Chapter 23

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Chapter 23: This Is My War

"Rest time is over, you lazy bunch, stand up!"

Sergeant Blaukrig always had an annoying voice, holding a whip in his hand, his belly almost bursting out of his belt, his face dirty every day, but his mustache neatly trimmed, he would scold his soldiers daily.

The sergeant always liked to brag about his family, his uncle being a general, several cousins being captains and commanders, with dozens of lawyers and judges in the family. Hundreds of years ago, they were the Grand Aristocrats of Poland, with large hereditary lands…

The Blaukrig family may have been powerful, but it had little to do with our sergeant, who seemed to be just a distant relative without inherited titles or talent. Otherwise, why would he be just a small captain here? If he had real skills, he should aim to be a general.

Oh… I am just a commoner, how can I mock our incompetent sergeant?

"Private Norman Liszt, you seem unhappy with me?" the sergeant stood in front of me.

"No, how could I dare," I said softly.

Sergeant Blaukrig raised his whip and harshly struck me. My comrades just watched numbly, as in their eyes, officers scolding soldiers was normal and they wouldn’t resist.

The sergeant was breathing heavily, tired from whipping, his belly fat jiggling, breath heavy, beard waving…

I lay on the muddy ground like a dead fish, feeling the pain.

The sergeant, still angry, kicked Mason to the ground and continued to whip him. Poor Mason, he was innocent and only getting beaten because his last name was Liszt, like mine. The sergeant always thought we were brothers.

Mason cried out in pain, curling up as he was beaten.

Sergeant Blaukrig was tired, feeling like the game of venting out was over for today.

"Keep moving, no one is allowed to fall behind. Today we have to walk from Hopfengen to Ingelfingen."

The sergeant climbed onto the carriage to rest, while the soldiers walked on both sides of the road, starting their unbearable journey.

Mason and I were beaten badly, no time to catch our breath. We had to quickly stand up and walk with the group. The pain was all over me, each step heavy, moving into the endless distance.

Ten days ago, I saw the war mobilization order issued by Your Highness the Regent, so I joined the army, which led to a big argument with my father.

"Everyone in my family has been doctors for generations, why do you suddenly want to join the army?"

"Dad, I don’t want to be a doctor, I want to go to the battlefield and become a general."

"War?" Father angrily shouted, "War is always for the big shots, if we common folks go, it’s only death or suffering, you foolish child!"

I didn’t listen to my father’s words, now I realize I was foolish, I should have listened to him.

Assigned to the Volunteer Battalion, 2nd Company of the Borodichev Infantry Regiment, I took a train from Berlin to Cologne. That nightmarish train journey was just the beginning; walking from Cologne to South German was the real torment.

Walking on the road, sleeping on the roadside, hungry, exhausted, and the corporal’s scolding pushing us on…

Today, our infantry squad has to march from Hofen to Ingelfingen. The corporal doesn’t show us the map, we don’t know how far it is, just walking head down from day to night.

My feet hurt, the corporal only allows a bit of rest time each day. When the rest time is up, if someone moves too slowly, they are whipped, just like what happened earlier.

I once longed for war, curious about it, yet didn’t fully understand its meaning.

Now I understand.

War is about patience.

Eating unappetizing and unsatisfying soup of rotten vegetables and potatoes.

Covered in dirt, not washed for ten days, with a body and uniform that might not be washed anytime soon.

The ugly and incompetent fat sergeant, lying lazily on the carriage, his scolding.

A march route that seems to have no end.

Endure today.

Endure tomorrow.

In the afternoon, we arrived at a beautiful riverside. Unsure of the river’s name or the type of fruit trees on both sides, the green grass and flowers, flowing water, and gentle breeze added to the beauty of it all.

If I followed my father’s advice to become a doctor, I would like to come here for a hike on weekends, find a nice spot, lay out a picnic blanket, enjoy the scenery with the girl I like, eat delicious desserts, and then do something wonderful together.

