Major Skerry's face looked very ugly. This was not just because Claude's attack on the three giant siege towers failed last night. The main reason was that night had become the enemy's world. Not only did they ambush
The team that went for the sneak attack also sent a large group of troops to sneak over the castle. In the end, the two sides fought in the open space in front of the castle for most of the night, causing more than 30 casualties to the rangers.
The only good news is that last night the 1st Ranger Battalion sent out a large number of troops to collect a lot of logs from the smashed wooden rafts, and even pulled several intact wooden rafts to the top of the city. It seemed that the quantity was sufficient.
A row of logs was built on the city wall for cover. Fortunately, last night's operation followed Claude's suggestion and did not open the gate to move the logs. Instead, they used ropes to pull the logs up from the city wall. Otherwise, the enemy would
It would be easy for the brigade to sneak into the castle if they approached it. The result would be even worse.
The bad news is that the enemy's three giant siege towers are closer to the castle. They were originally stuck at the end of the village during the day. In the morning, it was discovered that the enemy had moved these three siege towers to the head of the village. In other words, if we advance another three
About ten meters away, the artillery on the enemy's three siege towers can fire cannonballs to attack the soldiers guarding the front gate wall. Major Skerry decided that the logs must be erected at the top of the city during the day to let the soldiers
They have a hiding place.
I didn’t expect that the enemy could form such an elite infantry regiment after the Eskiline Principality was destroyed. Although the offensive and defensive battles in the past few days also caused the enemy to suffer more than 300 casualties, which was more than the number of a large group. But for a regiment
In terms of military strength, this casualty is only one-sixteenth of its total strength, which is far from the critical point of its casualties. Now the three siege towers are about to approach the castle again, which will pose a threat to the officers and soldiers of the first ranger battalion.
Said, the next days of defending the castle will be a very difficult test...
Last night, Claude led the Diavid Squadron of the First Battalion to raid the three siege towers. If Claude hadn't been keenly aware of the breathing of many people in the ruins of the village after entering the village,
If they lead the team to retreat in a hurry, they might actually run into a trap and be surrounded by the enemy. Even so, Diavid's squadron was still bitten by the enemy's ambush, and finally retreated to the trench only to realize that a small group of men had been lost.
.
Fortunately, Claude and the others retreated, and happened to encounter the enemy's brigade approaching the castle, and then fired a warning shot. The fourth brigade, who was collecting wood under the city wall, realized that they were almost dumped by the enemy, so
Everyone lay down on the spot and opened fire. The soldiers on the city wall threw burning torches down the city for illumination and fired in the direction of the enemy. They continued shooting like this for most of the night before the enemy left about fifty corpses and retreated.
Claude, Michael Jack, and Diaverde were all fine, but the big man Germi was shot in the left arm and a large piece of flesh was taken away. This is also very lucky, because if the gun was shattered
If it breaks the bone and gets stuck in the joint, the big man Gimi may have to lose half of his arm. For such an injury, the doctors at the camp headquarters treatment center will usually recommend amputation, instead of just wrapping it in medicine and drinking some therapeutic medicine.
Bandage it and wait for the skin to grow back.
After spending a long time watching on the city wall in the morning, everyone finally understood how the enemy moved the three siege towers from the end of the village to the beginning of the village. It turned out that the enemy gave up the method of using cattle to pull the siege towers, and instead moved the siege towers
Several push rods and crossbars were added to both sides and back of the tower, and then the soldiers were asked to push forward hard behind and on both sides of the siege tower, thus moving the siege tower to the entrance of the village little by little. Due to the presence of the siege tower
and the cover of wooden trains on both sides, so the soldiers working as coolies to push the siege tower were not afraid of being bombarded by the artillery in the castle...
Perhaps it was too busy and too tiring last night, so both sides were very quiet this morning. It was only after three or four o'clock in the afternoon that the enemies began to appear in the village. First, they pushed more than 20 wooden carts in the distance from the castle.
They formed a long snake formation at a distance of 70 to 80 meters as a cover, and then under the command of several officers, they prepared to continue pushing the siege tower at the front.
Naturally, the second group of soldiers guarding the castle began to bombard the castle. The eleven light infantry artillery guns opened up their firepower, five guns bombarded the wooden platoon vehicles, and six guns concentrated their firepower to bombard the siege tower in the front. While the enemy soldiers were in
After the castle opened fire, they all dispersed and hid behind the ruined walls of the village. Six artillery pieces on three siege towers also launched a counterattack against the castle.
