"Report, I'm back." Claude stood at attention and saluted.
Major Leedfunk stood up: "What happened to the third battalion? Why were there so many casualties? Did you learn anything about it when you went to see it?"
Claude took off his hat, hung it on the coat rack in the corner, and put the black briefcase in his hand on the desk: "Although the battalion commander and other officers of the third battalion shied away, it was because the enemy was stubbornly resisting with its defense facilities and was determined to fight to the death.
The surrender caused the soldiers of the Third Battalion to suffer heavy casualties during the attack. However, according to my investigation during this period, the Third Battalion now has no remaining power to attack. Because of the heavy casualties, the morale of the soldiers is extremely low.
, being able to defend the town of Billy where we are currently is considered a good job."
"So the third battalion has been urging us to take over the defense as soon as possible so that they can withdraw and rest?" Major Liederfunk frowned: "I'm a little worried. Our first battalion is different from their three battalions. They
It was formed by deploying veterans from the ranger battalion and recruiting soldiers with good shooting skills from other units. They have more combat experience. Except for you guys who have recovered from injuries, our first battalion is all new recruits sent from the rear.
, although I have gone through the recruit training, the three months of pre-war training required by your training syllabus have not been completed, and I rushed to the front line in such a hurry. I don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the third battalion..."
Claude shook his head: "But we are required to arrive in Billy Town before October 5th and change defenses with the Third Battalion. It is less than ten days before this date, and the march will take three days, so we only have five or six days left.
Time to prepare. This time I went to the town of Billy and casually went to the front line to observe. The third battalion was going to capture the Black Maple Castle, which is located at the entrance to the Picklet Mountains. Stationed there was a garrison battalion from the Principality of Rimodra.
.
There are three main reasons for the failure of the Third Battalion's attack. The first aspect is that they are arrogant and look down on the enemy. They think that the enemy will surrender as soon as they reach it. Unexpectedly, they hit a hard nail. They knew what they already knew and did not know the enemy, so they arranged weapons and equipment according to the enemy's strength.
I didn't know anything about it until I suffered a loss and captured a few prisoners, and only got rough information from them.
The second aspect is that the offensive terrain is unfavorable. When I went to the front line to observe, I found that although Black Maple Castle is located at the entrance to the Picklet Mountains, it is surrounded by several beaches where mountain streams gather, and the enemy will
The trees within a distance of two hundred meters were cut down, leaving an open field of vision within the shooting range of artillery and muskets. No matter which direction we attacked from, we would be severely bombarded by enemy artillery fire, making it impossible to get close to the castle.
The third reason for the failure was insufficient training. The soldiers of the third battalion of the Rangers were mobilized from other units. Many soldiers still maintained their original habits during the attack. They did not like to hide and would just stand and charge their muskets.
Load the bullet, and you become the target of the enemy. Especially now that the enemy is equipped with a large number of precision aiming and shooting muskets. Although it is not as good as our Obash Type 3 standard muskets, under the cover of the castle, it can still kill us in large numbers.
soldiers. And our bright red military uniforms are more conducive to their aiming and shooting..."
Major Lederfonk shook his head and smiled bitterly. Claude really resented the color of the Kingdom's military uniforms. He also admitted that it was indeed as Claude said, that the bright red military uniforms were indeed the best target color on the battlefield, but this
It is the tradition of the kingdom. In the past, when marching in line and firing together, the main consideration of wearing bright red military uniforms was to shock the enemy. The second factor was to reduce the soldiers' fear of casualties. Blood is also red, even if the soldiers around them were injured or killed.
Because of his bright red military uniform, the surviving soldiers will not feel panic.
But you just need to know the reason well. No officer will say it out. They will only tell the soldiers that the big red represents heroism and bravery, as well as the blood of the warriors who sacrificed their lives to expand the territory of the kingdom, etc. Of course even if
Major Leedfunk adopted Claude's suggestion. He did not have the power or ability to change the color of the military uniforms.
