Major Skerry's expression was very ugly. This was not only due to the failure of Claude's attack on the three giant siege towers last night. The main reason was that the night had become the enemy's world. Not only did they ambush the team going for a sneak attack, they also sent a large group of troops to sneak over and attack the castle. In the end, the two sides fought in the open space in front of the castle for most of the night, causing more than 30 casualties to the rangers. .
The only good news is that last night the 1st Ranger Battalion sent out a large number of troops to collect a lot of logs from the smashed wooden rafts, and even pulled several intact wooden rafts to the top of the city. It seemed that the quantity was sufficient. A row of logs was built on the city wall for cover. Fortunately, they followed Claude's advice last night and did not open the gate to move the logs. Instead, they used ropes to pull the logs up from the city wall. Otherwise, if the enemy's brigade comes over, it will be easy for them to sneak into the castle, and the result will be even worse.
The bad news is that the enemy's three giant siege towers are closer to the castle. They were originally stuck at the end of the village during the day. In the morning, they found that the enemy had moved these three siege towers to the head of the village. In other words, if we advance another thirty meters, the enemy's artillery on the three siege towers can fire cannonballs to cover the soldiers guarding the front gate wall. Major Skerry decided that the log row must be erected at the top of the city during the day so that the soldiers could have a hiding place.
Unexpectedly, the enemy could form such an elite infantry regiment after the Eskiline Principality was destroyed. Although the offensive and defensive battles in the past few days had caused the enemy to suffer more than 300 casualties, which was more than the number of people in a large group. But for a regiment's troops, this casualty is only one-sixteenth of its total strength, far from the critical point of its casualties. Now that the three siege towers are about to approach the castle, for the officers and soldiers of the 1st Ranger Battalion, the next few days of defending the castle will be a very difficult test...
Last night, Claude led the Diavid Squadron of the First Battalion to raid the three siege towers. If Claude hadn't been keenly aware of the breathing of many people in the ruins of the village after entering the village, If you lead the team to retreat in a hurry, you might actually run into a trap and be surrounded by the enemy. Even so, Diavid's squadron was still bitten by the enemy's ambush, and finally retreated to the trench only to find that a small group of men had been lost.
Fortunately, Claude and the others retreated, and happened to encounter the enemy's brigade approaching the castle, and then fired a warning shot. The fourth brigade who was collecting wood under the city wall realized that they were almost made dumplings by the enemy, so everyone lay down on the spot and opened fire. The soldiers on the city wall threw burning torches to the bottom of the city for illumination and fired in the direction of the enemy. After shooting like this for most of the night, the enemy left about fifty corpses and retreated.
Claude, McJack, and Diaverde were all fine, but the big man Germi was shot in the left arm and a large piece of meat was taken away. This is also very lucky, because if the gun had broken the bones and got stuck in the joints, the big man Gimi might have lost half his arm. The doctors at the camp headquarters treatment center would usually recommend amputation instead of an injury like this. Like now, just wrap it with medicine, drink some healing medicine, and wait until the skin and flesh grow back.
After spending a long time watching on the city wall in the morning, everyone finally understood how the enemy moved the three siege towers from the end of the village to the beginning of the village. It turned out that the enemy gave up the method of using cattle to pull the siege tower, and instead added a few push rods and crossbars on both sides and back of the siege tower, and then asked the soldiers to push hard against the siege tower behind and on both sides. Pushing forward, the siege tower was moved bit by bit to the entrance of the village. Since there were siege towers and wooden trains on both sides, the soldiers working as coolies to push the siege towers were not afraid of being bombarded by the artillery in the castle...
Perhaps it was too busy and too tiring last night, so both sides were quiet this morning. It was only after three or four o'clock in the afternoon that the enemies began to appear in the village. First, they pushed more than 20 wooden carts and lined them up in a long snake formation about 70 to 80 meters away from the castle as a cover. Then, under the command of several officers, they prepared to continue pushing the siege tower at the front.
The second group of soldiers guarding the castle naturally began the artillery bombardment. The eleven light infantry artillery fired at full fire, five of which bombarded the wooden platoon vehicles, and six of which concentrated their fire on the siege tower at the front. After the castle opened fire, all the enemy soldiers dispersed and hid behind the ruined walls of the village. Six artillery pieces on three siege towers also launched a counterattack against the castle.
