Westrons Pt. 29

It took far too long to concentrate the army. Tallia performed miracles, and kept every regiment fed and supplied. But it was almost a month before the majority of the troops designated for my army could be gathered.

Colonel Lupona didn't let me down. She identified 6 of the best regiments in the former central army - including hers - and then introduced me to their Colonels.

Nobody made a fuss about me being male, or Pylosian. Rassbrook hadn't been just a battle for these commanders; it was the highlight of their careers. And they all knew that it was our timely arrival that had won it for them.

They had egos, of course, which required some stroking. But there were no major prima donnas who would upset the apple cart, so to speak. Lupona had chosen well; the Colonels she'd picked were able, and got along reasonably well.

Tallia wasn't with me. But Isa was. And we quickly discovered that Isa was a skillful calmer of troubled waters. She might not be Tallia's equal when it came to logistics - no one was. But my Penchen lover was a tremendous diplomat, and an excellent reader of personalities.

She was also something of a celebrity, as the first Penchen to change for a non-Penchen. People were curious. When they discovered that she was gracious and intelligent, they warmed to her very quickly.

The central regiments were in awe again when Tudino arrived, with Neslann. And then Langoret, with Yna, and then Votuda.

The siege of Tonol, Limset ... the battle of Kesmansha, the bridge at Smund. These events were already semi-legendary, and the Colonels of the New Model Army discovered that they were famous. I could have organized a massive Tudino fan club, if I'd had half an hour to spare.

- "You're exaggerating." she said.

- "You're right. I might need a full hour."

One of the positive aspects of this fame was that the Central Colonels didn't make a big fuss about the new rank of Colonel-General. It was just a new type of General, as far as they were concerned. It also gave them a new target for their own ambitions. Only a few would ever make it to General, but now they could aspire to this new rank.

No one complained when I assigned two of their regiments to Neslann, to create a division. Lupona and one more regiment would remain under my direct command, for now. The last two were placed under Votuda's command. The Colonels of those regiments might not have been as happy about that, but I suspected that they'd eventually thank me for it.

I had nightly conferences with Leydz and the Penchen Colonels, and with my New Model Army commanders and the new Colonels, looking for possible matches and combinations.

We had three weeks to introduce Lupona and the other 'Centrals' (as we called them) to our skirmishing and open order tactics. There was no time for them to learn our way; all we could do was to familiarize them with it.

It was mostly a case of 'Here's what we're going to do; here's what we want you to do'.

Six regiments from the southern army, with two more Penchen regiments, were on their way. We would have barely enough time to meet them, and learn their names. Advanced training was out of the question.

In the end, it didn't matter, because the Crolians arrived first.

***

I had 18 regiments - perhaps 16,000 troops, in the neighbourhood of Rassbrook. Well-led, experienced and confident. We knew the layout of the land.

But the Crolian army that marched towards us was a horde. There was no stopping such numbers. They would have rolled over us. If we stood to fight, we would be outflanked on both sides, and simply overwhelmed.

We had to keep our distance: moving at the pace of the Penchens, and burdened with extra artillery and ammunition carts, we couldn't outmarch (or outrun) the enemy.

There was nothing to do but retreat. I sent messages to the southern regiments, ordering them to change the direction of their march.

I let my best Colonels delay the Crolians: Langoret and Tudino, and then Neslann and Votuda. Then all four. Then Faregil, Frad and Cyrte as well.

They employed our skirmishing tactics to great effect, but there were simply too many enemy regiments, advancing on a broad front. The land hereabout was too hilly, with too many trees.

That might sound ideal, for our light infantry. But the Crolians didn't have to stick to the roads, either. In fact, they were spreading out, busily foraging for food.

Unfortunately, these weren't simply foraging parties, which could be ambushed, or trapped. Entire regiments were involved - with another regiment to either side of them. I didn't want a skirmishing encounter to turn into a major battle - not yet.

Reluctantly, I gave the order to evacuate the territory behind us, to a depth of fifteen leagues. Many Westron families had occupied these lands for generations. They didn't want to move - and they insisted that it was our job to protect them.