But I am a soldier, I can only hurry under the sergeant’s urging, not paying attention to these beautiful views.

Mason became interested in a fruit tree. He said, "That’s an Emperor cherry tree, it bears very large fruit. I have never seen an Emperor cherry tree growing by the river before."

I was about to start a conversation, but the sergeant came over with a raised whip.

"Fools! Do you still have the energy to chat? Hurry up and speed up the journey for me. If we don’t reach the destination before dark, you will see how I deal with you." The sergeant roared.

The sergeant whipped towards Mason’s face, luckily Mason dodged quickly, otherwise he would have been hurt badly.

But Mason’s evasion stirred even greater anger in the sergeant…

The sound of dense and heavy horse hooves came from a distance, startling us all. The sergeant forgot about scolding us and quickly crawled into the nearby tall grass, unaware that it didn’t provide any hiding effect.

I looked around and found no place to hide, tremblingly picked up the gun and pointed towards the source of the sound, where a row of trees provided cover.

A knight appeared, followed by a large group emerging from the woods, many, many.

The leading knight carried the Black Hawk Flag, the royal symbol and also the flag of the royal guards, royal army, and Teutonic Knights.

My gaze didn’t linger long on the fluttering black hawk, but more on the knights’ splendid attire.

They wore elaborate white uniforms, adorned with gold threads on the collar, cuffs, and seams, along with gold tassels and sashes. Are they really here for battle, dressed so well, looking like they’re at a parade?

Indeed, these are ceremonial uniforms designed by Prince Regent Redel, specifically issued to the breastplate cavalry, fully-armed cavalry, royal guards, and Teutonic Knights’ Magic Energy Knights in the royal cavalry.

While marching on, the heavy cavalry wear these pristine, striking ceremonial uniforms for comfort and a pleasant mood. They remove their jackets and trousers before battle, don their armor, and enter the battlefield.

The heavily ornamented pointed helmets are also designed by the prince regent himself, distributed to the heavy cavalry, with additional full face helmets for combat.

The cavalry completely ignored us few soldiers, swiftly passing by, possibly a few hundred, a few thousand? The magnificent white cavalry and their steeds kept emerging from the forest, vanishing from my sight.

Huh?

There was a beautiful lady knight who wore a unique black dress that was custom-made for important officials.

The lady knight, who seemed very important, arrived in front of us with some cavalry.

She looked down at us from her horse, frowning.

"Which army do you belong to?" The lady knight’s voice was cold, but very pleasant to our ears.

The sergeant stood up from the bushes where he had been hiding, now showing great respect instead of his usual arrogance.

"Lieutenant General Catherine, we are the Braukski Scouts from the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the Volunteer Brigade," the sergeant said in a flattering tone.

"Scouts? You all don’t look like it," Catherine remarked.

The sergeant replied, "I’m sorry, General. My soldiers are all like a bunch of useless recruits. But don’t worry, I will train them quickly."

Scouts are elite soldiers selected from the infantry who are responsible for tasks like reconnaissance and sniping. They do not line up to shoot, but instead spread out on the flanks of the infantry, firing freely in battle.

Catherine was angry and asked, "Who foolishly arranged for a group of new soldiers to form a mercenary team?"

The sergeant felt embarrassed and didn’t know what to do.

"I can see bruises on the soldiers under your command, despite the strict rule against punishing them physically. Do you dare to break the rules?" Catherine’s stern gaze made the sergeant tremble in silence.

"You are from the Braun family, right?" Catherine pulled her horse’s reins and shouted to the back, "Braun! Control your people properly. If there’s another issue, I will deal with you myself."

General Adolf von Braun, the head of the First Division of the Royal Cavalry, the patriarch of the Braun family, was the uncle that the sergeant boasted about.

General Braun told Sergeant Braun, "Treat your soldiers well, no physical punishments, no embezzlement. If you bring shame to our family again, you will be out. If Lieutenant General Catherine deals with me, I will deal with you."

