Chapter 173: Cavalry Mobility

“Machine Gunners! Open fire!”

The Sergeant roared hoarsely.

Two MG14 Light Machine Guns began to fire almost simultaneously.

“Da-da-da-da-da!”

Two whips of fire furiously lashed toward the wall of charging cavalry three hundred meters away.

A dense spray of bullets rained down. The Sergeant and all the soldiers stared intently forward, anticipating the sight of the enemy being thrown from their horses.

However, the scene that unfolded next stunned everyone.

The expected sight of cavalry falling off their horses did not happen.

Aside from a few unlucky warhorses being fatally struck by bullets, collapsing to the ground with wails, and a handful of cavalrymen who were hit on unprotected heads or limbs, screaming as they fell off their mounts.

The vast majority of the Cuirassiers, seemingly ignoring the dense rain of bullets entirely, maintained their charging posture, aggressively pressing forward.

“What is going on?!” a young soldier cried out.

The Sergeant in command, observing through his binoculars, saw clearly that the 7.92mm Mauser rifle rounds fired by the Light Machine Guns sparked a faint blue light the moment they hit the enemy’s Cuirass…

Then they were simply deflected, completely unable to penetrate the seemingly thin layer of steel armor!

And with the enemy charging at high speed, repeatedly hitting the Cuirass of any single cavalryman was obviously not a simple task.

“Enchanted Armor!”

The word instantly flashed through the Sergeant’s mind. He recalled the Saxon Empire’s General’s Guard, the elite troops responsible for protecting high-ranking officers, who were equipped with Enchanted Armor created by the Imperial Magic Guided Technicians, capable of resisting fire from conventional firearms.

However, the General’s Guard used full plate armor for more comprehensive protection, while these Cuirassiers only wore the chest armor for the upper body.

“Sergeant, their Cuirasses seem impenetrable!” a Machine Gunner shouted while firing long bursts.

“Don’t panic! Shoot their horses! Shoot their horses for me!”

The Sergeant’s mind was racing. He immediately found the weakness of the Cuirassiers—they were Cuirassiers, not fully armored cavalry.

Those tall warhorses were not equipped with any Enchanted Armor!

“Everyone listen up! Aim for the horses! Knock them off their mounts for me!”

He yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice turning hoarse with excitement and a slight fear.

Receiving the new order, the Machine Gunners immediately lowered their muzzles. The riflemen and submachine gunners also opened fire as the cavalry charged within 200 meters. The dense, wall-like charging formation of the cavalry made it easy for them to hit targets without precise aiming.

The change in tactics had an immediate effect.

“Da-da-da-da!”

“Bang! Bang-bang!”

As the new round of fire suppression swept through, the Cuirassiers in the front ranks fell down in swathes, like wheat being harvested. Their warhorses let out mournful wails in the dense rain of bullets, bursts of blood blossoming across their bodies. Their massive forms violently collapsed and rolled, heavily throwing off their riders.

The charging formation immediately descended into chaos.

The horses that fell in the front row created a confused obstacle zone.

However, the well-trained Cuirassiers in the rear reacted quickly. Some attempted to maneuver around, while others expertly controlled their mounts, directly leaping over their fallen comrades and horses.

But precisely in this brief moment of chaos, an even more lethal burst of fire suddenly struck from their flank!

“Da-da-da-da-da!”

The sudden flank attack caught the charging Cuirassiers completely off guard.

Their Cuirasses protected their chests, but the protection for the sides of their torsos was inadequate. In the blink of an eye, a large number of cavalrymen on the flank were mowed down, men and horses tumbling, their screams echoing across the entire battlefield.

This was the interdicting fire from the 3rd Company’s 2nd Platoon, who had been ordered to provide support. The 2nd Platoon Leader, upon seeing the red flare and the enemy cavalry charge, immediately led his unit to occupy a slightly elevated earthen slope on the flank.

This position perfectly exposed the flank of the charging Cuirassiers directly to their firepower.

The momentum of the Cuirassiers’ charge was completely halted!

However, before the soldiers of the 2nd Platoon could celebrate, they saw another Cuirassier Squadron in the distance had separated from the main force, turned its direction, and was launching a new charge toward their small slope!

“Damn it! They’re coming for us!”

The 3rd Company’s 2nd Platoon Leader watched the newly appeared Cuirassier Squadron adjust its direction without hesitation and charge straight toward them. He couldn’t help but curse under his breath.

He knew clearly that his platoon’s position was now exposed and had become the enemy’s new target.

“Third and Fourth Squads, turn your muzzles! Intercept that new unit!” he roared decisively.

“First and Second Squads continue to suppress the men on the front who have lost their horses!”

The order was quickly carried out. Two of the four Light Machine Guns in the platoon immediately split off and, along with a portion of the riflemen, began firing furiously toward the newly charging Cuirassier unit.

On the other side, the charging column led by Colonel Molière had been completely shattered.