After about twenty minutes, the shelling stopped. Seven or eight of the wooden carts lined up in the open space were destroyed, but they still had no effect on the three huge siege towers. They only left white spots on the logs outside that were larger than yesterday. And the same was true for the enemy. The six artillery pieces installed in the siege tower only destroyed two platoons of logs on the city wall that provided cover for the artillery crews. Others did not pose much of a threat to the soldiers on the city wall.
The enemy was pulling down the smashed wooden platoon cars and re-pushing the replacement wooden platoon cars. From a distance of 70 to 80 meters, the enemy was accurately aiming and firing the Obas type 3 standard matchlock gun. Within the shooting range, some soldiers of the second brigade hiding behind the log platoon of the city wall began to shoot. Several enemies who were cleaning up the wooden platoon carts fell to the ground. Soon, a large number of enemies relied on the cover of the wooden platoon carts to attack. The walls were opened with fire.
Although the range of the enemy's muskets with precise aiming and shooting was not as far as the Obash Type III standard matchlock gun, this distance was still within the effective range of their muskets. Countless guns hit the rows of logs on the city wall. , and even several soldiers were injured by these stray bullets. However, the gun battle ended soon after the smashed wooden raft trucks were replaced with new wooden raft trucks...
Claude, Major Skerry and others were inspecting the two rows of logs destroyed by artillery. It was very simple to build a row of logs for cover on the city wall. There was a row of vertical logs in the front and two horizontal bars at the back. , and then make two triangular pieces of wood to support the left and right sides on the upper and lower horizontal bars. The two log rows destroyed by enemy shelling were the logs in the middle that were hit continuously. Because the hollow ones at the back could not withstand the force of the solid shells hitting the logs, they were broken and expanded into a big hole.
The enemy's siege tower is still at the entrance of the village, nearly a hundred meters away, and the firing of six artillery pieces destroyed two log platoons. It is conceivable that if the enemy's three siege towers are put in place tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, then a violent burst of artillery fire will destroy all the rows of logs built on the city wall. The final result will be the same as before, covering the front with shotgun shells. Section of the city wall forced the soldiers to be unable to hold on to the wall, and the enemy took the opportunity to capture the city wall and open the front door, allowing subsequent troops to enter the castle...
"I think I might have a way to prevent these log rows from being destroyed." Claude said, his proposal is very simple, that is, fill the empty grain sacks in the warehouse with soil and pile them behind these log rows. That way, even if an enemy bombardment destroyed the log platoon, the sacks filled with earth could still serve as cover and shield the guarding soldiers.
"Since it has this effect, let's do it immediately. Captain Coldwalker, I'll leave this matter to your Fourth Brigade." Major Skerry adopted Claude's suggestion without hesitation. Although the defense on the city wall was guaranteed, the worry in his eyes was still strong.
"We have to find a way to get rid of these three siege towers." Claude knew what Major Skerry was worried about. He originally thought that the 1st Ranger Battalion could defend this strong castle of Count Crelaus, but he didn't expect to come. The enemies are not only elite, but they have also produced three big guys. With an advantage in terms of military strength, and the firepower and quality of the soldiers were not inferior to those of the 1st Ranger Battalion, Major Skerry had to worry about whether he could hold on to this place...
"How?" Major Skerry smiled bitterly: "The enemy is not a fool or idiot. They know very well that the key to breaking the castle we guard lies in their three siege towers. The defense must be tight. They may also set a trap to lure me to take the initiative. Destroy these three siege towers and prepare to ambush us just like last night. In fact, the enemy must be very happy when we raid these three siege towers, because they can effectively use these three siege towers to destroy our It is as powerful as placing a delicious piece of cheese on a mouse trap to attract mice.
The enemy already knows our defense strength in the castle. They are an infantry regiment, plus three light cavalry battalions monitoring us from three directions, which is enough to crush us. And we were besieged in the castle, and because of the two beasts in the sky, we lost contact with the outside world. For us, all we can do now is to hold on and wait until the first snow falls in December. Maybe the enemy will take the initiative to withdraw their troops because of the cold. "
Pointing to the enemy's three siege towers at the entrance of the village, Major Skerry said with a bitter look on his face: "In the past few days, I have been very sure that the enemy's commander is a veteran with rich battlefield experience. He knows very well what the key to this battle is. . It has been nearly a week since they arrived, but he has only launched two attacks, with only more than 400 casualties. This casualty is insignificant compared to their strength. On the contrary, we have exposed all the firepower and the walls of the city. Defensive arrangements.
