111 – Battle of Hattin Forest (3)
“Viva Francois! May Deus’ blessing be with the Francois Republic!”
“Slaughter the piglets of the Reich Empire who are pretending to do the will of God!”
“Now it’s our turn to fight back! “Honorable citizens of the Republic, cheer up!”
Usually, when officers give encouragement like this to soldiers who have been unilaterally attacked by the enemy not long ago, in most cases it does not work well.
Is it because the Reich Empire’s archers came on horseback and simply fired arrows from a distance and disappeared, which made them angry because they were one-sided?
The soldiers of the Republic responded with more force than the officers had expected.
“Let’s go kill all the cowards who joined hands with barbarians!”
“Long live the Republic! Long live the Republic!!”
“Let’s go in and kill the coward Brigadier General Yeager!”
Division Commander Pompadour was deeply moved by the fact that his soldiers’ morale was higher than expected.
He himself got off his horse, grabbed his spear, raised his right hand upward, and shouted.
“Republic of Viva Francois, the national army of freedom and revolution will always be victorious! Let’s go, let’s fight! “Let’s go defeat the oppressors who threaten the peace of the republic!”
The officers who heard those words reawakened their respect and pride in their ancestors who overthrew the tyrant as nobles and chosen citizens of the republic.
Rather than saying things like “Oppressor,” “Revolution,” Or “Freedom,” The soldiers were greatly moved by the fact that a man as high as a star in the sky, like a division commander, was holding a spear and fighting shoulder to shoulder with them.
“Long live Division Commander Pompadour!”
“Long live the Republic!”
Just as the division commander had intended, the morale of the Republic army rose, and their shouts could be heard even by the Imperial army only 1km away.
“Good! Then, from now on, we will change the deployment of our troops! Crossbowmen, archers, and wizard troops will stand at the front and fire in response to the enemy’s long-distance attacks. The infantry marches after them! Don’t be afraid of death. The reason we were excommunicated is nothing more than a scheme by those who blindsided the Holy Father! Even if you are unfortunate enough to die here, your soul will go to heaven and be held in His arms!”
After shouting that, the army of the Francois Republic began preparing to advance, placing soldiers capable of long-distance attacks at the vanguard of the unit.
Brigadier General Jaeger saw that the knights led by Colonel Charles of the Francois Republic were defeated and that no further offensives were being launched.
‘It looks like these damn bastards are prepared to make a big sacrifice and will just shut up and charge.’
What he thought was that even though the Republic Army’s knight charge completely failed, there was an aftereffect that the formation of our right wing was slightly disturbed.
In this situation, it was almost standard practice for the Francois Republic army, which had a much larger number of troops, to concentrate some of its troops on the friendly right wing and attempt a breakthrough, at the discretion of the commander.
In such a situation, giving time to the imperial army as if to reorganize clearly indicates that the entire army is preparing to attack at once.
Brigadier General Jaeger, who read the situation accurately without sending out scouts, gritted his teeth and spoke while holding the Emperor’s treasured sword tightly in his hand.
“At best, we created a situation where we could easily win by incorporating situations and tactics that were completely similar to those of the battles that took place during the Hundred Years’ War… But the enemy leader still had close to 600 knights left. “We need to scrap the existing operation and re-establish it.”
Of course, if this happens, the knights, who are heavily armed elite troops, will not be at the forefront of the infantry.
It was not a bad situation as it made it much easier for the infantrymen led by Brigadier General Jaeger to block the enemy’s attack.
No, considering the common sense that it is more difficult to block a charge of a larger enemy infantry unit with a knight attached to the vanguard.
It turned out to be a more favorable situation for him.
If you try to use a strategy that links archers and knights to annihilate long-distance classes such as crossbowmen when the enemy makes an all-out attack.
It is also true that a variable was created that the knights of the Francois Republic would step out to protect their crossbowmen.
“There is a saying that a strategy in battle goes into the trash can after 5 minutes. That’s really what happens.”
Despite his pessimistic words, Brigadier General Jaeger’s face showed confidence in victory instead of a look of despair or despondency.
He gave orders to the brigade messengers around him.
“Please deliver this to all officers above the level of company commander on the left, right, and center. There will be an all-out attack by the Francois Republic, so prepare thoroughly. At the same time, we may use up all the crossbow arrows we have now, so tell the left wing and right wing to quickly deliver 1/3 of the remaining arrow stock to the center.”
