"Enemy retreating!"
"Charge! Take the fortress!"
"Follow me! There's a breach on the west side!"
Urgent war drums rang out all around as several companies of French Infantry passed Lieutenant Gérard in succession, advancing in waves toward the fortress before them.
The Jäger squad under his command had already silenced the Austrian Army cannon off to the front side. Since Jägers were not assigned to occupy fortresses, they now seemed to have nothing to do.
He was about to order a return to camp when he suddenly saw several companies hurrying northward some dozens of meters away. But the fortress lay to their east.
Gérard had excellent eyesight—an essential requirement for a Jäger—and immediately spotted the flag at the head of those formations.
"9th Infantry Battalion?"
He hurried over toward the skirmishers and soon found a familiar face in the middle of the formation. Waving, he called, "Felix, what mission are you carrying out?"
The Lieutenant first glanced at his own company commander—he was Infantry, not as unrestrained as the Jägers—before turning back and lowering his voice. "Quite a few Austrians are retreating from the north side of the fortress. We've been ordered to intercept them."
Gérard's eyes lit up. He turned and waved forcefully at the members of his Jäger squad who had followed him. "Hey, we can rest later. First, let's go make a killing over there!"
All fourteen soldiers immediately howled and rushed north with him.
Since the war began, the Jäger Battalion had scarcely had a chance to show what it could do. Earlier, the Massena Legion had employed tactics to lure in the enemy and could not hit them too hard, so the Jäger Battalion had been kept under wraps. When the counterattack came, they had barely fired a few shots before the Duke of