Claude slowly poked his head out of the mud puddle, looked around, and found that there was no movement in the distance. He breathed a sigh of relief, turned to the young man Michael Jack and the big man Gemie who were following him and said: " That's it. Take a rest, put the gun away, and stay hidden. Don't be exposed. Mike, go to the back and tell Murder and Baker to hide on our left and right. The ambush point is here. "
Two months ago, Claude received another transfer order, requiring him to take the security squadron to report to the Ranger Camp. Unlike what Captain Wardlov, the acting battalion commander of the garrison battalion, had imagined, Claude was not favored by Prince Hansback and rose to prominence. Instead, he was sent to the experimental temporary camp newly established by Prince Hansback. Combat unit, Ranger Battalion.
What this experimental ranger battalion formed by Prince Hansback is to use the accuracy of aiming and shooting of the Obash Type III standard matchlock gun to achieve the purpose of covering the battlefield. To put it bluntly, it was to deal with the scouts and reconnaissance combat teams sent by the anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance forces. This prevents the enemy from knowing the enemy's troop movements, artillery placement and other information.
Usually, the battlefield reconnaissance of both sides in the war is at best to send light cavalry as scouts to spy on the enemy's troop movements, firepower configuration of defensive positions and other information. When the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry is discovered, it sends its own combat reconnaissance team to pursue it. Sometimes the scouts from both sides will fight when they encounter it, but these methods are not very effective. The most common situation is that the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry is running in front, and your own combat reconnaissance team is chasing behind. Then after a while, your own reconnaissance cavalry is running away, and the enemy's combat reconnaissance team is chasing behind.
Therefore, in a war, when both sides concentrate their forces and set up positions for confrontation, the entire battlefield is a stage for reconnaissance cavalry. Generally speaking, reconnaissance cavalry are in groups of three or four. A team is divided into three to four groups. When conducting reconnaissance, They cooperate with each other, and are often followed by a combat reconnaissance team to provide cover or support.
Generally speaking, there is no good way to protect the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry from coming to reconnoiter the position. The main reason is very simple. The opponent is a light cavalry with strong maneuverability. As long as it is not close to the position, artillery is useless. The shotguns are not far enough. It takes a lot of luck to hit the target accurately with live ammunition. However, if the soldiers line up and fire together, there is no shooting accuracy or large coverage area. The opponent only has three or four cavalry. If you fire together several times, it will be a waste of gunpowder and guns, so the best way is Use scout cavalry to deal with enemy scout cavalry.
However, compared with the scout cavalry of the Kingdom of Ovilas, the scout cavalry of the Anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance appeared to be more skilled, rich in battlefield experience, and had a great advantage in seduction, guerrillas, and immediate killing. A group of reconnaissance cavalry from both sides met and immediately killed each other. The victor was often the reconnaissance cavalry of the Five Anti-Austrian Alliance. For nearly five months since the confrontation, the Kingdom of Overas has lost more than 500 reconnaissance cavalry, equivalent to half of the troops. A battalion of troops.
After Prince Hansback arrived in Ames City, he stopped this ineffective reconnaissance behavior. The battlefield where the two sides are currently facing each other has become dominated by the anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance reconnaissance cavalry. They often boldly penetrate behind the kingdom's defensive positions in three or four cavalry, as if they are in an uninhabited land. Lure or provoke the kingdom's scout cavalry to attack. If there are more people, they will run away. If there are less people, they will kill them immediately. After winning, they will leave in a swaggering manner.
"In terms of personal bravery and horsemanship skills, we cannot compare with the light cavalry of the Principality of Karnars. They are natural cavalry. The late King Sterling IX once said, one against one, or ten against each other. Ten, our cavalry is no match for the light cavalry of the Principality of Karrnath, but one hundred against one hundred, we can tie them. If it is one thousand against one thousand, we can crush them and defeat them. They were killed in a bloody manner." Prince Hansback said this to his officers.
The Principality of Karrnath is located on the only Karrnath prairie in the eastern part of the Farea continent, and the young people there are all natural riders. The cavalry of the Kingdom of Overas are cuirassiers. The charge formations march with strict discipline. They are famous for their wall charge without fear of sacrifice and enjoy a high reputation in the eastern part of the continent. However, in terms of horseback killing skills, they are indeed inferior to the light cavalry of the Principality of Karnas.
