shinsori
History of the Kingdom of the Orcsen - Chapter 4.1
Published: December 12th 2024, 7:05:01 am
A Peaceful Land of the Orcs (4.1)
The Red Army—the scouts of the 1st Grenadier Division—arrived.
From the south.
They came into view directly from the hill of the headquarters' tent.
A single grenadier company.
Known as the "Black of Orcsen" in other nations, and "Sons of the Black Flag" within their own, they were a group unified by their black military uniforms, which served as the standard color for the entire army.
The 1st Grenadier Division often played ceremonial roles, so their attire had more ornate details than those of other divisions. Every soldier wore military helmets.
There were no cavalry present.
Perhaps they were assigned elsewhere, or perhaps the Red Army wasn't deploying solely within this observable range. Instead, they were likely advancing north en masse, seeking terrain suitable for defense, and might have been deployed in other directions.
The company of approximately 200 troops crossed the gentle, belt-like hills in column formation, moving along a countryside road. They reached a three-way junction that branched southwest, southeast, and north.
At the command of an officer wielding a saber, the lead platoon proceeded straight, the second platoon moved to the right, and the third platoon shifted to the left. Swiftly deploying laterally, they extended into a line and plunged into a dried irrigation ditch on the southern side of the junction, which stretched irregularly east to west.
A defensive position was established using the existing terrain.
The soldiers pulled out folding shovels suspended from their left rear sides and dug into the bottom of the irrigation ditch, piling the soil on the northern side. The fortifications were reinforced until even the massive orcs could lie hidden and fire their weapons.
The spring sunlight poured down, still carrying faint traces of winter's frailty, yet the military helmets and the scabbards of the officers' sabers glittered brilliantly.
It looked like a shimmering wave, a rushing torrent of light.
—Fast.
Dineluth Andariel, observing through binoculars from the headquarters' hill, was astonished.
It seemed unexpected.
Orcs were fast.
Their massive size and the tales of heavy cavalry and overly intricate logistical systems gave the impression of a sluggish army.
But on the tactical scale, their movements were astonishingly agile, swift, and nimble.
An Orc's body wasn't composed of fat.
It was a mass of muscle.
With extraordinary stamina and endurance.
Over short distances, they could likely outrun a Percheron horse at a canter. It almost made cavalry on heavy horses seem unnecessary.
"The Orc Storm."
Dineluth's race once called them that.
When they invaded other nations, forming massive, dense formations of 5,000, 8,000, or even 10,000 soldiers, clad in armor and wielding long spears, they charged like a storm ravaging the earth.
"The Orc Tsunami."
It was the same in the Rosalind Valley 120 years ago.
Even when armor had become obsolete, their dense formations, pounding military drums, and bayoneted muskets used like long spears as they charged while firing were unchanged.
Their use of firearms only made them deadlier.
Earthquakes, tremors, rumbling.
It sounded like the gates of hell opening and unleashing its horrors. Dineluth could still recall that sound.
It was pure terror.
Of course, an Orc's sheer size was a weapon in itself.
That much was undeniable.
But it was their speed, their feral agility, that truly instilled fear in those who faced them, Dineluth now realized.
That essence hadn’t changed, it seemed—
Soon, the main body and rear guard of the company arrived in the valley below.
The earlier lateral deployment maneuvers were repeated on a larger scale, with a battalion establishing a defensive line.
On the battalion scale, the movements were slightly more complex, and not all forces were deployed at once.
A reserve company and the battalion headquarters positioned themselves along the ridgeline and the foothills of the belt-like hills.
The battalion's artillery—57mm mountain guns, two assigned per grenadier battalion—followed suit.
Although diminutive in caliber and size, appearing almost toy-like to an Elf’s eyes, the fact that an infantry battalion possessed two of its own artillery pieces was significant.
Compact and highly mobile, they could be used flexibly to provide direct fire support as the battalion commander saw fit.
Soon, two additional battalions arrived.
They were accompanied by the regimental headquarters of the grenadiers and a regimental artillery company with six 75mm field guns.
These units also began to deploy—
Before long, a defensive position of approximately 2,000 grenadiers stretched 800 meters east to west, with 500 meters of depth added by the reserves and artillery.
Pulling out his pocket watch, Dineluth checked the time. Less than an hour had passed since the first company’s arrival.
It wasn’t simply a matter of spreading out horizontally.
The two battalions forming the skirmish line each held back roughly one company in reserve, serving as both reinforcements and flanking defense, called "support units." Each company also kept a platoon under the company commander’s direct control.
This formation ensured that the position could not be easily broken, even by a flanking attack.
Such reserves weren’t just for flanking defense; they could be committed to reinforce the front lines during intense fighting or to pursue and counterattack the enemy.
From Dineluth's perspective, it wasn’t just speed that enabled such rapid deployment but also the high level of training among the soldiers.
Even without waiting for direct orders from their commanders, the soldiers had already begun digging with their shovels at their assigned positions.