153 – Battle of the Jungfrau Plain (10)
Meanwhile, Major General Peter Jaeger, leading the 7th Reich Division, was optimistic about victory, but never let go of his nerves.
It was very suspicious that the Swiss army was pushed into this situation and did not use an ambush, given the natural terrain where an ambush could turn the tide of the war.
‘I think Count Ticino may be trying to make a last-ditch effort with an ambush. ‘When are you going to launch a surprise attack?’
If one looks at the current situation, Major General Yeager is clearly winning the battle, but he was not at peace as he waited, not knowing when the enemy would attack.
So, at other times, he would have ordered and ordered more aggressive attacks, but he was exercising as much restraint as possible.
“Division Commander, just as you expected, Swiss soldiers are creeping in from the forest on the right. “I wasn’t able to determine the exact size, but I guess it was around 1,000 to 1,200 people!”
In normal cases, the moment he hears that he has been ambushed, the division commander would grab the back of his neck and the staff around him would be embarrassed and not know what to do.
For the army that had prepared thoroughly in advance and was waiting, the fact that an ambush unit appeared in an expected location was a very good news.
As soon as Director Yeager heard those words, he immediately shouted hurray and then spoke.
“Okay! Right now… No. Send a signal to the wizards and order them to prepare fireballs. Then, when the enemy unit is halfway out of the forest, we all fire fire and counterattack.”
The staff responds immediately to the Major General’s orders and relays measures to each unit to implement the division commander’s instructions, while also trying to prepare the units for a perfect response.
There was no notice among the soldiers and lower-ranking officers of the Reich Army that preparations for an ambush were being made to maintain security.
The soldiers of the Reich Imperial Army were immediately shocked by the new order.
It is plausible that they had been fighting a life-or-death infantry battle until now and had almost achieved victory, so they thought all they had to do was push on.
Suddenly, I was told that I had to fight against enemies from two directions, to the right and to the front. I was so confused that I started to think that I might have fallen into the enemy’s trap and that I would be defeated.
“f*ck, did Director Yeager get caught by the mountain thieves?”
“Ah, I can’t believe I’m being treated like this here! If I had known it would be like this, I would have done it with Laura! “For no reason, I said nonsense during my vacation that I wanted to cherish you until the wedding.”
“You can’t just sit back and suffer! Now that things have become like this, I will make at least one more of you my companion on the way to the underworld!”
The soldiers were divided into those who despaired because they thought they had been attacked by the enemy’s surprise operation, and those who would fight to their death no matter what, even if it meant dying.
“Calm down, calm down! Our division commander would never be defeated so absurdly! He will soon give us a strategy to overcome this crisis!”
“Anyone who lowers morale will be personally killed by Lieutenant Checker Schmitz according to military law!”
“Don’t be afraid and fight until the end! Maintain your formation! Maintain formation until instructed!”
This is because junior officers learned during their time at the academy that in order to increase the survival rate of soldiers in such situations, they must unconditionally follow the instructions of high-ranking commanders such as battalion commanders, regiment commanders, and division commanders.
In my mind, like the soldiers, I was thinking, “Am I going to die like this? If I had known this would happen, I would have gone to Changgwan and abandoned my sympathy.”
He tried his best to lead the soldiers while pretending to be calm, trying to calm the situation somehow.
Meanwhile, the Swiss soldiers approaching from the right took advantage of the surprise attack and ran frantically towards the right wing of the imperial army without even forming a proper formation, perhaps in an attempt to maximize their destructive power.
Of course, the tips of the spears were pointed at the vital points of the imperial army, and their faces were full of hatred, hostility, and anger toward the enemy.
“Let’s kill every single one of them!”
“Long live a free Switzerland! Long live Switzerland!”
“Not one of the imperial pigs can return alive from our beautiful hometown!”
In addition, Baron Ragno, who personally commanded this charge, was fighting at the forefront as a nobleman and brave warrior according to Swiss tradition.
Thanks to this, the morale of the Swiss raiding unit was sky-high.
So, the soldiers of the Reich Empire fell into despair, astonishment, and fear when they saw the sudden appearance of the ambush army and their morale was so high.
At that time, three flaming arrows and the imperial army division flag started waving as a signal.
High-ranking officers of the Reich Empire, majors and above, laughed loudly and spoke in unison, as if they were watching a very funny scene.
“The idiots stepped right into the warden’s trap! “Those guys are as good as dead now!”
