On February 8th, the advanced seminar class of the Royal Military Academy of Kaleben began. Claude had always wondered what the large wooden house built next to the playground was used for. Now he realized that this was the tactical training room for the students of the advanced seminar class. As soon as he entered the door, he could see the wooden huts placed in the room occupying one-third of the area. A large sandbox.
A total of twenty-six officers participated in this advanced seminar. Except for Captain Claude, the rest were all school-level officers. General Michelic walked to the podium and explained the purpose of this advanced seminar in a straightforward manner, which was to use the just-concluded war between the anti-Austrian alliance countries and the kingdom in the eastern part of the continent as an example to discuss the role of the kingdom's army in the war. Learn from the shortcomings. At the same time, it collects excellent and successful offensive and defensive battle cases in the war to summarize experience for the kingdom's army to conduct offensive and defensive operations in future wars.
General Michelich said that in this war with the anti-Austrian coalition forces, the enemy relied on strong and complete defensive positions to resist the attack of the Kingdom's army, instead of gathering troops in an upright and open field battle with the Kingdom's army to decide the outcome. . Except for a few limited counterattacks, such as the Blue Feather Legion's breakout battle in the Amelia Plains, and the surprise battle on the Karrnath Prairie, the enemy basically gave up the plan of conducting field battles...
In fact, after the war broke out, we discovered that the enemy's strategy of shrinking its troops and setting up defensive positions to hold on was to use time and space to wear us down and achieve the purpose of armistice. Judging from the results of the entire war, neither we nor the enemy were the real victors. The enemies achieved their goals and forced the kingdom to sign an armistice and peace agreement with them. But our kingdom did not fail, because we destroyed the enemy's three principalities and seized the territory of these three principalities.
The students in the advanced seminar who were standing and listening were a little commotion. General Michelic said it too bluntly. The officers who can participate in this advanced seminar all have certain strategic vision and professional standards. Although what General Michelich said was very reasonable and correct, everyone still felt uncomfortable after hearing it.
But then General Michelich reported a large series of post-war summary data. These data were no secret to some school-level officers present. But after listening to these data, everyone knew clearly that General Michelchi was right. This war was indeed a victory for the kingdom. The most critical strategic goal was not achieved. The eastern region of the continent was not unified. The kingdom's mortal enemy and the leader of the anti-Austria alliance, the Nasseri Kingdom, still existed. It only lost one county in this war. In addition, The army that lost nearly 300,000 to 400,000 men could be said to have been severely damaged, but it was not completely defeated.
In addition, the Blue Feather Legion and the two second-line legions were defeated by a surprise attack on the Karnas Prairie. This was the greatest shame for the kingdom's army in this war, but the war ended without retaliation. The light cavalry of the Principality of Karrnath became famous in this battle. Even though they promised to provide the kingdom with 80,000 war horses in the next few years as compensation when signing the peace agreement, the shame they left to the kingdom's army is still engraved in military history. , became the biggest scar in the hearts of the kingdom’s soldiers.
Therefore, General Michelich mentioned in his speech that the purpose of establishing this advanced seminar is to prepare for the next war in the eastern region, learn from the experiences and lessons of this war, and reform the current tactics that seem to be traditional and backward. and tactics, and at the same time use the soon-to-be-formed Ranger Regiment as a model, equipped with precise aiming and shooting muskets and war horses, to study and practice appropriate tactics and tactics with mobility, flexibility, and accuracy, and then promote them to the armies of the whole kingdom.
I basically spent the whole morning listening to General Michelic's speech, and he made it clear the purpose of holding this advanced seminar. All students participating in this advanced seminar are required to sort out the battle examples that have occurred in this war that they are concerned about during the twenty-odd days before the rainy season, whether they were failures or successes. Then during the rainy season in March, I wrote a summary report, taking the battle cases I compiled as an example, and summarizing the successes, failures, and improvement plans of this battle case...
After lunch, we took a two-hour break and continued classes in the afternoon.
What Claude didn't expect was that as soon as the class began, he was called to the podium by General Michelchi, asking Claude to tell the students present about the battle to capture Wilf Hill and the Squirrels led by Claude. The whole battle process of the village victory. Poor Claude had just told it to Viscount Cartoff at the Baron's Mansion in Normandy a few days ago, but he didn't expect that he would have to tell it again on the day when the advanced seminar started.
