Westrons Pt. 23

Except for the northernmost of those six regiments, who were very unlucky: they were within range of the guns we'd positioned in front of the village. I gave the order to open fire.

The Crolian artillery was still atop the ridge. They ceased their ineffective bombardment as their troops advanced into their line of fire.

Faregil and Frad were fine, engaged in a long range artillery duel with a pair of Crolian regiments who'd occupied a low hill to the north of the road.

On the road itself, where it skirted the ridge, were two more regiments. They fired their guns at us, but again, the range was much too long.

Not for the first time, I wished that I had some speedier way to communicate with my Colonels once the battle had started. A written note, in the hand of a runner, was slow and inefficient - with the added danger of confusion or misunderstanding.

But there weren't really any practical substitutes. Flags? Semaphore? Tudino couldn't see me, from where she was. Once the powder smoke started to increase, Faregil wouldn't be able to, either.

Langoret was beside me. Avette and the Penchens would pass close by, so that I could consult or direct them in person. But once I launched them into battle, they were almost like arrows: I couldn't quickly or easily change their course.

Thorough briefing before the battle was the best solution. All of the Colonels understood what was expected of them. I could rely - to a degree, on their experience and initiative.

Ah, well ... battlefield communication would have to remain a problem for another day.

This was the nerve-wracking part of the battle for me. I had to watch, and wait. There was nothing I could do but hope that Tudino and Neslann could hold until Votuda arrived.

If they needed reinforcements sooner, that might jeopardize my plan.

I was able to see our guns inflict heavy casualties on the 6th attacking regiment. Understandably, they weren't too keen to get closer to our batteries. They began to shift to the south.

That led to a bit of a traffic jam, as two regiments tried to cross the stream at the same places. The units got tangled up, and confusion spread.

Once they moved forward to attack the orchards, though, I could no longer see them. We could all hear Tudino's guns, but it was impossible to tell what was happening.

Langoret, Tallia, Isa and Senau were with me. They didn't offer unsolicited advice, or make unnecessary comments - for which I was grateful.

Being a General consists largely of waiting for the correct moment.

Before the war begins, there are ten thousand things to do. Once hostilities are declared, it gets narrowed down to five or six thousand.

Once the battle begins, though, there are only a few key decisions to be made. If there are more than that, then you're in trouble. Frederick the Great was never afraid to engage. Napoleon said to start the fight - and then we'll see.

I only had two critical decisions to make. The first was whether or not to reinforce Tudino.

She and Neslann sent a messenger, asking for more ammunition. That was easy enough to provide. They didn't ask for support.

From our central position, we were able to see that the first Crolian attack had faltered. The enemy regiments pulled back, across the stream. They were clearly disordered. It took the Crolians considerable time to get the leading six regiments out of the way, and to advance with six fresh formations.

The only bright spot was that they repeated their earlier mistake: the northernmost regiment was within range of our central batteries. We made them pay heavily for that error.

But the new Crolian regiments didn't deploy new skirmishers. The same units that had been battered by our rifles came forward to screen the advancing regiments. They weren't very keen to come within close range - ironically, the one thing that might have helped them.

Still, there were six fresh formations behind them.

Tudino and Neslann were hard-pressed. I didn't know this until later, but the hunting lodge was on fire, and our troops were pushed back into the last few rows of trees in the orchards.

That was when Votuda arrived.

She'd heard the opening bombardment, and knew exactly what it meant. On her own initiative, she began to move her troops towards us before my messenger arrived. Her brigade had then marched like fiends, well aware that we were depending on them.

With unerring good sense, she threw her troops (tired as they were) into an immediate counterattack. We saw the Crolians pull back behind the stream a second time.

They knew that they could win if they could break through the orchards. The Crolians didn't realize, though, that they were now facing four regiments, instead of two. With dogged determination, they re-organized and launched a third assault.

This time, very few of their skirmishers came forward. It appeared that the Crolians had only 5 companies of light infantry. That was the sum total of their adjustments to their defeat at Limset.

I shouldn't have been surprised. In fact, it was to their credit that they'd made any changes at all. The top decision makers in the military - any military - are usually very conservative.

The Prussian army of 1806 prided itself on maintaining the traditions of Frederick the Great (50 years earlier!). Napoleon and Marshal Davout crushed them.

