With a clang, the gold-forged telescope with intricate carvings fell onto the boulder, its lens cracked.
Prince Hansbach stared at the rows of soldiers lying on the ground on the hillside of Wilf Hill, not understanding what was going on.
Not only him, but all the attendants and soldiers watching the battle from the rear were also dumbfounded. They stared blankly at the battlefield. The battle had suddenly become very strange.
First, the attacking formation was fired upon by the enemy in the defensive position, causing them to suffer heavy casualties. They could clearly see that the first few rows of soldiers were almost wiped out.
But then, Lieutenant Colonel Rosler, who was in charge of the attack, waved his sword and ordered the soldiers in the back to fill in the gaps. They rearranged their formation and launched another attack.
Everything was still normal at this time.
When the enemies in the defensive position were ready to fire again, Lieutenant Colonel Rossler, who had retreated to the side of the formation, suddenly had a large bubble cover appear on his body. It shone with a colorful light under the sunlight and attracted the attention of the enemies. As a result, he was shot by the enemies and turned into a hornet's nest …
If there were any officers present, they would have immediately taken over the responsibility of commanding the attack and charged forward while the enemy was firing.
However, starting from the first row of soldiers, they suddenly lay down on the ground, and the soldiers behind them followed suit and lay down on the ground in rows.
Only a dozen low-ranking officers were left on the hillside battlefield, staring at the soldiers lying on the ground in a daze. A few officers hesitated for a moment before also lying on the ground. After that, the remaining officers also lay on the ground …
If the prince was on the hillside, he would understand why the officers were lying down.
If they didn't lie down, they would become targets for the enemy in the defensive position on Wilf Hill. It was also a kind of herd mentality. Why should I stand when everyone is lying down? The order to lie down had come from the front. Although they did not know what was going on, there was nothing wrong with obeying orders. Besides, lying down was better than dying standing up, and there was a sense of security in lying down.
Now, only the guards of the prince were left, standing in a neat formation 300 meters away and firing at the enemy position.
In addition to this, the soldiers lying prone on the ground raised their muskets and opened fire on the enemy's position, beginning with the foremost and followed by those lying prone on the ground in the rear, raising their muskets and opening fire on the enemy's position on Wilf Hill.
White smoke quickly filled the entire hillside, forming a vast expanse of white.
"What the hell is going on?"
Prince Hansbach flew into a rage. "How can Rosler know magic? Why are the soldiers lying on the ground? Can someone give me an explanation?"
Prince Hansbach had been very confident in this attack. Rosler had already led the attack twice, but now, he was at the center of it all.
According to his report, there were only about five or six hundred enemy troops left on Wilf Hill, and the previous five assaults had consumed a great deal of the artillery reserves of the position. So long as they persisted in launching one or two more assaults, Wilf Hill would certainly be recaptured.
Prince Hansbach could not agree more. The enemy had only started firing when they were 500 feet away. They had only fired six rounds before stopping. This gave the prince a lot of confidence.
The enemy had used up too much ammunition and had no supplies. With their superior numbers, recapturing the position was not a dream.
As for the number of casualties, that was not within the prince's consideration at the moment.
The enemy on Wilf Hill also began to panic. They had never encountered such a situation before.
The enemy lying on the ground did not advance, so the four cannons loaded with cannons lost their effectiveness. They could not hit the enemy because they were not close enough.
Meanwhile, the soldiers lined up in the formation became the target of the enemy battalion 300 meters away. Although they only brought about a few casualties every time they fired, no one could bear to just stand there and be a target!
The most infuriating were the enemies lying on the hillside. If you didn't want to die, just lie there. Why did you have to shoot?
The first round of shooting had already caused dozens of soldiers to fall, and the crews of the four cannons were almost wiped out.
To the soldiers of Nasri, it was fine to lie on the ground and shoot, but they had to stand up to reload the cannons. As long as they stood up, they would be able to retaliate.
But the problem was that the enemies were still lying there. Not a single one of them was willing to stand up. Instead, dozens of muskets continued to fire.
Almost every time a gunshot rang out, a soldier in the defensive formation would fall to the ground. As for the four cannons, no one was willing to go near them anymore. Anyone who appeared near the cannons would become a target of multiple muskets.
Claude was the one giving the orders. He was now the commander on the frontline.
With Rosler's death, the soldiers in the first few rows followed his orders. The first lieutenants and second lieutenants at the back didn't want to challenge his authority either. No one was willing to throw their lives away.
There were still close to a hundred soldiers in the Ranger Battalion, some of whom were injured.
The sergeant major behind Claude was the one Claude knew. He was the one who called Rosler a brat.
He had wanted to pretend to be injured to save his own life, but he didn't expect Claude to order them to lie down. As he did so, he passed the order down to the rest of his men.
Claude looked up and saw about 20 of his men still alive. Berklin was lucky to be unscathed. Dyavid, on the other hand, was lying on the side with a bandage on his arm and half of his body covered in blood. However, he seemed to be in a good state of mind as he commanded the remaining three or four of his men to reload their ammunition and open fire.
"You, go down and bring me the same musket as mine."
Claude reloaded his musket as he kicked the soldier in his thirties who was praying to the god of war.
"Oh."
The soldier stopped praying and tried to get up. Claude pulled him back. "Do you want to die? Get down on the ground. Don't stand up and become a target."
"Shashili!" Claude called out to the chief petty officer behind him.
"What?" The old man was also reloading his musket on the ground. His movements were rather slow.