“Hiss—!”

The magnificent black warhorse beneath him let out a mournful neigh, its body suddenly sinking. Several machine gun bullets simultaneously hit its chest and abdomen. The immense kinetic energy tore through the hide, and blood instantly stained its black coat.

Colonel Molière was experienced. The moment he felt his mount about to fall, he was ready. He quickly disengaged his feet from the stirrups, and as the warhorse violently crashed, he rolled sideways, absorbing most of the impact.

He scrambled up through the flying dust, not bothering to brush off the dirt, snatched up his fallen saber, and simultaneously drew the ceremonial revolver from his waist.

He looked forward.

Only less than forty meters remained to the enemy’s position! Behind him, there were still over forty Cuirassiers scrambling up from beside their dead warhorses. Most of them had lost the carbines in their holsters, only retaining the sabers in their hands.

Victory was within reach! If they could just cross these last forty meters, they could use their sharp sabers to show the Saxon infantry hiding behind the low dirt bank what a true warrior was!

“God save Gaul! The glory of the cavalry lives on!”

Colonel Molière let out a bestial roar, his upturned mustache trembling violently with fury. Disregarding all noble decorum, he charged toward the crude defensive line like a raging bull, waving his saber and revolver, leading his men in a final sprint on foot.

“God save Gaul! The glory of the cavalry lives on!”

The surviving Cuirassiers were infected by their commander’s bravery. They shouted a fanatical cry, raising their sabers, and followed closely behind Colonel Molière’s figure, launching a desperate charge.

Meanwhile, in the woods on the other side, Captain Léo witnessed this chaotic and bloody scene.

He saw the Cuirassiers’ charge brutally halted by concentrated fire, saw countless elite cavalrymen and their valuable warhorses falling into pools of blood, and saw Colonel Molière charging on foot like a madman with his subordinates.

The entire battlefield had become a complete mess.

“Captain! What do we do?” the Aide-de-Camp asked anxiously.

Léo glanced at the Cuirassier Squadron on the flank, which was charging toward the Saxons’ other position, and then looked at the dismounted Cuirassiers making their final sprint in the front.

He knew he had to do something.

“Second Squadron, attention!”

Léo suddenly stood up, chambering a round in his carbine with a ‘click.’

“Objective: the village ahead! Suppress their fire points to relieve the pressure on the Cuirassiers!”

He chose not to charge on horseback. The bloody scene he had just witnessed made him realize that charging on horseback against this density of fire was a death sentence.

So, he planned to lead his Dragoon Squadron to deploy in a skirmish line, use the cover of the terrain, and first occupy the village.

“Captain Marchand, I need you to maneuver along the riverbank, link up with Captain Lafontaine, and launch an attack from the other flank!”

“Understood!”

Captain Marchand nodded, immediately mounting his horse.

“Mount up! Follow me!” he roared at his men.

He believed Captain Léo’s arrangement was sound. The Saxons were pinned down by the three charging Cuirassier Squadrons, and the enemy’s attention was focused on Colonel Molière. This was an excellent opportunity for the cavalry to utilize their mobility advantage and deliver a fatal blow from another direction!

He led his squadron to remount. The soldiers gripped their lances and rapidly maneuvered toward the riverbank.

In an instant, the situation on this small battlefield southeast of Charleroi’s South City changed.

Leveraging their unit’s excellent battlefield mobility, the Gauls seized the brief moment when the Instruction Assault Battalion was forced to contract its defense line. With an overwhelming force advantage of six squadrons and nine hundred cavalrymen, they launched a fierce attack simultaneously from three directions, forming a massive encirclement.

Although their attack was driven by the commander’s personal fervor, the huge numerical superiority and high coordination of the assault instantly trapped the two Instruction Assault Battalion platoons, which were preparing to retreat and receive, in a situation of being cut off and surrounded!

“Damn it! Is the cavalry really that effective when deployed properly?!”

Inside the temporary command post in the city, Morin stared at the rapidly moving red arrows on the system map, his entire body tensing up.

He hadn’t expected the enemy commander to be so reckless, daring to commit his entire cavalry force to such a massive charge when the situation was unclear. Even more surprisingly, the fighting will and mobility of these Gallic Cavalry were so strong that they managed to seize the gap in the exterior alert unit’s contraction and form a deadly local advantage in such a short time.

The green unit tokens representing the 3rd Company’s two platoons were currently over two hundred meters outside the city. The friendly forces inside the city could only provide fire support at this point, daring not to send any more men out.

He couldn’t wait any longer!

Morin lunged for the wired telephone on the table, which had just been set up to connect to the artillery position outside the North City.

“Artillery position, can you provide fire support to the southeast of the city?”

“Captain Morin! We can see the fighting there! But the artillery position just finished deploying! We haven’t conducted range calibration yet…”

“We can’t worry about that! Attack while you calibrate!”

“Yes, Captain Morin!”

(End of this Chapter)