This was a fortified position with perfect defensive facilities. In the eyes of the new Supreme Commander of the war zone, General Alsace, he had seen a lot of such defensive positions. In the war in the eastern region five years ago, many of the enemy's defensive positions were worse than this one, but they still caused the imperial guard corps to suffer heavy casualties.
"A battalion of troops is enough to defend such a position against a regiment of attackers.
How many people are you going to send for this drill, and how many casualties do you expect to suffer? "
General Aljes gave an expert evaluation and turned to ask General Bolonik and General Sevict who were beside him.
Early this morning, General Aljes took a large group of attendants and accompanied by General Bolonik to inspect General Sevict's Second Monolith Division. He asked General Sevict to command the troops to conduct an on-site offensive and defensive drill to evaluate the offensive combat power of the Second Monolith Division.
He personally took some people to the defensive position to inspect in case there were any omissions.
Many soldiers were placing scarecrows in the trenches and beside the earthen ramparts. At the same time, they set up eight wooden cannon models on the position.
There were a thousand soldiers in a battalion. Of course, they wouldn't place a thousand scarecrows on the position. Instead, they used one scarecrow to replace a squad of twelve people. This way, they only needed to place a hundred scarecrows on the defensive position.
"I'm going to use a battalion to attack …" General Sevict replied.
General Aljes nodded. "Very good. You are more stable and the tactics you adopt are also very orthodox. This is a good point.
First, we use a battalion to launch a probing attack. This is enough to test the location of most of the enemy's firepower on the defensive position. Then, the second attack can avoid the artillery on the defensive position and reduce the casualties of the soldiers. We can find the weakness of the enemy's position and concentrate our forces to launch an attack. It is indeed possible to break through the enemy's defensive position with the least casualties … "
General Sevict looked at General Bolonik who was next to General Aljes as if he wanted to refute something.
General Bolonik shook his head slightly. General Sevict took a deep breath and nodded to General Aljes. "General, I'll go take command first. Please watch our offensive drill here and guide and evaluate our soldiers after the battle.
By the way, General, when are we going to attack? "
"Actually, the best time to launch an attack is at night, because the attackers can use the cover of the night to get closer to the defensive position, and the defenders' sentries' line of sight will be greatly reduced due to the illumination of the bonfire in front of the position.
Sometimes, on a windy night, the flickering of the fire would even distract the sentries and guards, making it more suitable for the attackers to launch a surprise attack. "
General Algers explained in a very professional manner, "But since General Sevict is going to send a company to launch a tentative attack, then the night is not a good time to clearly record the firepower of the defensive position.
Let's set the time of the attack at around two o'clock in the afternoon during the day. We can use a probing attack and two feints to delay the time until nightfall. At that time, we can launch the real decisive surprise attack … "
General Sevict turned his head and left. General Bolonik happened to receive a report from his adjutant and also left General Aljes' side.
Therefore, several field officers of the Imperial Guard Division who came with General Aljess gathered around the General. A Lieutenant Colonel smiled and said, "General, the Monolith Division Commander of the Second Monolith Division seems to be a little dissatisfied with your comments. He doesn't seem to take it seriously …"
Another colonel of the royal guards shook his head and said, "No matter what, they are a second-line defensive force. They don't understand the difficulty of attacking on the battlefield.
I suspect that they don't even practice offensive drills in their daily training. This defensive battle is likely to turn into a farce.
Maybe they think that they only need to launch a charge to smoothly rush to the defensive position. That way, they will successfully capture the defensive position … "
General Algers did not stop his officers from ridiculing him. After a while, he said, "Alright, shut up and watch the drill. Even if you want to accuse others, you have to find solid evidence instead of making empty accusations."
A lieutenant colonel of the Monolith Second Division ran over and saluted in front of General Aljes. He reported loudly, "General, according to your instructions, the Monolith Second Division is scheduled to attack the enemy's defensive position at two o 'clock in the afternoon. Now there are two minutes left before the attack.
I am Lieutenant Colonel Pombeck, the head of the staff office of the division headquarters. Please allow me to explain this defensive drill to you. "
General Aljes smiled and waved his hand. "There's no need to explain. We can see this small offensive drill very clearly from here. There's no need to explain anything."
"Yes."
Since General Aljes said there was no need to explain, the lieutenant colonel named Pombeck was very straightforward. He saluted again and retreated.
It was about ten o 'clock in the morning, but the assumed attack time was two o' clock in the afternoon. Of course, it was impossible to let everyone wait until two o 'clock.
Soon, a sharp brass whistle was heard, which meant that the attack had begun.