"Pass it down. Have the soldiers at the back bring up our muskets. Have them prepare to charge with their bayonets!" Claude said.
"Charge? Are you crazy? Just stay on the ground and fire properly. Why would you charge to your deaths?" the old man cursed.
Claude kicked him on the shoulder angrily. "How are we supposed to occupy the position if we don't charge? If we retreat and attack, won't we just be throwing our lives away?
We might as well take a gamble now. That way, things won't be so troublesome.
Besides, I didn't ask you to charge. Just stay on the ground and cover for me. Let the soldiers from the other battalions charge. "
"Got it." The old man nodded. "Alright, I'll listen to you. I'll pass it down and have them prepare their bayonets."
Without asking Claude how he planned to occupy the position, the eldest prince, who was at the back, gave an annoyed order. "Sound the horn. Have the people up there retreat. We'll form up and attack."
"Wait, Your Highness. Take a look at the situation up there. Our men are attacking," Skri said as he handed the bronze telescope to Hansbach.
"Firing on the ground counts as an attack?"
The eldest prince mocked, but he still asked the orderly to wait. He took the telescope from Skri and prepared to see what was going on.
"Huh?
Why are they putting their bayonets on? "
Hansbach muttered. The first two rows of soldiers at the front took aim and fired. They handed the finished muskets to the soldiers beside them while they took the reloaded musket and fired again.
"They're still reloading their muskets on the ground?"
The eldest prince recalled the training he had seen at the entrance of the mountain path, where Sergeant Ke something had given his platoon.
Through the binoculars, one could clearly see that the first two rows of soldiers were all wielding Aubass mark 3 matchlock muskets, while the soldiers behind wielding Aubass mark 2 matchlock muskets were equipped with bayonets, slowly creeping forward on the hillside …..
Hansbach looked through the telescope at the enemy defensive position on Wilf Hill and his mouth opened wide in shock.
It was too surprising. The enemies who were lined up in a neat formation to fire together had disappeared. Most of them were hiding behind various defensive facilities and firing randomly. However, they did not pose any threat to the attacking team lying on the hillside.
Instead, the exposed enemies were hit by the bullets from the bottom of the slope and fell to the ground struggling for their lives.
"So, so this is the true use of the aubass mark 3 muskets …" Hansbach finally understood. Damn it, I almost went down the wrong path. I thought that these accurate muskets could only be used in defensive battles. I didn't think that they could be used to suppress the enemy's counterattack and prevent them from defending effectively.
"Their cannons can't be used …" It was obvious. The corpses around the four cannons proved it. Any enemy who appeared next to the cannons would be shot by several muskets.
As for lining up to fire in unison, that was a joke. They were just there to be targets for the soldiers on the slope.
Hansbach was getting more and more excited. "Damn Rossler. Why did I put that idiot in charge of the Ranger Battalion?
He didn't report such an effective method to me. Damn it! "
After a long while, Hansbach remembered that Rossler had been shot full of holes. "Good for him, that idiot!
If I'd used this method earlier, Wilfgang would've been taken back long ago and I wouldn't have had to sacrifice so many soldiers … "
Only then did Hansbach remember the corpses strewn all over the slope behind him. His heart sank.
Captain Skri pursed his lips and thought to himself, 'Just an hour ago, you were praising Lieutenant Colonel Rossler for being a brave soldier, possessing extraordinary courage and leading the way.'
He had also promised to promote him to the rank of colonel, and to assume the command of a regiment, if Wilf Hill was recaptured.
"Becker, Dide, Shashly, command the Ranger Battalion to continue firing and provide cover for us.
Remember, the first target is the cannons! "Claude ordered.
"Yes!"
"Understood …"
"Understood!"
The three of them replied in three different ways.
"Follow me! Charge!" Claude got up and charged forward with his back bent.
But no one followed him. Most of the soldiers with bayonets on them were still hesitating.
Claude took about ten steps forward and looked back. He was sweating profusely. There were only three or four people behind him. Most of the soldiers were still lying on the ground.
"Brothers, retreating is punishable by military law. It's still a dead end!
We can only move forward!
Only by moving forward will we be able to survive!
Get your bayonets and follow me! Charge! "
Claude's roar snapped the low-ranking officers out of their stupor. They knew that the prince was watching them from behind. If they didn't do something now, they would be punished by military law when they retreated.
Claude was right. The enemy had already been suppressed by the firing from the front. It was the perfect time for them to engage in melee combat.
So, they hurriedly got up and ordered the soldiers to charge forward.
The enemies in the defensive positions heard Claude's roar and many of them fired their muskets at the cannons. Some fearless ones charged towards the cannons, but they were all shot down by the bullets from the bottom of the slope.
A few stray bullets flew past Claude's body and two soldiers who were running forward were hit and fell to the ground.
"Move faster! Bend down! Don't be a target!
Guns are fools, bayonets are heroes. Don't be afraid, the enemy is a bunch of cowards. They'll run if we charge! "Claude yelled as he urged the soldiers to charge forward. He knelt down and fired at an enemy who was in a rush to reload his gun. The enemy fell to the ground.
Claude raised his bayonet and charged forward while crouching.
"They're going up! They're going up!"
The scene of the soldiers charging up the defensive positions and engaging the enemy with bayonets could be seen through the binoculars. Prince Hansbach danced with joy. "Send the order for the guards to charge up as well. Be quick!"
"Yes!
Your Highness! "