“The Wittenheim Battalion increases its speed and advances! The enemy is being pushed back! Take advantage of this opportunity. “I won’t let even one of them live!”
“I will take responsibility for the two soldiers in our battalion who have taken the most enemy soldiers’ heads, and when this war is over, I will write them a discharge certificate! “Fight with the readiness to die!”
If you are attacked by a surprise attack, you need to strengthen your defenses and increase your defense power to reduce damage as much as possible, but attacking the soldiers who rush in and surprise you is one of the worst options.
Because if you focus your attack on the front, your sides will be completely empty.
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So the Swiss soldiers were truly happy that those idiotic Reich bastards had made a foolish choice.
Starting with Baron Ragno, I started to instinctively notice that the atmosphere was strong in order of the length of war experience.
“You crazy people, stop charging! Reduce your speed and make a break first!”
“You never know where the attack might come from! “You bastards!”
“f*ck, where is this coming from?”
Swissland commanders, including Baron Ragno, gave a signal to the soldiers to calm down, but the situation they now faced could be summarized as follows.
‘When you think it’s too late, it’s really too late.’
Just as he said, Director Jaeger had already sprinkled a lot of oil-soaked leaves near the entrance to the forest where they were running out to make the fire extremely easy to catch.
The fireballs fired by the Imperial Army wizards towards that place began to fly when about half of the 1,000 members of the Swiss ambush force had escaped the forest, as designed by Major General Jaeger.
When the leaves soaked in oil caught fire after being hit by the fireball, the fire quickly spread to the dry weeds and leaves on the ground as well.
And of course, the fire quickly spread widely, burning the trees and grass near the entrance to the forest, and half of the Swiss raiding force was in a situation where they either burned to death or had to flee immediately.
“f*ck, it’s hot! Help me! Argh!”
“Mom! Mom!! “I can’t see, I can’t breathe…”
“Water, water! Someone get me some water! If you come here to fight, you will be burned to death. Oh, it’s hot!”
So, half of the soldiers who were following the Baron deserted, completely separated from the surprise attack force due to the fire.
The remaining Swiss raiding force formed a square formation and tried their best to somehow survive.
The infantry reserves waiting at the rear of the imperial army rushed towards the Swiss soldiers like waves.
“These are bastards who cowardly hid in the forest and tried to make a surprise attack. Kill it! “Don’t let anyone live!”
“You have a knack for surprising people, so I’ll kill you with ease!”
“Living will be difficult, so die and be at ease!”
The Swiss infantry trembled with fear when they saw the enemy approaching them, and the morale that had been burning fiercely as they attempted a surprise attack completely fell to the ground.
Major Jaeger was confident that the victory of the battle was finally concluded, while Count Ticino realized that although he had fought as hard as he could up to this point, his defeat was confirmed.
In this situation, the Count hurriedly gave orders in order to reduce the losses of the allies even a little.
“Retreat! Retreat! “Further fighting will only increase the number of meaningless casualties!”
Deciding not to continue the meaningless battle was a wise choice, but of course, Major General Yeager had no intention of giving up on the chase, which was said to be the easiest battle in the war.
“Send out the knights and archers again and hit the fleeing guys head-on and tie them up! Urge the infantry!”
At the same time as the command, the archers and knights re-equipped all their equipment and ran from the rear towards the vanguard of the Swiss soldiers.
Behind, the imperial infantry somehow pursued the Swiss soldiers endlessly.
“Scatter away! Spread out! You idiots! “If you don’t want to die, disperse!”
“Sal, save me! “You are the ones who invaded!”
“Surrender, I will surrender, so please save me!”
Swiss soldiers who surrendered to the pursuing infantry were taken prisoner, and those who missed the opportunity to surrender were killed without even being able to resist properly.
In the end, the archers and knights smashed the heads of 9,000 fleeing Swiss from the front, slowing their escape and maximizing the damage.
As a result, the battle ended in a landslide victory for the Reich Imperial Army.
In the Reich Imperial Army, out of about 8,000 soldiers in one division, 200 were killed and 400 were wounded.
Of the 9,000 members of the Swiss Republic Army, 1,500 were killed, 2,000 were wounded, and 1,000 were prisoners.
Although victory was achieved at a huge exchange cost, Major General Peter Yeager, who designed and commanded this battle, could not be happier with this victory.
“We won the battle… But how are we supposed to save His Highness the Crown Prince…?”