160 – Ready for all-out war (4)

Guided by the engineer battalion commander who came with Captain Mark, I immediately moved to the simulated training ground set up to assess the capabilities of the engineer battalion.

When I arrived at the mock training ground with them, Lieutenant Colonel Meister, the engineer battalion commander, turned to me and said,

“According to Your Excellency’s order, all 400 members of the Engineer Battalion have gathered at the training ground as directed!”

“It was hard. Then can you tell me how the battalion is organized?”

To those words, Lieutenant Colonel Meister replied in a confident voice.

“Our battalion consists of 70 combat engineers from the 1st company, 220 technical engineers from the 2nd company that manufactures fortifications and siege equipment, and 110 from the 1st company of field engineers who support the march. Now, the soldiers of the entire battalion are ready to carry out your orders.”

Currently, except for the battalion commander of this battalion, all officers and noncommissioned officers of second rank or higher are composed of technicians whose skills have been verified at the technical academy, except for the Combat Engineer Company, whose mission is to destroy everything with evil.

This is because civil engineering and construction skills are more important than combat capabilities, as independent sapper units rarely directly participate in battles in this era.

“You worked hard, then I think the officers’ ability to fight could be a problem… Did you follow my instructions?”

“As you said, twice the number originally intended to be selected was first selected based on their abilities, and then those who passed the two-month training were assigned to technical engineers and field engineers according to their abilities. Even if they are put into actual combat, they will be able to play an active part.”

“It was hard. And in the future, I plan to select some of the veterans of each company, complete the combat engineering course, and then assign them to the unit they originally belonged to… What do you think of the curriculum?”

“When the weapon designed by His Excellency is made, how to throw it, how to break down enemy fences and gates with an ax, how to fight with an ax at the forefront, etc… plan to educate. In addition, the soldiers of the engineering battalion, excluding combat engineers, are planning to have the capacity to supervise the field of each company during siege warfare and civil engineering.”

Considering the size of our corps, the number of professional engineers may seem insufficient compared to modern times, but…

In this day and age, you don’t have heavy equipment, and you can’t recreate the miracles of lifting and building buildable bridges the way modern sappers do.

So no matter how much I value sappers, organizing any more professional sappers is still a waste.

However, combat sappers who are effective in breaking enemy lines armed with guns will probably increase in number in the future.

“Very good. However, if we invade France in the future… We will need siege equipment to capture enemy castles, how to quickly build a strong camp, and skills to quickly restore buildings in occupied territories. That way, even in an isolated state, you can use the defense facilities to repulse the enemy.”

Upon hearing that, Lieutenant Colonel Meister nodded as if he agreed with my words.

“As your Excellency said, if we have fewer troops when we enter the enemy’s territory… The only thing we can count on is the enemy’s walls or camps built in the field.

“So let’s call the noncommissioned officers with the rank of sergeant and sergeant who are in charge of each unit’s field construction in turn to the engineer battalion and teach them about efficient construction techniques.”

“Yes, I understand.”

At the same time, if field shovels, pickaxes, hammers, and axes are supplied to each infantry battalion, in case of emergency, noncommissioned officers who have mastered the work will create useful defense facilities together with the soldiers.

In that case, even if you can’t defeat an army that is 3 to 10 times larger like a castle, you will be able to fight a defensive battle in a much more advantageous environment.

Not only that, but from now on, standardization is applied to all the barracks we build, so we can change them to be more robust and practical.

In the meantime, the soldiers will now fall into the endless hell where they have to work after training… It is necessary for their survival.

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Moments later, a second lieutenant in a leather apron ran to my left and reported.

“Your Excellency Marquis, all preparations for the training demonstration of the Engineer Battalion have been completed. Please give me orders.”

“The demonstration begins.”

When I ordered the drill to begin, the soldiers around me repeated the order.

Following those words, the soldiers were ready to move with their military discipline upright, and Lieutenant Colonel Meister approached the soldiers and gave orders.

“Move as you have learned so far! Build a battery!! Carrying out fort construction!!”

“It’s an order from the battalion commander! Fort, start building the fort! The 1st company fills the soil bag and carries it to the designated place.”

“Our 2nd company builds dirt bags and ammunition storage! It is made using wood and soil, but according to the training!!”

“The 3rd company checks that there are no problems with the transport route of the cannon, and if there is a blockage, it will be cleared!”

They keep talking about cannons during training, but neither cannons nor even grenades for combat sappers have been properly developed.

So, the cannon they are talking about is actually just a model made of iron that imitates the shape and weight of a cannon.

However, it wouldn’t be too bad if you did the training to make a battery for installing the cannon before it was completed.

After a while, the soldiers of the 1st company filled the empty battery with soil and began to carry it to the designated place.

In the meantime, the 2nd company first decided on the location where the cannon would be installed by digging lightly with a shovel, and most of the soldiers made a simple ammunition depot with sandbags and wooden sticks.

The 3rd company built a road for the cannon to pass by removing and filling as much as possible the logs, huge rocks, and holes that were deliberately installed from the place where the mock cannon was placed to the place where the camp was to be set up.

The soldiers, as they had already been trained, carried out their tasks as quickly as possible, resulting in a serviceable battery in just 40 minutes.

Of course, the cannon is fake, but… To declare that the demonstration had been successfully completed, the soldiers of each company placed a small amount of gunpowder next to the model and lit it.

After a while, white smoke rose from the side of the cannon with a ‘pop’ sound.

Seeing the smoke rise, I clapped my hands to encourage their performance.

The officer of the engineer battalion who was guarding my side seemed to be proud of my reaction, his shoulders wide open and a confident expression on his face.

“Ensign, send a signal to the Combat Engineer Company and order them to begin training.”

“Call the riders and buglers to the combat engineer companies!

At that signal, the Combat Engineer Company began marching for training.

“Squadron, run and advance! Then, volley fire at 50 meters from the training ground! After that, throw grenades from 20 meters in front and destroy the camp with an axe!”

They started walking, carrying armor and axes that could block up to 20 kilos of bullets, and grenadiers weighing several kilos.

And without a single one of them showing signs of weariness, even with such heavy armor and grenades, they arrived safely at the point where they were supposed to fire the volley.

“Everyone, fire a salvo!!!”

At the same time, white smoke and a roar rang out, and immediately the soldiers began to run away with their rifles fixed to their backs.

It is said to be about 30 meters, but it is not easy to run with all your might while carrying a load of several tens of kilograms.

But they threw the grenadiers lightly into the emplacement of the gun battery, without showing any signs of weariness.

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Moments later, the oil in the grenadier’s stick with the lit wick caught fire and spread widely.

It’s a shame we haven’t put gunpowder in the grenadier yet, if it had gunpowder and iron spikes or bullets in it… The surrounding area would have been completely devastated.

“Kill them all!!”

“Long live the Marquis!!”

“For a raise!!!”

“Let’s kill the damn biscuit!!”

Then, with the tomahawks stuck in their waists, they smashed and smashed the cannon emplacement.

If they went to the defensive formations built in the field with that equipment and bumped into it, even among the combat sappers, the damage would be better…

However, the enemy soldiers who dealt with them as enemies would have completely collapsed in line due to the aftermath of the shooting and the impact of the grenades.

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Just thinking about it, the power was negligible, and the soldiers of the enemy army in the future would feel sorry for it.

After that, I inspected the camp construction and siege equipment assembly training prepared by the engineer battalion commander.

Engineers built various positions efficiently and quickly, and assembled siege equipment several times faster than ordinary soldiers.

Looking at it, I thought.

After all, the military needs a shovel and a grinder.