The Duke of Brunswick's opportunity
Two days later.
The main battlefield in Silesia, the Liegnitz front.
Lieutenant Colonel Heine, the Austria Infantry commander, lay leisurely on a soft chair, watching his hunting dog "Mast" tearing at tree roots beside him, accompanied by the intermittent booming of cannons.
For the past few months, both Putin and Austria have been hiding behind their defensive lines, firing at each other with their eyes closed. They've long since become accustomed to the sound.
Suddenly, the northwest side fell silent, and then the cannons on Lieutenant Colonel Heine's side also stopped firing.
Heine frowned and stood up immediately, while the hunting dogs beside him barked incessantly at the Artillery position.
Before he could send his attendant to inquire about the situation, a Major rushed over, saluted him, and said, "Commander, the Gunpowder hasn't arrived yet. Nearly half of our battalion's cannons are running out of Gunpowder."
Heine hadn't been paying much attention to things at the camp lately, since there wasn't much to worry about. He fired the cannons precisely every morning and finished promptly in the afternoon, not caring what he hit. He asked, puzzled, "Wasn't it supposed to arrive yesterday morning?"
"That's how it should be, but the supply officer said yesterday that it would definitely arrive today, but look at this..."
Heine quickly mounted his horse and headed to the tent of Lieutenant Colonel Marcus, who was in charge of his regiment's Logistics and Baggage.
When he arrived, the tent was already packed with people. Lieutenant Colonel Marcus, sweating profusely, explained to the officer who was questioning him, "The supplies from Vienna were intercepted by General Berthier, the France Chief of Staff, last week. He French Army had a batch of Ammunition that would arrive yesterday afternoon, and he was in a hurry to go to Ratibor to reinforce General Leo, so he wanted to switch with me."
"But the France haven't made a move yet..."
Of course, he wouldn't say that he received 10,000 Florin from Berthier at the time; otherwise, who would be willing to go through all that trouble?
"But the shelling at the front is about to stop!" Heine shouted anxiously.
This routine bombardment was indeed of little use, but it was a symbol of the Empire's valiant fighting in Silesia, so it couldn't be stopped casually.
"Everyone, please wait a little longer. I've already sent someone to the French Military Camp to urge them on," Lieutenant Colonel Marcus said with a long face. "The Ammunition will definitely arrive tomorrow. You can borrow some from other battalions to use in the meantime."
Austria had more than 200 cannons along the entire Liegnitz front, but only about 30 cannons from 8 regiments were affected; most of the surrounding cannons still had some reserves.
After dismissing the officer who had come to demand Ammunition, Marcus cursed with a dark face, "Damn France!" After thinking for a moment, he picked up his cane and went to the French Military Camp himself.
Inside the Prussia command post.
A staff officer stood ramrod straight and reported to the Duke of Brunswick: "Your Marshal, it has been confirmed that over 30,000 men, including the Austria Davydov Corps, have left Liegnitz, most likely heading towards Ratibor."
The officer beside him immediately said, "In that case, we can safely allocate troops to encircle and annihilate Leo."
Duke of Brunswick was about to nod when he suddenly remembered something and looked at another staff officer, asking, "Has the Derrison Corps safely withdrawn?"
"Yes, Marshal. General August's troops entered the camp this morning, and the others are no more than two days' journey from here."
Upon hearing this, Duke of Brunswick narrowed his eyes. That old man Lacy was actually willing to divert so many troops to Ratibor for Leo's sake.
He quickly calculated in his mind. Leo Legion had more than 10,000 men, then Würmser took more than 10,000, the French Army sent 45,000 men in two separate trips, and this time Davydov took another 30,000...
In addition to the Bavarian Army, the Austria Allied Forces had committed nearly 100,000 troops to Ratibor. Austria had less than 150,000 troops in the Silesia region, and together with the France and Bavarian Army, the total was less than 200,000.
In other words, only half of the Austrian Army are currently defending the Liegnitz Defense Line.
On their side, the troops sent to Ratibor totaled only about 20,000 men, including some Saxon Army who had acted without authorization. Derrison's 30,000 men had encountered the French Army by accident and had already turned back.
Therefore, he currently has about 100,000 troops in his own country, 27,000 in the Hanover Army, and more than 20,000 in the Saxon Army, for a total force of 150,000.
In other words, at the Liegnitz front, he had more than 50% of the Austria troops in a short period of time!
"It seems that Lacy has made a serious mistake." A smile appeared on the Duke of Brunswick's lips. "He was so focused on Ratibor that he neglected the fact that this is the main battlefield."
Even if we suffer a defeat in Ratibor, at worst we'll only lose Leo.
He suddenly clasped his hands together in front of his chest, thinking to himself: This must be the Lord's arrangement. Although Derrison suffered a defeat, it has actually strengthened Liegnitz's forces.
With this in mind, he immediately made a decision and ordered his attendants to summon all senior officers to his office for a meeting to discuss the operational plan for launching a surprise attack on the main battlefield.
That afternoon, as the Duke of Brunswick was smugly assigning tasks to his legions, he suddenly noticed something amiss in his surroundings.
He listened intently, then looked at his staff officer with a puzzled expression. "It seems the enemy's artillery fire has subsided considerably?"
Soon, an officer arrived to report that a long stretch of artillery on the western side of the Austria defenses had ceased firing.
Duke of Brunswick quickly looked at the map; it seemed to be the area that the Davydov Corps was responsible for defending.
His troops had been transferred to Ratibor by Lacy a few days earlier.
The problem must have occurred in his defense zone because the commander left!
The Duke of Brunswick was overjoyed. He clasped his hands together, looked up, and exclaimed, "Thank God! Those damned Austria are going to be kicked out of Silesia!"
He turned and looked around at the officers, tapped Davydov's defense zone with his cane, and said in a deep voice, "Everyone must be ready for combat by tomorrow afternoon."
"Our plan needs to be changed; we'll launch the final assault from here!"
The following day.
Heine Lieutenant Colonel casually teased his dog, yawned leisurely, and figured it was almost lunchtime.
The Ammunition still hadn't arrived. He had borrowed a small Ammunition from a neighboring regiment yesterday, enough to keep the artillery going for another day or two. At this point, the artillery fire on the position was much less frequent than usual, but he didn't pay much attention to it.
Living this monotonous life for so long had worn down his alertness and sense of responsibility.
Quite abruptly, his hunting dog stopped its fussing, stared blankly to the north, then wrinkled its nose and began to bare its teeth.
"Relax, old buddy." Heine patted its head and followed its gaze. "Did you see a squirrel? Or a fox?"
But the next moment, he was stunned, because he vaguely heard the sound of drums, very dense War Drum.