After about twenty minutes, the bombardment stopped. Seven or eight of the wooden carts lined up in the open space were destroyed, but they still had no effect on the three huge siege towers, leaving only traces on the logs outside.
Each one was a bigger white spot than yesterday. And the same was true for the enemy. The six artillery installed in the siege tower only destroyed two platoons of logs on the wall that were used as cover for the gun crews, and nothing else.
What a threat it poses to the soldiers on the city wall.
The enemy was pulling down the smashed wooden platoon cars and re-pushing the replacement wooden platoon cars. From a distance of seventy or eighty meters, the enemy was accurately aiming and firing the Obas type III standard matchlock gun.
Within the shooting range, some soldiers of the second brigade hiding behind the log platoon on the city wall began to shoot. Several enemies who were cleaning up the wooden platoon carts fell to the ground. Soon, a large number of enemies relied on the cover of the wooden platoon carts to attack.
The city walls opened fire.
Although the range of the enemy's muskets with precise aiming and shooting was not as far as the Obash Type III standard matchlock gun, this distance was still within the effective range of their muskets. Countless guns hit the rows of logs on the city wall.
, and even several soldiers were injured by these stray bullets. However, the gun battle ended soon after the smashed wooden platoon trucks were replaced with new wooden platoon trucks...
Claude, Major Skerry and others were inspecting the two rows of logs destroyed by artillery. It was very simple to build a row of logs for cover on the city wall. There was a row of vertical logs in the front and two horizontal bars at the back.
, and then make two triangular logs on the left and right sides to support the upper and lower horizontal bars. The two rows of logs destroyed by enemy shelling were the logs in the middle that were hit continuously, because the back ones are hollow and cannot withstand the impact of solid shells.
The force on the log caused it to break and expand into a big hole.
The enemy's siege tower is still at the entrance of the village, nearly a hundred meters away. The firing of six artillery pieces destroyed two log platoons. It is conceivable that if the enemy's three siege towers are deployed tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, then a burst of
The violent artillery fire will destroy all the rows of logs built on the city wall. The final result will be the same as before. The front section of the city wall will be covered with shotgun shells, forcing the soldiers to be unable to hold on at the top of the wall. The enemy will take the opportunity to capture the city wall and open the front door, allowing
The follow-up troops entered the castle...
"I think I might have a way to prevent these log rows from being destroyed." Claude said, his proposal was very simple, that is, fill the empty grain sacks in the warehouse with soil and pile them behind the log rows.
In this way, even if the enemy's artillery fire destroys the log row, the sacks filled with soil can still play a role in covering and shielding the guarding soldiers.
"Since it has this effect, let's do it immediately. Captain Coldwalker, this matter will be left to your Fourth Brigade." Major Skerry adopted Claude's suggestion without hesitation. However, although the defense on the city wall
With the assurance, the worry in his eyes was still very strong.
"We have to find a way to get rid of these three siege towers." Claude knew what Major Skerry was worried about. He originally thought that the 1st Ranger Battalion could hold the strong castle of Count Crelaus, but he didn't expect to come.
The enemy is not only elite, but has also produced three big guys. With the advantage in military strength, and the firepower and quality of the soldiers are not inferior to the first ranger battalion, Major Skerry has to worry about whether he can defend this place...
"How?" Major Skerry smiled bitterly: "The enemy is not a fool or idiot. They know very well that the key to breaking through the castle we are guarding lies in their three siege towers. The defense must be tight. They may also set a trap to lure me to take the initiative.
Destroy these three siege towers and prepare to ambush us just like last night. In fact, the enemy must be very happy when we raid these three siege towers, because they can effectively use these three siege towers to destroy our
It is as powerful as placing a delicious piece of cheese on a mouse trap to attract mice.
The enemy already knows our defense strength in the castle. They are an infantry regiment, plus three light cavalry battalions monitoring us from three other directions. They are strong enough to crush us. And we are besieged in the castle, and because
Those two beasts in the sky have caused us to lose contact with the outside world. For us, all we can do now is to hold on. When the first snow falls in December, maybe the enemy will take the initiative to withdraw their troops because of the cold."
Pointing to the three enemy siege towers at the entrance of the village, Major Skerry said with a bitter look on his face: "In the past few days, I have been very sure that the enemy commander is a veteran with rich battlefield experience. He knows very well what the key to this battle is.
It has been nearly a week since they arrived, but he has only launched two attacks, with only more than 400 casualties. This casualty is insignificant compared to their strength. On the contrary, we have exposed all the firepower and the walls of the city.