World War One Generals persisted in using the same human wave attacks which had failed over and over - at a cost of millions of casualties. In World War Two, Hitler's opponents had to learn (the hard way) that he wasn't interested in a re-fight of World War One.

Poland had Russia still fielded cavalry regiments in that war. The British, who had invented the tank, virtually scrapped R&D on armoured vehicles between the wars, because it was too expensive.

And then there were my superiors at AFOTA, happily preparing to fight the last war, and stifling any innovation, tactical or technological, which didn't agree with accepted doctrine.

With a much reduced screen in front of the advancing lines of infantry, Tudino's and Neslann's rifles had a field day. Votuda and Cyrte's rifles joined in, doing exactly what they were supposed to do: picking off high value targets - officers.

The Crolians had courage. That, and stubborn determination. When the third and fourth attacks on the orchards failed, our enemies gamely organized a fifth and a sixth. The stream was choked with bodies, the lodge was on fire, and the trees in the orchard looked like toothpicks, because they'd been hit by so many musket balls.

The 12 attacking regiments got tangled up, snarled in a major traffic jam of their own creation. There was a shortage of officers to restore order. Still, they kept coming.

My first decision had been taken out of my hands. Votuda and Cyrte were all the support that Tudino and Neslann needed. We weren't about to lose control of the orchard in the next hour.

Avette's brigade and the remaining Penchens arrived.

It was time for the counter-stroke. I'd lured the Crolians into attacking where I wanted them to. Now they were vulnerable.

I had 8 regiments in the centre, around the village of Kesmansha: Langoret and Yna, Avette and Semmana, and General Leydz' Penchens. Also, Faregil, on the left, had yet to be seriously engaged.

Six companies of Westron rifles went forward, centred on the road. There were 2 Crolian regiments opposite Faregil, 2 on the road, at the edge of the heights, and 2 more on the northern end of the ridge.

Each of them was about to get a thorough, extended lesson in our skirmishing tactics.

Gunners and artillery specialists were the first targets. The Crolian batteries fired, of course, but skirmishers in open order aren't much of a target. And the longer those crews served their guns, the more of them were hit.

The guns astride the road fell silent. Those on the hill opposite Faregil were now firing only intermittently.

Langoret had been standing nearby all day, waiting for just this moment.

- "Now, I think." I said. Just behind Langoret was Colonel Yna, who'd been straining at the leash like an aggravated terrier. "Off you go, Yna. Give them a good kick in the teeth."

"Avette? Time for you and Semmana, too."

The six Westron regiments on the northern side of the field all sent forward the 2nd and 3rd companies in open order, a cloud of skirmishers to relieve the rifles.

Behind them, the remaining companies advanced in mixed formation - halfway between a line and a column.

As they began to move, General Leydz joined me. His 4 Penchen regiments were my last reserve, which I was waiting to commit.

We watched as six Westron regiments attacked six Crolian regiments.

Generally, the attacker should outnumber the defenders, if he or she expects to succeed. If they are in a strong defensive position, then an even greater advantage in numbers is necessary.

We didn't have numbers. But we did have advanced tactics, and confidence. Faregil, Avette and Langoret all knew what our skirmishers could do.

The Crolians regiments on this side of the field weren't their best troops. These units had only been expected to pin down an equal number of our forces, to occupy a position and keep our attention fixed - at least partially - on them.

The best soldiers they had, of course, had been committed on their left - and were now being decimated every time they assaulted the orchard.

We'd blocked their left hook, and now we launched a left hook of our own.

The regiments on the road, opposite Avette, pulled back first. That left the Crolians facing Faregil exposed, in danger of being flanked. They began to withdraw.

Langoret's brigade had to attack uphill. She had Yna, though, and where that fiery woman led, her troops were eager to follow. They drove the Crolians to the back of the ridge.

There were two more Crolian regiments, in reserve, in the centre of the ridge. They counter-attacked.

Fortunately, I had moved the Penchens at the right moment. As Langoret's attack developed, I sent two of Leydz' regiments to climb the ridge behind them.

The other two pivoted on the village, extending their line from east to west - from Kesmansha to the foot of the ridge. They simply held their position, while we began to move battery after battery of light guns.

There was a stiff fight atop the ridge, between the Crolian reserve and Langoret's forces. The arrival of the Penchens decided the matter in our favour.

