Descending On France 1780
Chapter 175 - 168 Chief of Staff Bei’s speech is too biased, who says women are inferior to men?

Chapter 175: 168 Chief of Staff Bei’s speech is too biased, who says women are inferior to men?

Andy stood on the hillside, watching Boliue deploying the troops.

In this era, infantry formations were based on the most basic unit as a single horizontal line, so by counting the small sections in the opponent’s formation, one could estimate the number of troops.

For this reason, the staff headquarters of this era had a special position responsible for counting these small sections with a telescope.

Bertier promptly compiled the observations and reported to Anning, "The enemy has concentrated its main force in front of us, it seems they are preparing for a central breakthrough."

Anning responded, "Good, this way we might be able to make quick progress on both flanks."

Bertier asked, "The enemy might have a 1.5 times advantage in troop strength at the front, are you sure that’s not a problem?"

Anning reassured him, "No problem, because I will personally lead the troops into battle."

Bertier was shocked, "Personally? That’s too dangerous. If you were to fall, even if we initially had the advantage, the situation could become perilous. Especially given your high prestige! You should avoid going to the front line!"

Anning waved his hand dismissively, "I know what I’m doing."

At that moment, Vanni appeared pushing a cart that carried a folded table. She set it up into a small round table, perfect for holding a glass of wine and a cold plate.

Then, Vanni took out a prepared cold meal and placed it on the table before pouring some wine.

Vanni said, "This wine, a gift from a local noble in Savona, has been aged for thirty years!"

Anning replied, "Cheers! Bring out the good wine sooner next time. I’ll give some to Lasalle; after having some, he can single-handedly penetrate the enemy lines."

As soon as these words were spoken, artillery fire sounded from the opposite high ground.

This signified the start of the battle.

Anning gestured to the nearby artillery position, "Let’s open fire as well!"

Consequently, thirty infantry guns positioned near Anning began firing.

**

Marshal Boliue exclaimed, "The French Army has so many cannons. Their troop strength is close to ours, yet they have so many cannons and even concentrate them for use."

Condore remarked, "It’s quite normal. That leatherworker came from an artillery background. It’s said he was promoted to Artillery Officer because he was good at math. You know, even making shoes requires some understanding of mathematics, at least how to draw a circle."

Condore’s comment drew mocking laughter from the officials nearby.

But Boliue remained serious, "With so many cannons at the front, our troops will suffer heavy artillery damage when charging down the hills. Command the troops to move quickly! Attack the enemy with decisive resolve!"

Just then, a lookout shouted, "Marshal, look!"

Boliue immediately grabbed a telescope and followed the lookout’s direction, seeing Frost leaving his headquarters position where his maid had arranged a small table. He rode off, carrying the Military Flag.

The Marshal’s gaze followed Frost, watching him inspect the French front lines.

Condore sneered, "Ridiculous, a leatherworker inspecting the front lines, how will that inspire courage in the soldiers?"

Boliue ignored Condore and loudy ordered a serviceman, "Bring the horse, I also want to inspect the troops and address them!"

**

Anning, accompanied by Bertier and others, inspected the front-line infantry camps, delivering a speech: "You have seen for yourselves, the enemy has clearly concentrated a large force at the front, aiming for a central breakthrough. I cannot allow them to succeed; I’ll stand with you!

"I solemnly promise you all, on the soil of Italy, you will achieve the glory of conquest and the riches of Italy! When you return home, each of you will be as glorious as you are wealthy!"

The soldiers shouted in unison, "Long live the General! May the General be ever healthy and victorious!"

Anning was very pleased with the effect of his speech, then turned to Bertier and ordered, "I command that half of the troops at the front disperse as scattered soldiers, spread them out near the main defensive lines in the bushes, and have them harass the enemy with free shooting! Target their officers!"

Bertier was shocked: "What? Our forces are already at a disadvantage, and you want to deploy scattered soldiers? This will make our forces too thin, vulnerable to enemy breakthroughs!"

