I Became a Genius Commander at the Academy - Chapter 195
EP.195
About 30 minutes later, the command post of the deputy commander of the Imperial Army’s 7th Guards Division.
“Pull back the 5th Division on the right wing and replace it with the 12th Division! “If you don’t push as hard as you can now, you have no chance of winning!”
Following the order, 16,000 soldiers moved and changed positions all at once.
Meanwhile, the Reich Imperial Army gradually pressured the Austrian infantry through pincer attacks from the right and left wings, like a crocodile closing its mouth to tear its prey apart.
“Put pressure on the Austrian bastards! Soldiers who surrender are disarmed and sent away, and officers are captured! Or kill them all! “Kill at least one more guy!”
“Enemy soldiers make money! Just remember this and fight to the death!”
“Remember His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the 7th Guards Division who are risking their lives fighting to protect our rear!”
Even with a force of 180,000, they lost their momentum and became very weak, and unlike the Reich Empire soldiers, the Austrian soldiers did not receive proper physical training.
No, it is not that the soldiers of this era lacked basic physical strength because they were all engaged in farming, which was a form of manual labor.
When they reach their physical limit, they do not have the strength to fight, so they are defeated one-sidedly by the Reich Imperial Army.
For example, when Reich Empire soldiers stabbed their spears twice, the Austrian soldiers’ movements were so slow that they could only stab them once.
Soldiers were falling down one after another because their stamina was exhausted and no one even touched them.
“The spears are heavy. The armor is too heavy. I’m hopeless. “If you save me, I’ll just surrender.”
“What on earth did those bastards do that makes us feel like we’re going through such a hard time, so why are they okay?”
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a loss or a win, so just let me go home. “This isn’t it.”
The Austrian soldiers, whose stamina was exhausted, were being one-sidedly massacred by the Reich Empire soldiers, who had more physical strength.
Originally, in this situation, a retreat order should have been issued, but the Archduke of Austria lost his temper and continued to look for only a way to win.
“We have to win here somehow. “If defeated, the Grand Duchy of Austria will not be able to rise again!”
However, no matter how hard we searched, it was impossible to find a proper solution, so only vague shouting and yelling grew louder, and countermeasures were delayed.
The Archduke and his officers racked their brains to find a way to turn the situation around, but were unable to devise a proper strategy.
Meanwhile, the officers on the scene had to keep fighting here because there was no retreat order.
Therefore, he gave the order while ignoring the fact that the soldiers were unable to fight and were dying due to low stamina.
“Even if we have to die here, we must fight until the end. “His Majesty the Grand Duke will provide a solution soon!”
“If you fight at the risk of death, you will definitely be rewarded for it, and if you withdraw from here, you and your family will not be able to avoid misery.”
“Don’t die! Keep your mind straight and fight until the end. Even if you die, kill the person who killed you together!”
If Lieutenant General Yeager had listened, he would have definitely given a failing grade to the officers who gave such orders in this situation.
This is because in a situation where the unit’s strength has completely collapsed, the division commander of each division must order ‘all units to retreat and reorganize’, so the offensive must first be concentrated in the area where the encirclement appears to be the thinnest.
Now, these guys are not even trying to ‘reorganize after retreating the unit’ because the division commanders are prioritizing their own security just because the Archduke’s next order is delayed.
Meanwhile, Max, who killed his friend Matthias von Griffin and completed his double agent mission, saw this scene and thought.
‘The order my brother-in-law gave me was to confuse the enemies as much as possible.’
So, even though he was escaping, he risked his life to enter the camp of the Archduke of Austria and begin to spread rumors. He also served as an unofficial advisor and helped destroy the Austrian army.
‘With this level of skill, I don’t think there will be much trouble in being promoted from rank to lieutenant colonel after this battle. In addition, you will be able to regain your honor. But there are still more opportunities to make a contribution… If my brother-in-law were in my position, what would he have done?’
While thinking like that, a good idea occurred to him as he pretended to be a communications officer and ran straight to the wire to run away.
