Chapter three hundred and seventy seventh positional offensive and defensive battle
Chapter 377: Position Attack and Defense Battle
"Order, the Thunder 1301st Regiment opens the passage and allows the enemy's follow-up troops to rush in for reinforcements. After the enemy has passed, they will block their back road and set up a series of snagging ropes to prevent the enemy from escaping from the back road. In addition, let the division
The battalion-level officers will come immediately to hold a pre-war meeting..." Claude finally made up his mind and prepared to rely on the enemy's campsite to face the enemy's follow-up troops who came for reinforcements. This retired soldier from the Principality of Karnas
All the volunteer light cavalry regiments formed were captured in one fell swoop.
This is a rare good opportunity, because the enemy has left the well-equipped and solid defensive positions in Vibato Colonial County and penetrated deep into the Beringana Direct Territory. Although Claude didn't know why the enemy left their turtle shells, for
Hunting the buffalo herds is not really a money-grubbing thing, but it is undoubtedly a good opportunity to severely damage or annihilate them. Claude is sure to lead the Thunder Division to eliminate the enemy, but hesitation is simply because he is worried that the price of casualties will be too high.
This so-called volunteer light cavalry regiment formed by retired soldiers of the Principality of Karrnus is actually the regular regiment of the Principality of Karrnath. This is something that everyone knows very well. Claude admitted that they are indeed a strong enemy.
Compared with the standing legions of the Kingdom of Hicks, their combat effectiveness is superior. Moreover, the Albato prairie is a very suitable terrain for these light cavalry of the Principality of Karrnus. Claude does not want to annihilate them.
The enemy, which severely damaged the vitality of the Thunder Division.
However, the enemy's follow-up troops are now coming for reinforcements, but the Thunder Division is waiting for work. It can also use the enemy's campsite to carry out defensive operations, which is a geographical advantage. In addition, the enemy's four regiments have been annihilated, which is equivalent to annihilating the enemy.
A division of the enemy. The enemy's legion only has more than 60,000 troops. After subtracting 24,000, the remaining troops are only more than 30,000. They are nothing more than four field regiments plus the security and logistics troops directly under the division headquarters.
The number of troops is not much greater than that of the Thunder Division.
It should be noted that the Thunder Division has achieved two victories in two battles, annihilating four enemy regiments and capturing two camps. It only suffered a total of more than a thousand casualties. The morale of the soldiers is very high. In addition, the equipment advantages they possess
, Claude felt that people and people also had the upper hand. The right time, place, people and two advantages were also the reasons why Claude made up his mind to face the enemy head-on.
The follow-up force of the Principality of Karrnath Volunteer Light Cavalry arrived at nine o'clock in the evening. When the leading force discovered that the Thunder Division had occupied the camp, they quickly stopped and withdrew to a place five miles away.
A cordon began to be set up. It can be seen from this that the commander of this volunteer light cavalry regiment was a mature and steady officer. He had already anticipated that the camp might be lost, so the vanguard did not rush forward to launch an attack.
With more than 30,000 troops spread out, it feels boundless. Standing on the wall of the campsite and looking at the black crows, there is a sense of oppression. Compared with the excitement of the enemy's camp there, the campsite is so crowded.
It seemed very quiet next to it, like a silent giant lying prone on the grassland, seemingly quiet but very threatening.
The enemy probably thought so too. A large group of troops arrived a thousand meters away and looked at the camp. However, they only found that a few more trenches had been added in front of the camp and several half-height earthen walls had been built.
Piles of cow dung bonfires were lit between the trenches, and the air was filled with the smell of burning.
In fact, this kind of defense can only be regarded as very average. However, the enemy's large group of troops stayed thousands of meters away for a long time and did not command the troops to launch a tentative night attack. Instead, they retreated after an hour and had already begun to attack.
A large-scale camp.
Claude shook his head. It was bad luck. He met a mature and prudent commander. He tried his best to show weakness to the enemy, but the enemy was still too cunning to launch a night attack. The night's planning was in vain.
"Let the 1302nd Regiment withdraw and rest. There is no need to continue to ambush in front. The enemy will not attack at night." Claude ordered Major Anders to pass the order, and he also got off the wall and went to the tent in the middle of the camp.
Go.
It seems that the follow-up force of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps wants to have a regular offensive and defensive battle with the Thunder Division. Claude hates such positional offensive and defensive battles. In this era, relying on matchlock guns and artillery that fires solid projectiles and shotguns, no one can
There is no way to be sure that they will win. Especially since this volunteer regiment formed by retired soldiers from the Principality of Karnars is still a light cavalry regiment. As long as they are willing to pay a certain price of casualties, they can still use the swift assault and group assault of the cavalry to quickly break through the defense.
positions, turning battles into hand-to-hand combat.
