Chapter 216
Chapter 216
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 216
Chapter Title: Battle of the Osby Plains (1)
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Ten days later, at the Reich Empire Army's command tent on the Osby Plains.
The atmosphere inside the tent was far from good when General Keitel and I entered.
The generals and field-grade officers who should have been vigorously debating strategies inside the command tent looked lifeless, gloomy, and even despairing.
Even so, they were discussing survival options in this desperate situation, just as they'd been taught at the Staff College.
"If only there were mountains or hills around, we could fight on better ground... But this place only has forests and flat plains..."
"Eleven legions against twenty—that's nearly twice as many enemies. I have no idea how we're supposed to handle this. Should we ambush them in the forest with our infantry?"
"What if we aim to defeat them in detail instead? Or launch a night raid like Deputy Commander Jaeger did before?"
"They'll fall for a night raid once, but not twice. Don't you have any better ideas?"
As voices rose and negative comments began flying, General Keitel, standing beside me, cleared his throat and spoke up.
"The commander knows full well, just like everyone here, that our situation is far from easy. Who could have predicted the Grand Duchy of Warsaw would send 50,000 reinforcements?"
As the commander said, who could have imagined the mad Grand Duke of Warsaw would marry off his daughter to ally with those Stockholm bastards?
Not even I, let alone the Foreign Minister with decades of diplomatic experience, had foreseen it.
So as someone said, only a fortune-teller or prophet could have predicted that—not a mere mortal.
"But if we give up just because it's tough, it's all over. This isn't just the end for our expeditionary force; the Empire itself could collapse. You all know this: if we can't crush the Kingdom of Stockholm and those Ishtaven scum here, the Empire's prestige will hit rock bottom. Lose our military dominance on the Euuropa continent, and the vultures will circle—Switchland and Ostrica from below, Morenzia and Belgia from the west, Warsaw and Chekovia from the east, all eyeing our lands."
No nation on this era's Euuropa continent truly trusts another.
They're all waiting for a chance to smash the back of their neighbor's head and snatch even a scrap of land.
And if the mighty hegemon that is the Empire starts to wobble?
Every surrounding country would pounce without hesitation to carve up that massive prize the moment they catch a whiff of weakness.
The result? The Reich Empire would face a desperate total war on a scale we've never seen.
"You all need to understand this: falter or collapse here, and what's waiting is an abyss we can't endure. Alright, let's begin the strategy meeting now."
Sobered by General Keitel's harsh dose of reality, the officers grew serious and stared intently at the map again.
"For clarity, allow me, the army commander, to summarize our situation briefly. Our 110,000 Reich Empire troops must face off squarely against 150,000 from the Kingdom of Stockholm and 50,000 from the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. No need to belabor the point. We can't hole up in the fortresses we've captured and fight a defensive battle, so we must prepare solely for a pitched battle on the plains."
General Keitel and I—no, everyone here—would love to barricade ourselves in a nearby fortress and defend.
Common sense dictates that's the best way for a smaller force to beat a larger army: fight from inside walls.
But hunkering down only works as long as friendly reinforcements can reach you.
In a siege, fewer defenders can hold off hordes of attackers easily—but if the enemy surrounds the fortress and digs in, those inside starve.
The only escape is nearby allies arriving with relief forces. But the Reich Empire has no spare troops to send all the way to the Kingdom of Stockholm.
So holing up in a fortress is completely off the table.
"Anyone with a viable plan, speak up. As long as it's not utter nonsense, I'll hear you out to the end. I'll save my own plan for last, so don't hold back."
The generals didn't hesitate.
"I think we should ambush enemy infantry with our own infantry hidden near the forest as they pass."
"I'd suggest luring them deep into the woods and setting them ablaze. The Stockholm forces outnumber us, so their commanders are bound to be overconfident. With the right bait, we can trap them."
"We chop down trees in the forest to build palisades or stakes, coat them in mud for makeshift walls. Block their advance completely, then rain arrows and magic to whittle down their numbers."
These tactics—infantry ambushes in the woods, luring and burning—are tailor-made for small forces facing larger ones.
Especially fire attacks: succeed once, and you can wipe out tens of thousands at a stroke.
But they require massive amounts of oil, dry branches, wood, oil-soaked timber.
We have some oil, but not nearly enough dry wood for a proper blaze.
So these alone won't let 110,000 defeat 200,000.
Nothing special had occurred to me yet, so I listened intently to every general's stratagem and every field officer's proposal.
I jotted notes on the paper before me, marking what parts of each idea were useful.
Staring at those notes, discarding the useless and refining the good, a path for the Imperial Army began to emerge.
General Keitel glanced at me—still silent on plans—and addressed the group.
"Is there no one else with a new strategy?"
Everyone worth hearing had spoken, so no one replied.
With a sigh, General Keitel turned to me.
"Then, Lieutenant General Jaeger, it's your turn. How do you plan to beat 200,000 enemies with just our 110,000?"
"We can't avoid clashing head-on with the enemy. But we can choose terrain that favors us, not hinders."
With that, I placed wooden markers on the map representing 5,000 Northern Arch Cavalry and 5,000 knights in the forest to our legion's right.
Then I deployed the rest in a textbook formation.
Crossbowmen, archers, and mages up front; right behind them, spearmen and infantry; cavalry and knights on the flanks.
The general, other officers, and I couldn't hide our surprise at how unusual it looked.
"Textbook ambushes call for infantry, but in our case, cavalry will demoralize the enemy troops far more. So the forest ambushers must be cavalry."
I moved four infantry division markers to the left-side forest, pulled the rest back, and continued.
"Our Imperial forces engage head-on, then pretend to gradually give way and retreat. As we fall back, slip those four left-flank divisions into the nearby forest for ambush. Position the 5,000 knights and 5,000 arch cavalry in their spots. When we've withdrawn to the right spot, the main body wheels about and slams back into the enemy. They'll panic—then unleash the left-flank ambush to chew through their right wing. That routs their main force completely."
The general nodded thoughtfully and asked,
"And their 20,000 knights? How do we handle those?"
I replied with full confidence.
"A simple method, but surprisingly effective."