Chapter 294: Recapture of positions
Chapter 294 – Recapturing the Position
“No, the high ground must be recaptured immediately, the artillery must not fall into the hands of the enemy.”
Old Knight Schroeder made an instant decision, “Andrew, you command the 4th battalion to cover our rear, Claude, the 2nd battalion will follow me to charge the high ground.”
Andrew silently nodded without objection, although he was a nobleman, he did not dare to be arrogant at all in front of Schroeder, a knight.
Claude, however, worriedly said, “Chief of Staff sir, our strength is still too small, is it ……”
“No!” Schroeder waved his hand heavily and insisted, “Later they will drag the cannons away!”
Just as the two men were discussing whether or not they should immediately counterattack the heights, someone pointed to the north and shouted happily, “The troops behind us are following!”
Everyone immediately looked to the north, only to see a column winding its way along the road toward the battlefield.
It was a team composed of Arda sailors, militia, and auxiliary soldiers recruited in the Carter family territory, and it looked to be quite large, with about 1,000 people.
The sailors were equipped with breastplates and muskets, the militia were equipped with breastplates and standardized lances, and the newly recruited auxiliaries were equipped with only simple cold weapons – most of which were captured from the Carter family.
Schroeder finally had a hint of joy on his face, “Just in time, let them speed up!”
With a few swooshing sounds, a few rockets flew into mid-air and burst into flames, the team in the distance watched the signal and began to run wildly this way.
The two armies converged to one place, commanding this team was Third Fleet Commander Tirbitz, he learned from Schroeder about the artillery positions falling into enemy hands, shrugging his shoulders, he said, “It looks like we’re a little late, what do we do now, do we take it back?”
Schroeder: “Of course, the artillery can’t fall into enemy hands. Gentlemen, I just thought of one thing, the other side has such a powerful long range attack like the longbow, we need to draw well protected soldiers from all units.”
Ten minutes later, 600 soldiers were assembled, and they were not only equipped with breastplates, but also helmets.
Schroeder patted Andrew’s shoulder, “Baron, we’ll leave our back to you.”
Andrew saluted him, “Please rest assured, Chief of Staff. Also, please address me as Lieutenant Colonel.”
Schroeder nodded to him, drew his saber and pointed it at the high ground, shouting, “Attack!” , taking the lead and striding forward.
“Thump~Thump~Thump~”, just after the words fell, the marching drums sounded rhythmically, and behind Schroeder, 600 soldiers split into left and right parts, led by Claude and Tirpitz respectively, stepping on the drums and following Schroeder towards the high ground.
The enemy in the artillery position discovered the counterattack of Alda’s army, still fiddling with how to use the artillery, they immediately assembled, from a distance there were about 1,000 people in size, most of them were longbowmen, and there were also many people with spears and swords and spears.
When the Alda army was 200 meters away, the mercenary longbowmen started to release their arrows, and the rain of arrows came in an instant.
The attacking soldiers were equipped with breastplates and helmets, their limbs were exposed, not just to ensure the mobility of the troops, if they were to wrap every single one of them into a tin can like the Knight Master, the money required would be unaffordable even for Alda whose finances had skyrocketed.
Shot on the gauntlets the bows and arrows made a tinkling sound, while shot on the flesh the bows and arrows brought screams of misery. Every few steps a soldier wailed and fell, and some who were shot in vital areas might not be able to walk properly for the rest of their lives.
But compared to their counterparts in this era they were lucky again, immediately after the injured soldiers fell down, there were medics running over to carry them to the rear with a stretcher, and in the temporary field ambulance station set up, there were specialized military doctors using clean bandages, boiled boiling water, and decontaminated surgical tools to treat them, and the probability of them keeping their lives increased greatly compared to their other counterparts.
The longbowmen in the Duke’s army would not be merciful because of their screams, round after round of bow and arrows were thrown out, they stood on high ground and had a wide field of vision, Alda’s army was an excellent target for them.
People, after all, are flesh and blood, in front of the huge casualties, even the Aldar soldiers who had gone through the harsh training of kicking and formation would be scared.
The marching speed of the troops gradually slowed down, and some people’s footsteps began to become disorganized.
……
The uncaptured artillery was not used to support the counter-attack on the heights, but was instead used to bombard the Duke’s main army that was once again on the offensive.
Fergus and Emerson also spotted the attempt by Arda’s army to recapture the artillery, and with their armies rested, they once again launched a ferocious attack, this time not just with cavalry, but followed by infantry.
The artillery was deployed in front of the infantry line, and the gunners overplayed their hand, giving the enemy a large number of kills and injuries, abandoning the artillery as soon as the cavalry approached to shoot off loose rounds and retreating into the infantry in formation to gain cover, and then, when the wave of attacks had been repulsed, returning to their positions to operate the artillery once more.
The arrival of the followers also brought spears, but they were more effective than the bayonet-equipped rifles in resisting the cavalry onslaught.
The sound of guns, shouts and hoofbeats shook the sky, and both sides attacked and blocked for several rounds, but the duke’s army could not gnaw on Andrew’s 1,000-odd men. ……
Schroeder frowned tightly, continue like this before reaching the enemy, the morale of the troops fell out.
He stopped and turned to look at all the soldiers, not caring in the least about the arrows swishing behind him.
“Is this the end of the line? Look at you all now, do you have 10% of your usual training performance?”
“Soft and flabby, in the future will people be able to make fun of us without fear, a flowery unit.”
The old knight bemoaned, “The 1st and 3rd Battalions faced the same longbowmen and the same attacks at Fort Biddle, but they walked up to each other in line without fear, then returned the favor with bullets and bayonets.”
“Show your courage and prove that we are heroes and heroines not to be outdone by them.”
……
Under Schroeder’s successive reprimands and agitation, many of the men showed shame and reared their chests.
The old knight stopped his lecture in due time, right now was not the time for long speeches, he re-raised his saber and pointed forward, “Now I re-declare – Attack!”
“Thump~thump~thump~”, the marching drums once again sounded rhythmically.
Schroeder shouted with all his strength as he walked:
“If I advance, you will follow me!”
“If I retreat, you will execute me!”
“If I die, you will avenge me!”
With these words, it seemed that something was ignited in everyone’s heart.
……
“Stand still!”
Finally, they came to a place where they could see the enemy’s nose.
“Ready!”
The first platoon of soldiers immediately knelt on one leg, while the second and third platoons staggered and pointed their guns forward.
“Fire!”
The roar was loud, the sound caused by the three rows of muskets firing in unison was terrifying, and many of the soldiers on the opposite side were scared for a moment.
Even more terrifying was the fact that along with the thick smoke rising up, a black barrel spat out a deadly tongue of fire, reaping lives in pieces.
The Duke’s army clattered and fell almost a whole row.
With a “wow” sound, the people behind them exploded.
Schroeder swung his saber forward, “Kill!”
“Kill!” “Hurrah!”
The soldiers in the back echoed their officer and charged forward with bayonets raised!
(End of chapter)