Therefore, the casualties in position offensive and defensive battles have always been relatively heavy, both for the attacker and the defender. This has been proven in the five-year war in the eastern region. In the Principality of Rimodra, which suffered the most cruel casualties,
In the offensive and defensive battle of the position, even the Guards Corps, which was famous for its good attack, almost lost most of its troops and replenished its troops several times, not to mention the other second-line legions. In the five-year war, Ovi
Half of the more than 600,000 troops lost by the Kingdom of Lars were lost in the offensive and defensive battles of the Principality of Rimodra...
However, this time the Thunder Division led by Claude was on the defensive side and had a bit of an advantage. However, the volunteer regiment of the Principality of Karnas could use light cavalry raids to offset the defensive advantage, depending on their willingness to pay.
What is the cost of casualties? If the defensive position is breached, the next thing to look at is the fighting will and courage of the soldiers. The longer both sides persist, the more serious the casualties will be, until the morale of one of them collapses.
Claude doesn't like to fight positional offensive and defensive battles. Even if he is confident of victory, the casualties of the Thunder Division will probably be very heavy. Therefore, his favorite tactics in the past were sneak attacks and assault tactics, taking advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness to bite the enemy hard.
Running away in one breath can both inflict trauma on the enemy and reduce your own casualties. If you do it again and again, the enemy will naturally collapse, and Claude will be able to win an easy victory...
But it didn't work this time. The time was too tight. He couldn't get rid of the enemy immediately after capturing the enemy's camp and implement guerrilla strategies. Because nearly 7,000 prisoners and rich loot were in the camp, he could not give up these.
Profits. Unless all the prisoners are slaughtered and the harvest from the camp is burned, you can leave immediately. But that means that the battle to capture the camp is in vain, and it is related to the rewards of all the officers and soldiers of the Thunder Division, Crow
De knew very well that no one would agree. Especially everyone believed that it was the greatest shame for a soldier to retreat in front of an enemy weaker than oneself...
Everyone believes that they will be the winner with the last laugh, but they do not believe that they will become one of the unfortunate ones who fall on the battlefield. Claude can only follow the trend and decide to have a tough battle with the volunteer light cavalry regiment of the Principality of Karrnus.
, in fact, he himself knew that troops who have not experienced a tough battle can never become strong on the battlefield. Even if they pay a heavy price of casualties, as long as they win, it is very worthwhile, because such a battle will
Create the military spirit of a strong army!
Around eight o'clock in the morning the next day, whether it was the enemy camp several kilometers away or the camp occupied by the Thunder Division, battle horns were sounded. The horns from the Principality of Karnas meant to send troops, one after another.
The light cavalry troops rushed out of the camp and formed a neat formation 1,500 meters away from the camp. The Thunder Division's horn was blown to remind their officers and soldiers to be prepared to defend against the enemy's attack.
Claude believed that the enemy also had information about the Thunder Division and could estimate the strength of both sides. The facts before him showed that the enemy had made a wrong choice. They believed that they had a great advantage in strength. Obviously, the enemy
The commander of the Thunder Division believed that the Thunder Division also suffered heavy casualties after capturing the two camps, because he had a very good understanding of the combat effectiveness of the four field regiments under his command, and confirmed that even if the Thunder Division annihilated four of his own
With a regiment of more than 20,000 troops, it will also pay a heavy price in casualties.
When the Thunder Division attacked the two campsites, they adopted a siege on all sides, striving not to allow any enemy to escape. But now the volunteer light cavalry regiment of the Principality of Karnars adopted a focused assault, attacking only one side. This was in preparation for using more troops.
to defeat the enemy's will to resist. So they placed all their troops in front of the camp instead of dividing their troops in the other three directions.
This brings convenience to the defenders to concentrate their forces for defense, but relatively speaking, if the frontal defensive position is breached, the morale of the defenders will be ruined. Even if they can escape from the other three directions, in the flat terrain of Alba
On the prairie, it was difficult to escape from the pursuit of the enemy's light cavalry. The enemy commander seemed very confident that they could win this battle.
Four light cavalry field regiments were lined up on the left and right, and the Chinese army lineup in the middle looked more crowded. But soon, a deep horn sounded, and the four field regiments on the left and right rushed out of the large square formation.
He gathered a large group of light cavalry and rushed straight towards the camp. This was a tentative attack, using a small group of troops to test the strength of the defensive position to determine the focus of the next attack and the location of the feint attack.
From a distance, we can see that there are several more trenches surrounding the wall of the camp occupied by the Thunder Division. The total distance is only two hundred meters in diameter. We couldn't see clearly last night, because we were worried that the enemy had other plans and set up a trap.
, so the commander of the volunteer light cavalry regiment of the Principality of Karrnath rejected his subordinates' request for a night attack and decided to launch an attack during the day when the visibility was better.
Let each of the four field regiments send out a large group of light cavalry to test. The regiment commander wanted to test the strength of the Thunder Division's defensive position and see if the trenches in front of the camp could hinder the light cavalry's surprise attack.
