Chapter 24

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Chapter 24: The Superior Aryan

"Maintain the front line, no retreat! Pay attention to replenishing the campfires and torches!"

Moltke rode his horse back and forth along the front line, working hard to maintain order in the battle. He demanded that every officer stand with the soldiers on the front line and fight, without being frightened by the darkness and enemy’s noise. They had to fight as they would in the daytime, just remembering to keep the fires burning.

But the Allied Forces of Germany were in chaos because they were a disorganized group of soldiers. They were not skilled in daytime battles, and the difficult night battles were even worse.

The French infantry soldiers were holding torches every five or six persons. Their formation was a bit disorderly, but overall they were maintaining good order as they slowly approached the wall.

The military officers from the Allied Forces of Germany couldn’t judge distances in the dark. They thought the enemy was close enough and ordered their soldiers to fire together, but in reality, the enemy was far away, wasting ammunition.

It was very difficult to load guns in the dark. Soldiers needed to turn towards the campfire or have a friend hold a torch to see. They had to carefully load black powder into the barrel, then push in a lead bullet, tamp it tightly with a ramrod, taking about a minute each time to complete the loading.

A unit that could fire together and load guns was considered good. However, many units in the Allied Forces of Germany were firing randomly, and after shooting, they were confused about what to do next.

Some defensive lines forgot to maintain their campfires. The torches would quickly go out, plunging a section of the battle line into darkness. Once it was completely dark, they couldn’t fight anymore.

Moltke noticed signs of collapse at the northern end and the edge of the town’s defensive wall. He ordered two cavalry regiments from Mantofel to reinforce the defense and maintain the line. If the French forces broke through a point, the whole line would collapse.

The French cavalry roamed the battlefield, setting fires everywhere. They planned to light up the grass outside the town, making the battlefield bright before launching an attack.

The French infantry steadily advanced, stopping at a distance of one hundred and twenty-five meters from the defensive wall, focusing their main assault on the northern section of the battle line. Moltke observed that the French were able to maintain a firing rate of 30-35 seconds per round in the dark.

Up north on the battlefield, the army of the German allied forces consisted of soldiers from several small states in central Germany and some of the militia from Hannover. Their morale was low, and they lacked fighting spirit.

In the darkness of night, nobody knew the exact form of the battle. If you were a regular soldier, you wouldn’t know how many of your comrades had died. In such moments, you would start to worry. If someone nearby fell or ran away, you might wonder if your whole army was defeated or if they had all fled. Once someone started to worry, the whole army could be thrown into chaos.

Luckily, Moltke sent reinforcements in time, and the First Dragon Cavalry Regiment of the Prussian Guard arrived at the northern front line.

Most of the First Dragon Cavalry Regiment used old-fashioned muzzle-loading rifles. Some twenty soldiers used lever-action rifles with Mauser spiral magazines, while another twenty used experimental Dreyse needle fire rifles.

Around fifty soldiers using the new rifles unleashed fierce firepower, causing the French troops to see rapid consecutive shots and prompting their commander to order a retreat.

Through several small battles preceding this main engagement, the French had already learned about the advanced technology of Prussia. The two new rifles were particularly fast in firing and had devastating killing power at close range.

There was no need to worry too much, as once the Prussian troops fired for a while, those new rifles would start malfunctioning on their own.

Both types of ammunition used firing pins to ignite fulminate of mercury, which in turn ignited black powder to generate gas pressure to propel the bullet out of the barrel.

However, this wasn’t like the modern rimfire ammunition, but rather…the firing pin had to be pushed into the base of the bullet, passing through the hole in the paper or metal casing, through all the black powder, piercing through to the base of the bullet where the fulminate of mercury was placed.

These two kinds of advanced Prussian weapons have high shooting speed, with Mauser being faster and Dreiser being fast and accurate, as long as they are not malfunctioning.

In real combat, the fragile firing pins can only withstand a dozen shots before getting damaged. They need to be replaced by disassembling the gun mechanism. Metal fixed bullets may get stuck, while paper fixed bullets often do not burn completely. Both types have issues with air tightness and the risk of precision metal parts breaking or deforming.

Just two minutes later, the intense rain of bullets from the Prussian army positions suddenly ceased, as both types of new rifles were malfunctioning. Nearly fifty Mauser and Dreiser rifles could not continue firing due to various issues.

The French army stopped retreating and started to advance again.

Although the advanced weapons malfunctioned after only two minutes, the attack had already shaken the French soldiers’ morale. Coupled with the high fighting spirit of the elite First Dragon Cavalry Regiment, the front line was stabilized.

The two armies stood a hundred meters apart, shooting at each other, resembling the line-up of muzzle-loading rifles in battle.

