Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 195 Late arrival
A cavalry officer once wrote:

"Only those who have never actually participated in cavalry battles would talk about two opposing cavalry units or cavalry lines clashing and fighting until one side is annihilated."

And this is indeed the case.

In the countless cavalry duels that have taken place in this world, there have been very few instances of a true head-on collision.

If both sides are evenly matched in morale, the cavalry will break through the enemy's formation and emerge from the other side.

However, if the morale of the two sides is unequal, when the two cavalry charge into battle, the outcome is actually decided the moment they spur their horses on.
In the final fifty meters or so, the instinct for survival ultimately triumphed over everything.

The first to lose courage were the Gallic cavalry, who had already suffered a crushing defeat. Almost instinctively, they turned their horses around and scattered to the sides of the battlefield.

A truly large-scale cavalry melee never even occurred.

The moment the Saxon cuirassiers charged down the gentle slope, most of the heavy machine gun positions and the dragoons who were still firing ceased firing.

This was not only because of concerns about friendly fire incidents, but also because this was the first time most people had seen such a large-scale cavalry charge in actual combat.

In this battle, the cavalry's charging formation was never as straight as a moving stone wall as they were in their daily training.

The brave cavalrymen's desire to get close to the enemy actually weakened the cohesion and integrity of the ranks to some extent.

The best cuirassiers would try to catch up with the officers at the front, which caused the charging line to quickly turn into wedge formations.

When these wedge-shaped formations rammed into the broken lines of the Gallic cavalry, they instantly took down the adjacent enemy cavalrymen—in the exercise against enemy cuirassiers, everyone had to learn to attack positions not protected by the cuirassiers.

Since the Gallic cavalry had lost the courage to fight the Saxons, the cavalry skirmish did not last long and quickly turned into the final stage of the cavalry battle—pursuit.

This is also the deadliest and most deadly phase of cavalry combat.

The seasoned royal guard cuirassiers and the rapidly advancing dragoons, led by their officers, approached from the left flank of the fleeing Gallic cavalry.

In such situations, Gallic cavalry, typically wielding swords and lances with their right hands, would find it difficult to defend against attacks from Saxon cavalry.

Gallic cavalrymen were constantly being cut off from their horses amidst cries of agony. Most of them tried to curl up after landing, but the vast majority still couldn't escape being trampled by the horses' hooves.

As more and more unmanned warhorses appeared on the battlefield, they immediately attracted the attention of some hussars and dragoons.

They quickly dispatched a small contingent of cavalry to pursue the warhorses, attempting to claim these fine horses from the main Gallic cavalry force as their spoils.
Meanwhile, on the right flank of the battlefield.

The Saxon lancers, who had been forced back by the Gauls' machine gun positions, finally completed a large-scale flanking maneuver.

Guided by hussar scouts, they bypassed the main battlefield and approached their final objective from another direction—the artillery position of the Gallic 3rd Cavalry Division!

Those twelve 75mm magic cannons, still firing incessantly, seemed so fragile and tempting to them at that moment.

An entire Imperial Guard Lancer Regiment, nearly a thousand lancers, began to approach the magic cannon position at a trot, controlling their warhorses.

Soon, the Gallic artillery, along with some dragoons and infantry responsible for protection, discovered the enemy force that had suddenly approached from another direction.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Saxon cavalry!"

Chaos erupted on the artillery position.

The gunners frantically tried to turn the guns around. Although the 75mm magic cannon was relatively light thanks to the enchantment, that was only in comparison to other heavy field guns.

Therefore, the aiming of the gun muzzle, including the adjustment of each gun position, cannot be completed so quickly.

During this process, the Saxon lancers also changed from a trot to a faster jog, and the distance between the two sides began to close rapidly.

The dragon riders and infantrymen on guard duty at the magic cannon position also formed skirmish lines under the command of their officers and raised their guns, firing wildly at the approaching torrent of cavalry.

However, due to the deployment of heavy machine guns, their current firepower is still somewhat lacking in the face of a well-organized cavalry charge.

And it was all too late.

"Gentlemen!"

The lancer commander drew his saber and pointed it at the distant artillery position, which was still spitting fire. His voice trembled slightly with excitement.

