Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 227: Black Maple Castle

“Report, I'm back.” Claude is saluting.

Major Ledfank stood up: “What happened to the third battalion? Why are there so many casualties? Did you know what happened when you went to see it? ”

Claude took off his hat, hung it on the hanger at the corner of the wall, and put the black briefcase in his hand on the desk: “Although the three battalions' battalion commanders and other officers pushed the enemy to resist with their defensive facilities and not surrender, causing the three battalions' soldiers to suffer heavy casualties during the attack, according to my investigation in the three battalions during this period, the three battalions now have no room to attack at all, because the casualties are so high that the soldiers' morale is so low that it is good to defend the town of Billy, where they are currently located. ”

“So the 3rd Battalion has been pushing us to pick them up as soon as possible so they can pull down and rest?” Major Ledfank frowned: “I am somewhat concerned that, unlike their three battalions, one of our Rangers was sent from the Rangers' battalion to the veterans, who were recruited from other forces to form soldiers with good shooting experience. And our battalion is full of recruits sent from the rear except for those of you who have been wounded and rehabilitated. Although we have been trained as recruits, the three months of pre-war training required by your training outline have not been completed. I do not want to repeat the mistakes of the three battalions in such a hurry..."

Claude shook his head: "But it requires us to arrive in Billy Town by October 5th and change our guards with Battalion 3, less than 10 days from this date, and the march takes three days, and we have five or six days to prepare. This time I went to the town of Billy and took a quick look up the front line. The three battalions were taking over Castle Blackmaple, located at the entrance to the Piclett Mountains, where they were stationed at a guard camp in the Principality of Rimodra.

The main reason for the defeat of the 3rd Battalion attack was three aspects, the first being arrogance, contempt for the enemy, believing that he would surrender as soon as he reached the enemy, and did not expect to touch a hard nail. They knew nothing about each other, they knew nothing about the enemy's armaments, etc., and they did not capture several prisoners until they ate their losses, and they did not receive rough information from them.

The second aspect was the unfavourable terrain of the offensive, and when I went to the front line to observe that Castle Blackmaple, although situated at the entrance to the Picklet Mountains, was surrounded by streams that converged in several mountainous streams, and that the enemy had cut trees within 200 metres of the perimeter and had an empty view within the firing range of artillery and guns. Whatever direction we attack, we are exposed to heavy enemy fire that prevents us from approaching the castle.

The third reason for the failure was the lack of training. Soldiers from the three battalions of the Rangers were mobilized by other troops. Many of them maintained their habits while attacking and, reluctant to hide, stood up and loaded the guns, and became the target of the enemy. Especially now the enemy is heavily equipped with precisely targeted guns, which, although not as good as our Obash 3 guns, can still kill and maim our soldiers in large numbers under the cover of the castle. And our big red uniform makes it easier for them to aim and shoot... ”

Major Ledfank shook his head and laughed. Claude had a deep grudge about the color of the Royal Army uniform. He also admitted that it was true, as Claude said, that the great red uniform was indeed the best target color on the battlefield, but it was the tradition of the kingdom, which used to line up to fire and wear the great red uniform primarily to shock the enemy. The second factor is to reduce the fear of casualties among soldiers, and the blood is red, even if the soldiers around them are killed or injured, because they do not panic about the surviving soldiers because of the red uniform on them.

But the reason is well known. No officer will say it. They will only tell the soldiers that the red color represents the strength and courage and the warm blood of the warriors who sacrificed their lives to open up the kingdom. Of course, even if Major Ledfank had followed Claude's advice, he would not have the power and the ability to change the color of his uniform.

“You said the Black Maple Castle guard was armed with a precise target gun?” Major Ledfank asked.

“Yes, I saw something in the battalion of the third battalion.” Claude replied with some regret: "It is said that this was produced by the Principality of Eskirin, model Falchiston 185, which weighs about three kilograms more than the gun in our hands and has a precise range of seventy to eighty meters, a significant improvement over the gun previously produced by the Principality of Siddins. I was going to ask the three battalions to bring one back, but they also had a few, which was reported as a war effort capture, so I refused my request. ”

Major Ledfank sighed: "In fact, we are still trying to figure out how to use the Obash III, and we are still experimenting with how to use this precise targeting gun on the battlefield. Didn't expect the enemy to see the effect of such guns as well, not only imitating but also equipping their troops heavily to fight defensively, which can have a very negative impact on the war we are waging...”

Claude was also very impressed: "The old saying that war is the best teacher in the military, and now I understand that. As long as it works, even the enemy's strengths we have to learn, otherwise it is ourselves who suffers. ”

Major Ledfank poured Claude a cup of tea: "Let's not be here to mourn these things. We can't do these things with little words. Let's think about how we can accomplish the tasks described above. The next few days, you go down to four battalions and run and see how their training goes. This time we will not only take the defenses of the three battalions, but also order us to overthrow Castle Blackmaple, master the entrance to the Picklet Mountains, and repulse the resistance in this mountainous area.

