Chapter 490: Chapter 484: European Gendarmerie? European Clown!
Under the gaze of the Allied Forces, the Slav soldiers in gray uniforms were forming into a phalanx, marching in unison towards the barbed wire.
In their eyes, Major General Canrobert saw a numb frenzy; such a complex emotion exists only in a devout yet rebellious nation like Russia. The love-hate feeling Slavs have for the "Little Father" residing in Tsarskoye Selo is something the French will never understand.
When a Tsar is overthrown by his Slav subjects, those subjects who despised the Tsar are bound to enthrone another Tsar.
...
In short, under this almost religious fervor, the Russian soldiers began to turn into puppets on strings, easily manipulated.
With each step closer to the barbed wire, their breathing grew heavier, and their eyes began to bloodshot.
Inside the trenches, the Allied Forces were also panting heavily, involuntarily tightening their holds on their guns, with veins bulging on their foreheads.
When the group of Slav soldiers approached within less than 200 meters of the barbed wire, the commander drew the command saber hanging at his waist and shouted loudly, "For His Majesty!"
With the commander’s shout, this group of Slav soldiers charged towards the barbed wire like berserk half-orcs, letting out strange screams and calls, seemingly trying to dispel the fear in their hearts.
"Ura!"
Meanwhile, at the rear of the Russian Imperial columns, more than twenty howitzers were arranged in a row, ready for action.
"Load!" With the order from Brigadier General Little Orlov, the artillerymen began loading shells.
Shells were loaded into the barrels of the howitzers, with the guns positioned at the maximum elevated firing angle of approximately 11.75 degrees.
"Fire!"
Under Lieutenant General Orlov’s command, the howitzers let out a sound akin to muffled thunder, with shells flying out of the barrels, drawing parabolic arcs in the air before landing near the barbed wire.
With a few "booms," a sequence of shell explosions ensued (out of more than twenty shells, only a few exploded due to production issues), causing the ground to tremble slightly.
The dust from the explosions shrouded the Russian soldiers’ bodies; through the yellow dust, only their vague silhouettes could be seen, and the smoke and dust from the shell explosions enveloped the entire battlefield.
Canrobert immediately realized that the Russian General opposite him was attempting to blow open the barbed wire with shells, a mocking smile appearing on his lips.
If it were that simple to blow open, wouldn’t all my efforts have been in vain?
"Open fire!" As per Canrobert’s command, the Zuav Corps in the trenches pulled the triggers, and gunfire resounded inside the trenches, prompting other battalions that heard the Zuav Corps’ gunfire to also pull their triggers.
Continuous screams came from the other side of the smoke, with Russian soldiers suffering casualties even before they reached the barbed wire.
After the first squad finished shooting, they took a half-step back to squat inside the trenches and reload, while the second squad, already prepared, stepped forward to fire from the trench’s edge towards the barbed wire.
Screams were once again heard by the Allied Forces, with another group of Russian Imperial soldiers ruthlessly losing their lives; two rounds of shooting resulted in nearly 900 casualties, with many formations beginning to show signs of collapse, having inflicted no casualties on the Allied Forces in return.
"Hold the line! Don’t run! Charge!"
In response to this localized pandemonium, the Russian officers immediately drew flintlock pistols to kill the soldiers attempting to flee, then ordered the Russian soldiers to continue charging.
With a fear of officers greater than that of bullets, the Russian soldiers had no choice but to obey their orders, beginning to reorganize their formations, with heavily damaged formations merging into those suffering lesser losses.
Once the officers reorganized the formations to continue the charge towards the barbed wire, Canrobert’s soldiers were ready with reloaded ammunition.
Another two rounds of firing followed, with the Russian Imperial soldiers launching a second charge towards the barbed wire evidently not expecting that the Allied Forces opposite could reload so quickly, leading to several hundred Russian Imperial soldiers being cut down once again by the Allied Forces’ gunfire.
The fear suppressed by the commanders was reignited, and this time the Russian commanders’ orders proved far less effective than before, with Russian Imperial soldiers beginning to retreat in droves.
Despite the Russian commanders’ utmost efforts to prevent the retreat, they were powerless to stop the avalanche-like withdrawal and could do nothing but go with the flow.
Facing the Russian soldiers gradually retreating, Canrobert was evidently unwilling to let them off.
Under Canrobert’s command, the Allied Forces inside and outside the trenches fired towards the Russian Imperial Army.