"You said that the defenders of Black Maple Castle were equipped with precision-aimed shooting muskets?" Major Leedfunk asked.
"Yes, I saw the real thing at the headquarters of the third battalion." Claude replied with some regret: "It is said that it is produced by the Eskiline Principality, and the model is Falhiston 185, which is better than ours.
The musket in my hand weighs about three kilograms and has an accurate aiming range of 70 to 80 meters. It is a great improvement over the previous musket produced by the Principality of Sidings. I originally wanted to ask the Third Battalion to bring one back, but
They only had a few, and they had already reported them as seizures for military exploits, so they rejected my request."
Major Leedfunk sighed: "In fact, we are still exploring the use of the Obas III standard musket, and we are still testing how to maximize the effectiveness of this precise aiming and shooting musket on the battlefield. Unexpectedly, the enemy also
After discovering the function of this kind of musket, they not only copied it but also equipped their troops in large numbers for defensive operations. This will have a very negative impact on the war we are currently engaged in..."
Claude also sighed: "There is an old saying that war is the best teacher for soldiers. Now I understand this truth. As long as it is useful, we must learn even the enemy's advantages, otherwise we will be the ones who suffer.
."
Major Leedfunk poured a cup of tea for Claude: "Let's not lament these things here for now. We are weak and talkative and cannot do these things. Let's first think about how to complete the tasks assigned above.
Go down to the four brigades in the next few days and see how their training is going. Not only do we have to take over the defense of the third battalion this time, we are also ordered to conquer the Black Maple Castle and seize the entrance to the Picklet Mountains.
, denounce the resistance in this mountainous area.
I am a logistics officer and am not expert on how to attack and defend. I can only leave this task to you. It is up to you to decide how to deploy the troops and when to start the attack. Now you are the combat staff officer of the battalion headquarters.
, I went to the front line to investigate again. This is your job. It’s best to come up with a plan in the next few days. All I can do is give you the greatest logistical support. I hope we can do this with the minimum possible
casualties to gain victory.”
"Yes, I will try my best." Claude stood at attention and saluted again. Unlike Lieutenant Colonel Roesler, Major Liederfunk trusted Claude very much after he became the battalion commander and appointed him as the battalion commander.
The staff officer has the greatest authority to review and make decisions on the training and operations of the entire battalion of soldiers. Of course, this has a lot to do with his background as a logistics officer. Major Leedfunk understands very well that since he is an outsider, he needs to find an expert.
Help yourself. Claude's previous record in the Ranger Battalion convinced Major Leedfunk that he was the person he needed, so he reused Claude and gave him the greatest trust.
On October 4th, the 1st Ranger Battalion arrived at the small town of Billy in Bichu Linxi County, Rimodra Principality, and exchanged defenses with the 3rd Ranger Battalion.
The battalion headquarters quickly held a combat meeting. As the person who formulated the plan to attack Black Maple Castle, Claude explained the various combat steps in detail to the officers of the first battalion at the meeting, and received the support of Major Leedfunk and the general assembly.
The unanimous support of some officers. The officers participating in the combat meeting all knew that although Claude's combat plan was extremely complicated, it could significantly reduce the casualties of soldiers. The only drawback was that the delay was a bit long, but the above only required
There is no date limit for conquering Black Maple Castle, so it doesn't matter if it takes longer.
In fact, when the third battalion of Rangers went to attack Black Maple Castle, they followed the traditional offensive method of the Overas Kingdom army. After settling in Billy Town, they rested for a day, then gathered most of the troops and headed for Black Maple.
Maple Castle, and sent envoys to ask the defenders to surrender. As a result, the defenders refused to surrender, and the third battalion of Rangers began to besiege.
Because they were equipped with Obash type III standard matchlock guns, the third battalion of the Rangers did not adopt the traditional offensive method of marching in line and firing in unison. Instead, they bombarded with artillery first. Three brigades were besieged on three sides, and one brigades were in preparation.