According to the order, the messengers hurriedly rode to convey the news, and at the same time, the messenger of Lieutenant Colonel Laura, who felt that the situation on the battlefield was unusual, also reported to Brigadier General Yeager.
‘Since the enemy knights have not moved, we need to change our plan to attack the enemy’s rear by mobilizing knights and archers. Therefore, you must mobilize your knights to attack the rear, and use your archers to keep the enemy knights in check.’
While Brigadier General Jaeger was inwardly wondering about Lieutenant Colonel Laura’s insight, another messenger arrived.
This was a messenger from the archers sent by Major Anastasia, requesting permission to keep the infantry in check.
“We cannot grant sortie permission. You tell Lieutenant Colonel Werner and Major Anastasia that although the situation is starting to turn a little more in our favor, we are changing our original operational plan. Then bring them both here.”
“I understand, Brigadier General!”
At the same time as those words were spoken, one of the archers quickly left the position, and Brigadier Jaeger’s ears slowly heard the enemy’s shouts.
“Long live the Francois Republic! The Goddess of Victory is kissing us!”
“Can you see it? I see Nike waiting with open arms to embrace us!”
“We have 10,000, they have 4,000!! “It’s as if we’ve already won!”
As they approached with shouts, Brigadier General Jaeger in the center, Lieutenant Colonel Laura on the left, and Lieutenant Colonel Marco on the right gave orders to the soldiers who were resting for a moment.
“Rest is over now! Crossbowmen should load arrows into their crossbows and place the pavis (a large shield that crossbowmen use to protect themselves) in front of them!”
“Infantry soldiers, don’t lower your spears and cover your faces with your left hands! Even if you just cover your face, your chances of being left behind are cut in half! Also, put up a shield made of planks in front of the wooden fence!”
“If you trust and follow the brigadier general, you can win in any situation!”
Then, from commanders such as battalion commanders and company commanders to non-commissioned officers under their command, they shouted at the soldiers and encouraged them.
The Reich Imperial Army began preparing for a direct confrontation with a large army of 10,000 men.
In that situation, Major Werner and Anya arrived, and Brigadier Jaeger patted their shoulders in a hurry and said,
“If it weren’t for you, our brigade could have been completely destroyed or brought to the brink of defeat.”
Both of them looked very moved by those words.
“So, I really want to praise the two of you for their achievements from now until night, but I don’t have the time to do that right now. “I will hand over a new strategy right away.”
With that said, Brigadier General Yeager predicted that a full-scale long-range attack battle would begin in a few minutes and began explaining the new operation as quickly and accurately as possible.
“First of all, the original plan of two people working together to annihilate the enemy wizard or crossbowman is discarded. Instead, I hope that the 300 knights under Werner will divide their unit into two and repeatedly attack those capable of long-distance attacks behind the infantry units on the left and right wings of the enemy and the infantry units in front of them.”
Lieutenant Colonel Werner nodded his head as if he understood those words.
Then Jaeger Jun placed his hands on both of Major Anya’s shoulders and said with an ardent gaze as if he had no one to trust but you.
From noble mtl dot com
“No, Major, you want to use 200 archers to tie up 600 of their knights at all costs. As far as I know, I heard that if Ludvik’s archers succeed in luring the knights, they can cook as they please, even if their numbers are several times different.”
It may sound like Brigadier General Jaeger is talking nonsense, but according to the testimony of a slave who actually fought under Ludvik.
When there was a conflict with Sweden, there was a record that the archers succeeded in luring the knights there and completely pinned more than four times as many knights by firing arrows from a distance.
‘Honestly, a knight’s charge is meaningless unless there is a direct collision, but the horses of the archers under Major Anya are the best in the world in terms of speed and running for a long time. ‘It wouldn’t be impossible.’
“So, I want you to tie their feet at all costs. Then, the number one contributor to the victory in this battle will be the archer cavalry.”
In response to those words, Major Anya nodded his head in agreement and spoke of the very difficult order given by the general who was stronger than his father and who personally killed the enemy of his tribe.
“I will definitely offer victory to the general.”
When the explanation of the strategy to the two men was over, a trumpet sounded inside the Reich Imperial Army telling the crossbowmen to aim their arrows.