It was the sergeant’s most embarrassing day. He was scolded by Lieutenant General Catherine and then received a furious scolding from his uncle.

The cavalry officers soon disappeared, leaving behind a mess of horse hoofprints and the embarrassed sergeant.

Things improved from that day on. The sergeant stopped abusing us, and the food got better. We could have bread for lunch every day and even meat soup and sausages for dinner. It turned out that the scoundrel had been embezzling, and the military funds meant for us could provide us better meals.

The sergeant bought some soft cushions from nearby villagers, so now we don’t have to sleep directly on the ground. We have cushions and marching blankets.

Private Norman Liszt once again felt excited about his military career. He wanted to become a cavalryman, to be a general, to be like Lieutenant General Catherine, wearing handsome and gorgeous uniforms, commanding a large group of elite cavalry, and standing up for soldiers who were bullied by incompetent superiors.

…

"Where are the reinforcements? Why haven’t they arrived yet?"

Moltke looked at the tactical map, his fingers moving back and forth between several map markers.

The German coalition forces suffered defeats in recent battles, retreating from Stuttgart to Almose, then to Waldeck, and finally to Ingelfingen Town.

When Moltke led the coalition forces to set up camp and rest in Ingelfingen Town, his first words were:

Damn, back to this garbage town again. We fought here for days last time.

Moltke’s coalition forces were now very weak in combat strength. They easily broke and ran 80 kilometers after a brief encounter with the French forces.

Only when reinforcements arrive can we counterattack and have hope of victory.

In the simple war room, there were several young military officers and staff, all looking at maps and guessing when the reinforcements would arrive.

Short Colonel Mantofel said, "I think… troops will start arriving tomorrow. Ten days ago, the reinforcements departed from Berlin, took a train to Cologne, and rushed over here. Commander Catherine’s heavy cavalry unit should be arriving soon."

Colonel Kraist said, "The first division of regular troops is bringing a lot of artillery. I estimate they will arrive in three days. The four volunteer regiments should arrive faster, but I’m not sure about their combat effectiveness. I have a feeling they might lag behind."

Moltke kept muttering about the reinforcements, his fingers sliding across the map.

Prince Regent’s reinforcements would take some time to arrive, while the French pursuit forces might arrive sooner than their own reinforcements.

The French were originally advancing towards Bavaria, but Moltke’s probing and harassing attacks made the French change direction from east to north.

The tracks left by the German coalition forces fleeing were evident. A quick search by the French revealed that the German troops had fled to this side of Ingelfingen.

The terrain near Ingelfingen Town was flat, with a wide field of vision. There were no good artillery positions or high ground, except for the small town in the middle of the plain, the other areas held little tactical value.

In this kind of place, the artillery cannot use its full advantage. Without high ground and defenses, the artillery troops will be easily defeated by cavalry if they get separated from the infantry.

Moltke thought this was a good place for a decisive battle. He believed that Catherine’s reinforcements would arrive tomorrow night, as well as the French pursuit troops. If the battle breaks out tomorrow evening…

"Our artillery troops probably won’t make it to the big battle, and the French artillery near Ingelfingen can’t be utilized. We will fight the French here and must lure them into attacking the town."

"Tell the soldiers to quickly go to sleep, and tomorrow morning they should start building breastworks and gather wood from the distant forest to make abatis."

Moltke arranged it this way.

Colonel Kraist had a suggestion, "General, if you think the battle will break out tomorrow afternoon, shouldn’t we work on fortifications through the night? It may be too late to start in the morning."

Moltke replied, "Have a good rest tonight. The soldiers’ morale is the most important."

The night passed.

On the morning of May 13th, the Prussian buglers encircled the entire allied camp, playing their horns alongside musicians, waking everyone up with the sounds of drums and trumpets.

The soldiers of other German princes were very unhappy. Moltke’s orders were not being effectively carried out, so he had to repeatedly send troops to urge them on until finally they reluctantly started moving.