In the eyes of the commanding officers of the third battalion, as long as their soldiers are close to the castle, they can use precise aiming and shooting to suppress the enemy's firepower, blow open the castle gate, and complete the task of capturing.
But surrounding the Black Maple Castle is a creek beach about fifty or sixty meters in diameter. The water is not deep, only as high as the knee, but it poses a great obstacle to the soldiers' attack and they cannot get close quickly.
Castle. However, the enemy defenders could use the cover of the walls and windows of the castle to shoot at the attackers who were slowly and arduously trudging through the stream. The blood almost dyed the entire stream on the beach red...
…
At the same time, the defensive artillery arranged at the top of the castle also engaged in exchanges with the artillery of the third battalion. Taking advantage of the favorable conditions of being located at a high altitude with a wide view and increased range, the third battalion suffered a big loss in the artillery exchange, losing four people.
light infantry gun and two and a half gun crews.
This is the real reason why the Third Ranger Battalion suffered heavy losses. Only about 400 soldiers were left out of more than 1,000 people, and nearly 300 wounded soldiers were sent to the treatment center. For them, this was a battle with more than half of the casualties.
The disastrous defeat. Now the 1st Ranger Battalion has taken over their defense line and the task of capturing Black Maple Castle. After discussion, the officers participating in the meeting have made it clear that adopting the same offensive strategy as the 3rd Ranger Battalion will definitely not work. Since there is nothing else
If there is no way, then just try the attack plan proposed by Claude.
The attack plan proposed by Claude was divided into three steps. First, besiege and cut off the communication between Black Maple Castle and the outside world. Then let each squadron under the First Brigade adopt an ambush method to trap the defenders in the castle.
Within a distance of two hundred meters, people from outside cannot enter and people inside cannot get out.
The second step is to recruit civilians in Billy Town and go to the upper reaches of the mountain streams to divert the streams so that the fifty or sixty-meter stream beach in front of Black Maple Castle becomes dry land and no longer becomes an obstacle to the attackers.
, this is the main task of the second brigade. They are responsible for recruiting civilians to divert the creek.
The third step is to dig a trench about a hundred meters away from the Black Maple Castle, allowing the soldiers to enter the trench to snipe the castle defenders, and use the excellent performance of the Obash Type III matchlock gun to carry out precise aiming and shooting. This distance
It's just right. It doesn't mean that the enemy's muskets can't be hit, but that they can't accurately aim and shoot. Whether they can hit or not can only rely on luck. This somewhat dangerous task is handed over to the third brigade. After all, they need to be in front of the enemy.
Excavation work is being carried out right under your nose.
However, this distance of 100 meters from the castle is just outside the range of the artillery shot, which prevents the soldiers from being attacked by shot shells and causing a large number of casualties. If the enemy uses solid bullets, that is very welcome. They don’t know how much it will cost to destroy a trench.
How much gunpowder and artillery shells. Besides, it is obvious that trenches are easy to build and difficult to destroy. At worst, they have to retreat and wait for the enemy to finish shelling before sending people to build them. Moreover, Claude suggested digging a trench from two hundred meters away, reaching the target directly, and then digging horizontally. This way
It also makes it impossible for the enemy to attack the soldiers doing excavation work.
"Last point, the key to conquering Black Maple Castle is here." Claude pointed to the mountainous area behind Black Maple Castle depicted on the map with a small wooden stick and said: "Cut off the back of Black Maple Castle to obtain supplies and reinforcements.
This mountain road is the key to our victory. According to our research and reconnaissance, there are small roads on both sides of this mountainous area that can lead to the mountain road behind Black Maple Castle.
Of course, these paths are made by herb collectors and hunters up the mountain, and are inaccessible to horses and vehicles. I need the Fourth Battalion to send two squadrons to go around these two paths and choose dangerous places behind the mountain roads to hold on.
.One squadron will set up a position, and the other squadron will dig the mountain road to make it impassable. And defend it until Black Maple Castle is captured by us or the defenders surrender."