From his perspective, they were just a few roughly dug trenches. Any light cavalryman could easily jump over those trenches with his mount...
But something happened that surprised the legion commander. In just a few minutes, nearly a thousand light cavalry who went to test had rushed to the first trench, but they invariably forcibly restrained their mounts and stopped in front of the trench. And ten of them stopped in front of the trench.
A few riders failed to rein in their horses and jumped over the trench, but the moment they landed, both men and horses fell to the ground. Then countless heads were exposed in the third trench, gunshots were fired in succession, and fires flickered and smoke rose.
, the light cavalry who stayed in front of the first trench were knocked down in large numbers...
"Blow the trumpet! Let them withdraw immediately." The legion commander ordered with a livid face.
Nearly a thousand light cavalrymen retreated, but less than one group returned. Those who managed to return were the lucky ones. It took them a long time to explain to the legion commander and the senior officers why they reined in their horses in front of the trench.
This can only be attributed to the enemy being too cunning. The first trench was only over two meters wide and two meters deep, making it easy for a horse to jump through.
But behind the trench, the enemy dug a series of trenches with a depth of only one foot. The trenches were so densely packed that they looked like flat ground from a distance. Only when they got closer did they realize that there was no place for the prancing horses to stay. Just like the dozen or so people who forcibly jumped.
Just like the light cavalry in the past, the horse jumped over and stepped into the deep ditch. The body rushed forward, and both the man and the horse were tripped and fell to the ground, falling half to death.
Then the enemy soldiers ambush in the third trench behind them and use muskets to fire at the light cavalry standing in front of the first trench, causing heavy casualties to nearly a thousand light cavalry who went to test. The final result was that
The painful thing for the commander of the regiment was that he failed to detect the enemy's artillery fire placement location and shotgun coverage. This was an almost futile exploratory attack.
A few seemingly simple trenches were ingeniously arranged by the enemy to create a special effect. According to the light cavalry who ran back, this was specially arranged according to the characteristics of the light cavalry assault of the Principality of Karnas, and the purpose was to
Make the light cavalry useless.
"We can use straw woven bags filled with soil to fill the trenches..." A senior officer proposed the most commonly used offensive method on the grassland, which is specifically used to deal with positions that use trenches for defense. Just use those straw woven bags
With bags of soil filled in to create several attack routes, the light cavalry of the Principality of Karrnath can charge into the enemy's position and chop the enemy into pieces with their sabers.
But the only disadvantage of this method is that the cost of casualties may be very high. The enemy is not a fool. The location of their artillery placement has not been exposed. They can even use several artillery to block this buried passage. The Principality of Karrnath
If the light cavalry wanted to rush to the enemy's defensive position through this passage, you can imagine how much sacrifice they had to make.
The legion commander shook his head: "Let's withdraw the troops and return to the camp first. Let's discuss how to deal with the trench defense positions set up by the enemy."
This is the result of no choice. Today's battle can no longer continue. Not to mention that morale is a bit low after the tentative attack. The enemy's insidious trench layout has made the light cavalry raid useless. In addition to withdrawing the troops and returning to camp,
We can't continue to launch an attack and let our men rush to the trench and become the target of the enemy's muskets...
However, just after returning to the big tent, before any discussion, the sentry reported that the enemy was digging trenches in front of the position while escorting the prisoners after capturing the camp. The regiment commander led his men to the front line again and watched with a monocular telescope.
, and found that they were indeed the prisoners on their side, being escorted by the soldiers of the Thunder Division to repair the trenches. After a rough count, they saw nearly a thousand prisoners on their side, and there were still more prisoners in the camp.
More prisoners were escorted out in a steady stream.
The soldiers of the Thunder Division were very rough, and their whips and rifle butts were used on the prisoners if they made the slightest move. The regiment commander and his men could see from the monoculars that many of their prisoners were being raped.
The enemy soldiers were rolling on the ground with blood on their faces...
"General, we must rescue them..." some officers nearby asked angrily.
Rescue is easy to say, but how do you do it? They will go back to the camp as soon as you dispatch the troops. Besides, so what if you dispatch the troops, you can't even rush through the enemy's defensive positions!
"I think maybe we can dig trenches close to the enemy's trenches and connect them together. Then let our soldiers dismount and attack the enemy as infantry!" A senior staff officer made a suggestion.
The legion commander's eyes lit up. Indeed, the enemy's defensive position was aimed at the light cavalry, but it could not help the infantry attack. The advantage of the light cavalry over the infantry was that it could quickly pass through the enemy's fire coverage and rush to the defensive position. The infantry
However, during the attack, due to its slow speed, it was hit by enemy fire and suffered heavy casualties. But now it can avoid the enemy's fire attack by digging trenches. It must be said that this senior staff officer came up with a good idea.