The total strength of the two mixed battalions under Xiao Letian, including all the officers, is only about 700. This amount of troops is not even a bubble in the entire Battle of Sadowa. If the old General Moltke will If they are merged into the main attack queue, the role these two mixed battalions can play is minimal.
However, no matter how weak the chess piece is, as long as it is placed in the right position, it can still play a huge role, just like the pawn crossing the river in chess, sometimes it has an effect or even a reversal.
Today, the chess piece of the mixed camp was placed in the right position by Xiao Letian, and Shiqiao Highlands was destined to become the place where Xiao Letian and his Iron-Blooded Legion became famous.
The distance of sixty meters would take less than ten seconds for later generations of sprinters. But for these skirmishers who are charging now, no matter how difficult it is to walk through the mud under their feet, no matter how fettered the comrades around them are, two Ten seconds can easily pass by.
In the plan of the old count and Brigadier Ponka, the more than a thousand skirmishers who charged in the first wave were actually going to die. They had made careful calculations with their staff before the battle. Casualties began to appear when this wave of skirmishers rushed to about 100 meters, and the casualties reached the highest when they rushed to 60 to 50 meters. If the power bonus of the new rifles equipped by the Prussian army is included, , the casualty rate should reach 60%. In exchange for the huge casualties, the remaining 40% of the troops rush into the trenches for hand-to-hand combat, and those 40% of the troops are far from being able to win in hand-to-hand combat. Their sacrifices are actually for the subsequent casualties. The soldiers charge to buy time.
What is a wave charge? The tactic chosen by the Austrian army now is a typical wave charge. After the first wave of skirmishers rushed sixty meters away from the trench, the second wave of thousands of skirmishers began to slowly enter the battlefield and gradually accelerated at a trot.
By the time the first wave of skirmishers began to fight hand-to-hand, the second wave of skirmishers had basically arrived more than 60 meters in front of the trench. This second wave of skirmishers was very lucky. There was no rain of bullets to stop them. More than 90% of a wave of skirmishers can rush into the trenches and join in hand-to-hand combat.
Not only were there the second wave of charging skirmishers, the old count also arranged the third and fourth waves, and a total of five thousand people were involved.
In the Austrian army's plan, there was no word "failure" at all. In countless deductions by all the staff, the possible maximum casualties of the Austrian army were the two groups of charging skirmishers in the first and second waves.
To the Thorn Flower Master, the casualties of more than 2,000 people were nothing more than drizzle, and they were not even considered as injuries. As long as the Stone Bridge Highlands can be captured, as long as the march of Prince Carl's Second Army can be stopped for an hour, the mission of the Thorn Flower Division will be successfully completed.
But... but no one expected that this must-win battle would turn into a puddle of mud.
The old count trembled with his hands, the frame of his glasses was deeply imprinted on his flesh, and he whispered unconsciously.
"Why is this happening? Why didn't the high-density artillery coverage have the intended effect? Why do their rifles fire so fast? Even breech-loading rifles can't have such an incredible rate of fire."
"What's going on? Who's going to tell me what's going on?"
No one can answer the old count's question, because the Austrian intelligence agency does not know the specific parameters of the Mauser rifle at all, and they do not know that all Mauser rifles use fixed bullets with cartridge cases.
In Count Tablis's mind, even if Prussia uses breech-loading rifles, loading ammunition should be done in two steps. Projectiles and gunpowder can't be loaded together, right? You don’t have to do it step by step.
In the old earl's mind, the main advantage of a breech-loading rifle is the shooting posture. A breech-loading rifle can be loaded lying down, half-kneeling, or hidden behind a bunker while sitting on the ground to load. This is breech-loading. The advantage of the rifle.
In fact, at that time, many military experts regarded breech-loading rifles as special guns for cavalry and skirmishers. They never realized that one day this new weapon would be popularized by all soldiers.
It was because of this misunderstanding that the Thorn Flower Master suffered a great deal.
Now it was not only the old count and the baron who were dumbfounded, but also all the officers and soldiers watching the battle on the entire battlefield were dumbfounded. They watched this one-sided massacre with their jaws dropped in shock.
The charge formation of more than a thousand people felt as if it had been cut invisible by the scythe of death within a few seconds. Countless soldiers were shaken by the rain of bullets and fell to the ground. The entire charge line screamed.
Bullets poured out of the trench one after another. The Mauser rifle was placed on the dirt pile, with sparks blooming from the muzzle. The ruthless soldiers silently pulled the trigger to harvest one life after another, sixty meters away. The distance became an insurmountable life-and-death gap for the Austrian army.
"Very good... everyone, keep the pace... You don't need to think on the battlefield, you just need to calmly pull the trigger..."
"You rookies, let me show you blood today, and then you can brag about being a veteran... You, you, you, why are you standing so high? Are you acting as a target for the enemy?"
"Everyone prepare grenades. The enemy is already close to thirty meters away. Wait a moment and let them get closer...blow them up to death..."
All the New Army officers in the trenches calmly issued various orders. Their aura infected all the Hamburg New Army present. In addition, the enemies on the opposite side were swept away by our own side. At this time, every soldier Infinite confidence wells up in my heart.
More than 600 Mauser rifles, plus several rounds of volleys from more than 100 Spencer rifles, caught the Austrian army by surprise. In just ten seconds, the Austrian army's attrition had reached 60%, and the remaining Forty percent were not lucky. When they rushed to the trench 20 meters away, a grenade in their pockets destroyed their last bit of luck.