The officers casually gave orders for the lower ranks to repair fortifications, while they themselves continued to laze around in bed.

Moltke rode on horseback to inspect the task areas of each unit. He found that only Prussia’s troops were working diligently. The fortifications built by the other allied forces were messy. The troops from Saxony were drinking beer while working, and there was a scene at Hanover’s position where one person was working while a dozen others watched.

However, Moltke remained calm. After experiencing many strange occurrences during his time as the overall commander of the allied forces, he was no longer surprised by unusual things.

The main field fortifications of that era were breastworks. These were low walls about one meter high made of earth, stones, or wood, with a shallow trench dug around them.

The troops defended behind the wall. They could gain a significant advantage in shooting back at the enemy, but it was important to ensure mobility with the breastwork and shallow trench. If the wall was too high or the trench too deep, chasing or retreating would be difficult.

In front of the breastwork, stakes or lower obstacles were placed to block the enemy’s cavalry charge while not obstructing the shooting line of friendly soldiers.

Moltke had no hope for the weak allied forces under his command. His strategy was to hold the position and wait for reinforcements. As long as Catherine’s heavy cavalry arrived, everything would improve. If the allied forces held their ground without collapsing, it would be considered a great success.

By ten in the afternoon, there was good news and bad news.

The good news is that it has started to rain. This rain will make the land around us wet. When the land is wet, the bullets won’t bounce off, weakening the French artillery’s firepower.

The bad news is that we haven’t heard from the reinforcements yet, and the French vanguard is already in position.

At that time, Moltke was patrolling the position, urging everyone to quickly repair the breastwork. A sharp-eyed soldier warned that there was a figure in the distance.

Moltke picked up his binoculars and saw the back of a French cavalry scout, clearly a spy who was going back to report and bring the main French forces.

"Soldiers, hurry up and build defenses, the enemy is coming!" Moltke shouted loudly.

The Battle of Ingelfingen began in the afternoon of May 13.

The French army and the German coalition army were 4 kilometers apart, facing each other on the vast plain with no obstructions.

The German coalition army consisted of over 15,000 soldiers, including over 3,000 lightly armed cavalry from the Prussian Guard Cavalry, and the rest were other secondary troops, militias, and armed farmers.

The French vanguard had over 9,000 soldiers, mainly consisting of light infantry, artillery, and cavalry from the French secondary troops.

Whether it’s the German or French army, both had lots of reinforcements behind them, but neither side’s reinforcements arrived.

With fewer soldiers, the French army started attacking by slowly moving their cannons closer from afar, with infantry protecting the cannons closely, and cavalry positioned further behind.

Moltke looked around through his telescope, unable to come up with a plan, even with his superior numbers unable to attack, they had to stay hidden behind breastworks and wait for the French artillery to come close and start shelling.

"General! Let me lead a raid to harass them, we can’t just sit here and do nothing." Colonel Kraist rode up to Moltke.

"No attacking without my orders, your troops are light cavalry, while Shorty’s troops are dragoons, charging in now would be suicide." Moltke disagreed with Kraist’s plan to harass the enemy.

Light cavalry are agile and swift soldiers without much armor, known for their speed, mainly armed with sabers, with some elite soldiers and officers carrying small firearms.

Dragoons are fast-response infantry, usually formed when cavalry soldiers are not yet skilled in horsemanship and are instead more adept at fighting on foot. Once their horsemanship improves, they transform into light cavalry.

One group is experienced light cavalry, the other is new to cavalry, both not very effective apart from picking on weaker opponents, as the well-trained and high-spirited French infantry steadily advances.

Kraist’s plan to harass the enemy would only result in a counterattack from the disciplined French infantry, with a volley of shots likely leading to the annihilation of the light cavalry.

Usually, infantry beats light cavalry, light cavalry beats artillery, and artillery beats infantry in a cycle.