However, Claude knew in his heart that the purpose of General Michelich asking him to go up and talk about these two battles was so that other school-level officers in this advanced seminar would not look down upon him because of his rank of captain. Moreover, the place is very well prepared. Maps of Wilf Hill and Squirrel Village have been hung on the walls, and several adjutants have moved a new sand table. This sand table is a simulated geographical layout of the entire mountain crossing.
Claude pointed at the map and sand table and told the story of the two battles he participated in before retreating. General Michelich then went up and delivered a summary speech of the two battles. He believed that the victory of Squirrel Village was actually a battle miracle. After reviewing the entire battle process, it can be concluded that the territorial noble coalition with more than 5,000 troops adopted His combat deployment and command methods were both average and medium-range, and he did not make very low-level mistakes.
It’s just that the mountain crossing at Squirrel Village has a special geographical environment and is suitable for defense. Although Claude defended a small number of men, they anticipated every move of the enemy. In addition, the enemy's weapons and equipment were lagging behind and they could only rely on the advantage of numbers. Coupled with luck, the enemy jumped into Claude to dig for them. With the help of a fire, they annihilated most of the enemies and achieved an unexpected and miraculous victory.
The reason why General Michelich called the victory of Squirrel Village a miraculous victory was because it was a victory that could not be replicated. He admitted that he had reviewed the battle process of the Squirrel Village victory more than ten times, and found that if Claude had not used the fire strategy, his command would not have been able to avoid the outcome of the battle failure, and it would have delayed the battle for half a month at most. It took a long time, but the final outcome was that the entire army was annihilated.
There is actually luck in the fire trap that Claude set in Squirrel Village in advance. If it rained that night, or there was no strong wind after the fire started, the result would not be very good, and the enemies who escaped would soon be able to escape. After a comeback, the burned-to-white Squirrel Village will become the starting point for the enemy to launch waves of attacks on the garrisoned camp...
It can only be said that Claude was very lucky. This is why General Michelich believes that the victory of Squirrel Village is a miraculous victory that cannot be replicated. He suggested that the students in the advanced seminar class can use this battle as a reference, but it is not necessary. Do in-depth research.
Compared with the victory at Squirrel Village, General Michelich believed that the battle to capture Wilf Hill deserved more attention. Because of this battle, the kingdom's army changed the traditional method of marching in formation. The Obash Type III standard matchlock gun, which was ignored before the war, was called a crooked-neck musket by the soldiers and was not affected by the war. The popular precision aiming and shooting muskets attracted the attention of the Kingdom's army and became a hot commodity. They shined in attacking the enemy's defensive positions and greatly reduced the casualties of the Kingdom's army.
General Michelich said that the enemy's dissatisfied light cavalry regiment, with less than 3,000 men, captured Wilf Hill in a surprise attack and used the weapons and equipment on the position to resist the attack of the troops commanded by Prince Hansback. Before Claude and the others went into battle, the Kingdom launched seven attacks on Wilf Hill. They all used traditional tactics, which was to march in formation, arrive dozens of meters in front of the enemy's defensive position, then fire in unison, and then fire again. Charge.
However, due to the limitations of the terrain, the enemies on the defensive positions also lined up and fired at the attacking troops. They were condescending. In addition, four captured light infantry field artillery covered the 100-meter range in front of the defensive positions with canisters, and even the royal army There was no way to close the distance and rush to the position. Seven attacks resulted in more than 5,000 casualties. It seemed that the only way to win was to continue and uninterrupted attacks, using the lives of soldiers to consume the enemy's artillery fire and Ammunition reserves make it possible to capture the enemy's defensive positions.
"If we still attack according to traditional tactics, the staff after the war estimated that we would have to add in the lives of five to six thousand soldiers to capture Wilf Hill. But at that time, it was no longer a matter of victory or not, but ours. The soldiers will collapse first. Because at that time, the eldest prince commanded the local security battalions instead of the second-line army. Their fighting will and spirit of sacrifice were not as tenacious and brave as we imagined...
