Compared with opponents such as the weak Italians, the Swiss who are short of equipment, and Bohemia with an unstable foundation, the two teams of Hesse and Brandenburg are powerful. Elite heavy cavalry and powerful heavy infantry. Learn the Norman Empire's army training methods and combat skills all of which created these two powerful princes in North Germany. As General Walter said: They thrived because of the Norman Empire. It can be said that in a sense Hesse and Brandenburg are apprentices of the Norman Empire.
And this battle, in a sense, is a war between apprentice and master.
Thinking of this, General Walter felt a little ridiculous. The kindness and generosity of the Norman Empire were ultimately replaced by hatred and confrontation. This made General Walter very surprised and angry (of course, the general completely forgot that it was his emperor and the empire that attacked others in the past. It was not those countries that came to fight the Norman Empire on their own initiative).
But these things are completely unimportant. Despite my anger and unwillingness, it doesn't matter now. It doesn't matter who is right or wrong. What matters is who can win this battle.
The 30,000 troops of the Norman Empire advanced at the same time as the 28,000 allied troops of Brandenburg and Hesse. One side is uniform, the other side is uneven. But the speed is basically the same. At the beginning, the two arrays were about 800 meters apart. After half a minute of trotting along, there were only about 500 meters left!
"Artillery." When the Norman army began to move, General Walter opened his mouth calmly and said these two words. Next to the front line. There are ten doors in total, and they have already been loaded with ammunition. The calibrated twenty-four-pounder infantry gun was fired. Then there was a loud roar. Ten solid bullets were quickly ejected from the gaps in the Norman Empire array. It blasted straight towards the coalition forces - and then blasted out several bloody alleys in the dense array in front of the enemy. It was just a round of shelling. He killed and wounded more than a hundred coalition troops.
"Continue the bombardment. Be careful not to bomb your own soldiers." General Walter still ordered in a calm tone. It's just that this second round of bombardment has to be slowed down. After all, clear the barrel. Reloading ammunition is a hassle.
"Damn it" Seeing the Norman Empire's sharp artillery. Kill and injure one's own troops. Both dukes gnashed their teeth with hatred. Immediately afterwards, an order was sent to the soldiers to speed up their advance.
"Don't be afraid! Once you reach the front, the enemy's artillery will be unable to be used!" the knights and noble commanders of the coalition forces shouted. Urging the soldiers to move forward bravely. The coalition forces immediately increased their speed. The distance between the two sides was quickly shortened to four hundred meters - just at this moment. However, under General Walter's order, the backbone of the Norman army stopped, but the two wings, which were slightly wider than the coalition forces, continued to advance, each moving forward a certain distance before stopping. Adjust the angle.
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????? It has changed from a flat cut surface to an inward concave arc surface. In the center of the coalition, the two Dukes who were fighting on the horse Yunhui secretly shouted "No!" After all, Duke Lucivid was more familiar with infantry combat and shouted a step faster. The content of the shouting was as follows: "Hold up shields in the front row and be careful to defend against the opponent's crossbows!!" And next to him, Duke Frederick also shouted: "Yes! Do that quickly!!"
The reaction of the two dukes was not unpleasant. Just convey the order with words. This speed is still a bit slow. By the time the knights and nobles on the front line heard the order, the Norman forwards had already raised their heavy crossbows, using a crescent moon formation to attack from three sides and fire in three stages. In this way, crossbows were fired continuously at the coalition forces. At the same time, the Norman longbowmen hiding in the Norman center were also ready.
This round of firing by the Norman Empire was extremely fierce, and there was a formation bonus. More than two thousand heavy crossbowmen from the Norman forward fired one round, and at the same time, the Norman Empire's second round of artillery fire was also sent. Once again, the Union vanguard suffered heavy casualties.
Seeing that our own soldiers will continue to die in battle. The two dukes still had no good solution. After all, the gap in equipment is irreversible. The two dukes could do nothing but continue desperately urging the army to advance.
So, after a round of arrows, the coalition forward opened the way with heavily armed shield and spearmen. March forward with your shield high. Although he was still unavoidable from being shot by Norman's heavy crossbow, at least he had some extra protection, which was better than nothing.
So one charged and the other shot, and when they were closer than a hundred meters, the Norman longbowmen joined in the shooting. Then came the third round of shelling. The Norman army's arrows were like locusts and their cannons were like thunderbolts. The main forces of both sides have not yet been relieved. The coalition's front line had already lost thousands of soldiers and horses, and their morale had also dropped a lot. But at least at this distance, the coalition's crossbowmen can also fire. Although Hessian's giant shield crossbowmen are not as well-known as Italy's, they are not much worse.