The soldiers of the Monolith Second Division appeared in groups of two in front of the crowd watching the attack drill, but they were too far apart.
Many officers of the Royal Guard Corps had already begun to shake their heads. With such a distance, even if the defenders let them rush to the position, they would still be in a situation where they were outnumbered because they did not have any comrades to cooperate with. This was simply giving their lives to the enemy.
The second-line troops were indeed second-line troops. This battle coordination was really bad …
There were only about a hundred of these soldiers, and they were divided into about fifty groups of two, one in front and one in the back.
Their running posture was very strange. They bent their backs and lowered their bodies as they sprinted forward sideways.
Immediately, an officer saw it and took a deep breath. "Hey, this running posture is very particular. It's very difficult to aim. Cannons can't hit accurately like this unless they fire all at once.
But that would only be against two enemies. No one would use this method … "
However, when these soldiers were about 150 meters away from the defensive position, they dropped to the ground and started to crawl forward. When they were about 100 meters away, they took out a small shovel and dug a hole in the ground, burying themselves in the hole. This made the officers of the Royal Guard Corps watching the attack drill confused. "What are they trying to do?"
Soon, the officers of the Royal Guard Corps knew what they were doing. These soldiers dug the holes very quickly, and the two of them only took a few minutes to finish.
Other than a small half of the holes that were still being dug, the soldiers who had already dug the holes took out their muskets from the holes and aimed at the scarecrows and wooden targets on the defensive position and started shooting.
From the monocular, they could clearly see the scarecrows and wooden targets on the defensive position swaying and the marks left by the bullets.
The officers of the Royal Guard Corps came to a sudden realization. These soldiers were all sharpshooters. They dug the holes to set up shooting positions to suppress the defenders on the defensive position.
They had never seen such a method of fighting before. Sending so many sharpshooters in the first wave of attack.
In the attack mode of the Royal Guard Corps, it was basically the normal soldiers who charged forward to cover the sharpshooters as they approached the enemy's defensive position. They would find a good hiding position before shooting to suppress the enemies on the defensive position.
These sharpshooters were scattered among the various squads or platoons. No one had ever thought of gathering the sharpshooters together to use them …
"So that's how it is. These 100 sharpshooters have basically suppressed the defenders on the defensive position. Any defender who wants to fire back will have to risk being shot to death."
One of the Royal Guard Corps officers sighed. This tactic of sharpshooters was using the excellent performance of the Aubass Mark 3 standard matchlock that the Kingdom's army was equipped with. In other words, it was using the effective range of 100 meters to accurately aim and shoot to bully the enemy.
Another sharp copper whistle sounded. This time, there were fewer soldiers attacking. There were only about 60 of them, and they were also in groups of two.
A sharp-eyed officer of the Royal Guard Corps noticed that the soldier running at the back seemed to be carrying a strange metal rack on his back.
This second wave of soldiers was just like the first wave of soldiers. They crawled on the ground about 150 meters away from the defensive position and wriggled their bodies forward like earthworms.
However, after crawling past the 100 meters of the holes dug by the sharpshooters, they continued to move forward. They only stopped when they were about 60 to 70 meters away from the defensive position. They also took out small shovels and dug holes desperately, piling up the soil in front of them to cover the two of them …
"What are they doing?"
The officers of the Royal Guard Corps were confused. Were the people of the Monolith Second Division addicted to digging holes?
Or were they planning to dig holes from a distance of 30 to 40 meters all the way to the defensive position? No one could imagine what effect digging such a large hole from such a short distance could have in an attack.
"If I were the commander of the defenders, I would have the soldiers in the trenches prepare for hand-to-hand combat and hide in the trenches.
Order the cannons to retreat 20 to 30 meters, lengthen the depth of the defensive position, and make the accurate shots of the sharpshooters a hundred meters away lose effect. Then, use the cannons to aim at the holes in front of the defensive position and fire … "An officer of the Royal Guard Corps said while stroking his beard.
Another officer shook his head. "It's useless. Didn't you see the soldiers digging the holes piling up the soil in front of them to protect the cannons and guns?
Besides, cannons aren't muskets. They can't be accurately aimed. For a hole this big, I think you can only hit it once or twice even if you fire ten times. The attackers have dug 35 holes in front of the defensive position. How long are you going to keep fighting … Strange, why are they still digging … "
The officers of the Royal Guard who were watching the drill used their binoculars to see that the holes only 60 to 70 meters away from the defensive position were still filled with soil. That hole was big enough to hide three or four people. What was the point of these soldiers digging such a big hole?
The third sharp whistle sounded. This time, there were fewer soldiers attacking, only 30 to 40 of them.
