"We failed." The legion commander's face was very pale and haggard. As the day and night passed, he seemed to have aged twenty years suddenly, like a dying old man in his seventies or eighties: "We have been calculated from the beginning. The enemy's The commander is a conspirator who is proficient in tactics. He used the defensive position initially against our light cavalry assault to force us to give up our strengths. At the same time, he used our captured prisoners of war to dig trenches to attract our attention and make us adopt the strategy. We unknowingly stepped into a trap by digging trenches and dismounting to fight.
Only now do I understand that the enemy has invested so many troops in the trench defense circle for more than half a month, even at the cost of so many casualties, in the hope that we will mistakenly believe that we can defeat them as long as we work harder. , captured the bivouac, thus putting all combat readiness forces into this trench warfare, no longer paying attention to the defense of the base camp, and creating opportunities for sneak attacks for their ambush troops outside. I have to admit that the enemy's layout was so perfect that we didn't notice it at all. Instead, we always thought that all the enemy's troops were in this camp.
We captured the enemy's camp, but our entire army was annihilated. Is there any more ridiculous victory than this? It's not that our soldiers were not brave in fighting, nor that our officers were not decisive in their command, it was just that all this was expected by the enemy. They gave up their positions and evacuated neatly, leaving not a single body or a single wounded person. The entire campsite had been swept away, except for the tents, not even a single useful thing was left. While our soldiers cheered for capturing this empty camping ground, the enemy turned around and captured our base camp where supplies were stored.
Give up! We are now running out of food and ammunition, and all the warriors who were unwilling to be prisoners have died in front of the trench walls of the base camp. It is a pity that they did not achieve their last wish. They counterattacked the camp and recaptured our reserves. The remaining children had been hungry for a day and a night, and the muskets and artillery in their hands had run out of ammunition. Send someone to surrender. As long as you can save your life, even if you do hard labor for a few years, there is always hope of returning to your hometown. It is better than dying here in battle. It was me, the incompetent legion commander, who led them to this point. , it’s all my fault.”
The legion commander took one last look at the dejected officers around him, then resolutely turned around and walked off the wall. There was an atmosphere of sadness and despair everywhere in the camp. The injured soldiers were placed in the corner with bandages on their wounds, but the sounds of crying and screams kept echoing over the camp. They can only pray for the God of War's blessing, because they have no healing potion and cannot get any treatment.
Ten minutes later, a faint gunshot rang out in the campsite. Soon, the legion commander's orderly ran to the wall in horror and told the officers who had been staying on the wall the sad news. Just a few minutes ago, the legion commander who returned to the main tent put his beloved ivory-handled blunderbuss into his mouth and pulled the trigger.
The senior officers of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps who learned this unfortunate news all breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, everyone had a clear understanding when the Corps Commander left the wall, but no one was willing to come out to dissuade him. Now that the legion commander has committed suicide, he has become the perfect person to take the blame for the annihilation of the entire army. Then surrendering to the enemy's Thunder Division can be said to be the legion commander's last order, without the rest of the legion officers having to bear the burden of this greedy person. of guilt and the responsibility of surrender.
On August 23, 589th year of the Holy Light Calendar, after a month of fierce fighting, the Thunder Division of the Overseas Directly Administered Territory of the Nubisia Continent of the Kingdom of Ovilas, the supreme commander in the theater, Major General of the Kingdom, Claude Under the leadership of Honorable Baron Hanfield, they fought three battles and achieved three victories, annihilating more than 62,000 volunteer light cavalry regiments hired by the Kingdom of Hicks and formed by retired soldiers from the Principality of Karrnus in the Albato Prairie.
Note: More than 3,000 of them are hired servants and are not included in the legion's combat effectiveness.
This is recorded in the history of Faslan warfare: This victory, known as the Battle of the Buffalo, showed General Claude's military talent and proved the correctness of Marshal Michelchi in recommending him to succeed him as the supreme commander of the theater.
At the beginning of the battle, General Claude commanded the Thunder Division to use sneak attack and storm attack tactics to capture two camps set up by the enemy to hunt the bison herds migrating from the Albato prairie with very slight casualties, and eliminated and More than 24,000 men and horses from the four main field regiments of the Volunteer Light Cavalry were captured.
But at the same time, the subsequent large forces of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps arrived and blocked the Thunder Division, which was carrying a large amount of loot and 7,000 prisoners, in the camp on the east side. At that time, the strength comparison between the two sides was 37,000 to 22,000, and the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps had the advantage.
General Claude commanded the Thunder Division to set up trench defense positions with the camp as the defense center, and made special defense arrangements for the light cavalry assault tactics of the Principality of Karnas, allowing the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps to launch the first light cavalry test. The sexual assault failed and resulted in heavy casualties. Later, a large number of prisoners were sent to dig trenches, which stimulated the commanders of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps to make the decision to dismount and fight on foot and dig trenches to advance.