Anning shook her head: "You don’t understand, the era of scattered soldiers has arrived. Unlike those traditional officers’ troops, the army after the revolutionary baptism will continue to fight even if disbanded from formation; they won’t collapse! They are going to give the enemies directly in front of them a bitter fight!"

Before the French Revolution, European countries generally underestimated scattered soldiers—or light infantry, viewing this unit as merely an auxiliary force. Even Austria, which had a tradition of utilizing light infantry, was striving to regularize light infantry.

At that time, light infantry was mainly mercenaries, originally bandits or hunters living in mountainous or forested areas. These people received rewards based on their combat achievements, which heightened their fighting desire.

Frederick the Great once tried to break up line infantry formations to use them as light infantry, only to find that most of his troops were forced to battle by their officers, and that without a formation, they would mostly flee.

Therefore, the large-scale application of light infantry tactics was hardly possible for royal armies, and over time, it was assumed that light infantry were only fit for supporting roles, with line infantry being the decisive force.

The French Revolution was different; initially, scattered soldier tactics were used because the troops were so poorly trained that they couldn’t form line formations. But the French soldiers were citizen soldiers, fighting with a sense of honor and high combat motivation, hence, without a formation, they would not flee.

Thus, due to these combined reasons, in the early days of the Revolution, most of the French Army consisted of scattered soldiers, spread out far and wide.

Eventually, officers of the revolutionary army discovered that the results were quite successful, thus the French Army began to utilize scattered soldier tactics on a large scale.

Anning decided to skip the part about summing up the experiences, opting to employ scattered soldier tactics right away.

The terrain between her forces and the enemy’s front line was extremely complex, which made it highly suitable for scattered soldiers to operate.

But Bertier strongly opposed: "No way, further dividing half of our troops would mean our frontline strength differential could reach three to one. This is extremely dangerous. Unless we have the same geographical advantage as last time, we cannot hold them back!"

Anning was about to rebut Bertier when she suddenly saw a troop.

They were female soldiers—Anning had originally planned to train them all as cavalry, but there weren’t enough horses.

So Anning had these women trained as scattered soldiers.

Since scattered soldiers generally do not engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, the physical weakness of female soldiers could be overlooked.

Anning asked Bertier, "Did you include the female soldiers in your troop count?"

Bertier: "What? Oh no, how could we count the female soldiers? Once they get into close combat, they’ll definitely retreat!"

Anning: "You see, underestimating women comes with a price."

Bertier: "I admit that your female cavalry performed well in the previous campaign, but that was because they underwent rigorous cavalry training and they were all noble ladies. But your women’s battalion consists of laundry women and textile factory workers!"

Anning shook her head and said to Bertier, "Let’s make a bet. I bet they will stand their ground in this fight."

Having said that, Anning rode swiftly to the front of the girls, and asked them loudly: "Ladies! What are you doing over here?"

Immediately, a particularly bold voice responded: "General, ask your Chief of Staff. We’ve been lined up since this morning but never received our orders! We took the initiative to come to the front ourselves!"

Anning: "On behalf of my Chief of Staff, I apologize to you, he didn’t want you to be involved in the fight! Now, I have a task that I must personally assign to you! I want you to disband into scattered formations and spread out into the bushes on both sides of the line infantry!

"The enemy will underrate you just like the Chief of Staff, so they will not stop to deal with you! I want you to aim at the enemy officers and fire ruthlessly! Of course, if it’s too hard to find officers, you can also target the military bandsmen!

"I demand that you inflict heavy casualties on them!"

After finishing her speech, Anning turned to Bertier and said: "Have the logistics department take some of the spirits we collected for treating wounds and distribute them to the ladies to drink!"

This was also a tradition. In that era, troops who needed a higher subjective desire to fight would be given alcohol before combat.

This was the case for both cavalry and light infantry.

Light infantry units even had the profession of a camp bartender, typically held by women, who would carry two barrels of alcohol and follow the light infantry units. During the fight, anyone who lost their nerve could have a drink.

Bertier muttered, "Crazy, crazy..."

Anning: "What did you say?"

"I said, General’s high insight," Bertier replied.