The establishment of a ranger camp was an idea that Prince Hansback had when he was the supervisor of the Red Dragon Legion and the Griffin Legion on the Western Front. He keenly noticed that although the Obash Type III standard matchlock gun was disliked by many soldiers, There are still many veterans who like to use this gun.
According to them, this gun does have unique advantages in aiming and precise shooting. A veteran of the Red Dragon Legion once used this gun to attack at close range and knocked out an artillery firing group on the enemy's wall. The artillery was rendered ineffective. In the end, the attacking force took advantage of the firepower gap left by the inability of the artillery to capture the castle, which left a deep impression on Prince Hansback who was watching the battle.
So on the first day after arriving in Ames City, the eldest prince heard at the military meeting that it was impossible to conduct reconnaissance on the enemy. The enemy's reconnaissance cavalry came out in all directions and dominated the large battlefield between the opposing sides. His Royal Highness remembered the precision shooting drill of the guard squadron he had seen at the entrance to the mountain road on the way here, and then decided to form an experimental combat unit Ranger Battalion, and asked his attendants to lift Captain Wardlov out of bed in the middle of the night. , and asked him to transfer the files of the security squadron guarding the entrance to the mountain road and take a look.
Claude just arrived at the temporary experimental combat unit of the Ranger Camp. If there were regret medicine available, Claude would definitely buy a large handful and swallow it. Why did he train his own guard when they were crossing the mountain road when they were full? Why not just watch the excitement? What kind of training would be done there? In the end, he was attracted by the eldest prince. Captain Wardlov thought I will achieve great success. Is there anyone who has achieved such great success on the battlefield
On the first day of entering the Ranger Camp, Claude learned from the stern-faced Lieutenant Colonel with a mustache that the mission of the Ranger Battalion was to ambush the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry on the battlefield and cover one's own defensive positions from the enemy's The reconnaissance cavalry enters to make their position become an intelligence black spot for the enemy. Whether it is the mobilization of troops or the allocation of firepower, it must be prevented from being detected by the enemy.
To put it lightly, is it so easy for infantry to deal with cavalry? Although the Obash Type III standard matchlock gun in hand is the only musket in the kingdom that can accurately aim and shoot, the shooting distance with confidence is only one 100 meters. For the light cavalry, it only takes ten seconds to rush in front of you from 100 meters away. You only have one chance to fire.
Claude doubted whether Prince Hansback had adopted the strategy of setting up this ranger battalion with a lower horse versus an upper horse, using infantry in exchange for the enemy's light cavalry scouts. Even if an infantryman fires a shot and kills a scout, and is then hacked to death by another scout, the kingdom will still make a huge profit in terms of exchange ratio. After all, it is very simple to master the precise shooting and aiming of the Obash Type 3 standard matchlock gun. At three points and one line, just stay calm and hide until you find the enemy coming, aim and shoot. However, the enemy needs to spend a lot of money to train an excellent scout. .
But Claude had already arrived at the Ranger Camp and there was nothing he could do about it. Fortunately, the rainy season in March was coming soon. Claude still had time to make some preparations, increase the training intensity of his guard squadron, and tell his team members Here are some key points that need to be paid attention to when concealing and retreating on the battlefield. The commander in charge of the ranger camp, Lieutenant Colonel Roessler, who had a mustache and a straight face, conducted competitions among the second-line regiments one by one, and transferred all the soldiers with good shooting scores into the ranger camp, preparing to wait for the weather to clear up. Let them go to the battlefield to fight for the enemy's scouts.
In terms of battlefield effectiveness, Prince Hansback's purpose of organizing and setting up this ranger camp has been achieved. The enemy's reconnaissance cavalry's action range is limited to their own position, and they can no longer rush behind the Kingdom's position to conduct reconnaissance unscrupulously. They are very afraid of the sudden sound of muskets, which means that another enemy is aiming their muskets at them. It is very likely that this sound of gunfire means that they will lose another brother.
