The General Assault

The next morning, just as the sun was rising, General Delatrie's troops had already finished breakfast and deployed into battle formation. Napoleon, of course, was already aware of the enemy's movements and was carefully observing the enemy's formation through binoculars from a high vantage point.

This vantage point is the Castle outside Le Mans, the Castle remnant of the Hundred Years' War built on a small hill. Perhaps many years ago, France knights fought against Britain longbowmen here. Now the Castle is long abandoned, its straight walls covered with various green vines. But it is still a stone fortress and has not yet become a crumbling ruin. Because of its excellent view, Napoleon placed his command post here.

"Looks like the rebels are preparing for a general offensive today," Napoleon said to himself, handing his binoculars to the orderly beside him.

Then he looked towards the front lines and muttered to himself, "Today should be the day for our final assault."

At that moment, a flash of light could be seen in the distance on the rebel side—the rebels were firing their cannons at Le Mans.

The artillery of that era primarily used solid shot, and the threat posed by artillery fire was far less than that of later periods. The rebels' artillery fire was mainly aimed at the temporary earthen walls erected for defense around Le Mans, as well as obstacles such as chevaux-de-frise. If these earthen walls and chevaux-de-frise could not be damaged, the soldiers would suffer heavy losses when they moved forward to attack.

The shelling lasted for a considerable period of time. Given the difficult logistical supply situation, the fact that the rebels still conducted such artillery preparations indicates that they truly intended to achieve their goal in one decisive battle.

Around 8 o'clock, many of the barricades and earthen walls on the battlefield had been destroyed, so the rebel soldiers began to advance.

A key characteristic of the France army's tactics after the revolution was the extensive use of skirmishers. This was primarily due to two factors. First, the France army's training had been consistently poor, resulting in a weak ability to execute complex formation changes in battle. Second, their morale was generally quite high.

The first factor made it difficult for them to form ranks, so they simply reduced the number of ranks. The second reason ensured that even without ranks, their soldiers wouldn't, like in some other countries, wander off and lose their way during battle. (I'm talking about you, Austria! Although Archduke Karl recognized the advantages of skirmishers early on, Austria skirmishers were never used effectively, partly because these Austria soldiers, once dispersed, truly scattered.)

In the past, when the Vendée rebels were in high spirits, they mainly relied on scattered fighting. However, the attacks of the past few days have shown that the Vendée rebels no longer possess that kind of morale. Once they disperse, they immediately disappear from the battlefield. In short, you won't see them again until mealtime.

Therefore, in this general offensive, General Delatrie had to abandon skirmish tactics and instead advance in formation—at least the soldiers were in ranks, and anyone who dared to run away could be disciplined on the spot.

However, due to insufficient training, the rebels' formation was very disorganized. They lined up in long horizontal rows, which, when viewed from a distance, did not form a straight line but rather a wavy line. Often, this wavy line would break from time to time as some people walked faster and some slower.

The horizontal formation actually evolved from the square formation, only it changed from a square to a rectangle. As the length of the rectangle gradually increased and the width gradually decreased, it became the horizontal formation we know today. This change was often made to reduce the damage of artillery to the military formation and increase the firepower output during volley fire. However, the rebel army's formation now has some tendency to revert to the ancient style, with their formations reaching a thickness of six ranks.

This was actually a last resort, because the thinner the line of soldiers, the longer the formation, and the more difficult it was to control. A thicker formation also prevented demoralized soldiers in the middle from easily fleeing or feigning death on the battlefield (because there were too many people at the back, and they would be trampled to death if they fell).

However, as a trade-off, this formation resulted in even greater casualties when hit by artillery fire.

Sure enough, when they were about 300 meters away from the first earthen wall of the defenders, they began to be hit by artillery fire. Unlike the previous days, this time, the defenders' artillery fire was not only fierce but also had a very high hit rate. The defenders' artillery positions were further back, about 700 or 800 paces away, but this salvo successfully fired dozens of shells into the rebel ranks.

Of these shells, only a few ricocheted and pierced through the six-layered artillery column.

A single salvo inflicted hundreds of casualties on the rebels. Such precision in artillery fire had never been seen in previous battles.

But this wasn't actually luck favoring Napoleon, because a few days earlier, the artillerymen operating the cannons and firing at the rebels were mainly National Guard artillerymen. To avoid prematurely revealing their strength, Napoleon forbade his artillerymen from joining the battle.

