"Report, I'm back." Claude stood at attention and saluted.
Major Leedfunk stood up: "What happened to the third battalion? Why were there so many casualties? Did you learn anything about the situation when you went to see it?"
Claude took off his hat, hung it on the coat rack in the corner, and put the black briefcase in his hand on the desk: "Although the battalion commander and other officers of the third battalion shied away, it was because the enemy was stubbornly resisting with its defense facilities and was determined to fight to the death. The surrender caused the soldiers of the Third Battalion to suffer heavy casualties during the attack. However, according to my investigation during this period, the Third Battalion now has no remaining power to attack. Because of the heavy casualties, the morale of the soldiers is extremely low. , being able to defend the current town of Billy is considered a good job."
"So the third battalion has been urging us to take over the defense as soon as possible so that they can withdraw and rest." Major Leedfunk frowned: "I'm a little worried. Our first battalion is different from their three battalions. They are Veterans were deployed from the ranger battalion, and soldiers with good shooting skills were recruited from other units. They have more combat experience. As for our first battalion, except for those of you who have recovered from injuries, the rest of our first battalion are all recruits sent from the rear. Although I have gone through the recruit training, the three months of pre-war training required by your training syllabus have not been completed, and I rushed to the front line in such a hurry. I don’t want to make the same mistake as the third battalion."
Claude shook his head: "But we are required to arrive in Billy Town before October 5th and change defenses with the Third Battalion. It is less than ten days before this date, and the march will take three days. We only have five or six days left." It’s time to prepare. This time I went to the town of Billy and casually went to the front line to observe. The third battalion was going to capture the Black Maple Castle, which is located at the entrance to the Picklet Mountains. Stationed there was a garrison battalion from the Principality of Rimodra. .
There are three main reasons for the failure of the third battalion's attack. The first aspect is that they are arrogant and look down on the enemy. They think that they will surrender as soon as they reach the enemy. Unexpectedly, they hit a hard nail. They knew what they were doing and knew nothing about the enemy's strength, weapons, equipment, etc. It was not until they suffered a loss that they captured a few prisoners and got rough information from them.
The second aspect is that the offensive terrain is unfavorable. When I went to the front line to observe, I found that although Black Maple Castle is located at the entrance to the Picklet Mountains, it is surrounded by several creeks and beaches where mountain streams gather, and the enemy will The trees within a distance of two hundred meters were cleared, leaving an open field of vision within the firing range of artillery and muskets. No matter which direction we attacked, we were so heavily bombarded by enemy artillery that we were unable to approach the castle.
The third reason for the failure was insufficient training. The soldiers of the third battalion of the Rangers were mobilized from other units. Many soldiers still maintained their original habits during the attack. They did not like to hide and would just stand and charge their muskets. Load the bullet and become a target for the enemy. Especially now that the enemy is also equipped with a large number of precision aiming and shooting muskets. Although they are not as good as our Obash Type 3 standard muskets, under the cover of the castle, they can still kill a large number of our soldiers. And our bright red military uniforms are more conducive to their aiming and shooting."
Major Leedfunk shook his head and smiled bitterly. Claude really resented the color of the Kingdom's military uniforms. He also admitted that as Claude said, the bright red military uniform is indeed the best target color on the battlefield, but this is the tradition of the kingdom. In the past, when marching in line to fire, the main consideration was wearing the bright red military uniform. It is to shock the enemy. The second factor is to reduce the soldiers' fear of casualties. Blood is also red. Even if the soldiers around them are injured or killed, the surviving soldiers will not panic because of their bright red uniforms.
But you just need to know the reason well. No officer will say it out. They will only tell the soldiers that the big red represents heroism and bravery, as well as the blood of the warriors who sacrificed their lives to expand the territory of the kingdom, etc. Of course, even if Major Leedfunk adopted Claude's suggestion, he would not have the power or ability to change the color of the uniform.
"You said that the defenders of Black Maple Castle were equipped with precision-aimed shooting muskets?" Major Leedfunk asked.
"Yes, I saw the real thing at the headquarters of the third battalion." Claude replied with some regret: "It is said that it is produced by the Eskiline Principality, and the model is Falhiston 185, which is better than ours. The musket in my hand weighs about three kilograms and has an accurate aiming range of 70 to 80 meters. It is a great improvement over the previous musket produced by the Principality of Sidings. I originally wanted to ask the Third Battalion to bring one back, but They only had a few, and they had already reported them as seizures for military exploits, so they rejected my request."
Major Leedfunk sighed: "In fact, we are still exploring the use of the Obas III standard musket, and we are still testing how to maximize the effectiveness of this precise aiming and shooting musket on the battlefield. Unexpectedly, the enemy also After discovering the role of this kind of musket, they not only copied it but also equipped their troops in large numbers for defensive operations. This will have a very adverse impact on the war we are currently conducting."
Claude also sighed: "There is an old saying that war is the best teacher for soldiers. Now I understand this truth. As long as it is useful, we must learn even the enemy's advantages, otherwise we will suffer the loss. .”
Major Lederfonk poured a cup of tea for Claude: "Let's not lament these things here for now. We are weak and can't do these things. Let's think about how to complete the tasks assigned above. Go down to the four brigades in the next few days and see how their training is going. Not only do we have to take over the defense of the third battalion this time, we are also ordered to conquer the Black Maple Castle and seize the entrance to the Picklet Mountains. , denounced the resistance in this mountainous area.