The sounds of firing from breech-loading rifles and muzzle-loading rifles were distinct. Mauser and Dreiser rifles had poor air tightness, so their sounds were softer compared to muzzle-loading rifles.

In the darkness, a French captain sighed, "Ah, this wonderful sound of gunfire is music to my ears. Those Prussian rifles are disgusting."

Throughout the South German War, the French army captured around forty to fifty Mauser lever-action rifles and Dreiser firing pin rifles, but they were not valued by anyone, from the soldiers to the officers, who did not see them as good weapons.

Actually, the lower-ranking soldiers in the Prussian army also don’t like breech-loading guns. They think these guns are for show-offs, they don’t sound good, the muzzle flash isn’t strong enough, they leak air everywhere, have a high failure rate, like a spoilt princess. But the prince regent and General Moltke strongly promote them, so the lower-ranking soldiers have to use them too.

"Do we have any new rifles left?" Moltke asked his quartermaster.

Quartermaster, "We’ve run out of the new rifles we were carrying, all three hundred were scrapped in the South German War."

Moltke, "I should have asked Ron for more earlier, it would have been great to have a thousand."

The overall combat effectiveness of the Germany coalition army is far behind the French army, only with high-tech weapons can they hold the line. If they fight head-on with the same level of weapons, they will collapse in a short time.

"Why hasn’t Catherine launched an attack yet? Does she not have enough troops?" Moltke asked.

"Not sure, it seems the Catherine’s commander is waiting for the enemy cavalry to attack first," the short colonel guessed.

The infantry of both armies are on the front line, while the cavalry of both armies is watching from the sides.

The grasslands, fields, and wooden houses in Ingelfingen Town are all on fire, greatly increasing visibility on the battlefield. The town’s residents are cursing, but the fighting French and German soldiers don’t care.

Catherine led the Prussian heavy cavalry unit to patrol the town and the junction of the breastworks, watching the enemy.

Arnaud led the French cavalry to hover behind the infantry line, also watching the enemy.

The reason why the two cavalry commanders did not attack rashly was that the enemy had Magic Energy Knights, and there were quite a number of them. Both generals wanted to confirm the exact number of the enemy.

"Seems like there are around forty or fifty?" Catherine vaguely sensed…

"Seems like there are around seventy or eighty?" Arnaud vaguely sensed…

This time, Catherine brought the Royal Guards and half of the Teutonic Knights. There were a total of 75 Magic Energy Knights, all equipped in full plate armor, and belonged to the cavalry with spears.

Arnaud brought along some of the France Royal Knights, 42 Magic Energy Knights, as armored cavalry.

Besides the Magic Energy Knight, both sides had over three thousand regular cavalry troops. The Prussian army mainly consisted of heavy cavalry, while the French army mainly had light cavalry.

Catherine and Arnaud both thought the other was tough to beat and hoped the opponent would make the first move, like charging at the infantry to expose a weakness and then attacking themselves.

The timing of cavalry charge is very important in battle. Usually, cavalry only get one chance to charge, and if they miss the right moment, it could mean defeat. It is especially crucial when both sides have Magic Energy Knights.

Moltke, "Stop being so cautious, Catherine! If you don’t send the cavalry now, the infantry line will be finished."

Catherine had no choice but to command the cavalry to charge in a disadvantaged position. Just as the cavalry was about to break through the Prussian army’s line, it started raining again.

There was a brief rain this afternoon, but now in the deep night, another heavy rain suddenly poured down.

The whole battlefield was in chaos, with campfires and torches extinguishing one by one. The fires in the fields gradually died out, leaving only the wooden houses burning fiercely for a while.

Moltke sensed trouble and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Everyone! Head north! Move north!"

Catherine’s cavalry would charge out from the south end of the breastworks near the town. The infantry couldn’t block their path, so they had to create a gap. With the heavy rain making it impossible to fire muskets and the light sources disappearing, Moltke hoped the infantry could retreat from today’s battle.

But no matter how he yelled, the soldiers had lost their sense of direction in the dark and were scattering in confusion.

The French infantry were also retreating, managing to keep some order and semblance of formation, guided by their officers, moving away from the town and breastworks.

The rain got heavier, the town’s wooden houses were on the brink of being extinguished, with only the faint moonlight continuing to shine.

"March on! Kill all the enemies you can see!" Catherine led the charge, leaping over the barrier, using magic energy to clear a pile of crude obstacles, and plunging into the darkness.

The Prussian cavalry launched attacks in the direction they sensed the enemy, with the leading Magic Energy Knights clearing obstacles for the rest and guiding the army with loud shouts.

In daylight, the sight of over four thousand armored cavalry charging would be extremely impressive, but in the darkness, everything was obscured.