But at this moment, the ranger battalion led by Claude, who was still a master sergeant at the time, gave us an unexpected surprise. As we all know, the Grand Prince established the Ranger Battalion as an experimental independent combat unit, just to deal with the rampant enemy reconnaissance cavalry on the battlefield, and to use the precise aiming performance of the Obash III standard matchlock gun to ambush the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry. , achieved great results.
What I didn't expect was that during the attack on the enemy's position, the Ranger Battalion was able to suppress the enemy's defensive firepower with the precise aim and shooting of the Obash Type III matchlock guns, and cover the subsequent troops who rushed to the position to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. , thereby capturing the enemy's defensive positions. This method of tactics quickly broke the stalemate situation in which the enemy's solid and complete defensive positions on the front line could not be attacked for a long time, and greatly reduced the casualties of the kingdom's army... "
Speaking of this, General Michelich said with a very serious face: "If it were not for the inspiration gained in the battle of Wilf Ridge, our Highness the Prince would have ordered all the legions on the front line to stop using traditional tactics to attack the enemy's defensive positions. , and vigorously promoted the Obash Type III standard matchlock gun, perhaps we would still have stayed at the border of the Principality of Rimodra when our armistice and peace agreement was signed. Because at that time, the ban led four second-line legions to attack the enemy's defensive positions. The Guards Corps had suffered heavy casualties and lost nearly half of its troops, and was unable to launch another attack.
The funny thing is that the enemy is better at summarizing experience and lessons than we are. They are better at learning from the changes in our kingdom's army and correcting their shortcomings. After we used the precise aiming and shooting performance of the Obas III standard matchlock gun to suppress the defensive firepower on the enemy's position, we successfully captured the enemy's defensive position at the cost of very few casualties and broke through the defensive lines. At that time, it only took the enemy three months to launch their precision aiming and shooting muskets. Even though the performance was not as good as the Obas III standard matchlock gun of our kingdom, it still gave us great advantages in position defense battles. Caused a lot of casualties...
At this time, the royal army and many officers of the legion were still trying to reject the promotion and application of the Obas III type matchlock gun in the army, insisting on using traditional tactics to attack the enemy's defensive positions, and their efforts were in vain. More lives of the Kingdom's soldiers, this is simply the biggest crime committed against the Kingdom's army! Although they have all been punished after the war, the damage they caused to the kingdom's army is permanent... "
Looking around at the twenty-six officers who stood solemnly, General Michelic nodded slightly: "The reason why I recruited you to the military academy to hold this advanced seminar is that you all put forward different ideas on the application of precision aiming and shooting performance muskets during the war. They have their own unique strategic vision in offensive and defensive warfare. Therefore, the Ranger Division that is about to be formed will become the target for you to practice various tactics.
The Kingdom needs you to use your talents, learn from the experience and lessons of this war, and develop strategies and tactics that are more suitable for future wars, so as to avoid the recurrence of the tragedies and failures in this war. This is our responsibility as soldiers of the Kingdom. Responsibilities and missions. In the next year or so, you will have enough time to study and practice various tactics and tactics. I believe you will not let the kingdom down... "
Almost all the officers raised their hands and saluted at the same time: "I am willing to serve the kingdom, fulfill my duties faithfully, and fulfill my mission!"
Okay, although the slogan is a bit out of place, it is also the standard response oath for officers in the Kingdom's army. Claude also raised his hands in salute and shouted slogans, but he was thinking in his heart that it was finally over, it was getting dark, and he could go to eat...
This is the first day of the advanced seminar. General Michelich said that tomorrow the archives will move all the battle reports, files, battle cases and other copied materials in the five years of war and place them in the confidential archives. , all students in the advanced seminar class have the right to read and copy, but these archives are not allowed to be leaked to the outside world.
Each student can select archival materials that he is interested in for research and discussion, and copy relevant data and battle summaries from them. After the rainy season arrives in March, there is no need to come to the seminar room of the military academy. They can write summary of battle cases and improvement plans at their respective residences in the villa area. Come back on April 1st to submit the written report, which will be commented by General Michelci. And organize everyone to discuss and comment on the submitted text reports. In the following days, sandbox military exercises and battle drills will be conducted based on these written reports...