When the soldiers of the Russian Imperial Army, who had no understanding of the range of the Minie gun, thought they had successfully retreated, a Minie bullet struck them in the back.
Hundreds of lives were lost on the retreating path, and in just over twenty minutes, the Russian Imperial Army lost over 2000 lives in front of the barbed wire.
As they watched the Russian Imperial Army gradually retreating, the camp of the Allied forces began to cheer, and a joyful smile appeared on Conrobel’s face.
After the brief joy subsided, Major General Conrobel began to contemplate the shortcomings of this war with Captain Jerome Patterson and Brigadier General Bazan.
Captain Jerome Patterson, with his active mind, said to Conrobel, "Commander, I find that the Russian Imperial Army is different from ours. Their soldiers only follow the orders of their commanders blindly, lacking subjective initiative. From this perspective, the Russian Imperial commanders are the soul of this army! If we could dispatch a unit specifically to hunt down their commanders, wouldn’t the entire Russian army face immediate collapse?"
"Hunting down the commanders? That’s indeed a good idea!" Captain Jerome Patterson’s suggestion made Major General Conrobel feel enlightened.
The Zuav Corps under his command was the perfect hunters!
"Brigadier General Bazan, select a group with the best eyesight and most accurate shooting from the Zuav Corps and bring them to me immediately!" Major General Conrobel said to Brigadier General Bazan.
"Yes!" Brigadier General Bazan responded briefly and then turned to leave.
"Captain Jerome Patterson!"
"Present!"
"Your suggestion is excellent! I will recommend you for a commendation from Marshal Saint Arno and His Majesty!" Major General Conrobel encouraged Jerome Patterson, "Trust me! It won’t be long before you’re promoted to Major!"
"That’s great!" Captain Jerome Patterson responded excitedly to Saint Arno.
The reason he chose to stay in the military was the hope of one day writing his own glorious legend and overcoming the "influence" of his surname.
Now, Jerome Patterson is taking a firm step towards his legend.
...
While Conrobel and others were considering how to effectively destroy the morale of the Russian Imperial Army, within the temporary tent of the Polish First Division.
Little Orlov, the brigadier general division commander, was also reprimanding his two brigade commanders responsible for the main assault.
"What’s wrong with you? Why did you retreat? Who allowed you to fall back?" Brigadier General Little Orlov questioned the two brigade commanders in an aggressive tone.
"Commander, we didn’t want to!" One of the brigade commanders complained to Brigadier General Little Orlov, "Defeat is like a landslide! We couldn’t stop it!"
"That’s right, Commander!" The other brigade commander also complained, "You have no idea how fast the enemy’s firing speed is! Before my troops could react, they had already fired four rounds! Our soldiers were so scared by the firepower that they wouldn’t listen to us at all!"
"You’re all complaining to me! Who can I complain to? I promised Deputy Commander Gorchakov that I would capture the outer defenses in the shortest time! And now, we didn’t even touch the enemy’s gate (barbed wire), and we were driven back in disgrace! What should I report to the Deputy Commander?" Brigadier General Little Orlov clearly didn’t want to hear the excuses of his two brigade commanders; he just wanted a solution: "What should we do now?"
"How about we blow it up?" one of the brigade commanders tentatively responded.
"Blow it up? Blow up what?" Brigadier General Little Orlov asked.
"Blow up the trenches!" the brigade commander answered, with a lingering fear, "Commander, you have no idea how fast the enemy’s rifle firing speed is! If we don’t suppress it, we might not even get close."
"If we use artillery to suppress the enemy infantry, how will I break through the barbed wire? Infantry alone can’t break through the barbed wire!" Brigadier General Little Orlov asked again.
"Commander, we can use cutters to break through them!" the brigade commander responded to Little Orlov: "We don’t need to cut all the barbed wire, as long as we can cut through a section, our infantry can break through and reach the other side! With our large population, shouldn’t we be able to thoroughly suppress them?"
Listening to his brigade commander’s words, Little Orlov thought for a moment, and then nodded, saying: "It indeed sounds like an effective plan! We’ll do it your way!"
Before the brigade commander could smile, Little Orlov added, "However, this time I will personally supervise the battle on the front line!"
"This..." the brigade commander showed a troubled expression to Brigadier General Little Orlov, "Commander, I think it’s safer for you to stay in the rear!"
"Where is there a safe place on the battlefield?" Little Orlov responded to the brigade commander, raising his hand to stop his dissuasion, "Rest assured! I will stand where the rifles can’t reach!"