When the snowflakes blotted out the last ray of sunlight, a tsunami-like roar erupted outside Kozelets. "The Russians are running!" "We've won! Charge!"
"Hold formation. Don't pursue recklessly."
Madalinski personally led the Grenadier Battalion into the town, while several hundred Winged Hussars continued after Samoilov's routed troops. Kościuszko lowered his Telescope and let out a long breath.
Kutuzov's main force had yet to catch up, while he had already opened the road to the Dnieper River. The Polish Army's hard-won foundation had finally been preserved...
He suddenly recalled something, turned toward the southeast, and asked the staff officer beside him, "It seems General Kilinski held off the Russians coming from the Caucasus."
The staff officer hesitated before replying in a low voice, "Marshal, according to the Guards Cavalry Battalion's report, it was the wounded soldiers resting in the rear who desperately stopped Gudovich's surprise attack."
"The wounded?"
"Yes, along with sick soldiers—more than 3,800 in total. They held the enemy back until General Kilinski reached the battlefield." Kościuszko's lips trembled.
There had only been a little over five thousand wounded and sick soldiers altogether. In other words, aside from those with broken legs or those so ill they had lost their senses, nearly all of them had taken part in the defense of the left wing...
Given their condition, being able to stand still for three hours would have been a miracle, yet they had fought the enemy fiercely for three hours! What he did not know was that many of those wounded and sick soldiers had fired while kneeling in the snow.
Many had not even possessed the strength to lift their Percussion Cap Guns. They could only work in pairs: the man in front braced the gun against his shoulder, while the man behind pulled the trigger...
Kościuszko