Another round of cannon fire from the distance made Semiz shudder; he saw that the French Army’s line formations were already fully deployed, while his own side was still in disarray, assembling their ranks. His heart immediately tightened.
The Guard Corps were inherently superior in military discipline compared to the Albanians, and they had been prepared for the assault since dawn, so their speed in forming up was naturally much faster than the mercenaries who were still on the march. In the era of flintlock guns, whoever finished forming up first essentially held an absolute advantage.
At that moment, the scouts that Semiz had sent out finally returned—he was a seasoned veteran on the battlefield, capable of executing basic maneuvers like dispatching cavalry to scout at the first encounter with the enemy.
The leading cavalryman, still at a distance, reported loudly to him, “Pasha, the enemy numbers around 4,000, with possibly a few hundred more in reserve.”
Semiz’s mind steadied somewhat; although the enemy had seized the advantage with their surprise attack, he still held an absolute numerical superiority.
In other words, as long as he could stabilize his ranks and drag the battle into a frontal confrontation, victory would still be his!
His thoughts raced, and he turned to look at his own side’s most chaotic left flank, yelling at his aide-de-camp, “Tell Nishani to lead the cavalry to attack the enemy’s right flank. At least hold the enemy for half an hour!”
The French Army’s right flank was the Albanian Army’s left flank.
The aide-de-camp hesitated, “Pasha, all the cavalry?”
Semiz gritted his teeth and nodded, “Yes! All the cavalry!”
He was well aware that he could not afford to hesitate about using the cavalry at this time.
Although the cavalry were still in disarray, not having completely formed up, a harassing fight would allow each cavalry squadron to attack at will, and should be able to hold the enemy off for a significant amount of time before all 1,600 cavalrymen were expended.
After that, he could use his numerical advantage to engage the French in positional warfare. Even if he couldn’t win, General Caheller’s large force would arrive the next day, and with numbers several times greater, they would surely be able to quickly overwhelm the French Army!
As another barrage from the Guard Corps’ artillery thoroughly scattered the Albanians’ left flank, trumpet calls rang out within their ranks and more than a dozen orderly officers ran back and forth, rallying the cavalry.
And 300 meters behind the breach in the Albanian Army, a reserve unit began forming up, ready to fill the gap in an orderly column.
As the drummers of the Guard Corps started to beat a rhythmic cadence and the “bands” resumed playing, preparing to launch a frontal assault, a large number of bow-carrying cavalry surged out of the Albanians’ left flank, like a tide.
Joseph, upon hearing a hint from a staff officer beside him, quickly used his telescope to look in that direction, his brow furrowed. How could the Albanians respond so quickly? Cavalry formation was much more difficult than infantry; how could they immediately launch a cavalry attack?
But he quickly noticed something amiss and said to Bertier beside him, “Are they on a suicide mission?”
Cavalry without formation were no different from wild horses running on the plains. In their high-speed movement, they could not attend to other units, and would easily become scattered or form a long, thin line. If the enemy’s cavalry attacked in formation, it would be a simple matter of reaping military achievements.
“Your Highness, they are probably trying to buy time,” said Bertier, “We do not have as many cavalry as they do; it will take a significant amount of time to completely wipe them out. In the meantime, they will send a portion of their cavalry to attack our infantry line.”
In the age of flintlock guns, the greatest strength of an infantry line was the frontal attack, and a thin line would leave the flanks very vulnerable.
Thus, typically, both sides would use cavalry to protect the flanks of their infantry.
Joseph nodded, waiting quietly for Bertier’s response.
After a moment of thought, Bertier gave his orders to an orderly officer, “Have the cavalry immediately support the right flank. Recall the skirmishers to assist the infantry on the right, and switch to a hollow square defense. Also, hand over the reserve’s artillery to them.”
“Yes!”
The hollow square was another advanced tactic that Joseph had brought to the Guard Corps. Of course, the hollow square had already appeared in the early 18th century, but it was only used as an emergency measure when the infantry was cut off and surrounded by cavalry, preparing to fight desperately to the end.