Boom boom boom... The battlefield was filled with fire and smoke. The horrific scene stunned the second wave of charging soldiers. Countless soldiers stopped subconsciously, and even the officers in the team forgot their commands.
The entire battlefield was as quiet as death. Everyone could not believe their eyes. The war scenes they saw today were completely beyond their imagination. Even the officers who graduated from the Higher Military Academy were filled with excitement in their hearts. He was at a loss, as no military textbook in the world had ever recorded such a form of combat.
The sound of gunfire, explosions, and people's shouts of killing gradually disappeared. I don't know when a breeze came up on the battlefield, blowing away the smoke generated after the grenade explosion.
Only then did people see that the huge charging formation that had just been like a rainbow and stretched for hundreds of meters had now been chopped into pieces like a dead snake.
Starting from sixty meters away, corpses were everywhere on the ground, and the layers upon layers were shocking. More than 20 meters away from the trench, some survivors stood scattered. They either stood alone in a daze, or gathered in small groups and looked at the enemies on the opposite side in horror. A quick count of these lucky ones was added. There are only one or two hundred people together.
At this time, the battlefield was shrouded in a strange atmosphere. These two hundred lucky people had long lost their will to fight. Their souls had been taken away by the killing. Their eyes were full of confusion. They stood there stupidly. He even forgot to escape.
The Prussian soldiers in the trench also stopped shooting at this time. They looked at the half-stupid Austrians and were unwilling to kill them, and the New Army officers did not give orders to fire. Xiao Letian's education hoped that they were a group of people. Brave warriors, not a bunch of murderers.
Daniel, a member of the trio, raised his head and looked at an Austrian soldier who was more than ten meters away from the opposite side. He didn't know how, but in Daniel's eyes, this Austrian veteran in his forties was actually the same as his. An uncle is somewhat similar.
"Hush! Hush!" Daniel whistled at the Austrian soldier in a low voice and whispered, "Let's go! Are you stupid? We have stopped shooting, why don't you leave? You are the only one left. , and give me a spanking..."
At this point, Daniel suddenly felt a little heat on his back. When he looked back, he found that the monitor, Zhao Yidao, was glaring at him, but strangely, the stern monitor did not stop him from speaking.
Daniel didn't have any scruples at this time. He suddenly shouted loudly, "Run! You idiots, your army has been wiped out. Why don't you run away quickly? Are you waiting to die..."
With Daniel taking the lead, Steven, Grant and even more soldiers started shouting in the trenches, "Run! Run if you don't hurry up... You who charge in this wave are the victims, and you idiots are the victims..." "
The roar finally woke up the frightened Austrian soldiers. They looked at the rows of black gun muzzles on the opposite side, and then looked at the stumps and broken arms around them. The scared souls finally flew back.
"Fuck you, even if you shoot me, I won't serve you anymore..." These Austrian soldiers ran back immediately. No matter how loud the drums of the charge were in the military formation behind them, no one looked back.
This was just a small episode on the battlefield. After a short period of shock, the Austrian army quickly resumed its offensive rhythm. The second wave of charging skirmishers began to accelerate. The officers in the team were shouting crazily and cheering for the soldiers. .
In Xiao Letian's eyes, this second wave of thousands of skirmishers is much smarter than the first wave. They have learned from the previous failure experience. This time the skirmishers' queues are longer and the thickness of the military formation has also increased significantly. Less, the distance between soldiers has also been widened.
"How smart. Austria is indeed one of the strongest armies in Europe. It found a way to deal with it so quickly... Faced with our rapid shooting frequency, they have no other good way besides accelerating and reducing the charge density. …”
Xiao Letian gently twisted the focus of the telescope and said with a sneer, "It's a pity, it's such a pity. Even if you adjust your tactics temporarily, you can't change the ending of defeat... Because on the battlefield, those who are trained and improved are not the same." It’s just you!”
Xiao Letian was right. At this time, his two special mixed battalions had perfectly integrated into the state of war through a hand-to-hand battle, an artillery battle, and a position battle. They were already familiar with this situation on the battlefield. A unique atmosphere.
The Mauser rifles rang out intensively again, and the grenades were thrown on the heads of the charging soldiers one by one, and the gunshots and explosions were heard in succession.
The soldiers of the special mixed battalion no longer panicked. Everyone fired calmly, and the bullets hit accurately and hard. But this time the Austrians really tried their best. All the soldiers shouted the slogan "Long Live the King" and ran forward with bayonets in hand.
This time, even the volley from fifty meters away was avoided, and more than a thousand people rammed into it like wild bulls. Bullets took away lives one after another, grenades blew up figures one after another, and every step of the charge was filled with human life.
It was not until the end that the Austrian army came close to the trenches after suffering 70% casualties. At this time, all the surviving Austrian officers were shouting like crazy, "Charge... charge... rush into the trenches and challenge them to death..."
Count Tablis, who was standing at the rear, was so excited that he almost fell off his horse. "Drive quickly... Where is the third wave of skirmishers? Why don't you speed up... Seize the opportunity, you must seize this opportunity, this is It’s an opportunity to fill it with your life!”
"Charge..." Directly in front of the old count, the third wave of thousands of skirmishers let out a collective roar and rushed towards the high ground like a torrent.
...