But to a certain extent, the formation of the Ranger Battalion was also a failure, because Prince Hansback appointed an unqualified officer as the director of the Ranger Battalion, and failed to explore and develop the greater combat effectiveness of the Ranger Battalion. In the end, the ranger camp was turned into a punishment camp, and all the officers and soldiers who joined the ranger camp were officers and soldiers who had made mistakes. Their purpose of entering the ranger camp was to go to the battlefield with the Obash Type III matchlock gun, kill three enemies and retrieve it. Only with the enemy's identity plate can you leave the ranger camp and return to your original unit.
The reason for this is that the casualty rate of the Ranger Battalion is too high, just as Claude was worried about. Without any training or planning, when the rainy season ended in April and the weather cleared up, Lieutenant Colonel Roessler, who had a mustache and a straight face, couldn't wait to rush the soldiers of the Ranger Battalion to the battlefield to ambush the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry. In one April, the Ranger Battalion lost one-third of its soldiers. Although the treatment was good, there were no more soldiers who asked to join. Lieutenant Colonel Roessler even recruited those soldiers who had made mistakes in order to replenish manpower.
Claude's security squadron also lost nearly half of its personnel in April. The original sixty-member security squadron now has only twenty-seven people, and eight are still lying in the treatment center in Ames City. Three of them were disabled. Their arms were cut off by the enemy's cavalry. They were very lucky to be rescued.
Fortunately, the four noble children were all intact. First, they listened to Claude's words, and second, they were clever by nature. Claude has become the biggest ace shooter in the Ranger Battalion, and he is also the most popular in the camp. No matter who asks him what to do on the battlefield, Claude will take the trouble to tell them what to pay attention to, what to do and what not to do. Do. Many soldiers returned to the camp safely because they listened to Claude's warning. As a result, Claude was very popular in the camp and was also the most prestigious sergeant in the camp.
But at the same time, Claude also became a thorn in the side of Lieutenant Colonel Rosler, because Claude and him had three conflicts. If Claude hadn't killed the most enemies and ranked first in the ranger camp, Lieutenant Colonel Rosler might have really On the spot, he ordered the soldiers to arrest Claude and conduct a military trial. Maybe he would kill the chicken to scare the monkeys or something.
The first conflict was about military uniforms. Claude believed that the bright red tops and red straight military caps worn by soldiers now were not conducive to ambush operations on the battlefield, and would be discovered and taken away by the enemy's scout cavalry from a distance. In case of danger, it would be better to change it to grass green or camouflage color, and suggested that Lieutenant Colonel Rost write to Prince Hansback to rectify the color of the military uniforms of the ranger camp.
For Claude, this was a very reasonable suggestion, and he was also thinking about the safety of the soldiers in the Ranger Battalion. But he didn’t expect Lieutenant Colonel Rosler to be furious. He said that the color of the army uniforms of the Kingdom of Overas was determined from the beginning of the founding of the country. Big red means bravery and invincible military spirit. You, Claude, are a little What right does the Master Chief have to propose changing the color of military uniforms? Do you want to betray the kingdom
The second conflict was when Claude suggested that the soldiers who went out to ambush had better act together in a group, and it was best for each person to bring an extra gun so that they could shoot twice in a row. But Lieutenant Colonel Rosler had already developed a prejudice against Claude. He believed that Claude's suggestion was simply to support the enemy. The enemy could capture two muskets as long as they eliminated one soldier of the Ranger Battalion.
In the third conflict, Lieutenant Colonel Roesler believed that many soldiers were being lazy and went to the battlefield instead of ambush the enemy, but hid and waited until night before returning to camp. Therefore, he required the soldiers who went to the battlefield to bring an enemy's identity plate every time they came back, so that they could get the next two days of rest, otherwise they would continue to go to the battlefield to ambush the enemy.
Claude believed that this suggestion was unrealistic. Obtaining the enemy's identity plate would add more danger to the ambush soldiers. Sometimes they needed to evacuate immediately after the attack. Obtaining the enemy's identity plate was a very impractical idea.
As a result, Lieutenant Colonel Rosler was furious, yelled and asked Claude to obtain at least ten enemy identity plates in the next week, otherwise he would not be able to get the right to rest.