French Empire: But Napoleon IV

Chapter 77 The Central Route Army's Failed Breakout

Seeing this through the telescope, McMahon was extremely anxious.

Although he knew the Southern Army would be in a difficult situation, McMahon clearly hadn't anticipated it to be this difficult, and he wanted to personally step forward to stabilize the situation.

But a Krupp shell exploded 5 meters away from him, and a piece of shrapnel hit McMahon's right leg, causing blood to gush out instantly.

McMahon was very unlucky. This marshal was not the kind of person who would cower in the command post, as evidenced by the fact that he was wounded more severely in each of the two battles in history.

This willingness to go to the front lines is admirable, and his fearlessness in the face of death is even more commendable. However, it also made McMahon a sitting duck on the battlefield.

Although the location and time of the battle had changed, the fact that McMahon was wounded remained unchanged because of his habit of going to the front lines.

"marshal!"

The attack on a French marshal was no small matter. The guards who witnessed the whole thing hurriedly helped McMahon onto a stretcher.

Forced back by the guards, McMahon gritted his teeth and tried to get up despite the excruciating pain.

"Don't worry about me, keep fighting and protect His Majesty."

McMahon wanted to continue fighting, but by this point, the French Southern Route Army was practically powerless to reverse the tide.

The Prussian army surged in from all directions, compressing the French army on the southern route into a small area. After McMahon withdrew to the rear, Napoleon III, supported by his attendants, came to McMahon's stretcher.

Nathan knew that the war was over. He had hesitated to ask to go with the Northern Army before, but now that hope was gone, he knew he was going to become a prisoner of Prussia.

Returning to the perspective of the central army, at exactly 4 PM, the French forces in the central area launched their breakout attempt.

General De Fay's 7th and 5th Corps, totaling 33000 men, launched an attack on the Prussian 11th Corps' defenses.

Fueled by their defeat at the Saint-Michel crossing, the French soldiers fought with exceptional ferocity, breaking through the Prussian first line of defense in just one hour.

Upon seeing this, a delighted De Fay immediately ordered the entire army to pursue. This commander of the central army had no idea that this was a Prussian tactic to lure the enemy deep into their territory.

General Boze, commander of the Prussian 11th Corps, deliberately abandoned the first line of defense, luring the French into an open plain where two Prussian cavalry divisions were already in ambush on either side.

At 5:30 p.m., when the French vanguard reached the Prussian second line of defense, Boser issued the order for a general offensive.

The Prussian 3rd and 4th Cavalry Divisions deployed an initial force of 6200 lancers and cuirassiers. These 6,000-plus cavalrymen charged out from the woods on both sides, piercing the French army from both flanks like knives in their side.

Because the French army was in a marching column, with soldiers lined up in long rows along the road, they were completely unable to form a defensive square in the face of the cavalry charge.

Caught off guard, the French army, facing Prussian cavalry charging into their ranks, had no choice but to scatter and flee.

"Don't panic! Don't panic! Form a square formation right here..."

De Fay, the French general who proposed a three-pronged retreat, lost his temper and, unable to accept the reality of fleeing in disarray, made the most inappropriate decision when the Prussian army was easily defeated.

Now, knowing he had fallen into a trap, de Fay could only shout at the top of his lungs in the ranks, trying to calm the panicked French soldiers.

However, due to the chaos in the army, the orders of this central commander could not be transmitted. Most of the battalion and company commanders were lost in the chaos, and the soldiers lost their command and could only fight on their own.

The Prussian cavalry charged through the French ranks as if they were nothing.

While the abilities of French generals were indeed limited, in terms of loyalty, the senior French generals who were assembled on the front lines during the Franco-Prussian War were basically the most loyal to the French Empire.

Felix Douai, commander of the 7th Army and the "culprit" of the Battle of the Ferry, attempted to lead a regiment of soldiers to rally the nearby fleeing troops in a resistance when faced with the army's rout. However, this force of resistance was quickly surrounded by Prussian cavalry.

Faced with the Prussian cavalry's advance, the French resistance gradually weakened after more than half an hour of resistance, and the Prussian cavalry charged all the way to Douai, whose clothing was completely different from that of the French soldiers.

Facing the Prussian cavalry head-on, Douai, riding a white horse, drew his saber and led his guard company in a desperate battle against the charging Prussian cavalry. In the end, this high-ranking French general was slashed in the back by a Prussian cavalryman, fell from his horse, and died in the chaos of battle.

Unaware of the death of his comrade-in-arms, Dua, De Fay, under the protection of his guard company, broke through the encirclement of the Prussian cavalry.

After escaping the chaos of battle, De Fay looked back and saw that his troops had been divided into more than a dozen small groups by the Prussian cavalry and were being wiped out one by one.

The battlefield was littered with the corpses of French soldiers and those who had surrendered without resistance, while the cheers of the Prussian cavalry were deafening.

"General, let's go quickly. It will be too late if we don't leave now."

Seeing the commander standing still, the adjutant grabbed General de Fay's arm and said anxiously, "The resistance of the two French corps is rapidly dissipating. If we don't leave now, they won't be able to leave once the Prussian army recovers."

After taking a few deep breaths at the battlefield, De Fai nodded. There was no point in staying now. De Fai and his adjutant, along with a few guards, fled towards the nearby village of Saint-Oban.

On the way to escape, General de Fay continued to gather the scattered soldiers. After more than two hours of effort, he managed to gather about 9000 survivors in the village of Saint-Oban.

Most of these soldiers had lost their weapons and were dressed in rags, but upon seeing General de Fay, the French soldiers, who had been fleeing in all directions without any leader, began to have a glimmer of hope.

"Brothers, we have no way out now."

After tentatively running around a few times and finding Prussian troops everywhere, De Fay, finding it difficult to leave, simply stood in the open space of the village and shouted loudly at the ten thousand French soldiers who had gathered there.

"The Prussian army is right behind us. If we surrender, we will become their slaves. We are French soldiers, and we would rather die fighting than surrender."

"Long live France! We will never surrender!"

Having decided not to break out again, De Fay was determined to buy some time for the Northern Route Army. While the Prussian army was still waiting, De Fay organized his soldiers to build defensive fortifications.

With the help of the villagers, the soldiers demolished the houses in the village, built barricades with stones and wood, set up sniper positions on the roofs, and drilled firing holes in the windows.

They also buried some earth mines at the entrance to the village and set up roadblocks to hinder the cavalry.

The four remaining Mitrajoz machine guns in General de Fay's unit were all deployed at the main entrance to the village, forming a weak crossfire network.

At 8 p.m., an infantry brigade of the Prussian 11th Army caught up with them outside the village.