272 – Battle of Gryfino (10)
Admiral Timo, commander of the Warsaw Grand Fleet, gritted his teeth and looked straight at the Reich Empire’s fleet, or rather, the current situation of the war.
The ships of the Reich Empire are like exhibitionist beauties, exposing their weakest sides and tempting the enemy to come in.
If the fleet had been intact, it would have been possible to blast a hole in the side of the Reich Empire’s entire battleship, including the flagship that Peter Jaeger is on.
Currently, the fleet under his command has completely lost control, and as a result, it has become impossible to ram the enemy ship with the bow.
“Two friendly ships from the right, two from the left, and four ships from the rear have raised a no-combat signal! “It looks like the deck of the ship was breached by a friendly wave and is sinking!”
“8 Flags have been raised indicating sinking, and 12 flags have been raised indicating temporary difficulty in conducting battle!”
“The captains of each battleship, except for the leader, signaled that they would row to escape somehow! Please control it!”
Due to the aftermath of a maritime traffic accident between 115 allied ships, all ships except the leader are hindered by the allied ships closely next to them, making it impossible to conduct battle.
However, the leading Warsaw Navy ships alone were sufficient in number to engage in combat with the Reich Imperial Army, which numbered only 23 ships.
“We have to go into hand-to-hand combat like this and make sure that bastard Peter Yeager can’t do any more foolish tricks! “All battleships in the vanguard prepare for close combat!”
According to Captain Timo’s orders, the vanguard unit began charging to attack the main body of the Reich Imperial Navy.
Peter Jaeger, commander of the Reich Imperial Fleet, laughed at the enemy.
‘I’m so obsessed with my neck that the blood rushes to my head and I can’t see anything. Okay, if we keep going like this, I could burn it all down.’
“Ballistas, crossbows, and wizards fire all at once! At the same time, the remaining combatants guard the friendly deck with long spears, and the soldiers who launched long-distance attacks immediately take cover with pyeonguns and one-handed swords! “This is the beginning of a full-fledged dog fight!”
As soon as the order was given, the officers and soldiers on the deck of the Reich ship began to move without a hitch according to what they had been trained to do several times.
The guys operating the ballista aimed at the soldiers standing on the bow, and the other soldiers performing close combat covered the guys carrying out long-range combat in the cabin.
“You just have to move as trained! Ballista Fast forward! The crossbowmen grab whatever crossbows they find nearby and shoot them all! “If you just shoot them casually, they’ll run after you!”
“Do not recklessly cross over to the enemy ship until ordered to do so!”
“Think about when those who caught long spears behaved like dogs in training camp. All you have to do is stick it tightly together without any water leaks, just like before! Do you understand?”
After confirming that they were prepared, Peter Yeager gave a signal to raise his sword and aim it at the enemy instead of giving a verbal command, and the ballistas and wizards simultaneously fired arrows and magic at the enemy.
The ballista arrows close to the stake killed the enemy soldiers on the bow, 6 to 7 at a time, like falling dominoes, and every time the magic flashed, someone burned to death.
Those who were missed by magic and ballista arrows lost their lives after being hit by crossbows fired by crossbowmen.
“Ugh, you f*cking Reich bastards. “You’re not even human, you f*cking bastards!”
“My arm, my arm is gone! “Ugh!”
“Don’t panic! Grab your sword and go over to the enemy ship!”
The Warsaw soldiers, the victims of this terrible incident, lamented, but the soldiers of the Reich Empire all cheered and cheered.
And this time, again, Peter Yeager was at the forefront.
He did not stand at the front and brandish his sword like the last time the reconnaissance fleets faced each other, but the commander, wearing a rank insignia with four stars, stood on the flagship and waved the Reich Reich flag.
“Soldiers of the great Reich Empire! Send down heavenly punishment on those who insulted His Majesty the Emperor. “You young soldier, become a legend of the empire!”
At that command, the soldiers holding long spears crossed over to the enemy’s bow while covering each other, formed a square as if they were fighting among infantry, and slowly conquered the Warsaw ship.
Every time the wall of Reich Empire spearmen advanced, the Warsaw soldiers fiercely resisted, firing crossbows, bows, and magic.