I am from a logistics officer and do not know how to attack and defend. I can only entrust this task to you. It is up to you to decide how to deploy troops and when to start the attack. Now that you're battalion combat staff, you've gone to the front line to investigate. This is your business, and it's best to come up with a plan these days. All I can do is give you the greatest logistical support and hope that this operation will be won with the least amount of casualties. ”

“Yes, I will do my best.” Unlike Lieutenant Colonel Rossler, Claude once again stands up for salute, and, with Major Ledfank as battalion commander, has great confidence in Claude by appointing him as the battalion's operational staff, with the utmost deliberation and decisiveness over the training and combat of the battalion's soldiers. Of course, it has a lot to do with his birth as a logistics officer, and Major Ledfank understands that, since he is an outsider, find an insider to help himself. Claude's previous performance in the guerrilla barracks convinced Major Ledfunk that he was the one he needed, so he used Claude again and gave him the utmost confidence.

On 4 October, a guerrilla battalion arrived in the town of Billy, in the county of Bichulinsi, Principality of Rimodra, and exchanged guards with the three guerrilla battalions.

The battalion soon convened a battle conference at which Claude, as the creator of the plan to attack Castle Black Maple, elaborated on the operational steps to the officers of the battalion, with the unanimous support of Major Ledfank and most of the officers present. It is clear to all officers involved in combat meetings that, while Claude's battle plan is extremely cumbersome, it can drastically reduce soldiers' casualties. The only downside is that the delay is a bit long, but it only requires an overthrow of Castle Blackmaple and no date limit, so longer is nothing.

In fact, the three guerrilla battalions attacked Castle Black Maple in the first place, following the traditional method of attack by the Royal Auvellas Army. Once stationed in the town of Billy, after a day's rest, they assembled a large number of people to drive to Castle Blackmaple and sent messengers to demand the surrender of the garrison. As a result, the garrison refused to surrender, and the third battalion of the guerrillas began to siege.

Because they were equipped with Obash 3 type rope guns, the Troop 3 Battalion did not adopt the traditional method of attack of firing in full line, but first bombarded with artillery, with three battalions surrounded on three sides, and one battalion prepared. In the eyes of the commanding officers of the three battalions, as long as their own soldiers approach the castle, they are perfectly capable of suppressing enemy fire with precise targeting, blowing up the castle gates and completing the capture mission.

But the Black Maple Castle is surrounded by a beach about 50 to 60 metres wide, not deep enough to kneel so high, but the attack on the soldiers is a major obstacle, unable to get close to the castle quickly. On the other hand, the enemy's guards can use the cover of walls and windows in the castle to name and fire at attackers traveling slowly and painstakingly in the stream. The blood stains almost the entire stream red...

At the same time, defensive artillery positioned at the upper end of the castle also opened fire on the artillery of the third battalion and exploited the advantages of the increased field of view at high altitudes, causing the third battalion to suffer a huge loss in artillery fire, losing four light infantry artillery and two and a half artillery units.

That is the real reason for the heavy loss of the three battalions of the guerrillas, with more than 1,000 troops remaining at just over 400 and nearly 300 wounded in treatment centres. For them, it was a tragic loss of more than half of the casualties. Now that the first Battalion of Rangers has taken over their defensive line and the task of capturing Castle Blackmaple, it has become clear from the discussions that the same offensive tactics as the third Battalion of Rangers would certainly not be possible. Since there is no other way, then simply try the offensive plan proposed by Claude.

Claude's proposed offensive plan is divided into three steps, starting with a siege, breaking off Blackmaple Castle's traffic links with the outside world, allowing the First Battalion's teams to use ambushes to trap the castle's guards within 200 metres of the castle, so that the outside world cannot get in and let the inside out.

The second step was to recruit the people in Billy Town, redirect the stream upstream from those mountain streams, and turn the beach 560 meters in front of Blackmaple Castle into a dry land, which was no longer an obstacle for the attackers, which was the main task of the second battalion, who were responsible for recruiting the people to redirect the stream.

The third step is to dig trenches at a distance of about 100 metres from Castle Blackmaple, allowing soldiers to enter the trenches to snipe the castle guards and use the superior performance of the Obash 3 type fireline gun for precise targeting. This is just the right distance, not to say that the enemy's guns can't be fired, but that they can't be precisely targeted and can only be hit by luck. This dangerous task has been entrusted to the third battalion, after all, they need to dig under the eyes of the enemy.

However, a distance of 100 metres from the castle is just outside the shotgun range, avoiding shotgun attacks on soldiers resulting in a large number of casualties. If the enemy uses solid ammunition, it is very welcome to try to destroy a trench without knowing how much gunpowder and artillery they will spend. Besides, it is obvious that trenches are easy to build and destructive, and it is a big deal to retreat until the enemy shells are finished before sending someone to build them. And Claude suggested digging a trench from 200 meters away, going straight to the target before digging horizontally, making it even more impossible for the enemy to attack soldiers in the excavation.

“Finally, the key to overcoming Castle Black Maple is here.” Claude pointed a little wooden stick at the mountain behind Castle Black Maple, as depicted on the map, and said, "Breaking the back of Castle Black Maple for supplies and reinforcements is the key to our victory. According to our scouting and reconnaissance, there are trails on both sides of the mountain that can go around the back of Castle Black Maple.

Of course, this trail is a trail of drug collectors and hunters stepping up the hill, unable to access horses and vehicles, and I need the Fourth Battalion to send two squadrons around these two trails and choose a dangerous spot behind the trail to hold on. One squadron set up a position and the other squadron dug the hillside to make it impassable. And defend until Castle Black Maple is defeated by us or the garrison surrenders. ”