Chapter 299: The Battle of Rochefort
"Send a victory report to Vienna—the Liège rebellion has been quelled," General Würmser said wearily to his adjutant, raising his hand slightly. "His Majesty the Emperor must be getting impatient by now."
He then looked towards the Austrian soldiers who were marching into the city of Liège: "The two regiments responsible for today's main attack will stay behind to rest. Everyone else must depart immediately and reach Warem by tomorrow afternoon."
Warem is a crucial stop on the road to Southern Brabant, about 40 kilometers away[1].
Six days after entering the province of Liège, the Austrian army, constantly harassed by the rebels, finally captured the city, achieving their first major victory since the start of the campaign.
However, General Würmser was far from pleased. This progress was much slower than he had anticipated, and by now, the Prussian army was likely already near Brussels.
This meant that his plan to encircle the Brabant rebels and ambush the Prussians was no longer feasible.
Moreover, during today's battle against the Liège rebels, he still hadn't managed to eliminate the main rebel forces—about 3,000 rebels had decisively abandoned the city and fled to Warem, leaving Würmser with fewer than 800 rebels killed or captured in Liège.
To make matters worse, the situation in Loon was also dire—after losing contact with the Muzil Corps for three days, Würmser sensed something was wrong and dispatched a cavalry unit north to investigate. The cavalry finally returned yesterday, reporting that Muzil had still not captured Loon.
General Würmser forced himself to stay optimistic, thinking that if he could defeat the Prussians in Brabant, all these setbacks would be worth it.
He took the reins from his aide, about to mount his horse, when suddenly he saw a scout riding urgently towards him, causing him to frown.
The scout was coming from the south, but the enemy was supposed to be in the north.
The scout, seeing the commander from twenty meters away, immediately shouted, "Urgent military report! Rebels spotted in Rochefort—at least 5,000 of them!"
General Würmser's eyes narrowed—how had the rebels gotten to the south?
Rochefort was only two days' march from Luxembourg, and whether supplies were coming from Austria or France, Luxembourg was the key route.
If Luxembourg were attacked by the rebels, his supply lines would be in immediate jeopardy.
He anxiously looked towards Brabant, hesitating for a long moment before finally sighing heavily and instructing his messenger, "Order the entire army to assemble and march towards Rochefort. Oh, and tell Colonel Muzil to abandon Loon and head to Warem immediately to prevent the rebels from retreating back to Brabant."
"Yes, General!"
While the Austrian army grumbled about having to head south, just northwest of Rochefort, outside the city of Namur, Prussian General Duke Brunswick was riding along the seemingly endless line of Prussian troops, waving his hand and shouting, "Move those damned legs of yours! If you reach Rochefort by tomorrow, glorious victory will be yours!"
As a man in his seventies, he was remarkably vigorous.
He had been riding like this for nearly twenty minutes, shouting continuously to boost morale. Finally, both he and his horse were exhausted, and he stopped, panting.
The Marquis of Blücher rode up behind him, offering him a water flask: "Marshal, have some water. We've just received word from Rochefort that the Dutch have gathered more than 12,000 men."
Brunswick tilted his head back and took several large gulps of water, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth: "Where did that lawyer Vander Noot find so many men?"
"The Dutch sent over 200,000 guilders and a lot of weapons. The Netherlanders quickly armed a large number of citizens."
Two hundred thousand Dutch guilders were equivalent to 2.5 million livres, a testament to the strong support the Dutch were providing to their Netherland cousins.
Blücher hesitated a bit and then asked, "Marshal, are you sure it's safe to abandon Brabant? The Austrians are only three days away from there."
Duke Brunswick lightly tugged his reins and said calmly, "That old fox Würmser never takes risks. Even if there wasn't a single soldier in Brabant, he wouldn't abandon Luxembourg to attack it."
Two days later, the Austrian army reached the outskirts of Rochefort. General Würmser was soon informed by his scouts that they had spotted at least 20,000 Prussian troops and over 10,000 Netherland rebels to the southeast.
General Würmser's heart sank—he had not anticipated the Prussians to march so quickly. He had originally thought he would only be facing the rebels and hadn't expected to fight a decisive battle here.
Fortunately, his years of commanding large armies had taught him not to neglect reconnaissance, which had saved him from being ambushed.
He quickly pulled out a map and pointed to a flat, open area ahead, instructing his staff officer in a serious tone: "Deploy the troops here immediately. Have Winkler's skirmisher regiment set up outposts—watch out for a Prussian surprise attack."
"Yes, General!"
However, as the Austrians began to form ranks at the designated location, 15 Prussian cannons suddenly appeared at the front of their lines and unleashed a fierce bombardment on the Austrian troops.
Winkler's regiment, part of the Austrian elite forces, managed to hold their ground at the front of the open field despite the heavy bombardment. Behind them, the line infantry, encouraged by their bravery, quickly formed up just out of range of the enemy artillery.
The Prussian cannons fired no fewer than 30 volleys, but because Winkler's skirmishers were spread out, only a little over 200 were killed, and the Prussian vanguard, threatened by the Austrian skirmishers, failed to launch a direct assault on the main Austrian force.
Once General Würmser's main force was fully deployed, he immediately ordered his artillery to return fire—Winkler's regiment was his trump card, and every man lost pained him deeply.
After another exchange of fire, General Würmser finally noticed through his telescope that the frontline of the Prussian formation appeared to be composed of Netherland rebels.
His heart leaped with joy—Duke Brunswick had made a grave error by placing an untrained, amateur force in charge of the most critical part of the battlefield. If they were broken, the entire Prussian line would collapse!
Würmser decisively ordered his messenger, "Tell Schröder to launch an all-out attack on the enemy's line formation immediately! Have Berger's grenadiers move up as well, and tell the cavalry to protect the flanks."
"Yes, General!"
[1]In the 18th century, Southern Brabant, now part of Belgium, was divided into two main regions: Northern Brabant, including Brussels, which was larger and Dutch-speaking, and Southern Brabant, which was smaller and French-speaking. Together, they formed the core of the prosperous Southern Netherlands.
(End of chapter)
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