The enemy commander knew very well what we expected, but he did not rush for success and command the troops to launch waves of attacks against us. Instead, he patiently let the soldiers spend three days to build these three offensives. City tower. This shows that he is confident that after the siege tower is in place, he can capture the castle we are guarding in one fell swoop. In any case, as long as those three siege towers are moved into place, our defensive advantage on the city wall will be offset.
I suspect that the enemy's intention is to compete with us. These three siege towers lined up in front of the city wall can suppress the defensive firepower on our city wall, and at the same time allow their soldiers to attack the city wall, so we have to fight with them. If they fight for attrition, the enemy will pay a battalion of casualties. As long as they can capture the city wall at the front gate, it will be a worthy victory for them. "
If the wall of the front gate is captured by the enemy, even if the enemy pays a battalion of casualties, then the first battalion of Rangers will definitely have to pay a lot of casualties. At that time, there will not be enough defense in other areas of the castle. The troops are strong. As long as the enemy pours into the castle, it means the complete destruction of the first ranger battalion.
Claude stared at the three siege towers at the entrance of the village, unable to speak for a long time.
Just as Major Skerry said, the enemy used the night to place the three siege towers in place. In the next four days, while launching fire suppression on the city wall, a large group launched a continuous attack on the castle. In the first two days, they did not even give up at night, and several times they attacked the castle. Once they reached the top of the city, they relied on hand-to-hand combat to drive the enemy down, which cost the First Battalion of Rangers guarding the castle a lot of casualties.
"How many casualties have the enemy suffered in the past few days?" Major Skerry was also wounded and hanging from his arms. He is now directly under the jurisdiction of the Third Brigade and concurrently serves as the captain of the Third Brigade. The original captain of the group, Captain Heikem, was injured while ambushing the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry and had long been sent to the rear.
"Estimated seven or eight hundred?" Captain Coldwalk replied.
Now the only one that is relatively complete in the first ranger battalion is Claude's first battalion. During these four days of defense, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Brigades all suffered heavy losses. The 2nd Brigade was almost disabled, and the captain, Captain Heimkling, was seriously injured and entered the treatment center located in the back area of the castle. The third and fourth brigades are pretty good, and each has more than two and a half squadrons of personnel combined.
"How many artillery pieces do we have?" Major Skerry asked again.
"There are seven more gates." Claude knew this very well. The artillery on the city wall has suffered heavy losses in the past few days. The artillery crews on the enemy's three siege towers are all very experienced gunners. After they discovered the location of the artillery on the city wall, they gathered six gunners on the three siege towers. The artillery was concentrated on the area where the artillery was located on the city wall. In the past two days, three artillery pieces were destroyed due to unpreparedness.
"One was damaged yesterday afternoon by the enemy who climbed up the city. Now, in addition to the four artillery placed in the defense towers on both sides, there are only three artillery on the city wall. The gun crew already has experience. Change places after firing a cannon, and last night the enemy wanted to take advantage of the darkness to storm the city. It was these three artillery pieces that did a great job, firing shotgun shells and causing heavy casualties to the enemy. In the end, they returned in vain, leaving behind about eighty corpses." Lord explained.
During the day, the enemy basically took advantage of the gunpowder smoke filling the city walls so that the soldiers could not see the scene in the distance, and then used the city ladder to lean against the city wall to launch a surprise attack. When there was no smoke, they would hide behind the wooden carts and fire cold guns. At night, they used the darkness to quietly climb up the city wall for a sneak attack. For the enemy, they have enough troops to launch an attack as a brigade. There are more than sixteen brigade in a regiment. It takes a day for each brigade to rotate. However, the soldiers defending the first battalion of Rangers cannot be as powerful as the enemy. Replacement was the main reason why they were mounted on the wall several times by the enemy yesterday.
"Fortunately, Claude, you had an idea. You piled these sacks filled with soil at the top of the city to reinforce the row of logs. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to hide ourselves. But why did the enemy stop attacking today?" Major Skerry was very puzzled. Look at the enemy's three siege towers.
"I think there are too many casualties. The enemy has lost seven to eight hundred people in the past four days. In addition, there were more than a thousand casualties in the past. I estimate that this is already a quarter of their strength. And the city wall is still there Among our guards, so they have to stop attacking and appease the soldiers, otherwise no one will be willing to continue to attack." Claude guessed.