Defensive arrangements.
The enemy commander knew very well what we expected, but he did not rush for success and command the troops to launch waves of attacks against us. Instead, he patiently let the soldiers spend three days to build these three offensives.
City tower. This shows that he is confident that he can capture the castle we are guarding in one fell swoop after the siege towers are placed in place. In any case, as long as the three siege towers are moved into place, our defensive advantage on the city wall will be offset.
I suspect that the enemy's intention is to compete with us. These three siege towers lined up in front of the city wall can suppress the defensive firepower on our city wall, and at the same time allow their soldiers to attack the city wall, so we have to fight with them.
If they fight for attrition, the enemy will pay the casualties of one battalion. As long as they can capture the city wall at the front gate, it will be a worthy victory for them."
If the wall of the front gate is captured by the enemy, even if the enemy pays a battalion of casualties, then the first battalion of Rangers will definitely have to pay a lot of casualties. At that time, there will not be enough defense in other areas of the castle.
The troops are strong. As long as the enemy pours into the castle, it means the complete destruction of the Ranger Battalion.
Claude stared at the three siege towers at the entrance of the village, unable to speak for a long time.
Just as Major Skerry said, the enemy used the night to put the three siege towers in place. In the next four days, while launching fire suppression on the city walls, they also launched a continuous attack on the castle with a large group.
The attack did not even give up at night in the first two days. There were several attacks on the city. They all relied on hand-to-hand combat to drive the enemy down. This caused the first battalion of soldiers guarding the castle to pay a lot of casualties.
.
"How many casualties have the enemy suffered in the past few days?" Major Skerry was also injured and was hanging on his arms. He is still under direct control of the Third Battalion and concurrently serves as the captain of the Third Battalion. The original captain, Captain Heikem, was responsible for carrying out an ambush.
The enemy's reconnaissance cavalry was wounded during the operation and had long been sent to the rear.
"Estimated seven or eight hundred?" Captain Coldwalk replied.
Now the only one of the 1st Ranger Battalion that is considered intact is Claude's First Battalion. During these four days of defense, the Second, Third and Fourth Battalions all suffered heavy losses. The Second Battalion was almost crippled. Captain Heim
Captain Kling was also seriously injured and entered the treatment center located in the back area of the castle. The third and fourth battalions were relatively good, with a total of more than two and a half squadrons each.
"How many more artillery pieces do we have?" Major Skerry asked again.
"There are seven more." Claude knew this very well. The artillery on the city wall had suffered heavy losses in the past few days. The artillery crews on the enemy's three siege towers were all very experienced gunners. They discovered that the artillery on the city wall had lost a lot of money.
After reaching the position, they gathered six artillery pieces from three siege towers and concentrated bombardment on the area where the artillery pieces were located on the city wall. In the first two days, three artillery pieces were destroyed due to unpreparedness.
"One was damaged yesterday afternoon by the enemy who climbed up the city. Now, in addition to the four artillery placed in the defense towers on both sides, there are only three artillery on the city wall. The gun crew already has experience.
Change places after firing a cannon, and last night the enemy wanted to take advantage of the situation to invade the city. It was these three artillery pieces that did a great job, firing shotgun shells and causing heavy casualties to the enemy. In the end, they returned in vain, leaving behind more than eighty corpses."
Lord explained.
During the day, the enemy basically used the gunpowder smoke to fill the city wall. The soldiers could not see the scene in the distance, so they used the city ladder to lean on the city wall to carry out a surprise attack. When there was no gunpowder smoke, they hid behind the wooden carts and fired cold shots. At night, they would
It is to use the darkness to quietly climb up the city wall to carry out a sneak attack. For the enemy, they have sufficient troops to launch an attack as a brigade. There are more than sixteen brigade in a regiment. It takes a day for each brigade to rotate once, and
The soldiers defending the 1st Ranger Battalion cannot be replaced like the enemy. This is the main reason why they were mounted on the wall several times by the enemy yesterday.
"Fortunately, Claude, you had an idea. You piled these sacks filled with soil at the top of the city to reinforce the row of logs. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to hide ourselves. But why did the enemy stop attacking today?" Major Skerry was very puzzled.
Look at the enemy's three siege towers.
"I think there are too many casualties. The enemy has lost seven to eight hundred people in the past four days, plus more than a thousand casualties in the past. I estimate that this is already a quarter of their strength. And the city wall is still there
Among our guards, so they have to stop attacking and appease the soldiers, otherwise no one will be willing to continue attacking." Claude guessed.