A few diehards simply wouldn't listen, and had to be evacuated at the point of a bayonet. That didn't make us very popular.

I worried even more about those who evaded or deliberately hid from our sweep. If the Crolians found them ...

Our retreat across the Baynas river was no thing of beauty. I was extremely grateful, though, that my Colonels handled the withdrawal so smoothly. We didn't leave anybody behind, on the wrong side of the river.

Unfortunately, the Baynas was no major obstacle. There were bridges which we could defend, or destroy, but there were also half a dozen fording places. The Crolians were going to discover them, and we simply didn't have enough troops to guard them all.

We retreated.

***

On the positive side, we were able to make contact with the reinforcements from the south: six Westron regiments, and two Penchen.

We were still outnumbered, but if I could find a decent place to make a stand, we could make a fight of it.

***

We took a few prisoners. From them, we learned several important things.

- the Crolian army was, in fact, two armies. Prince Ellem Anry commanded the larger half.

- the second force was led by a General Ganning. He'd gotten his promotion.

- the soldiers we'd captured were from Ganning's army. They knew next to nothing about the Prince's forces. The two halves of the Crolian army seemed to be operating side-by-side, but almost separately.

The prisoners thought that the combined armies totaled some 40,000 men. Even though I'd considered that number as a possibility, the reality was still daunting.

- "Their army is too large for unified command." said Isa. "They'll have trouble coordinating, in a battle."

I glanced at Langoret. We'd come to the same conclusion about our own army.

One of the prisoners had the leg of a Westron child in his knapsack. Another carried a piece of meat which was unidentifiable, but it had clearly come from a person.

We hanged the lot of them.

***

"We have to stand and fight, then." said Langoret.

- "I know."

We had to find a battlefield that would create advantages for us. The fact that I had no time to look for one was preying on my mind.

In the end, it was the Crolians who solved my dilemma for me.

They poured across the Baynas river at half a dozen points. I had rifle companies harassing them, but it was like a handful of midges on the edge of a herd of oxen.

Then the Crolians surprised us all by turning north. They followed the river, obviously headed for the small town of Feirlan.

- "Looking for food?" said Langoret, wondering aloud.

- "We've already ordered the townspeople to evacuate." said Tudino. "The Crolians won't find anything there."

- "We have to hope that those people in Feirlan believed us." I said. "It's too late to send enough troops to evict them by force."

Unfortunately, there were perhaps two dozen families who were too proud, or too stubborn to believe our warnings. Perhaps they couldn't bear to give up their homes. Whatever the reason, they were still there when the enemy army marched into the town.

***

Retreat again? Or make a stand?

If we continued to withdraw, more people would suffer, just like those poor folk in Feirlan. That they had been warned was hardly the point; no one deserved such a fate.

In the last light before dusk, I stood on a little knoll known as Peck's hill, some 3,000 yards from the town of Feirlan.

Imagine a great 'T' shape, formed by the Baynas river, which ran north-south, and the smaller Oblion river, running swiftly from west to east, and pouring into the Baynas.

The little town of Feirlan straddled the banks of the Oblion, just where it met the Baynas. It had once been home to almost nine hundred people.

There were two bridges across the Oblion, inside the town, and another some few hundred yards outside. There was a fourth bridge, quite close to where I stood, on Peck's hill, and a fifth, plus a ford, behind me.

Six places, then, to cross the Oblion, from the south side to the north side, or vice versa.

In the late light, with the sun setting behind me, I could see the massive numbers of enemy troops. They were in both sides of Feirlan town - meaning that they were camped on both sides of the Oblion.

I shook my head in disbelief.

- "The Lord has delivered them into our hands."

- "Pardon?" said Tudino.

She hadn't understood, because I'd spoken in Terran.

- "We fight them here." I said.

***

I had already called a conference that evening, knowing that I might have had to inform the Colonels that we were retreating again. We met in the open, because I didn't have a tent big enough for twenty Westrons, six Penchens, plus Leydz and Isa - not to mention my bodyguards.

- "This is where we'll stop them." I said.

The response was mixed.

- "Finally!" growled Yna.