In the trench warfare that lasted for more than half a month, Claude insisted on investing a large number of troops in the trench warfare. With brutal melee and heavy casualties, the commanders of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps were convinced that the Thunder Division in front of them was The whole regiment is here. In order to win the victory and finally eliminate the Thunder Division, the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps put all its reserve forces into the attack step by step, advancing step by step towards the camp occupied by the Thunder Division. At that time, all the officers of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps were very convinced that victory in this battle was close at hand.
It was just that when the commanders of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps put all their combat readiness into the attack, they unknowingly relaxed the defense of their base camp. At this time, General Claude had made all preparations before the attack. He ordered the 1301st Thunder Regiment hidden outside to join the 131st Guerrilla Battalion, the division's most elite assault force, to wait for an opportunity to launch an attack on the enemy's camp. As for himself, he stayed in the camp to direct the defensive operations, buying time for the division's logistics department to transfer all excess logistics supplies, wounded soldiers, and prisoners.
Two days later, Claude commanded the defense troops to take the wounded and the remains of the dead soldiers, mount their horses and evacuate the camp, leaving the defensive position that had been held for more than half a month. When the officers and soldiers of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Regiment who successfully scaled the wall of the bivouac were celebrating their victory in this battle with heavy casualties, they did not know that they had only occupied an empty bivouac.
Just as the soldiers of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps on all battlefields flocked to the campsite to celebrate their victory, the ambush troops of the Thunder Division lurked outside and raided the base camp of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps. They sent a small team of troops to pretend to be the scout light cavalry team of the volunteer light cavalry regiment that was out for reconnaissance, and successfully sneaked into the enemy's camp. They easily cleared the outposts and patrol teams in the rear camp, and opened the camp door wide to allow the follow-up troops to enter the camp.
The result of this was that the entire rear camp of the camp was occupied by the ambush troops of the Thunder Division, but the remaining troops of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps in the front and middle camp were not aware of it at all. As a result, when the ambush troops of the Thunder Division were integrated and launched a surprise attack on the front camp, the remaining troops were left behind. The troops were caught off guard and had no resistance at all. They easily occupied the entire base camp and left all the supplies, grain, ammunition and horses to the Thunder Division.
The loss of the base camp meant that the victory of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps became a big joke, because except for the tents that had not been dismantled, there was no useful thing found in the bivouac they occupied. The logistics department of the Thunder Division cleaned the entire camp so clean when they evacuated that not even a broken can could be found.
So much so that when the volunteer light cavalry regiment was preparing to launch a counterattack on the camp the next morning in an attempt to retake the base camp, the brave soldiers who were preparing to fight could not even drink a piece of horse meat soup, and could only drink a piece of horse meat in cow dung. He roasted them casually on the campfire and stuffed them into his mouth. He drank a few mouthfuls of ground water to satisfy his stomach and then went to the battlefield. In the end, he collapsed in front of the camp.
The most exciting part of this battle is the time General Claude chose to evacuate the camp and capture the enemy's camp, at three o'clock in the afternoon. This time, for the attackers who had been fighting fiercely for a day, was like a tube of stimulant. The enemy fled and finally captured the enemy's position and won the victory. For the soldiers of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps, they didn't care about anything. They only knew to celebrate and cheer on the battlefield, so they flocked to the camp.
But after the celebration and cheers, they were extremely exhausted. The bad news that the base camp had been captured by the enemy was like a heavy blow to them, and it was easy for the soldiers to fall into a state of depression with very low morale. Under such circumstances, even if the legion commander wants to organize his troops to counterattack immediately, not many soldiers can handle it. They need a good rest to restore their energy and physical strength.
However, the captured camp of the Thunder Division did not have any food, grass and ammunition. However, the camp was not polluted in any way, and even the wooden barrels used to fetch water were there. Unfortunately, there was not a pot or a jar in the entire camp, so the soldiers could only drink some cold water to sleep.
The Thunder Division, which captured the base camp of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps, avoided the enemy's immediate counterattack and had enough time to set up night defenses, clean up the entire camp, and eliminate hidden dangers. As the remaining troops of the Thunder Division moved to the main camp overnight, the defense of the entire camp became tighter, and the balance of the entire battle was fully tilted towards the Thunder Division.
Early the next morning, only a small force of the Hope Thunder Division attacked the commanders of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps who had captured the base camp, slaughtered more than a hundred of their horses, and gathered more than 3,000 of the most elite soldiers and grassroots officers. Each person shared a piece of horse meat, roasted it on the campfire to satisfy their stomach, and then launched an attack on the base camp occupied by the Thunder Division. But their hopes were shattered. Most of the more than 3,000 soldiers fell in front of the camp, and no one could rush in.
