Chapter 800 50 to 1
The main force of the Orthodox Alliance has arrived.
"Fight! Fight! Don't be afraid! Our reinforcements are constantly coming! As long as we hold on, we will win!"
Augustine Keller roared as he climbed up the bell tower. The orthodox alliance troops coming in like a tide had surrounded the place. He couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart. At the same time, he had a question, "Why are there so many people from the other side?"
But now Augustine Keller can't care so much, he must now arrange defense.
As a result, he discovered a problem, that is, he only knew some of the senior officers, but not all of them by name.
At this moment, a rocket flew past the side eaves of the bell tower, and brilliant firelight rose in the camp, accompanied by shooting steel balls and constant screams.
"It's Congreve Rocket"
Before he finished speaking, he heard more than one soldier shouting "Bomb! Run!" in the camp.
Then there were more rockets and more screams. To be honest, Archduke Karl didn't want to fight like this, but the soldiers of the Orthodox Alliance couldn't even line up.
And he didn't expect that the other party could build a barracks overnight. Although it was very crude, if they shot at close range, the Orthodox Alliance would definitely suffer.
So Archduke Karl decided that it would be better to carry out fire coverage. Although this primitive Congreve rocket is not suitable for killing queues and cannot cause damage to strong fortresses, it is most suitable for indiscriminate killing, especially for simple Wooden structure.
A large number of Congreve rockets were launched into Augustin Keller's temporary camp. The buildings and supplies in the camp were immediately damaged, and the fire quickly spread.
The greater disaster lay in the confusion of command. Neither Augustin Keller nor any of his officers could command the army, let alone such a chaotic moment.
Some people want to line up to fight, some want to put out the fire, and some people are fighting for ships to prepare to escape. The chaos is unparalleled.
In fact, Augustin Keller also had artillery and Congreve rockets, but it was impossible to expect the soldiers of this era to fight back independently when they were leaderless.
Of course, there were brave officers who took the lead and rushed into the armory to rescue supplies, but a series of explosions caused by the uncontrollable fire quickly engulfed them all.
More than 30,000 people were trapped in this rural dock like ants on a hot pot. The few soldiers who rushed out directly became the targets of the Orthodox Alliance army. They had no time to do anything, not even to load their bullets and surrender.
The Orthodox Alliance recruits all gained confidence after several rounds of shooting, and with the frontline commander's "Forward!"
The recruits were no longer afraid, but showed a bit of fanaticism, looking even more ferocious against the firelight.
Flames and explosions broke out in Augustin Keller's camp, and the ships in the harbor became everyone's lifeline.
In order to catch it, everyone fought with each other and tried their best; in order to escape, they tried their best. Some ships capsized due to overloading.
At the same time, the Orthodox Alliance army had no intention of letting them go. The queue was constantly advancing, and occasionally a few solid projectiles fell into the lake, causing water columns to rise into the sky.
"I'm Augustin Keller! Get me on board!"
As soon as Augustine Keller stepped forward, he was knocked to the ground by a punch. His consciousness was blurred. When his vision gradually became clear, the last ship had already sailed away from the shore.
Only then did Augustine Keller recognize that the man who had just knocked him down was the officer last night.
At this time, his camp had been turned into ruins, the remaining soldiers were being killed, and the battle was completely one-sided.
In fact, there was not much difference in the numbers of the two sides before the war started, but at this time, the army, including himself, could no longer squeeze out any courage.
Some people tried to swim to escape, but how can the lake in winter be so easy to endure? Most of those people could not swim more than a few dozen meters before getting cramps and sinking to the bottom of the lake.
Augustine Keller listened to the constant screams. He immediately decided to kneel to the ground and raised his hands above his head, and then kept repeating "I surrender! I surrender" in German, French and Italian. !I surrender!."
Note: The three most popular languages in Switzerland are German, French and Italian.
The battle went on without any suspense. Nearly 20,000 of the 30,000 troops Augustin Keller brought across the lake were killed or missing, and 10,000 were prisoners of war.
The casualties on our side were less than 500, and a considerable number of them were accidental injuries. However, no matter what, the battle loss ratio was 50 to 1, which is definitely a battle that can be recorded in history.
The vast majority of the dead died from fires and drowning. Not many people died in battle. Many of them wanted to surrender, but the recruits and junior officers of the Orthodox Alliance had no experience at all. They saw any living creature. They all want to fire off two shots before leaving.
If Marshal Ulrich Salis of the Orthodox Alliance had not arrived in time, I am afraid that the number of casualties would have increased further.
This battle directly convinced the top leaders of Schwyz State. They witnessed the entire battle from a distance and did not even have a chance to appear on the stage.
Then when cleaning the battlefield, they had to dig out charred corpses from the rubble and lift those cold corpses from the river.
Although they were not the ones who died, a chill lingered deep in their bones.
Clearing the battlefield was necessary because failure to bury the bodies in time, even in winter, could lead to disasters such as the plague.
This battle greatly boosted the morale of the Lucerne State. To be honest, even they themselves couldn't believe that facing the same number of enemy troops, this battle was as easy as chopping melons and vegetables.
In the first battle in Lucerne, Archduke Karl defeated Dufour's 60,000 troops with 4,000 men. The former's prestige reached an unprecedented height in the Orthodox Alliance.
In fact, there were less than 2,000 people in the team that defeated the Free Alliance Shepherd Legion in the western valley.
It just happens that they can be condescending every time and have a local advantage in military strength.
As for why the intelligence is so accurate, the answer is military observation hot air balloons and telescopes.
Observers on the hot air balloon first detect the enemy and then guide their own ambush troops there.
At the same time, the military quality and weapons and equipment of the two sides are incomparable. Archduke Karl's guards are all veterans who have received many years of military training. Although the weapons they use are not all the latest lever-action rifles, the lowest they use is the Lowe's Minie bullet. Lenz rifle.
This rifle should be regarded as an improved version of the 1854 Lorenz, and its performance is stronger than in history. However, the development speed of Austrian rifles is too fast at this time, and this muzzle-loading gun can only be used as a cover.
As for the artillery battle at the bridgehead, Archduke Karl felt that it was better not to have the Swiss, because those recruits did not know how to use artillery at all and had almost no other effect except adding chaos.
Archduke Karl used two big victories to establish his absolute leadership position in the orthodox alliance, and at the same time to stabilize the rear. At least the people in Schwyz State did not dare to have this idea anymore.
Good news also came from Ticino. Colonel Charles Duchardt successfully defeated the Ticeno garrison, and the situation immediately became unfavorable to the Free Alliance.