Of course, even Napoleon's more well-trained artillery would normally find it difficult to fire such a precise salvo. But this was different, because it was a pre-planned battlefield where all positions within the cannons' range had been precisely mapped. The cannons had been test-fired at these locations. So even the first salvo achieved such a high hit rate.

The rebels were stunned by the shelling. Some tried to regroup, some tried to charge forward, and some tried to turn around and run away, and they were thrown into chaos.

Amidst this chaos, a second volley of artillery fire accurately delivered dozens of shells into the rebel ranks. Now, the rebel ranks were completely thrown into disarray; they scattered in all directions, most turning and running backward. The officers in charge of controlling the ranks could no longer keep them in check and were swept along in their retreat.

"It's time." Napoleon had already left the command post and arrived at the front line. Standing by the artillery emplacements, watching the rebels flee in disarray, he turned to the messenger beside him and said, "Go and inform Commander Augereau to launch an immediate attack!"

Then Napoleon mounted his horse, took a few guards, and quickly rode to the National Guard troops standing nearby. Fouché was there waiting for his orders.

"Commissioner Fouché," Napoleon said, "Now, please hand over command of the National Guard to me."

"You are the military commander, you can issue orders at any time," Fouché said.

"Very well," Napoleon said.

Then, mounted on his horse, he shouted to the National Guard: "You all know what happened in Angers. Now, the beasts who destroyed Angers are right before you. Tell me, what are they doing here? Are they here for a stroll? No, they want to rob us of the fruits of our labor, to snatch our wives and children from our arms! Can we let them succeed?"

No! It can't be!

"Let them die!"

"Kill them all!"

The soldiers shouted in unison.

Napoleon continued, shouting, "Warriors, warriors! Because of our valiant resistance these past few days, they now want to flee. Can we let them simply escape back to their lair, heal their wounds, and then find another opportunity to threaten our wives and children?"

"Cannot!"

"Cannot!"

"Yes, we cannot let them escape back like this!" Napoleon shouted, drawing his saber. "We must not let them go, lest they have the chance to harm our loved ones in the future. So, soldiers, are you willing to follow me and wipe out those venomous snakes and ferocious beasts?"

"Willing!"

"Willing!"

The soldiers' shouts rang out in unison.

Napoleon looked at the soldiers with satisfaction, then, mimicking du Maurier's actions (a move he had practiced privately for a long time), he pulled on the reins, causing his horse to rear up on its hind legs, and shouted, "Soldiers, follow me, forward!"

The initial rout left General Delatrie stunned, but he quickly realized something was wrong. The fleeing soldiers were running chaotically toward the camp, and the enemy was seizing the opportunity to pursue them. Moreover, the enemy's numbers far exceeded his expectations. He knew the situation was extremely critical; if he couldn't stop the chaos and the enemy managed to storm the camp, his army would completely collapse.

"Put away the rampage, fire on the fleeing troops, and drive them aside!" General Delatrie shouted.

The soldiers frantically retracted the planks they had set up over the trench, hid behind the breastwork, and retreated towards their comrades who had retreated to the edge of the trench and were shouting frantically for them to set up the planks and open the gate to let them in. Some jumped directly into the trench and came this way, and then more people jumped into the trench, trying to climb back into the camp.

"Fire! Fire!" General Delatrie shouted.

"Bang! Bang!..." Gunshots rang out in quick succession, and gray-blue smoke rose up, soon blurring everyone's vision.

"Bang! Bang!..." The rebels outside the wall also opened fire into the military camp, and many people screamed and fell to the ground.

Just moments before, they were comrades-in-arms, but now they were firing at each other haphazardly amidst the chaotic smoke and fire. After a long while, the gunfire finally began to subside.

"Have all those guys outside run away?" General Delatrie thought to himself, his eyes widening as he tried to see through the thick smoke to what lay beyond. However, there was no wind on the battlefield, so the thick smoke hadn't yet dissipated. Suddenly, he felt the ground begin to tremble, followed by the rapid sound of horses' hooves.

"It's cavalry..." General Delatrie shouted, "Get ready..."

At that moment, a fine horse burst forth from the smoke of battle, leaping across the trench in one bound, then leaping again over the breastwork. The rider on horseback simultaneously swung his sword, felling a terrified rebel soldier to the ground...