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Usually, after one or two shots, soldiers with one-handed swords or one-handed swords come out from gaps in the formation, pick out the long-distance attackers, and cut off their heads.
Then, most of the Warsaw marines carrying one-handed weapons such as swords or maces came out to retaliate, but in this case, Reich soldiers holding long spears several meters long provided cover.
It was a perfect formation for hand-to-hand combat, with no holes for even an ant to pass through, let alone a gap for water to leak through.
Warsaw’s vanguard captains gave different orders after seeing the tactics of the Reich soldiers.
“Jump into the water! Crossing over to another friendly ship! “If you stay here, you will all die!”
“Follow me! Don’t be afraid of polearms and concentrate on hand-to-hand combat! Long live Warsaw!”
“Crowded! Crowd in! “If we stick together tightly, the enemy won’t dare kill us carelessly!”
A captain who jumps into the water and orders the ship to cross to another ally’s ship, or a captain who stands at the vanguard and tries to protect the ship at all costs.
There was even a strange captain who seemed to be fooling around on his own, even though they were fighting together with swords to no avail.
Because of this lack of unity, the Reich soldiers were able to capture the enemy’s battleship without much effort.
“The enemy ship deck has been completely occupied!”
“Long live the Reich Army! Long live Captain Peter Yeager! Long live your Majesty the Emperor!”
“Those bastards are so numerous in number, aren’t they complete trash?”
The soldiers were cheering, and the officers were secretly congratulating themselves on having achieved victory, even if it was limited to the enemy’s vanguard.
Peter Yeager saw with his own eyes that although the guys behind him were still very tangled up, they would soon come to attack them.
‘If those guys join in, we won’t be able to easily block them no matter how much we load up our ballistas and act like dogs. So now we should kill at least one more guy, then return to our ship and strengthen our defenses.’
“Kill or capture all the rowers below deck! Anyone who raises a weapon or tries to resist even slightly is killed, and only those who follow obediently with their hands up are captured. Then, they immediately return to their respective ships and reload their ballistas and crossbows! Hurry!”
The soldiers and officers also hurried down to the bottom of the ship as Peter Jaeger said, as they had not yet achieved a complete victory.
The Warsaw soldiers rowing were so embarrassed that they could not respond, or those who tried to resist were all killed.
The Reich Imperial Army returned to their original ship, leaving no one alive on the ship they had occupied, and loaded arrows into their ballistas and crossbows to prepare for the next battle.
“Load the arrows! “Load all the arrows into the crossbow, and you guys help load the stones into the ballista!”
“Just drink water with salt in it! “If you don’t want to get thirsty, drink water!”
“Move all the wounded soldiers to the cabin, and take good care of those with relatively minor wounds!”
Peter Yeager sat down on his deck and began to rest, watching the officers and soldiers preparing for battle according to his orders.
His body must have been tired after fighting the scout fleet, and he felt like going into warm water and taking a bath.
What was important to him now was not that, but when the 17 ships surrounding the rear of the Warsaw Fleet would arrive.
‘They will probably work hard to get around the island, but if it’s too late, no matter how hard they fight against Warsaw, they will be outnumbered…’
Thinking like that, when Peter Yeager felt nervous inside, the watchman on the flagship shouted loudly.
“Three fireballs have arrived! Three fireballs shot up into the air! “Our reinforcements have arrived!”
The watchmen of the Reich Empire all spread the same words to all ships, and the soldiers and officers who heard these words all shouted hurray, regardless of who they were.
“Reinforcements have arrived! “We won!”
“Long live the Reich Empire!”
“Now I live! Let’s hold on just a little longer!”
Generals including Peter Yeager knew that there were only 17 ships for reinforcements, but junior officers and soldiers knew that there were at least dozens of ships.
I should have corrected this illusion, but since they all believed in this and their morale was high, I thought there was no need to tell them the cruel reality, so I kept quiet.
At this time, the captains and generals commanding each ship simultaneously drew their swords and gave orders.
“The enemy is now surrounded on all sides, so they will rush in to kill us!”
“Raise your spear! Pick up your sword and kill your enemy. If you hold out until the end, Captain Jaeger will do something!”
“Fight at the risk of your life and achieve victory!”