not a fool. After his predecessor Cai Zhenguo earnestly warned him, he is now very strict with these army horse dung, and cut all expenses as soon as they can, and does not give them any chance to accumulate war funds, which makes Yang Chengdong very angry. Swear.But he didn't have Bai Chuanping's ability to manipulate the Italians, and he couldn't get any money from the Portuguese. In the end, he could only watch and silently wait for the opportunity.

Fortunately, the outbreak of the European war gave him a chance.After applying for a sum of money and necessary diplomatic assistance from Sheng Dehong, he took more than [-] officers and non-commissioned officers selected from the Fourth Mixed Regiment, boarded a Dutch merchant ship, and arrived at Bergenop Zomme—a city very special to people on the east coast—joined the anti-French coalition commanded by Prince Eugen as a neutral military observer.Also coming to watch the battle were military officers from Sweden, Russia, Switzerland, Portugal and other countries, all of whom were potential targets of the anti-French alliance, so they were quite troublesome to receive them, and the group enjoyed good treatment.

Observers from several countries observed the battle situation during the day, chatted nonsense, and wrote reports at night, and their lives were quite chic.Lieutenant Colonel Yang Chengdong had stayed in Europe for many years, was familiar with local affairs, and had a good understanding of the internal affairs of the military of many countries, so he saw a lot of things.

In the ongoing battle in front of him, in his opinion, the performance of the coaches of both sides is quite satisfactory, especially the Duke of Vendôme, the commander of the French army, is still very good at fighting fortresses, so that even Prince Eugen, who has always been famous for his machine transformation, will have nothing to do with him for a while.

Lieutenant Colonel Yang Chengdong also put himself in the shoes of himself, that is, if he sat in the position of the commander-in-chief of the anti-French coalition forces, how to fight the old tortoise Duke Vendôme. Use force to break Vendôme's tortoise shell, making him want to keep it, but he can't keep it.It's a pity that the anti-French coalition forces have less than 11 artillery pieces with 5000 people. Compared with the 48 people of Bai Chuanping's Sixth Mixed Regiment, there are a total of [-] artillery pieces (the number after strengthening), and the caliber is generally larger. This is really impossible. Than, not on the same level.

However, Prince Eugen's command art is still worth learning, which is what the East Coast Army lacks now.For military officers from the East Coast who are trained in majors like Yang Chengdong and Bai Chuanping, it is easy for them to command one regiment, but it is a bit difficult to command four or five regiments. If they command more than a dozen regiments, the efficiency is a bit low. OK.Given the actual situation on the east coast, who told you to command 8 or 5 people to fight?Even in the Far East, it is possible to command 10 to [-] people to go out to fight, but there are actually two systems, that is, the people on the east coast are under the command of the commander-in-chief, and the new army is still under the command of the original commander. A campaign objective for them to complete.What's more, most of the time, a small number of elite troops on the east coast defeated the enemy in frontal field battles, and the miscellaneous troops stepped forward to take advantage of it.What really left a strong mark in the history of the East Coast Army and tested the commander's ability was the battle of Cao'e River that attacked Shaoxing Prefecture. Junio ​​(retired with the rank of colonel) who served as the commander in chief fought really well. It is still handy to command tens of thousands of people, which is very admirable.

Lieutenant Colonel Yang Chengdong also wanted to be that kind of person. Therefore, during his tenure as a military observer, he often used his good relationship with the Dutch veteran Van Marberg to visit various military camps, talked with many senior officers who had participated in the battle, and even saw Through the strategic deployment of the two sides, the battle process, and the gains and losses summarized after the war they recorded, overall the gains are very great.

"This is a battle with mediocre weapons, but a relatively high level of strategy and tactics." This is the conclusion drawn by Lieutenant Colonel Yang Chengdong, and other members of the East Coast Military Observation Group also agree with this opinion.Recognizing this will avoid the mistake of underestimating the enemy in the future, and it will also be very helpful for the Fourth Mixed Regiment to enter Spain to perform combat missions—if any—in case the French army is encountered there?What if the commander of the French army is the Duke of Vendome?

(End of this chapter)