However, the Norman army was well-armored, and the heavily armored crossbowmen all wore steel helmets and wore four??Three plate armor. Two hundred meters away, how could ordinary crossbows hurt them? It just hurts a little bit when hit on the body. Only a few who were unlucky enough to be shot in the exposed arms or thighs were injured. Only one shot in the face would be fatal.
Frederick watched his army suffer repeated setbacks. The losses were heavy, and I thought to myself: If this continues, this battle will be lost. This passive situation must be changed. After making a decision, he exchanged glances with Lucivid again. The two have known each other for decades. Lucivid naturally understood what Frederick was thinking. Just a nod. Then Frederick shouted: "We can't go on like this. Cavalry, dispatch the cavalry! The heavy cavalry is dispatched, and the heavy cavalry on both wings attacks the enemy's flanks! The heavy cavalry in the front launches a frontal charge! Kill those who only dare to stand in the distance Shoot the arrow, you are a coward who dare not come forward to fight!¡±
Soon, the coalition heavy cavalry received the order and took action! The coalition has nearly four thousand heavy cavalry, among which the most elite knights of the Black Dragon Knights and a small number of knight attendants are placed on the right wing, while the other Black Dragon Knight attendants are on the left wing. The worst recruitment of noble knights and hired heavy cavalry are placed on the front.
After listening to Duke Frederick's order, three groups of heavy cavalry sped up and broke away from the large army and rushed towards the Norman army. It was only when the coalition forces changed their formation that General Walter saw through the coalition's intentions. Half the crossbowmen were removed early and the new Norman Army was ordered to advance. And organize the remaining heavy-armed crossbowmen into the super long spear phalanx. The coalition's forward cavalry has not yet arrived. The Norman super long spear phalanx is already ready!
"Damn it!" Seeing that the Normans were prepared and this round of attack would most likely end in failure, the two dukes were very angry. However, the distance of a few hundred meters is only a blink of an eye for the cavalry. After suffering a hail of arrows, the coalition's heavy cavalry and knights approached the Norman formation. It was too late to change the order. The two dukes had no choice but to be discouraged and pray to God secretly, hoping for some miracle to happen.
Of course, there are not miracles in this world. But it is very rare for a so-called "miracle" to be big enough to change the situation of a battle involving tens of thousands of people. Lucivid and Frederick were not Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, and they did not have such good luck (the Battle of Jingnan had various weather phenomena that were unreasonable and favorable to Chengzu. Interested students can use Baidu - By the way, something similar happened when the Manchus entered the country and challenged Li Zicheng).
So, the final result is self-evident. At close range, the coalition heavy cavalry was sniped by Norman crossbows and musketeers. Repeated crossbows caused heavy casualties to heavy cavalry. The loud noise of the muskets frightened the untrained horses. These two factors combined further reduced the coalition's impact. As a result, they could only use 30% to 40% of their strength when facing the Normans' super-long spear array. Of course it is impossible to succeed. Except being stabbed into a sieve by a sharp spear. There would be no other fate for them.
After the first column of heavy cavalry was killed, the second column of allied heavy cavalry clumsily tried to imitate the Normans' band charge to conduct the second round of attack. But in the end they did not succeed, and instead got mixed up with the third column of heavy cavalry who wanted to charge again. One of my own people made a person fall on his back. Only the Black Dragon Knights on the far right barely managed this tactical move. And really completed a charge.
"As expected of Brandenburg's army, it is almost as good as our average knights." After General Walter observed this, the corners of his mouth turned up, revealing a rather sarcastic smile. Then he said words that were either praise or mockery.
The Norman phalanx suffered a slight setback. The phalanx infantry in the front row were defeated by the fierce charge, and they broke their arms. Some were even pierced by lances. The severe pain made them scream involuntarily. At the same time, the destroyed formation also made the Black Dragon Knights feel more at home. In close combat, these professional knights were astonishingly powerful, and the Norman phalanx infantry who had lost the advantage of super long guns could only rely on the long swords at their waists to deal with them. The phalanx infantry who were not professional swordsmen were really no match for them, and in the blink of an eye they were at a disadvantage.
But soon, this situation changed. The Norman assault infantry, mixed with the phalanx infantry, roared angrily, brandishing their battle axes and stepped forward to fight. He raised his battle ax high and slashed with all his strength. The long sword used by the Black Dragon Knight was completely unable to withstand it. Often, with an axe, those who were not blocked would be cut in half, including people and horses. The long sword that was blocked was knocked away, and half of the arm was completely lost. The one who used the shield to resist also lost one hand.
Under the fierce fighting of the Norman assault infantry, the Black Dragon Knights who invaded the phalanx could only retreat. In this way, the coalition's tactics declared a complete failure
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