Joseph knew how Napoleon had used them against the Mamluk Cavalry.
The infantry took the initiative to form multiple supporting squares, staggered over a wide area to slow down the Cavalry’s charge speed, and constantly wore them down, thus becoming an offensive formation.
The command was relayed to the right wing of the infantry line within a minute; 2 rifle companies and 8 infantry companies began to move. At the same time, an officer from the right wing sent a messenger to report that they would face a cavalry raid from the enemy.
When the Albanian Cavalry forefront chaotically surged towards the French Army’s right wing, more than 500 cavalrymen from the Guard Corps and Murat’s Corps had completed their lineup, sweeping across the scattered Albanian Cavalry in five rows of formation.
The latter barely managed a charge with just over a hundred men, and were almost immediately dispersed; most were cut down from their horses by sabers, while a few were shot by riflemen providing flanking coverage to the infantry.
The French cavalry didn’t linger; they drew an arch in the distance, turned around, and reformed their ranks.
Meanwhile, the two rifle companies had already taken position at the side of the infantry line, forming a T-shape.
Soon, more Albanian Cavalry galloped in. A barrage of musket fire erupted from the French skirmish lines, taking down twenty to thirty of the foremost riders—among these skirmishers were many Joseph was preparing to shape into riflemen, or marksmen, with excellent shooting skills. Had the enemy charge not been so disordered, their losses would have been even greater.
The Albanians were somewhat dazed by their defeat—facing infantry that seemed utterly fearless, standing stiffly and aiming their shots. For a moment, the cavalrymen behind reined in their horses, preparing to sweep around the side.
Not far away, the French Cavalry swiftly completed their reformation and charged with a howl into the enemy’s cavalier ranks from an oblique angle.
Chaos ensued among the Cavalry, who stood no chance against the neatly lined-up cavalry, especially when struck on the flanks. The Albanian Cavalry immediately broke and were slaughtered by the French.
In no more than ten minutes, the Albanian Cavalry had lost nearly 400 men. A multitude of masterless horses stood idle on the battlefield, inadvertently serving as a barricade for the French infantry.
A French skirmisher company captain named Lefevre, looking out at the enemy corpses strewn about and then at his soldiers who were virtually unharmed, licked his dry lips and shouted to the orderly beside him, “I think we can hold off the enemy cavalry without needing a hollow square.”
The orderly, taken aback, quickly signaled his statement with flag signals.
Lefevre hastily objected, “I was just saying, I didn’t mean for you to… “
However, Bertier, watching from a distance through his binoculars, saw the flag signals and smiled, nodding: “He’s got a sense of adventure. All right, do as he suggests.”
He turned to his staff and said, “Keep 4 companies for defense on the right flank, bring two more from the reserve. The rest of the infantry continue the frontal assault in line formation!”
Joseph saw the Guard Corps move like a slow-reacting giant; “brain” commands took a minute to reach the limbs, and the right hand, which had just opened in preparation for defense, clenched back into a fist.
A four-pound cannon from the reserves was also dragged to the right flank. The cannon master, following the drill manual, ordered the gunners to stuff grapeshot into the barrel.
Minutes later, rhythmic drumming again rose from the Guard Corps’ infantry line. The drummers, stepping forward first, led the entire infantry line toward the Albanian positions.
The fierce battle on the right flank continued. Albanian Cavalry repeatedly charged the French infantry of only five to six hundred men but were met with recurring sniper fire from muskets and four-pound cannons.
This was actually a contest of willpower.
If these cavalrymen, undaunted by death, could withstand two to three volleys, break into the infantry ranks, it would result in a one-sided massacre. Even if French Cavalry came to their aid, because of the surrounding infantry, their formation advantage would be greatly reduced.
Then it would be very likely that they would breach the French Army’s right flank defenses.
However, it was the French infantry who showed no fear of death. They watched the enemy cavalry approach within thirty meters, and still, they managed to aim and fire their shots, shattering the morale of the Albanians who were nearly within arm’s reach.