Chapter 1594: Hold On, Help Is Coming!

In later history books, this Lakeside—Danube campaign was praised to the heavens!

It is said that this campaign had epoch-making significance, completely changing the form of warfare, utterly ending the era of the phalanx, and opening the door to the era of line tactics and skirmisher tactics.

For many years afterward, military thinkers in both the West and the East would treat the Lakeside—Danube campaign as a textbook, studying and researching it over and over again, wishing they could thoroughly grasp every detail and reconstruct every engagement.

However, in all the historical materials they could read, none would mention the true purpose of this campaign—the Ottomans wanted to go to Vienna to rob the banks, while Grand Duke Henry, in order to protect Vienna's banks from being robbed, had no choice but to deploy a defensive line between the Lakeside and the Danube, defending it to the death.

Apart from the true purpose of the campaign, which could not be made public, the deployment of both sides was clearly recorded in various historical materials, and was of great research value.

And among them, the deployment of the Austrian army, which opened in a defensive posture, completely changed the mode of warfare. The phalanx era was thoroughly ended! The era of line infantry and skirmishers officially arrived, and the era of field positional warfare arrived at the same time.

The mode of land field battles, after this war, became more complex and harder to command.

And the main reason for this series of changes was primarily technological progress.

The appearance of wooden-fuze explosive shells and wooden-plug rifled bullets thoroughly eliminated the phalanx era that had existed for who knows how many years—not that square formations could no longer be used, but that the era of the phalanx was over. The era of line formations and skirmisher formations had arrived.

In fact, this process had already begun in that battle that made Leopold I a saint, the Battle of Szentgotthárd, and the Lakeside—Danube campaign was the end of the old era and the beginning of the new!

Besides the revolutionary change in infantry formations, in this campaign the participating Austrian army had already completely eliminated the pike.

This meant that infantry firearms were already sufficient to pose a deadly threat to cavalry charging at full gallop!

Furthermore, the battlefield of the Lakeside—Danube campaign had also become very broad. It not only had a large frontage, but also considerable depth.

The frontage of the Lakeside—Danube line reached 25 kilometers, while the Austrian army's defensive depth exceeded 5 kilometers. Ottoman reconnaissance had only discovered the frontage of the battlefield, and had not discovered the depth of the Austrian defense.

In other words, the Austrian army, totaling no more than 100,000 men, was divided into several battle lines 25 kilometers long and deployed across the battlefield.

Of course, the 100,000-strong army was not actually formed into several lines on the battlefield—that would not have withstood the desperate charges of the Ottoman cavalry.

These 100,000 Austrian troops were divided into multiple groups, either holding defensive lines or relying on strongpoints, forming a defense in depth that was difficult to break through.

And a series of field fortifications greatly strengthened the combat capability of infantry in defensive operations. It was precisely by relying on these fortifications that the Austrians' dispersed infantry could withstand the concentrated assaults of the Ottoman army.

On October 11, 1700, the main force of the Ottoman army had already arrived before the Austrian battle line between the Lakeside and the Danube.

The Tartar cavalry had spent the previous day skirmishing with the skirmishers and cavalry covering the Austrian positions. The fighting was not intense, but it lasted a long time, and it was not until noon on the 11th, when the Ottoman main columns arrived, that the Austrian skirmishers (jaegers) and light cavalry pulled back into their own positions.

On the same day, Mustafa Koprulu and Mustafa Kara, escorted by a large number of Janissary warriors, began to inspect the Austrian army's positions.

They did not dare get too close, for fear of being shot by the enemy's jaegers with rifled guns!

The two of them did not yet wish to meet the Lord of All.

Although they did not get close, the experienced Mustafa Koprulu and Mustafa Kara still noticed some clues. They discovered that the Austrian defensive line was not simply a straight trench plus a low wall—that was only the Austrians' first line of defense.

Behind this line, there were at least six important strongpoints, each built around an Austrian village or town that had been converted for the purpose.

As for the specific details of these strongpoints and what lay behind them, they had no way of knowing.

In addition, both flanks of the Austrian army's Lakeside—Danube line were well protected by the Lakeside and the Danube, making it very inconvenient for the Ottoman army to outflank. Breaking through from the front seemed to be the only option.

Fortunately, the frontage of the Austrian defensive line was too broad, so their forces would certainly be very dispersed, and the difficulty of concentrating forces to achieve a breakthrough would not be great—the only question was how many casualties it would cost.

However, with the banks of Vienna as bait, Mustafa Koprulu and Mustafa Kara were not very worried about casualties; what they worried about was time!

Time was not on the side of the Ottoman Empire!

If they could not sack Vienna before the army of Emperor Louis marched into Austria, then perhaps they would never reach Vienna... and never be able to rob the banks in the city of Vienna!

After returning to the command tent set up behind the battle line, Mustafa Kara said to the Grand Vizier: "We should concentrate our forces to break through at one or two points... As long as we burst through their line, we can win a complete victory."

Mustafa Koprulu nodded and said: "We have more men and more guns... As long as we concentrate them, victory is certain. But we should not strike at only one point—we should strike at three points."

"Grand Vizier, how do you intend to attack?" Mustafa Kara asked.

"This is the Lakeside, this is the Danube, and the Austrian line lies between the two, in a straight line. What is now certain is that they have dug a long trench and piled sandbags to form a line, and most likely have prepared large numbers of 'Spanish riders' (a type of cheval de frise)."

Mustafa Koprulu gestured over a table that had been looted from who knows where, and said: "We should first attack the Austrian positions by the Lakeside and the Danube... This is to pin down their flanks and draw their reserves to the left and right, creating a weak center.

Then we will concentrate our finest Janissary warriors and, with the greatest determination, smash through the Austrians' trench and breastwork line in one blow. Finally, we will commit the Tartar cavalry to strike at the enemy's rear and cut off the retreat routes of the enemy's left and right flanks."

Mustafa Koprulu's deployment was likewise later written into military textbooks, becoming the standard tactic for breaking through enemy positional defenses.

"Grand Vizier, when shall we launch the attack?" Mustafa Kara asked again.

"Tomorrow before dawn," Mustafa Koprulu thought for a moment. "Begin at 3 a. m. First place 180 cannons on the two flanks and bombard the Austrian positions by the Lakeside and the Danube fiercely for one hour, then launch the assault."

Behind the Austrian battle line, Potzno Fortress.

This was a fortress converted from an ordinary farmstead, because it faced a large stretch of forest marked 'no cutting' (because with the appearance of wooden-plug rifled bullets, skirmisher and jaeger tactics had become widespread, greatly increasing the defensive value of forests!), and so it had become an important strongpoint on the Lakeside—Danube defensive line.

On the night of October 11, 1700, that is, the eve of the start of the Lakeside—Danube battle, the headquarters of Henri de Mancini entered this Potzno Fortress, shielded by a large stretch of forest.

At 8 p. m. that evening, Henri de Mancini summoned all of his subordinate 3 corps commanders and 7 division commanders to his headquarters, and announced to them the order to take up arms in defense of the Archduchy of Austria! At the same time, he relayed to them several pieces of good news that had just arrived.

"The Roman Emperor Louis I has ordered the 9th Legion stationed in Upper Austria, the 10th Legion stationed in Bavaria, and the 11th Legion stationed in Venice to advance together toward Austria! In addition, the Hussite believers in Bohemia and the Christians in Upper Hungary are rising in revolt. As long as we can hold out on the Lakeside—Danube line for one week, Austria will be saved! God will be with us!"

(End of Chapter)