readx(); According to the estimates, it would take two to three weeks for the Austrians to arrive at Leipzig, and the battle led to the following strange situation: the Germans wanted to drag on because the rear could arm more troops and participate in the war, but at the same time they were unwilling to continue to drag on, because the meeting of the two armies would inevitably bring disastrous consequences to the German army; The Austro-Prussian army wanted to drag it out, because when they had gathered their army, they would be able to deal the most severe blow to the rebels, but they were not willing to drag it out, because the strength of the internationalist revolution had become more and more known to the aristocracy, and if it continued to spread, it would inevitably shake the entire foundation of German feudal rule, and even if the revolution was suppressed, the incited masses would continue to launch new uprisings until the day when the princes were completely destroyed.

In terms of overall strategy, the general direction of the German army was to defeat the Prussian and Austrian forces and force them to come to the negotiating table, so as to preserve the initial gains of the revolution. At the level of battlefield progress, it was not easy for the German army to achieve a decisive blow to the Austro-Prussian forces. The Prussian and Austrian forces were basically in three directions, and the main force of the Prussian army led by Karl I was on the western flank; The Austrian Corps, the Bohemian Corps, and the Hungarian Corps under the command of the Austrian Field Marshal Prince Hohenloch were on the southeast flank; Württemberg, Bavaria, and Austria, led by Count Klefait, prepared to attack from the south.

The German army, which was already limited in strength, had to worry about the enemy from three directions at the same time, and there were as many as 100,000 enemies, and it was bound to be not an easy task to calmly break them on the battlefield.

After the Prussian army's first attempt to cross the river failed, Karl I did not passively wait for reinforcements to arrive, but as Guo Xin expected, he used a variety of tactics to try to force the Elbe River. Strike at the Germans. On the one hand, Karl I organized a part of the Prussian army and the troops of Saxony to build ferries on the Elbe section east of Leipzig; On the other hand. Karl I, however, led the main force of more than 20,000 troops to the northwest along the Elbe. An attempt was made to cross the river at the Prussian-controlled Madgerburg, and then to form a three-sided encirclement of the German army in Leipzig, completely defeating this German army.

The German Republic controlled Hanover and Saxony on the west bank of the Elbe, and the Magdeburg region of Prussia effectively formed a salient inserted into the territory controlled by the National Revolution. It is impossible for the German officers who have studied and trained with Tang Jun for many years not to see this. Therefore, after Blucher took Braunschweig, although he led his troops to continue south, two regiments of the German First Division were also stationed in the Braunschweig area. Of course, these two regiments are not actually compiled. In fact, there is only one battalion per regiment. However, the two regiments of the 1st Division soon expanded to about 2,000 to 3,000 men by absorbing local soldiers, and although most of the soldiers did not have much training, at least they received the best weapons of the German army in terms of weapons, and the will to fight was relatively strong.

Julius, perceiving Karl I's movements, understood that in order to maintain the Elbe line in Leipzig, the Prussians could not be allowed to cross the Elbe from the north, and the commander-in-chief Blucher learned of this. Immediately a telegram was sent to Braunschweig, ordering the 52nd and 55th Regiments of the 1st Division there to move forward at once and occupy the Prussian places of Magdeburg and Stendale. Also helping the Germans in the fight were the forces of the People's Guard.

After the outbreak of war. Although the Prussians were interested in strengthening the defense of the border, the main focus was to gather the main force and go with Karl I to relieve the crisis in Saxony. After all, the German princes were in Pillnitz at that time, and if the German army advanced too quickly and broke through Dresden and Pillnitz, the princes would obviously be in danger. Therefore, Karl I led his troops south to Saxony and had to make a choice. If Karl I had been given the choice, he would have sent an army directly to Brunswick to cut off the rebels from the north and south.

The German 52nd and 55th regiments then attacked. For the first time, the garrison Prussian troops engaged in field battles with the Germans. The Prussian army had four infantry regiments at Magdeburg, two more than the Germans. However, it was inferior to the Germans in terms of neatness. The German offensive was very sudden, although the Prussian army had already done so. Trenches and other fortifications were built, but the soldiers of the German army and the People's Guard, like a tidal wave, attacked from multiple directions, and almost regardless of losses, in the case of the lack of heavy firepower of the Prussian army, the German army used a large number of automatic weapons to suppress the Prussian army, and launched a surprise attack at night, successfully eating a regiment of the Prussian army, and then cooperated with the local revolting peasants to surround Magdeburg. The Prussian army rushed back to help, but outside Magdeburg, the German 55th Regiment fought an ambush, suffered heavy losses, and was almost completely annihilated.

Magdeburg chose to surrender to the Germans before the 1st Division pulled the artillery regiment to Magdeburg, before which they did not receive news from Karl I, who cut off local communications so that the defending Prussians did not know that they might hold out for another three or four days before they could be supported by the main force of the Prussian army led by Karl I.

From this battle, some characteristics of the German army were also revealed. The first is that the style of play is extremely fierce, which has actually been shown before. The Germans basically did not wait for the opponent to draw the next line, they blindly rushed and struck, and it was a particularly stunned style of play. The defense of the Prussian army was actually not bad, but the Germans actually directly attacked the hardest part of the Prussian defense. The second point is that the Germans have a relatively large number of automatic firepower, which also makes them able to suppress the Prussian army well when they attack, so that the charging troops can directly enter the trenches. And as long as there is a breakthrough, the Prussian army will almost be completely broken through.

The shortcomings are also clear, that is, the combat quality of the German soldiers is still relatively poor, they rely on relatively strong firepower, as well as strong morale and spirit, they can fight a morale-like battle, but in fact, they still suffered some losses, and Blucher later found that the ammunition consumption of the German army on the battlefield is very large. Many soldiers operated their weapons on the battlefield and then emptied their bullets, and many bullets were fired in one go under tension, and they could not play their due role at all. If this continues, I am afraid that the German army will not be able to hold out for even a month, and the ammunition will be exhausted.

Of course, no matter what, the Germans managed to clear the west bank of the Elbe River before Karl I arrived, and blew up the bridge over the river, once again leaving Karl I with an embarrassing situation where there was no bridge to cross. (To be continued.) )