"For the Emperor!"

He suddenly swung his saber forward.

"charge!"

An entire Imperial Guard Lancer Regiment, nearly a thousand lancers, simultaneously unleashed a deafening roar.

"For the Emperor!"

They spurred their horses and galloped forward, while the first rank of lancers lowered their lances, the tips pointing straight ahead.

Led by officers, they formed tight waves of assault and launched a devastating attack on the unsuspecting artillery position.

The warhorses began to gallop, and the earth began to tremble.

In just a few breaths, the lancers swept through the hastily assembled defenses of the dragoons and infantry like autumn leaves in the wind—or rather, these loose defenses crumbled on their own before the charge even began.

The sharp, narrow lances pierced the chests of Gallic artillerymen and infantrymen with precision.

The iron hooves of warhorses mercilessly trampled the wounded soldiers lying on the ground.

A highly efficient massacre unfolded on the artillery position.

The Gallic artillerymen were utterly unable to mount any effective resistance; their pistols and carbines were like children's toys in the face of the lancers wielding sabers and lances.

Within minutes, the entire artillery position was completely lost.

The twelve 75mm magic cannons that General Hopner feared fell almost unscathed into the hands of the Saxons.

The lancer commander in charge of the raid looked at the still-steaming cannons and laughed excitedly.

He knew they had won the battle.

Moreover, it was a resounding victory, one that will be recorded in history!
He immediately ordered a portion of his soldiers to stay behind and guard these valuable spoils, while simultaneously mopping up the remaining enemy forces.

Then, he himself led the main force and turned his horses around.

They prepared to deliver the final blow from behind to the remaining Gallic soldiers who were still stubbornly resisting on the main battlefield.

When the banner of the Lancers appeared behind the remnants of the 3rd Gallic Cavalry Division.

All the Gallic soldiers who were still resisting finally collapsed.

They were pursued from the front, blocked from behind, and constantly harassed by cavalry on their flanks.

They are in dire straits, with no chance of turning the tide.

"Surrender! We surrender!"

It's unclear who first threw down their weapon and raised their hands.

This action, as if contagious, quickly spread among the remaining Gallic soldiers.

More and more people chose to surrender.

A cavalry battle that was expected to be exceptionally fierce was decided in an unexpected way, in less than two hours.

When the 1st Imperial Guard Cavalry Division announced the end of this true battle of men with a resounding victory.

A massive shadow loomed over Charleroi amidst the hum of its engines. The L29 Zeppelin armored airship, a behemoth of aerial warfare capable of cruising at 120 kilometers per hour, arrived at the battlefield even before the convoy from the Ludendorf battle group.

"Buzz-buzz-buzz-"

The roar of the massive engines grew louder as the airship's imposing silhouette pierced through the clouds and appeared above the city.

A stirring and majestic melody poured down from the loudspeakers mounted on the airship.

It is a classic piece from the Saxon Empire – "Ride of the Valkyries".

After a brief silence, deafening cheers erupted on the training assault battalion's position.

"It's our armored airship! Our armored airship is here!"

Long live the Air Force!

The soldiers poked their heads out of bunkers and buildings, waving their arms and jumping and skipping excitedly.

Many people even followed the rousing melody, banging their hands on the sandbags and walls around them.

He excitedly hummed the rhythm "dang dang dang dang~ dang dang dang~".

In stark contrast were the Gallic 9th Division soldiers who controlled the outskirts of Charleroi.

They stared in disbelief at the enormous object in the sky, their faces filled with bewilderment and fear.

The appearance of this armored airship was so sudden that they didn't know how to deal with it for a moment.

Soon, a call mixed with static rang out from the bulky radio at the temporary headquarters of the training assault battalion.

This was also the first time that the bulky machine carried by the training assault battalion had truly come in handy during these days of fighting.

"Calling ground forces, this is Imperial Air Force armored airship L29, please respond!"

Morin snatched the microphone, and when he heard the captain's calm and powerful voice, it felt like hearing the voice of a loved one.

"This is the training assault battalion! We're in the heart of Charleroi South City!"