The Centrals - as I thought of Lupona and the other former members of Berandot's army - weren't quite sure what to make of that announcement. The Southrons - formerly of Brune's army - were plainly dismayed. There was some muttering.

- "Listen up!" said Tudino.

- "Let General Cook explain to you why we're fighting here." said Langoret.

I reminded them of the basic situation: the Crolians were starving, and they had less artillery than they should have. Nor could they muster enough oxen to move the guns they did have.

- "You're concerned about their numbers." I said. "So am I. But let me tell you what they've done: they've split their army in two. Half of them are north of the Oblion - half are on the southern side."

"And that means we're going to crush them."

I told them about the limited number of bridges. I explained my plan, such as it was at that point.

"We have more guns. Better troops. Experienced commanders. And they've just made a monstrous mistake - it would be criminal of us to let them get away with it."

That got me a smile from some of the new Colonels. Tudino was grinning, and Yna's teeth were bared in some kind of feral snarl.

"Your regiments have to be ready to move before dawn. Is that understood? We have to deploy quickly, before they can react. And we have guns to move, positions to seize."

"Votuda? You and yours will be up first."

- "We'll be ready."

***

Votuda moved almost before first light. She led three regiments: her own, plus two from the Central army.

There were some Crolian outposts on Mallet hill. She went in with the bayonet, overran them quickly, and occupied the hill.

Neslann followed in her wake, escorting the ox-teams bringing the guns forward.

The Crolians woke slowly, but someone must have seen fit to inform General Ganning. There was considerable activity on the southern side of Feirlan. Soon enough, regiments began forming into line on the edge of the town.

Ganning threw eight of those regiments into an immediate counterattack aimed at Mallet hill.

There was only a brief preliminary bombardment, though, because only a few Crolian guns were in position to fire at Mallet hill. The enemy simply advanced in a massive wave.

Votuda clung to the top of the hill like a barnacle. She had two dozen of our 3-pounders, spitting grapeshot at the oncoming Crolians. Neslann moved to her right, in support, with her three regiments.

And then Leydz and the Penchen regiments, in perfect lock-step, marched into line on Votuda's left. They looked magnificent. It nearly took my breath away.

- They're beautiful." I said aloud.

- "I'll tell them you said so." promised Isa.

The Penchens unleashed a series of powerful volleys - the first volley, carefully loaded, is always the most potent. These were devastating.

The Crolian attack faltered, and failed. They pulled back to regroup.

General Leydz then arrayed his six regiments in echelon, creating a line on a 45 degree angle, connecting Mallet hill to Peck's hill, where I stood with Tudino's regiment, plus two of the southern regiments.

And every moment that passed, the ox-drivers delivered more and more of our guns to the front lines. We set up a battery on Mallet hill, and another beside it, in case the Crolians tried to outflank us along the river, to the south.

Two more batteries were set up on Peck's hill: one faced the town, while the second overlooked the bridge across the Oblion, near the base of the hill.

And every other gun we had, except for a reserve of 3-pounders, went into line with the Penchens.

Ever since the Battle of Kesmansha, I'd dreamed of creating a Grand Battery - an overwhelming number of guns, firing a tremendous weight of metal.

The Penchens had their own artillery, as did the nine regiments under Votuda, Neslann, and Tudino. But we also had the guns from 10 more Westron regiments who weren't in the defensive line facing the south side of Feirlan town.

For added weight, we had some of the captured guns from Kesmansha, and more from the victory at Rassbrook. Tallia had performed miracles to find us supplies of powder and shot so that we could use them.

Ganning's first response had been over-hasty. He took the time to place his own artillery, and to prepare a second, better-organized assault on Mallet hill.

By the time his guns fired their first salvo, we had more than twice as many guns in position. The reply of our massed cannon shook the earth.

The Crolians didn't lack courage. They came forward in steady lines. It looked like fifteen or sixteen regiments, colours flying.

We smashed them.

They walked into a hail of grapeshot. The brave soldiers in the third and fourth ranks stepped over the bodies of their fallen fellows, and came on.

A second blast of massed guns seemed to stagger them. They hesitated, but then lurched forward again.