I am a logistics officer and am not expert on how to attack and defend. I can only leave this task to you. It is up to you to decide how to deploy the troops and when to start the attack. Now you are the combat staff officer of the battalion headquarters and have gone to the front line to investigate. This is your job. It is best to come up with a plan in the next few days. All I can do is give you the greatest logistical support, and hope that we can win this operation with minimal casualties. "
"Yes, I will try my best." Claude stood at attention and saluted again. Unlike Lieutenant Colonel Roessler, Major Liedefunk trusted Claude very much after he became the battalion commander and appointed him as the battalion commander. The staff officer has the greatest deliberation and decision-making power over the training and operations of the entire battalion of soldiers. Of course, this has a lot to do with his background as a logistics officer. Major Leedfunk knew very well that since he was an outsider, he should find an expert to help him. Claude's previous record in the Ranger Battalion convinced Major Leedfunk that he was the person he needed, so he reused Claude and gave him the greatest trust.
On October 4th, the 1st Ranger Battalion arrived at the small town of Billy in Bichu Linxi County, Rimodra Principality, and exchanged defenses with the 3rd Ranger Battalion.
The battalion headquarters quickly held a combat meeting. As the person who formulated the plan to attack Black Maple Castle, Claude explained the various combat steps in detail to the officers of the first battalion at the meeting, and received the support of Major Leedfunk and the generals present at the meeting. Unanimous support from some officers. The officers participating in the combat meeting knew that although Claude's combat plan was extremely complicated, it could significantly reduce the casualties of soldiers. The only drawback is that the delay is a bit long, but the above only requires the capture of Black Maple Castle and no date limit, so the longer time is not a big deal.
In fact, when the Third Battalion of Rangers attacked Black Maple Castle, they followed the traditional offensive method of the Overas Kingdom army. After settling in the town of Billy, they rested for a day, then gathered most of the troops and drove to Black Maple Castle, and sent envoys to ask the defenders to surrender. As a result, the defenders refused to surrender, and the Third Battalion of Rangers began to besiege.
Because they were all equipped with Obash type III standard matchlock guns, the third battalion of the Rangers did not adopt the traditional offensive method of marching in line and firing in unison. Instead, they bombarded with artillery first. Three brigades surrounded them on three sides, and one brigades made preparations. . In the eyes of the commanding officers of the third battalion, as long as their soldiers are close to the castle, they can use precise aiming and shooting to suppress the enemy's firepower, blow open the castle gate, and complete the task of capturing.
But surrounding the Black Maple Castle is a creek beach about fifty or sixty meters in diameter. The water is not deep, only as high as the knee, but it poses a great obstacle to the soldiers' attack and they cannot get close quickly. castle. However, the enemy defenders could use the cover of the city walls and windows on the castle to shoot at the attackers who were slowly and arduously trudging through the stream. The blood almost dyed the entire stream on the beach red.
At the same time, the defensive artillery arranged at the top of the castle also engaged in exchanges with the artillery of the third battalion. Taking advantage of the favorable conditions of being located at a high altitude with a wide view and increased range, the third battalion suffered a big loss in the artillery exchange, losing four people. light infantry gun and two and a half gun crews.
This was the real reason why the Third Ranger Battalion suffered heavy losses. Only about 400 soldiers were left out of more than 1,000 people, and nearly 300 wounded soldiers were sent to the treatment center at the same time. For them, it was a disastrous defeat with more than half the casualties. Now the 1st Ranger Battalion has taken over their defense line and the task of capturing Black Maple Castle. After discussion, the officers participating in the meeting have made it clear that adopting the same offensive strategy as the 3rd Ranger Battalion will definitely not work. Since there is no other way, then Just try the attack plan proposed by Claude.
The attack plan proposed by Claude was divided into three steps. First, besiege and cut off the communication between Black Maple Castle and the outside world. Then let each squadron under the First Brigade use an ambush to trap the defenders in the castle. Within a distance of two hundred meters, people from the outside can't get in and people inside can't get out.
The second step is to recruit civilians in the town of Billy and go to the upper reaches of the mountain streams to divert the streams so that the fifty or sixty-meter stream beach in front of Black Maple Castle becomes dry land and no longer becomes an obstacle to the attackers. , this is the main task of the second brigade, and they are responsible for recruiting civilians to divert the creek.
The third step is to dig a trench about a hundred meters away from the Black Maple Castle, allowing the soldiers to enter the trench to snipe the castle defenders, and use the excellent performance of the Obas III standard matchlock gun to carry out precise aiming and shooting. This distance is just right. It doesn't mean that the enemy's muskets can't hit, but that they can't accurately aim and shoot. Whether they hit or not can only depend on luck. This somewhat dangerous task was handed over to the Third Brigade. After all, they needed to carry out excavation operations under the eyes of the enemy.
However, this distance of 100 meters from the castle was just outside the range of the cannon's shotgun, which prevented the soldiers from being attacked by shotshells and causing a large number of casualties. If the enemy uses solid bullets, that's very welcome. They don't know how much gunpowder and shells it will cost to destroy a trench. What's more, it is obvious that trenches are easy to build and difficult to destroy. The worst they can do is retreat and wait for the enemy to finish their shelling before sending people to build them. Moreover, Claude suggested digging a trench from two hundred meters away and then digging horizontally after reaching the target. This would prevent the enemy from attacking the soldiers digging.
"Last point, the key to conquering Black Maple Castle is here." Claude pointed to the mountainous area behind Black Maple Castle depicted on the map with a small wooden stick and said: "Cut off the back of Black Maple Castle to obtain supplies and reinforcements. This mountain road is the key to our victory. According to our inquiries and reconnaissance, there are paths on both sides of the mountainous area that can lead to the mountain road behind Black Maple Castle.
Of course, these paths are made by herb collectors and hunters up the mountain and cannot pass horses or vehicles. I need the Fourth Battalion to send two squadrons to go around these two paths and choose dangerous places behind the mountain roads to hold on. . One squadron set up a position while the other dug into the mountain road to make it impassable. And defend until Black Maple Castle is captured by us or the defenders surrender. "