This was the critical moment. I hadn't been especially nervous, to this point, but at this moment I found myself holding my breath. If the enemy attacking Tudino realized the danger, if they pulled back, or worse, turned to the north, and changed the direction of their assaults ...

They didn't.

It took some time before I was comfortable that everything was going as I'd hoped. Eventually, though, the field looked like this:

- Tudino and Votuda had stonewalled a dozen Crolian regiments. Each successive attack was less dangerous than the one before

- Faregil's brigade held the road, in case the retreating Crolian regiment re-organized and returned

- Avette's brigade climbed the ridge

- Langoret, Yna, and 2 Penchen regiments were now behind the 12 regiments between the ridge and the stream

- Leydz had 2 more Penchen regiments on the enemy flank, with a massive number of guns. When they opened fire, Crolian morale crumbled.

When Langoret deployed hundred of skirmishers behind them, the Crolians were under fire from three directions. No army could withstand that.

In this case, their courage and determination worked against them. Had they simply collapsed and run away, many more would have escaped.

As it was, they waited too long. It may be that there was no independent leader or unified command. Whatever the reason, the Crolian regiments first tried to re-deploy into a massive, 3-sided square.

That simply provided more targets for our guns and our skirmishers. It was awful to watch, even if they were the enemy.

Finally - much too late - they broke.

It began as an orderly retreat under fire, and rapidly turned into a mob, fleeing the field. The rout was on.

***

The pursuit lasted until just after dusk. We couldn't afford to continue chasing fugitives after dark. There were still six to eight Crolian regiments out there which had withdrawn before they'd taken heavy losses. Bruised. Roughly handled. But not destroyed, by any means.

The 12 regiments on their left, though, had been shattered. Those units were unlikely to be ready for another battle for some time.

Of our regiments, Tudino and Neslann had seen the heaviest fighting. That was where I went first. I took Doctor Boska and her surgeons with me. That was where they were most likely to be needed.

Neslann looked exhausted. She was streaked with powder and sweat, but she mustered a grin when she saw me.

- "You were right." she said. "What a great day."

- "You were in the thick of it. You won us the victory - you and Tudino."

- "You'd best go see her." said Neslann. "She's in front of the estate."

Something about the way she said it caught my attention.

- "Is she ...?"

- "Wounded. But awake and -"

I didn't hear the rest. I'd already turned away.

Tudino was wounded - again.

She was sitting up, with several soldiers around her. Tudino saw me coming, and saluted me with a wine bottle.

- "We did it!" she shouted.

- "You did it. You and Neslann."

- ""And Votuda." she said. "Showed up at the perfect moment. Can't say that I like her, but the bitch has excellent timing."

- "Are you ... drunk?"

- "Almost." She pointed at her foot, which had a bloody shirt wrapped around it. "Hurts - a lot." Then she hoisted the bottle again. "This helps."

- "I brought Doctor Boska. She can take a look at you."

- "Nah. Let her take care of the more serious cases. I'm not going to die." She pointed at her foot again. "Honestly: who gets shot in the foot?"

- "Only you."

- "It's going to make those forced marches difficult." she said.

A dozen soldiers were there. So were my bodyguards. And Isa. That didn't stop me from kneeling in front of Tudino, and hugging her tightly.

***

Langoret and her regiment returned the next day, with a reluctant Yna in tow.

- "We could have finished them!" complained Yna.

- "I needed you back here." I said. "Two days, to rest and re-supply. Then we're off. And you'll be coming with me."

- "You did it." said Langoret. "Again."

- "We did it. Tudino and Neslann, mostly, but Votuda's timing was perfect."

- "Your plan." said Langoret.

- "You're not going to start this again, are you? It's Tonol all over again."

Langoret stepped forward, and wrapped her arms around me. "No, dear man." she said. "This victory is all yours. You can share it with whomever you wish."

***

Corporal Canimo saw me, and waved.

- "Did you capture the enemy commander?" I called out.

- "He ran away too fast!" she shouted back.

I ran into Sergeant Creana, as well. She had a bloody bandage around her left hand.

- "How is it?" I asked her.

- "Not too bad." she said. "Fingers seem to be alright."

- "How did young Sepine do?"

Creana shook her head. "She didn't make it."

*****