Holding firm and rout

More than ten thousand Netherlands Rebel Army formed two narrow Infantry Line on the gentle slope, each line consisting of three ranks, the soldiers closely packed together, appearing quite disciplined from a distance.

However, their haphazard attire and the various types of Flintlock Gun they carried proved that they were merely a hastily assembled ragtag army.

In fact, their Infantry Line took a full six hours to barely get into place, starting in the early hours of this morning. The Netherlands commanders were so exhausted that their legs cramped up.

When these ragtag troops saw the Austria lines in the distance begin to move, and large numbers of Skirmishers, like ants, nimbly approaching them, their hands began to tremble uncontrollably.

Behind them, more than a thousand Prussia soldiers kept shouting, "Stay calm, do nothing!"

The priest in the Netherlands ranks whispered a reminder to the soldier beside him, "Don't think about anything else, just load as fast as you can. Then listen for the drumbeats."

When the fastest Austrian Skirmishers appeared 80 paces in front of the Netherlands line of fire, they began to take cover behind weeds or rocks and fire at the Southern Netherlands.

Several bullets whizzed through the air and landed on the line formation, immediately causing soldiers to cry out in pain and fall to the ground, writhing and convulsing in agony.

The Prussia soldiers behind them immediately shouted, "Don't move! Move the dead! Keep the formation tight! Quickly!"

However, the untrained Netherlands seemed not to hear them, merely shouting along with the wounded or instinctively raising their guns to aim at the Austria in the distance.

As the main Austria force drew closer, the Skirmishers began to disperse to the flanks, clearing the frontal battlefield.

The Prussian Army estimated that the Infantry Line of the two armies were less than a hundred paces apart and ordered the Netherlands to begin loading ammunition.

The messenger rode down on horseback to relay the loading order, while the drummer struck a specific beat for loading—soldiers could maintain maximum loading efficiency by operating their weapons in accordance with this rhythm.

The Austria continued to advance, and even when they were sixty paces from the enemy, they showed no sign of stopping their firing.

The Netherlands Line Formation finally broke down. The immense pressure of nearly ten thousand men rushing towards them left the soldiers' minds blank, and they only wanted to do everything they could to drive them away.

Sporadic gunfire erupted from various positions along the lines. The Prussian Army in command, worried that this ragtag army would waste all its Ammunition, had no choice but to order the entire force to fire.

After a chaotic half-minute volley, the Netherlands positions were shrouded in black Powder Smoke, with very limited results. The Austria continued to advance, maintaining their orderly formation.

The Austrian Army stopped when the two sides were 50 paces apart, and the soldiers raised their Flintlock Gun in response to a burst of drumbeats.

"Shooting!"

Under the orders of the Austria commander, a vast expanse of fire erupted from the endless Infantry Line, and the fierce volley of fire "knocked" hundreds of small gaps in the Netherlands lines.

The Netherlands pastor roared, "Fear not! Keep loading! For your families, for driving out the Habsburg Tyrant, hold on!"

It seemed that their encouragement had an effect; the ragtag soldiers, though their hands and feet trembled, managed to finish loading their rifles, then gritted their teeth, raised their guns, and awaited the Prussian Army's orders.

On a distant hill, General Würmser frowned as he looked at the battlefield through his Telescope.

His valiant Grenadier unleashed more than ten volleys at the Netherlands, killing at least a thousand, but the enemy showed no signs of collapsing.

Behind the Netherlands Infantry Line, there was another line of Infantry. And further back, there should have been Prussia.

"These damned rebels! Why are they still standing there?" he cursed under his breath, pondering whether to send in more Skirmishers to tear apart the enemy's flanks, when he suddenly heard the rapid hoofbeats of scouts approaching.

He had just turned his head when he heard the man shout breathlessly, "General, the Prussia are encircling our right flank!"

Before Würmser could react, his staff officer leaned in with Telescope and exclaimed, "General, there's a disturbance among the cavalry on the left flank! There might be enemy troops there!"

Würmser's face turned ashen. It seemed the Prussia weren't behind the Netherlands Infantry Line. Brunswick had actually used his main force to launch a surprise attack on his flanks!

He swung his cane forcefully and shouted to the Orderly Officer, "Order Schroeder to break through the enemy's front at all costs and as quickly as possible! As long as we are the first to rout their Infantry Line, victory will be ours!"

In large-scale battles of this era, the frontal defense line was like the waist and abdomen of a person. Once it was breached, the commander would be left with nowhere to hide. Due to poor communication capabilities, if the commander had to move at high speed to escape enemy attacks, the Orderly Officer would immediately be unable to find him, thus causing the entire army to lose command.

Furthermore, losing the main battlefield means that Artillery and cavalry no longer have a safe space to prepare, which is tantamount to losing combat effectiveness for these two types of troops that require a lot of preparation.

Therefore, as long as victory can be achieved in a head-on confrontation, the losses on the flanks are insignificant.

The Grenadier on the right flank of the Austria Infantry Line advanced even more fiercely, returning fire despite the Netherlands gunfire.

Finally, after suffering heavy casualties, they tore a gap in the left flank of the Netherlands line.

The Austrian Skirmishers, like sharks smelling blood, immediately surged toward the breach, firing incessantly at the Noncommissioned Officers and drummers to further confuse the enemy.

Würmser saw the first line of Netherlands Infantry Line break apart, clenched his fist excitedly, and then looked nervously to his right, where he could already faintly hear the hoofbeats of Prussia cavalry.

Austria cavalry were already weaker than Prussia, and with some of them recently deployed to the left flank, they couldn't hold off the Prussia for long.

He turned the Telescope again, anxiously urging Schroeder to break through the Netherlands ' second line of defense as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, the Duke of Brunswick put away his Telescope and said to the Orderly Officer with a relaxed expression, "Go tell the Netherlands that if they hold out for just 15 more minutes, the Austria will be driven out of this land."

He could estimate the speed of his main force, which should have already made contact with the Austrian Army right flank.

Yes, his cavalry was only for cover; his real trump card was to commit all 14,000 of his main Prussia forces to outflank the Austria ' right flank!

After this period of contact with the Southern Netherlands, he was deeply impressed by their resilience.

Although these ragtag troops were weak in combat and their ranks were not even properly aligned, their morale was ridiculously high—perhaps it was their pursuit of so-called freedom that made them willing to die to drive out the Emperor of Austria. Especially the priests, who were all like people waiting to ascend to heaven, Dreadnought in the face of any enemy.

Therefore, he concluded that although these Netherlands were incapable of defeating the Austrian Army, they could very well hold off the Würmser.

On the distant battlefield, the Netherlands' second Infantry Line, riddled with holes, appeared to be on the verge of collapse, yet it held firm and did not break apart.

Many of the Prussia supervising behind them were killed by stray bullets, and chaos began to break out. But they remained standing there, clumsily reloading their weapons with trembling hands, firing wildly at the Austria until they were killed by bullets, yet they never moved an inch...

Meanwhile, the Austria right wing had been crushed by the overwhelmingly superior Prussian Army.

(End of this chapter)