The Prussian cavalry dispersed their formation, forming seven loose attack formations to search for the enemy, their hooves crossing the increasingly muddy fields, passing over freshly burnt grasslands…

Once the momentum of the cavalry charge was gathered, it was completely unstoppable, with many lost and scattered units of the German coalition blocking the charge path and being directly crushed into minced meat.

Amidst the heavy rain, the chaotic sounds of hooves and combat continued without end, the clang of armor colliding serving as interludes, although the French couldn’t see anything, they knew death was getting closer.

The French commanders ordered their troops to form tight square formations on the spot, rather than open formations, one reason being that large formations could not be organized in the dark, and the open formations could not withstand the cavalry charge.

But the French’s formation change was a little late, Catherine found a French unit in the process of regrouping, and seizing the opportunity, she rode straight towards them, under the faint moonlight she saw countless bayonets, and the panicked French infantry aimed their bayonets at her.

Catherine kept urging her warhorse forward. The excellent warhorse had been desensitized since it was young and was not afraid of swords at all.

The warhorse leaped high into the crowd, while Catherine swiftly threw out her lance. Several people were pierced through, and the warhorse trampled a large group of people. However, it met its end under the swords after a cry of pain, and Catherine was thrown off.

Catherine lost her sense of direction as she fell and seemed to have landed in a chaotic area of the French army formation.

She quickly stood up after a simple adjustment, drew her great sword, and swung it wildly. With the assistance of magic energy, she cleared out an area with several moves, leaving behind a dozen or so mutilated bodies on the ground.

The French soldiers’ swords stabbed towards her, but the magic energy hindered them, making it feel like stabbing into a swamp, only scratching the exquisite patterns on Catherine’s full-body armor without causing any harm.

The French commander shouted, "Grab that person! Stab the gaps in the armor!"

No soldier dared to approach, and some even cursed at the commander.

"Damn it, you try it!"

The German great sword, measuring up to six feet long, wielded a strong intimidating force. Just a slight touch could result in missing a significant part of the body, especially for a knight in full-body armor and a Magic Energy Knight at that. The soldiers were too frightened to come close and retreated in fear.

In the chaos, the whole formation became disordered. Panicked soldiers bumped into their comrades’ bayonets, and some accidentally stepped on fallen soldiers, causing their death.

Catherine didn’t know how many people she was facing. She swung her big sword and charged forward. The night was so dark that she couldn’t see anything clearly. She just followed the noisy crowd until later she realized, that night she alone chased and attacked more than seven hundred French soldiers.

True Hero

Most of Prussia’s heavy cavalry got lost during the charge. They lost contact with Catherine who was at the front. Only the Magic Energy Knight had the sharp senses to search for enemies in the dark night. The regular cavalry were aimlessly searching, and they might mistakenly kill their own lost foot soldiers.

While the Prussian heavy cavalry were unmatched, the French cavalry led by Captain Arnaud were also active. They made a big detour, though lost most of their cavalry in the process. Still, over seven hundred French cavalry successfully broke through the defensive line and found the retreating German troops under Moltke.

The German infantry group also faced the massacre by the French Magic Energy Knight, causing chaos on the entire battlefield.

Everywhere there were retreating soldiers and lost knights. Late into the night, everyone lost track of what they were doing, blindly searching and attacking in confusion.

The next morning, the survivors were greeted with a devastated battlefield. Starting from Ingelfingen Town, bodies were scattered within a five-kilometer radius. The dead from both the French and German armies lay mixed together, with some retreating soldiers running twelve kilometers away overnight.

All units were scattered as the two cavalry forces marched during the day and fought throughout the night. In the darkness, they fought relentlessly until exhaustion hit when the sun rose. Many people collapsed from fatigue off their horses.

Catherine knelt down with a big sword, propping up her body with one knee. Her beautiful black floral-patterned armor was covered in dried blood, and a piece of intestine was hanging from her shoulder.

"Let’s retreat…fall back," Catherine weakly waved her hand, her voice feeble.

Moltke looked pale and bloodless. In the middle of the night, he was hit by something and broke several ribs. His left arm was also fractured, but he still had to gather the scattered troops for retreat.

The battle of Ingelfingen on a rainy night resulted in over 9,700 casualties for the French army, while the German coalition forces suffered over 11,000 deaths and injuries. Both infantry units were nearly wiped out, and several Magic Energy Knights perished.

The majority of casualties in this battle were caused by chaos, with friendly fire accounting for more than fifty percent. The actual enemies eliminated by both sides were few.

After this major battle, the South German War entered a period of rest, with both sides temporarily unable to continue fighting.

After the battle…both the German and French sides claimed victory in the Battle of Ingelfingen, with heavy losses for the enemy.

Prussian Prince Regent Redel, "Is Catherine okay? Is Moltke okay? If they are, then it’s a great victory!"

Emperor Napoleon III, "We have a better casualty ratio, my strategic command is superior, it’s a great victory!"