As he spoke, he quickly checked the precise location of his own troops on the system map and informed the other side as much as possible.

Meanwhile, the armored airships also offered to provide air support for the training assault battalion.

Maureen had no reason to refuse such a request.

"We will use red signal flares to guide you to the enemy area! Please be aware of friendly forces' locations to avoid friendly fire!"

"Received! Awaiting your signal!"

Morin's order was immediately relayed to the 1st Company's position.

Several soldiers, having received instructions, quickly fired several red signal flares from the front lines toward the distant city controlled by Gallic soldiers.

The signal flare trailed a long contrail, drawing a striking arc in the air before landing among a cluster of buildings.

The L29 armored airship immediately adjusted its attitude based on the landing point of the signal flare.

On the hull, there are four huge twin-gun turrets, two forward and two aft, slowly rotating their muzzles.

"Target area confirmed! High-explosive shell loading!"

"Fire!"

At the captain's command, the eight 203mm cannons roared simultaneously.

The shell tore through the air with a sharp whistling sound and struck the area marked by the signal flare with pinpoint accuracy.

"Boom—! Boom—!"

The violent explosions continued, and the earth trembled.

These large tubes were clearly far more powerful than the Gauls' 75mm magic cannons.

Those brick and stone buildings were as fragile as paper in the face of 203mm high-explosive shells, and were razed to the ground in large sections.

A huge fireball and a column of black smoke shot into the sky, as if to set the entire sky ablaze.

In the face of such a devastating attack, precision is irrelevant.

The shockwave and fragments of a large-caliber high-explosive shell will equally reap every precious life within its kill radius.

Only four rounds of fire.

The psychological defenses of the Gallic 9th Division soldiers who were still putting up a stubborn resistance in front of the 1st Company's position were completely destroyed.

The survivors screamed and cried as they rushed out of the ruins and bunkers, fleeing desperately toward the outskirts of the city.

No supervisory team attempted to intercept them, because the supervisory team, under attack from the armored airships, also retreated without looking back.

Everyone just wanted to escape this place shrouded in the shadow of death as quickly as possible.

However, when their panicked figures appeared in the city ruins, the MG08 machine gun turrets distributed in the various pods on the armored airship began strafing the ground.

"Da da da da da!"

A dense hail of bullets rained down from the sky, leaving deadly straight lines on the ground as they chased after the fleeing figures.

Gallic soldiers were constantly being hit by bullets, screaming as they fell into pools of blood.

If the soldiers of the training assault battalion were to launch a ground offensive, these Gallic soldiers might, under pressure from their officers, resist by relying on buildings.

But attacks from the sky are completely unreasonable.

With the weapons these infantrymen possessed, they were simply incapable of launching any counterattack.

This feeling of powerlessness is more despairing than facing a hail of bullets head-on.

Immediately afterwards, several red signal flares were also launched from the positions of the 2nd and 3rd Companies on the east and west flanks of the city.

The L29 armored airship slowly adjusted its orientation in the air, and at the same time, under the command of the fire control commander, it turned its guns and unleashed equally ferocious firepower in those two directions.

Morin climbed to the roof of a building near the temporary camp headquarters and witnessed firsthand the terrifying power of this war behemoth.

The enormous airship loomed over the city like a dragon descending from the heavens in mythology, utterly crushing the last vestiges of morale and will to resist of the 9th Gallic Division with pure violence.

At the same time, the Gallic 11th Division, which had already reached the flank of the 9th Division and was preparing to launch a reinforcement, also urgently called off the order to attack Charlerois.

After witnessing the devastating bombing by the war behemoth, the 11th Division headquarters did not hesitate to change its mission from 'reinforcing and launching an attack' to 'covering the retreat of the 9th Division'.

Although large anti-aircraft magical devices capable of threatening armored airships have appeared in the fortresses of the United Kingdom of Flanders.

But the concept of field air defense is clearly not yet present in this world.

Those bulky, large anti-aircraft magical devices were simply unable to accompany the infantry in mobile warfare.

At least for the short term, the Gallic Fifth Army, which had almost all of its battle mages drawn away, had virtually no means of countering this steel behemoth that roamed the skies with impunity.

(End of this chapter)