The disastrous defeat in this battle meant the end of the entire Buffalo Campaign, and the complete annihilation of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps was inevitable. In addition to the lack of food and grass, most of their ammunition reserves were in the base camp. Many soldiers only had one or two rounds of ammunition left in their muskets. Although there was water, there was a lack of food. Even the bison herds had long gone away due to the battle for more than half a month, leaving only a mud-like wilderness with very little grass.
The most painful thing was that in order to attack the camp, the volunteer light cavalry regiment changed from riding to foot. Without their horses, everyone was trapped in the camp. The Thunder Division reverted to light cavalry and could monitor from a distance until all volunteer light cavalry regiments starved to death.
Therefore, when the commander of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps committed suicide, the remaining regiment officers led more than 26,000 soldiers to surrender to the Thunder Division. The Battle of the Buffalo ended with the complete annihilation of the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps. In this battle, the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps suffered more than 17,000 casualties, including more than 6,000 killed in battle, and more than 10,000 people were seriously injured or disabled. The Thunder Legion suffered more than 8,000 casualties, with more than 3,000 killed and nearly 5,000 injured. The casualty ratio between the two sides was 2.2 to 1.
For Claude, the Thunder Division is also close to being severely damaged. Although it is an enhanced division with a full strength of more than 32,000 people, its combat force strength is only nearly 30,000 people with four regiments and six battalions. The remaining Although more than two thousand of them are soldiers, they are civilian and auxiliary and have little combat effectiveness. From the sneak attack on the enemy's camp to the forced landing of the enemy's follow-up troops, the Thunder Division suffered nearly 10,000 casualties, losing almost one-third of its combat strength.
However, the harvest was quite generous. Needless to say, grain, grass and ammunition, more than 50,000 war horses and pack horses alone were an enviable huge asset. If Claude is willing to sell these pack horses and war horses, he can immediately obtain a sum of more than 200,000 gold crowns, which can also meet the needs of civilian transportation capacity in the entire theater.
It's just that Claude also felt his biggest shortcoming from this battle with the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps, which was that the combat power was very different from the previous Ranger Division. This is inevitable. The Ranger Division was originally composed of elite armed forces from the five-year war in the eastern region.
Although the current Thunder Division has transferred to the 131st Ranger Regiment as the backbone, most of the subsequent personnel who joined are soldiers of suitable age selected from the overseas field corps and retired soldiers who immigrated. Even after half a year of training, their The military quality is much worse than that of the elites who join the Ranger Division.
Seriously comparing, Claude believes that the current combat power of the Thunder Division is on the same level as the four ace field legions of the Kingdom, and may be worse than the Guards Legion. That's why there were so many casualties in this battle. When commanding the defense, there was often a feeling of insufficient troops.
So what Claude is currently thinking about is whether to transfer another division from the war zone to form the Thunder Second Division. In the past, when Marshal Michelich formulated the defense plan for the five divisions, he was limited to the equipment of the Ranger Corps, that is, the number of war horses could only equip one division. So he named this division Thunder and handed it over to Claude because Claude was the best at attacking.
The 1st and 2nd Rock Corps are the guarantee used by Marshal Michelich to implement positional defense and bring down the Kingdom of Hicks, while the 1st and 2nd Reserve Divisions are used to supplement the reserve forces lost in the frontline battle. They are just two The division commander disliked the unsound names of the reserves, so he changed them to the 3rd and 4th Panshi Corps, but in fact they were still reserve forces, playing a soy sauce role.
Claude has now captured nearly 50,000 war horses and pack horses from the Volunteer Light Cavalry Corps. He can completely form a second Thunder Division to cooperate with him in the battle and make up for the lack of combat power and lack of troops. However, we need to go back and summon the four division commanders to discuss this first to see which division is more suitable.
At this moment, McJack came in, holding a Falcon message in his hand: "General, Colonel Andrewk is back, bringing 5,000 grenades, and the 3rd Rock Division also followed him."
Claude was startled: "The Third Rock Division? General Albert? Why is he leading the team here?"
McJack replied: "The Falcon message said that General Albert was leading the Third Rock Division to conduct long-distance training."
Claude curled his lips and said, "What a bastard. This guy just came here to see if there were any bargains to be found. He was bored at the back and wanted to join in the fun and get some military exploits."
McJack laughed: "General, it's actually a good thing that they are here. We can just hand over the prisoners to them, and then take the troops to the Crowell Territory to have a look. Didn't those senior officers of the Principality of Karnas confess to that? , didn’t the volunteer field regiment of the Kingdom of Nasseri also arrive at the ruins of Wickham Castle and prepare to re-establish a logistics supply base there?”