119 – Battle of Crecy Plains (4)
The early summer sun is shining hotly on the ground.
“f*ck, does even the sun hate us? “Why is it so hot and messy?”
“It is early summer, Corporal Max. “It’s strange that it’s not hot.”
“What good will there be if we go to war in the cool autumn?”
While the infantrymen under my command are saying that the weather is hot, that they want to have s*x, and that they will confess to their lovers since they will be discharged next month once this war is over.
Unlike the relatively leisurely infantry, the crossbowmen and wizards on the hill were very busy.
“You idiot! I told you to put all your arrows in place! Put away your quiver! No, put it on your shoulder!”
“What is a crossbowman doing without even putting his pavis (large shield) in front of you?”
“Correction, correction!”
“Hurry! “Hurry up and reload and make sure the goat’s feet move well!”
At the same time, the crossbowmen preloaded their crossbows with arrows, and the wizards checked whether the staff, which was a tool for firing magic, was working well.
Officers and non-commissioned officers went around emphasizing that each soldier was prepared to fire at least 30 arrows into the ground.
“You idiots! “Tighten your helmet straps, and when you bend down, tuck your body into the shield!”
“No need for anything, just shoot well and survive!”
“You know that when you shoot some arrows and the knights approach, you take Pavis and fall back, right?!”
When the officers were repeatedly telling the soldiers what to do, sometimes kicking them in the shins.
One of the soldiers shouted very loudly.
“The enemy crossbowmen and wizards have come within 300 meters!”
As soon as those words were spoken, the officers, non-commissioned officers, and even soldiers who had been looking for soldiers up until now loaded arrows at an incredible speed and aimed them at the enemy’s location at a 45-degree angle.
I picked up the baton and waved it from top to bottom to give orders.
“Normally, we marched while getting hit by arrows, but now it’s different! Cover the tops of your heads with the boards you made from the Fabis and doors you prepared yesterday! Stay close behind the hill again!”
If you cover your head with a plank, you can greatly reduce the chance of being fatally injured by arrows, and if you stick to a hill, you can block even the front.
“Move forward! “Move forward!”
“Put your spear on the ground for a moment and raise your shield above your head!”
“On the shield you carry, not only your life, but also the lives of your seniors and successors next to you!”
When I got off my horse and hid myself under the shield with the soldiers to avoid being killed by an arrow.
“Now is the time! “Shoot arrows and magic at them!”
“When reloading or chanting, hide yourself under the shield, and when shooting, get up quickly, fire, and quickly hide!”
“The cub that survives is the strongest!”
The long-distance battle began in earnest, and the sound of wizards chanting magic could be heard from the hill right in front of us.
Then, after about 2 minutes.
“Be prepared for arrows and magic! “Be prepared for arrows and magic!”
Along with the sound warning of a long-distance attack, I felt the impact of an arrow hitting the shield I was holding.
“f*ck you.”
“If I didn’t have a shield, I would have been left behind. “Dirty bastards.”
“If we hold on just a little longer, we will win. Hang in there.”
On rare occasions, you could hear the sound of soldiers or officers being killed by arrows or magic that pierced their shields.
It seems that no significant damage occurred in the Reich Imperial Army, including the soldiers belonging to our brigade.
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However, we couldn’t relax at all because there was going to be a tedious exchange of arrows and magic between us and the enemy.
So, I stayed under the shield for a very long time, praying for the long-distance attack to end.
“François’ crossbowmen and wizards are retreating!”
“Shoot! Shoot!! “Kill at least one more guy!”
“Sergeant Otto’s enemy!!”
At the same time as those words were said, all the infantrymen put up their shields and stood up, and the tens of thousands of arrows fired by the soldiers all flew at the enemy.
To exaggerate a bit, when the arrow flew, even the sun was completely blocked, so it felt like I was under the shade.
The soldiers who were about to be hit by those arrows and magic were doing their best to avoid the rain of arrows by running away even for a second faster.
“Ugh! “You crazy bastards!”
“Don’t look back, just run!”
“Don’t think about stopping! “I can’t stop you, you idiots!”
At a time when the infantrymen were secretly happy that we had won the battle at such a long distance.
The enemy knights slowly started running towards where we were from hundreds of meters away.
So, at this point, when our attacks had no chance of reaching them unless we fired a catapult, the ground shook every time the horses of 15,000 Francois knights struck the ground.
Slight vibrations came from the ground we were stepping on up to our feet, as if a weak earthquake was continuing.
The shaking, of course, grew bigger and bigger as the enemy knights approached the Reich Empire’s infantry.
I have blocked lance charging several times as an infantryman, but I can’t get used to the tension of this tactic of sticking out a spear and defending against a tank-like enemy charging towards us on a horse weighing over 500 kg. .
I am also so nervous watching this from behind, but the fear and tension felt by the soldiers and junior officers at the front will be several times greater than mine.
“f*ck, f*ck. Can I really go back alive? “It’s hard to see because it’s obscured by the hill over there, but we have to block the charge of over 15,000 knights.”
“Horo bastard, shut your mouth. “Do you think you’re the only one who’s scared and scared right now?”
“Oh, sh*t. These days, new recruits are less likely to be harassed, so they say things like that, right? “Let’s go back and see.”
You can see it just by looking at it, the kid who was fussing and scared was a new recruit, and the kid who told him to shut up was a private or a corporal.
It reminds the privates of the hellish grind, making them forget the fear of the enemy through fear of their seniors.
The bastard who is trying to somehow be able to do the job of sticking a spear into the ground and holding on on the battlefield is probably a sergeant or non-commissioned officer.
At that time, a military police major who was acting as a military police officer came up next to me and asked me with a look in my eyes whether I would kill a few people to gain discipline.
“If we kill a few people here and now, our morale will only drop.”
As I said, killing more friendly troops than necessary had a greater effect of making the commander think he was crazy than of establishing strict discipline.
Also, under the crazy commander, even the invincible navy commanded by Admiral Yi Sun-sin was cut down in one battle.
The soldiers know that they have no chance of winning no matter what the situation, so it only has the effect of sinking the soldiers’ morale to the ground.
As we were waiting with blood boiling tension, we heard a murmur coming from the crossbowmen and wizards in front of us.
“Tilt the crossbow at a 45-degree angle and aim! “If you don’t know what 45 degrees is, look at the kids next to you and follow along!”
“We have a chance of winning if we hit them with at least one more shot!”
“Don’t fool around and think about each shot before shooting!”
When that order was given, the crossbowmen began to grumble as they saw the commanders making a fuss three times more than usual.
Because their bodies had trained to reload hundreds or thousands of times, they were able to aim faster according to the intensity of the commanders’ urgings.
Even in the fear of having to face knights head-on, the skills acquired through repeated training will be displayed naturally.
I thought it would be helpful for defense to find out what the enemy’s momentum was just before impact by looking at that image.
“I will go up the hill for a moment and check the momentum of the enemy knights! “Don’t worry, we’ll be back before the enemy gets near us.”
After saying that, I climbed up the hill 3 meters above and looked down at the enemy.
Up to 10,000 horses and knights wearing shining silver armor, waving banners (flags attached to lances) dyed in rainbow colors. That huge number of knights running in neat formation.
And then they are shouting so loudly that they can be heard from hundreds of meters away.
“Monjois Saint-Denis!”
In short, these bastards who have been excommunicated and are now like pagans are praying for victory while shouting the names of Deusian saints.
Let’s see whose side Deus will take and achieve victory.