These soldiers did not carry guns, but instead carried bulging satchels on their left and right sides. Just like the soldiers who attacked the previous two times, they crawled on the ground when they were 150 meters away from the defensive position, and quickly crawled towards the huge pit in front of them that was still being dug.
When the soldier with the satchel entered the hole, the soldier with the strange metal frame set it up in the hole. Then, the soldier with the satchel took out a black object from the satchel and placed it on the metal frame.
The other soldier stopped digging and started firing at the defensive position with a flamethrower.
When the fourth sharp whistle sounded, a black object was thrown high into the air from each of the 30 holes in front of the defensive position and was thrown towards the defensive position.
Soon after it hit the ground, it exploded. Sparks, dust, bits of the scarecrow and the wooden target were thrown high up in the air before falling back down again …
All the officers of the Royal Guard Regiment, including General Aljis, were dumbfounded as they watched the explosions on the defensive position.
The fifth sharp whistle sounded. Another group of 40 soldiers, one carrying an iron frame and the other carrying two large satchels, ran directly to the front line. They didn't even crawl on the ground. Instead, they ran like a gust of wind to a distance of 50 meters from the defensive position. Then, they squatted down and took down the iron frame and immediately set it up. The soldiers next to them also took out black throwing objects from their satchels and placed them on the iron frame …
When the 20 groups of soldiers began to throw the explosive objects into the depths of the defensive position, the three people who threw the objects in the pit also stood up and rushed forward. When they were 20 meters away from the defensive position, they began to set up the iron frame again and threw the explosive objects into the depths of the defensive position once again ….
The defensive position was finished. No defender could continue to hold on in such a violent explosion … General Aljis and the officers of the Royal Guard Regiment felt extremely complicated at this moment. It turned out that General Sevict meant that this small group of soldiers would be enough to launch an attack, and not as General Aljis thought, using this large group of soldiers to launch an attack.
This slap in the face was a little painful, but General Aljis and the officers of the Royal Guard Regiment didn't need to care about their own face anymore. This offensive battle drill didn't need to be watched anymore.
They walked straight to the drill field under the lead of General Aljis.
"You guys, come here!"
General Aljis yelled at the two grenade throwers and waved them to come in front of him.
"What kind of weapon is this?" General Aljis pointed to the strange iron frame and asked.
The two soldiers who were called to the front looked at the iron frame and said, "This is a throwing device, used to throw the grenade."
"Grenade?"
A royal guard officer took off the soldier's satchel, there was a grenade in it, "Is this it?"
Under the guidance of the two soldiers, a group of royal guard officers tested the power of the grenade on the spot.
"The furthest distance of the grenade is 70 to 80 meters. No wonder the soldiers had to go 30 meters beyond the position of the sharpshooters before they started to dig the hole. They had already entered the area covered by the cannons and the enemy's accurate shooting range. They had to dig a big hole to hide themselves, and at the same time, let the following people carrying the ammunition come up …" General Aljis and the royal guard officers finally understood the purpose of the soldiers digging such a big hole.
"After the built-in match is ignited, it will explode after 5 to 6 seconds. The explosion range is 5 to 6 meters. There are engraved cracks on the surface of the grenade. When it explodes, the shell fragments will injure people!" Another royal guard officer quickly understood the explosive power of the grenade.
He hesitated for a moment and said, "Actually, I have seen this grenade before.
During the war in the eastern region five years ago, when we attacked the Principality of Rimodra, the rear equipment department had sent a batch of round projectiles that were similar to grenades to the frontline. They were about twice the size of this projectile and were very heavy. There was a match on top of them. Before throwing them, the match needed to be lit first, unlike this projectile, which only needed to be pulled on the fuse … "
"I have also seen the one you mentioned."
A royal guard officer next to him said, "That thing is incomparable to this grenade. It is big and heavy, and requires a special catapult to throw.
Although the distance can be thrown up to 200 to 300 meters, once the catapult is pulled to the front line, it becomes the target of the enemy's artillery and is quickly destroyed by the enemy.
In the end, not a single grenade was thrown. Instead, many soldiers who were pushing the carts were injured. Soon, all the troops abandoned it. There is no such throwing device. It is small, convenient and practical. One person can carry it and run … "
At this time, General Sevict and General Bolonik came over and said, "General, you are …?"
General Aljis laughed and said, "There is no need to continue this offensive drill. I did not expect you to have such a powerful offensive weapon.
With this grenade in hand, I believe no enemy can rely on defensive positions to resist our attack.
By the way, General Sevict, I would like to ask, where did this grenade come from? "