Our entire line seemed to erupt in flame as Votuda's and Neslann's divisions fired a volley, followed almost immediately by the Penchens, one regiment after the other.

The Crolian advance stopped. Several of their regiments fired a volley in reply, but they didn't resume their advance.

Our second volley staggered them again. Their answering fire was disjointed, ill-coordinated.

Then our guns belched fire a third time, and the Crolian foot began to give way. It didn't happen all at once, but when one regiment began to move backward, the unit next to it had to move as well, or risk leaving its flank exposed.

Soon enough, though, the entire Crolian line was in retreat, seeking the shelter of the town.

Once they'd reached it, the Crolian artillery opened up again.

By that time, we were still moving even more cannon into our line. In several places, the guns were almost wheel to wheel.

I remembered, from my very first days at AFOTA (before I became a pariah), reading and discussing the value of counter-battery fire in pre-20th century armies. Many argued that it was not particularly effective.

It was very instructive to watch the Crolian gunners, as they bravely tried to exchange fire with three or four times their number of cannon.

They did not fare well.

They lost gunners and gun crew, but there were also several spectacular direct hits. I saw a cannon barrel go flying into the air, spinning as it hurtled back into the town. Several Crolian guns were smashed as cannonballs struck a wheel, or a gun carriage.

General Ganning had some time to realize that his situation was less than ideal. By now, though, the matter at hand would have to be decided by his co-commander.

Prince Ellem Anry had almost 20,000 uncommitted troops. He had several options:

- send reinforcements to General Ganning, across the two bridges in Feirlan town

- move his artillery, so that it could fire across the river, and support Ganning's hard-pressed batteries

- march out of his sector of the town, and try to assist Ganning by attacking across the 3rd and 4th bridges

- push straight west, and threaten our flank and rear

I didn't have a great deal of respect for the Prince's military skills - after all, I'd fought him at Limset (where he was captured). But even I was surprised by the option he chose: all of the above.

He began shifting regiments from the northern side of Feirlan to the southern, only adding the congestion and confusion there.

But he also marched out of his positions with a dozen regiments. Six of them pushed forward, while the remainder began to cross the bridges across the Oblion.

One of those was practically at the foot of Peck's hill. Tudino had the gunners hold their fire until at least a full regiment was across. When she finally gave the order, they unleashed a storm of shot at relatively close range.

The two regiments which crossed closer to the town ended up taking fire in the flank from the Penchens and their massed artillery. Their attempt to turn and re-form their line - under fire - was a predictable failure.

It's possible that their contribution might have helped the Prince's co-commander, had Ganning launched a new assault in coordination with their attack.

But that didn't happen. Whether he was waiting for the Prince's reinforcements, or simply had difficulty re-organizing his own men, Ganning was late out of the gate. Ellem Anry's foray across the river had already failed before Ganning could get his third assault started.

They doggedly came on anyway. All they achieved was to thicken the carpet of Crolian dead and wounded strewn across the field.

Meanwhile, Ellem Anry's third group pressed forward, parallel to the Oblion river.

And there they met Langoret's regiment, in open order, backed by Faregil, Frad, Cyrte, and two of the southern regiments.

It was the four members of the New Model Army who did all of the damage. Whoever was leading these Crolian regiments hadn't been at Limset. They seemed to have no idea how to counter our skirmishing tactics.

They advanced in line, right into the fire of our experienced light infantry, who shot several rounds, and then retired as fresh companies took their place.

One unfortunate Crolian regiment stayed too close to the river, and was treated to a dose of grapeshot from Tudino's second battery atop Peck's hill.

The rest of them gave further proof of Crolian bravery. They kept coming, absorbing losses, without any effective response. They stopped a few times, to fire a largely wasted volley, and then resumed their advance.

Someone must have realized how little effect they were having. There was also the danger that Tudino might cross the Oblion behind them, and cut them off.

They stopped, and began to withdraw towards the town. To protect their retreat, they spread out one regiment in open order as a rearguard.

Langoret immediately sent forward four companies of rifles, and made the Crolians pay for every retrograde step.