Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World-Chapter 737: Oblique Attack

TL: Rui88

Watching the dust cloud soaring high in front of them, everyone in the New Protestant Alliance army realized that the real battle was about to begin.

Andrew was somewhat worried about whether the armies of Eton and the other nations could withstand this ferocious charge. He ordered the Third Battalion of the Naval Infantry, which was serving as the reserve, to move quickly to the left wing to support their allies there.

The cavalry led by Fedotov was very fast, and in no time, they were close to the New Protestant Army’s left wing. These Church knights, skilled in horsemanship, used chain flails and longswords to engage the infantrymen who had formed a phalanx.

Bang, bang, bang! A continuous series of explosions rang out, and in an instant, a large cloud of smoke obscured the left wing of the battle line.

Just as both sides were locked in a stalemate, the timely arrival of the Third Battalion of the Naval Infantry joined the fray. A volley of musket fire sent the nearby Crusader knights tumbling, men and horses alike.

“Evil magic!” Fedotov believed his suspicions were confirmed. What else could those strange attacks that spouted fire and smoke be but magic?

He was completely consumed by a sense of fearlessness, bravely leading his men to charge toward the Naval Infantry.

These soldiers from Alda quickly changed their formation, switching from their previous line formation to a hollow square.

Fedotov’s cavalry launched attack after attack against them, but this seemingly weak square formation remained unshaken. No matter which direction the Crusader cavalry attacked from, what they faced was always a hail of bullets and a forest of bayonets.

They were shocked. When they charged at those other weak infantrymen, the enemy would invariably be terrified by the momentum of their charge, either scattering in panic to the sides or desperately trying to squeeze behind others.

But this strange army was able to hold its ground, some kneeling, some standing, each man as if rooted to the spot.

What was particularly vexing was that the warhorses under them had never seen this kind of attack with its roars and smoke, and thus became panicked and extremely difficult to control.

“Shoot the horses! Shoot the horses!” Within the Naval Infantry’s square, the commander of the Third Battalion roared at the top of his lungs, reminding the new soldiers what the priority target was.

Because of their larger size, horses were more easily hit by muskets. Once injured or killed, they would obstruct the charge of the cavalry behind them. The living warhorses, seeing the miserable state of their own kind, and at the same time startled by the sound of gunfire and flames, galloped around even more frantically, greatly diminishing the impact of the Crusader cavalry’s charge.

Fedotov, wrapped in anger, paid no heed to any of this, desperately shaking the reins to urge his warhorse forward. At that moment, an accident occurred. A cavalryman charging in front of him was suddenly hit. His steed let out a startling gush of bright red blood and collapsed abruptly. Fedotov’s mount did not rein in in time, was tripped heavily, and threw its rider from its back.

Fedotov only felt the world suddenly spin, and then he was rolling on the ground. He immediately forced himself up and quickly assessed his physical condition.

Fortunately, it seemed no bones were broken.

“General!” His aide-de-camp stopped beside him in time, dismounted, and helped him up, offering his own warhorse for Fedotov to ride.

“Commander Webster has given us a new order.” The aide-de-camp relayed the words of a messenger he had just met. “We must tie down the enemy’s left wing! He will command the main force to crush the enemy’s right wing first and then come to support you!”

“Send word back, we will definitely do it!”

Fedotov nodded heavily and continued to command his cavalry to attack the left wing of the New Protestant army.

The continuous bombardment of the artillery created large swaths of smoke, severely obstructing the vision of both sides. The right wing of the Crusader Army and the left wing of the New Protestant Army were already locked in battle. The infantry phalanxes of Eton and other nations, with the Naval Infantry battalion as their backbone, were struggling to hold on and not be routed by the enemy.

In this chaotic situation, the Crusader commander, Webster, keenly spotted an opportunity. On the right wing of the New Protestant Army was the army of the Horn Bay Alliance. He had investigated; the Horn Bay Alliance had just formed an army after being freed from the predicament of national subjugation.

And a newly formed army often had all sorts of problems. After some calculation in his mind, Webster quickly determined his main direction of attack.

Since that reckless fool Fedotov had already led the cavalry to attack the enemy’s left wing, they might as well make the best of a bad situation and just tie down the enemy there.

He decisively ordered an attack on the right wing of the New Protestant Army using oblique tactics.

Several infantry phalanxes of the Crusader Army moved according to Webster’s orders. From left to right, their line was gradually no longer parallel to the New Protestant Army but formed an angle, with its left wing closer to the enemy and its right wing slightly farther away, approaching the opponent in a trapezoidal formation.

The oblique tactic was the one Webster and the army under his command were most adept at using, also known as the inclined tactic.

During the engagement, the wing closer to the enemy would be the first to engage, while the farther wing would conduct a holding action. Once the engaged wing had shattered the corresponding enemy wing, it would immediately take the opportunity to envelop the exposed flank of the enemy’s battle line and seek an opportunity to attack the enemy’s rear. Meanwhile, the wing that was previously farther away would attack the enemy’s front. Through coordinated attacks from multiple directions—front and flank—they would shake the enemy’s line, crush their will to fight, and ultimately achieve victory at a smaller cost than an immediate head-on confrontation. This was Webster’s oblique tactic.

It was obvious that the success of the oblique tactic depended on whether the first wing to make contact could rout the enemy. And among the opposing New Protestant Army, there was no doubt that the Horn Bay Alliance army, which had just regained its size but was severely lacking in training, was an excellent target to start with. They were deployed precisely on the New Protestant Army’s right wing, making them the first target of the obliquely moving Crusader Army.

The Crusader cavalry had superior numbers and were deployed on both wings. Their left-wing cavalry, in coordination with the oblique tactic, was the first to launch an attack on the Horn Bay Alliance army on the right wing of the New Protestant Army.

For a time, the sound of hooves drowned the right wing of the New Protestant Army, and the cries of battle shook the heavens. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

“Don’t panic, they won’t dare to charge straight in!”

The commanders of the Horn Bay Alliance army roared, maintaining discipline at the top of their lungs, telling the soldiers not to run and to brace their pikes with the points facing outward on the ground.

The best they could achieve was that the soldiers did not immediately rout. When those soldiers, who had not experienced many battles, saw a large number of tall horses charging toward them, their legs were already trembling uncontrollably, and their arms were so limp they could barely hold their pikes.

The Crusader cavalry, on the other hand, was composed of knights with superb riding skills and a fanatical faith in the Holy See. They knew how to peel away the layers of an infantry phalanx—strike and disengage, never getting bogged down, gradually wearing down the opponent’s confidence.

Just as the Horn Bay Alliance army was exhausted from the cavalry harassment, the left-wing infantry of the Crusader Army arrived and immediately launched a real attack against them.

Under such an assault, it did not take long for the infantry phalanxes of the Alliance army to collapse.