Heavy cavalry is not part of this cycle, because it has very limited weaknesses and very strong strengths.

If you play well, no one can defeat you; if you play poorly, no one can defeat you either.

Moltke put all his hopes of victory on Catherine, the best heavy cavalry commander of Prussia and one of the best in the world.

Around five minutes to four in the afternoon, the French artillery approached to about 500 meters from the breastwork and started firing.

The six-pounder cannons, the most common field guns of the French army, with a total of thirty-four in action today, were hindered by the light rain causing misfires due to damp gunpowder.

The reactions of the soldiers in the German coalition army varied: some trembled behind the breastwork, some prayed in shallow pits under the breastwork, while experienced veterans moved back a bit, sat on the ground chatting and laughing.

The actual damage caused by cannons is much less than their loud sound, especially the weak power of the six-pounder cannons, as solid iron balls hitting would only kill one or two people, and their accuracy is not impressive.

The breastwork constructed by the German coalition army was about a kilometer long, and the French artillery did not target a specific point, as their firepower was already weak and further dispersed due to the rainy weather.

The French cannons bombed for more than an hour, and the German Allied forces only lost more than seventy soldiers. Even though the casualties were not high, it dealt a huge blow to their morale.

The solid iron balls hitting the bodies in a gruesome state shocked the new recruits and armed farmers, making their fragile hearts lose all will to fight.

At half past six in the evening, the rain stopped, and the sky was still quite bright. It would not be completely dark until around eight o’clock. At this time, the French artillery began to retreat, and the French army as a whole withdrew and set up camp two kilometers away from the breastwork.

Their bold camping right in front was extremely arrogant, but Moltke could do nothing about it.

Moltke also prevented Kraist and Mantofel from launching a nighttime attack on the camp. He warned them not to go because if the French dared to fortify their camp in plain sight during the day, they would surely be prepared at night, waiting for our cavalry to take the bait.

As the sunlight gradually disappeared, countless torches lit up the plains near Ingelfingen Town. Both the French and German armies were on high alert for a possible nighttime camp attack. A line of torches illuminated a warning strip, and a large number of soldiers were on rotation duty to ensure they would not be suddenly attacked by cavalry.

At ten in the evening, French reinforcement troops arrived at the outskirts of Ingelfingen along with Prussian reinforcement troops.

Catherine led the heavy cavalry and Magic Energy Knight troops, who had been traveling at high speed during the day and were now very tired. Catherine looked at the two large brightly lit groups in the distance on the plain illuminated by numerous torches, and she abandoned the idea of launching a nighttime charge. She ordered the troops to camp on the spot and prepare for battle the next day.

However, the newly arrived French reinforcement troops did not plan to rest. The France Magic Energy Knight of Napoleon III’s Imperial Guard was ready to launch an attack forcibly on this night. The French army as a whole also left the newly set up camp and followed the Magic Energy Knight to approach the breastwork.

Catherine was shocked, but immediately ordered her troops to attack. Even though they had been traveling all day and setting up camp was tiring, they had to act now. If she stood by and did nothing, Moltke and the German allies would be in big trouble.

Both sides were in a similar situation. The Prussian reinforcements were exhausted from the day’s journey, and the French troops had also traveled all day to join the battle. Neither side was in their best condition, and fighting at night was very difficult… Why did the French insist on fighting at night despite the disadvantages?

Because of the orders from the great French Emperor, His Majesty Napoleon III.

France was facing some difficulties in the battle with Austria on the Apennine Peninsula. Napoleon III wanted to send the Magic Energy Knights there, so he commanded his elite knights to quickly locate the German allies, defeat them in battle at the fastest speed, and then move to support another battlefield.

The French commander in South Germany was originally General De Camille, but Captain Arnaud arrived at the battlefield with a decree from His Majesty Napoleon III, forcing a nighttime attack. De Camille had to obey and led his troops to attack alongside Arnaud’s troops.

And so, a fierce night battle began.