Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 221 Morris of Nassau (I)
"Order our spearmen to advance!"
"Si, Senor"
…
"Commander, the Spanish spearmen are coming."
"Haha, Marquis Spinola is our old rival. Although he has defeated me many times on the battlefield, each time he did it because he had more soldiers than me. But this time, the situation has been reversed."
After saying this, Maurice, the commander of the Dutch army, turned around and asked, "Where is my Frederick moving?"
"Sir, the 10,000 Danish reinforcements led by Lord Frederick set out two hours ago. I think they should have already circled the enemy's flank."
"Send a messenger to tell Frederick not to move until our bugle sounds."
"Yes, sir."
Not long after the order was issued, there was a commotion ahead. The soldiers on both sides roared and then started fighting.
"Ding~ Stab to the right!"
"Musketeer, free fire~!"
The national strength of European countries in this era was extremely limited. Even though the twins continued to help Spain, they only managed to build a new army of 150,000 people and used it as the royal military force. The rest was beyond their capabilities.
The rest of the Spanish army was still recruited, trained and commanded by princes and nobles from all over the country. These armies did not change their equipment, nor did they reform their formations and organization. Therefore, the 10,000 troops led by Marquis Spinola still used the typical Spanish large square formation.
The so-called Spanish phalanx is simply a hollow quadrilateral with the four sides composed of pikemen and the musketeers inside the quadrilateral.
Generally speaking, a standard Spanish phalanx should have eight companies of pikemen and two companies of musketeers. With a full complement of 300 men per company, a phalanx would have 3,000 men. In the history of Europe over the past hundred years, such phalanxes were invincible. Therefore, many European countries imitated the Spanish phalanx in their military formations.
In fact, in the battle between the two sides in Breda, Spinola first sent out two large phalanxes to attack the Dutch army's defense line.
Under the leadership of Maurice, the Dutch army of 10,000 people has been constantly improving with the War of Independence in recent decades. Now, the organization of Maurice's army is: the phalanx formation is cancelled, and the company size of the army is reduced from 300 to 80. In battle, the pike company is in the middle to hold the opponent, and the two musketeer companies are behind it to output firepower.
So, as soon as the two armies came into contact, the Spanish soldiers clearly felt something was wrong.
"Stab to the right!"
"Bang~Bang~Bang~"
The brave and fearless Spanish spearmen in half-body plate armor still inherited the bravery of their ancestors over the past century. Facing the cold spears stabbing from the opposite side, they had no intention of avoiding them at all. They strictly followed the officers' whistles and the drums of the military band behind them, drawing and putting away their guns in unison.
Although the Dutch pikemen on the opposite side tried their best to resist, after all, a company of 80 people was too small. There were only four rows of pikemen in total. How could they be a match for the Spanish pikemen who came one after another like surging waves, with a thickness of 10 rows?
Therefore, judging from the confrontation between the pikemen alone, the Dutch army was gradually retreating.
However, the flintlock soldiers behind the Dutch pikemen continued to fire projectiles at the Spanish pikemen.
Although the Dutch musketeers were using smoothbore muskets and round lead bullets at this time, they basically didn't need to aim at such a close distance. Therefore, after the two sides fought for a while, although the Dutch pikemen were beaten back again and again, the soldiers at the two angles of the Spanish phalanx were constantly killed!
"Musketeers, turn to two oblique angles and shoot!"
The commander of the Spanish phalanx certainly saw the problem and made adjustments. But the problem now was that the Spanish phalanx was too thick with pikemen: 10 rows of pikemen on each of the four sides!
Such a thickness can of course ensure that the formation will not be easily broken up. But the side effect is that during combat, most soldiers cannot output firepower - whether it is stabbing with a spear or shooting with a musketeer, they cannot output effectively!
On the other hand, on the Dutch side, a company of 80 people has at most four rows, and most of them have three rows. During combat, almost the entire army can effectively output firepower!
Therefore, although the Spanish musketeers were firing desperately, their output was extremely limited, and their support for their own pikemen was far less than that of the enemy's musketeers. As the battle progressed, the two front corners of the two Spanish phalanxes began to gradually wear out, becoming blunt and round, and finally slowly revealing gaps!
"Now!"
The battle started at 10 am and lasted until 1 pm. After more than three hours of fighting, although the Dutch were constantly retreating, their casualties were far less than those of the Spanish. Now, there was a gap in the two Spanish squares, which was an opportunity!
Morris quickly squeezed the horse under his crotch, drew out his command knife, and pressed it hard: "My warriors, follow me, charge!"
"Lading~!"
"Overwinning~!"
…
Although the losses on the Spanish side were a bit heavy, the Spanish commander Spinola was not panicked at all: We still suppressed the enemy! Moreover, we have 150,000 friendly troops behind us, while the enemy only has 10,000 mercenaries. Let alone a 1:2 casualty ratio, even a 1:3 ratio would be acceptable to the Marquis!
When he saw the enemy commander's flag moving forward rapidly through the telescope, he said to his adjutant with a sneer on his face, "This Maurice can't help but charge forward again. More than ten years ago, I shot five bullets in his chest. Isn't that enough? Order the first and second phalanxes to move left and right, and the third phalanx to move forward to meet the enemy cavalry head-on."
Following Spinola's order, the Spanish third phalanx, which served as a reserve, began to move forward. Under the forest of spears, thousands of Spanish soldiers marched into the battlefield in neat and steady steps.
"Bang!" The leader, Maurice, riding a white horse with a very strong contrast in color, did not penetrate through the gaps of the two Spanish phalanxes that had already begun to move to the left and right. Instead, he rushed directly to the third phalanx in front, and when he was about fifty meters away from the first row of spearmen, he fired the single-shot flintlock pistol in his hand. Then, without even checking whether he hit the target or not, he quickly pulled the reins, and the warhorse changed direction and passed horizontally in front of the enemy's formation.
"Bang~ Bang~ Bang~"
Maurice's cavalry followed their commander and passed horizontally in front of the enemy's formation, firing their pistols. Of course, while causing slight damage to the opposing pikemen, they were also shot at by the Spanish musketeers who quickly advanced from the formation. In this exchange of fire that lasted less than five minutes, more than thirty of Maurice's 1,000 cavalry were knocked off their horses. They were quickly caught up by the Spanish pikemen who had accelerated their march and were stabbed to death.
However, it is worth paying such a price!
Because, just after Maurice successfully lured the Spanish third phalanx to advance quickly and distanced itself from the main phalanx in the rear, he had the horn blown. After the horn on the battlefield was blown, like ripples, horns sounded one after another on the west side of the battlefield. After such a transmission, the Danish reinforcements, who had been waiting in the woods three kilometers to the west for most of the day, quickly entered the battlefield under the leadership of Maurice's brother, Frederick Henry, who was also a famous general!