‘Anyway, the Austrian Grand Air Force has already been cornered by its brother-in-law. However, the current situation where they are unable to retreat is because the officers are holding out by giving unreasonable orders. If this situation prolongs, damage to our allies will accumulate unnecessarily.’
As for the current situation, as he thought, the Austrian soldiers had formed their own formations against the soldiers of the Reich Empire, so they were somehow preventing a ‘massacre’ from occurring.
When viewed from a third party’s perspective, the state of the Austrian army looked like it would collapse in an instant if anyone touched it even slightly.
As an officer of the Reich Imperial Army, Max von Wenner was a man who regarded the life of one Reich soldier as precious, but did not regard the lives of tens of thousands of Austrian soldiers as the droppings of ants.
He raised the flag symbolizing the messenger officer he had captured on his way here and shouted.
“His Majesty the Archduke of Austria has pushed back the main camp! The main camp has retreated! Everyone, reorganize your troops. Regroup and attack again!”
Since it is an order to reorganize troops, at first glance it may seem like an order advantageous to the Austrian Grand Air Force.
However, reorganizing in this situation gives the soldiers a reason to break through the encirclement of the Reich Imperial Army and retreat.
Even though it was not an official order, the soldiers lost their senses and tried to retreat when a friendly messenger officer said that the situation was such that they could retreat, and as a result, the order that maintained the military as an army completely collapsed.
If you tell the soldiers who are cornered like this to step back, they will lose sight of the thought that they have a way out, and control by their superiors becomes impossible.
This means that ‘the control of the Austrian army has collapsed’, where the Reich Imperial Army can unilaterally massacre the Austrian Grand Duchy army.
“Fuck, fuck! Finally, the order to retreat! Move!”
“No, it’s a retreat order, so let’s retreat! “Let’s go back home!”
“Ugh this is crazy.”
As Benner had predicted, the Austrian soldiers lost order and even lost the will to fight and began to run towards the rear indiscriminately.
To control the fleeing soldiers, officers killed them with swords or shouted loudly.
When I thought about it with common sense, I knew that if I believed and followed a single officer’s messenger passing by and calling for a retreat, I would be decapitated for violating military orders.
However, the most frightening thing for the Austrian soldiers now was the threat of the Reich Imperial Army, not the unlucky people who were summarily executed by their officers.
Such strong control by Austrian officers was not helpful in commanding the troops.
And this situation was soon conveyed to Lieutenant General Jaeger.
“Now is the perfect opportunity! When a signal is sent, the 14th, 17th, and 19th Divisions will prepare a way for the soldiers of the Grand Duchy of Austria to escape. In that gap, the knights who resupplied their lances will be mobilized to wipe out the fleeing Austrian infantry. “No, Colonel’s Archer Cavalry Regiment, kill at least one more of the fleeing soldiers and knights!”
Following that order, the three divisions massacred the fleeing Austrian infantry until the knights of the Reich army attacked the rear of the Austrian infantry.
Then, the knights who arrived soon after stepped on the fleeing Austrian infantry, and the surviving knights and infantry were thoroughly slaughtered by the cavalry and knights.
And when the Archduke and his staff at the base, including the Archduke of Austria, judged that the war had become a situation that could not be completely reversed.
I chose to leave my unit behind and run away as quickly as possible.
The casualties of the Reich Imperial Army were 5,000 dead and 7,000 wounded, which was more than 10% of the troops.
On the other hand, the Austrian Imperial Army suffered close to annihilation, with 45,000 dead, 27,000 wounded (many deaths occurred due to delays in recovering the wounded), and 23,000 prisoners, with casualties alone amounting to 30% of the troops.
And of course, Peter Jaeger’s brother-in-law, Major Max von Benner, who safely visited the Reich Imperial Army camp, succeeded in formally regaining his honor that day.
One regret was that we were unable to capture the Archduke of Austria and his headquarters.
This was also something that could not be helped.
A word from the author (author review)
I went up wrong just now, so there was room for misunderstanding.
sorry.
See next episode